The Art of Waiting?

It is a cloudy Wednesday but the heavy rains of yesterday morning have been replaced by a light drizzle. It is much balmier than it has been this past week although still on the cool side.

It’s a day off work and I was up early again waiting for the elusive courier. But it was clear after yesterday’s communication with the company that they have lost track of my friend’s envelope. She has called them from Boston too, and perhaps together we can find a solution.

They delivered it once on Friday but I missed the delivery and the sticker on my front door noted they would return Monday. They did not and repeated follow up calls underlined the need for more professional customer service as no one seemed to know what was happening with the package.

There were repeated calls to the DHL 1-800 number and I had to keep holding, keep waiting. First it was call back after 10, then it was call back after 2, then it was…wait until tomorrow. Finally tomorrow came and after the same series of calls it was…how bizarre, we’ll have to put a trace on it.

I am sure my friend is upset as these are passport documents that I was going to verify for her.

Once again, it also underlined for me the need to develop more discipline in the art of waiting, something I have never enjoyed doing. It is the second of my days off and I can’t put my chores on hold any longer as my son Ky is coming for dinner tonight and so I slipped off on several quick forays leaving notes for the courier in case someone showed.

I walked up to Safeway to do my grocery shopping but didn’t have to take an umbrella and my glasses are only spritzed with rain, my wool watch cap mostly dry. The walk was refreshing in the cool damp air, and I was momentarily freed from the waiting game.

When I returned home with groceries I was almost afraid to look at my front door in case there was another yellow tried to deliver sticker. There was not.

So I placed a call to DHL to see if there was any news on the package. I spoke to a young woman named Irena who after I explained the details said she had just been speaking to Mary, the sender.

How many agents are answering phones, I asked.

About a hundred, she replied.

It’s a very strange co-incidence I should get you, I said.

Not so strange, she responded as though such synchronicity was an everyday occurrence for her.

At any rate, she told me there was still no news on the package and so I gave up and left to do the rest of my shopping. This time I forgot to leave my sticky note for the courier and almost went back but decided that there was little hope of hearing anything as if the package had been scanned today and loaded into a truck they would know and would have told me so.

I walked up to Capers to get some whole grain oats, flax seeds and other dietary supplements I am using these days. The rain was still spritzing but by the time I came out of the store, it had turned into free fall snow and rain. This time I had to put up my hood, and by the time I got home my glasses were running with water and I could barely see.

I took off my coat, hung it and was preparing to put away my groceries when my door buzzer sounded.

DHL Courier, came the voice. I buzzed him in. He was pleasant looking, heavy-set man in his early 60’s I estimated.

Your timing could not have been better, I quipped. I just got in the door.

Looks like you just managed to beat the heavy snow, he joked.

Did they manage to track the package? I asked. He had no idea what I was talking about and said that it was just a usual delivery. When I told him that the package had not been scanned for two days he was stymied.

That’s impossible, he replied. Packages are scanned every day whether they get delivered or not.

Well, maybe an angel was looking after the package for 2 days?

Or perhaps it is all about timing, and not bothering to wait.

Maybe that’s the art of waiting?