Alternate Universe

I heard this on the news this morning. A small plane crashed in the Michigan peninsula. The pilot had radioed he was experiencing engine problems and was circling the airport. Investigators are puzzled as to the cause of the crash.


Hello? Could it have been anything to do with engine problems?

Ok, I needed to check on Big Princess’ FASFA (federal something or other necessary to go to college). I call the company we have keeping us on track for the last four years.

“We are experiencing a larger than usual call volume. Please hold, your call will be answered in the order it was received. Wait time is now 12 minutes.”

I can’t just be sitting on hold for 12 minutes. That’s a life time of waste. Twelve minutes here, twelve minutes there. So I decide to multi-task and start returning short calls on my cell phone. You know, where I just need to tell them I received it and thanks. First call I make, I start talking and boom, the other line picks up. It’s been like 2 minutes.

What happened to 12? Are they on a different type of time? Did so many people get pissed and hang up that I was catapulted to #1?

Now I’m trying to run two conversations and I just sound like an idiot. There is something to be said for patiently holding for 12 minutes. Not really, I think I’ll just do some paperwork instead of trying to make calls next time.