I Majored In Patience In College

I consider myself to be a patient person. I've dealt with more than my fair share of morons (I used to be a phone support representative) and they don't bother me so much anymore. So idiocy and grammar mistakes don't get to me like they do most people. But there is one group of people who always test my patience. And that's people who think they know what they're doing when they obviously don't have a clue.

You probably know some people like this. They're the ones that say the words "don't worry" right before they do something very stupid. They get your Civic stuck in the mud when they back it out of the driveway for you, they break your computer when they "fix" it, they get everyone lost because "this map is outdated," and they never lose an ounce of confidence in themselves. And I guess that should be a little admirable; the fact that they never lose their confidence. But the problem is that their mistakes rarely affect them. Their mistakes only affect the people they're "helping." So I can't admire such misguided confidence.

And I met another one of these people last night when we went to upgrade our cell phones. And it's not like the warning signs were missing. His second sentence was, "Don't worry; I've been doing this a long time," even though he looked like he was about 16. And my first question about data plans sent him straight to a coworker. So I should have vetoed him on the spot. I should have told him, "Look, you seem like a nice kid. But I don't think this is gonna work out. Don't take it personal, but you're obviously an idiot." I'm sure that would have gone over really well. But I'm a chicken and that pesky conscience of mine told me not to do it.

So instead, we watched in quiet disbelief as he put the wrong phones on the wrong lines, gave me a purple phone when I asked for a black one, asked for the last four of my social security number 167 times, asked for help from a coworker six times, and took an hour and fifteen minutes to do something that I could be trained to do in twenty. And the fact that I didn't once roll my eyes at him, yell at him, call him an idiot, or kick him in his stupid little shins (yes, shins can be stupid) is my greatest accomplishment this week. My patience was tested and I'm proud to say I passed the test. And we are the proud new owners of some pretty cool upgrade phones. But sometimes it's hard to be a patient person. Especially considering how freakishly stupid his little shins were.