Santa Maria Times from Santa Maria, California • 53

i Santa Maria. Calif- Sunday MayiS.ViM VhO'Io iWi GO- Tim for: S5. 'S3 0JSlL By Sarah Overs treet OUTLOOK to cat in the car on the way to work. The women at the counter were racing around like gerbils on a wheel, and two male managers were just standing around. One of the men was listlessly swiping at the clean counter with a towel and the other was standing over the shoulder of a young man frying french fries.

I wanted to jump over the counter, snatch them up by their neckties and force them to sell me a fish sandwich. five or 10 minutes to get it? Last weekend a friend and 1 were on our way out of town and stopped for some breakfast-in-a-box. When we drove our car over the mechanism that activates the buzzer inside, we were told to "hold on a minute, please." After a couple minutes had passed, my friend ran around to the window and waved her arms, and I backed over the buzzer mechanism again. A total of three minutes had elapsed, somewhere, but I don't have much hope I'll do it. Back when I was waiting happily in fast-food lines and doctor's offices, I didn't realize these people were making an extra dollar a minute off of, me by scheduling too tight and refusing to hire more help.

I suppose that if Umejy money, and if ignptirice is still bliss, I've reached the age where I have too trifle time, not enough money, and I'm not ignorant enough to be blissful about it anymore. came to my attention last night that I have become an impatient person. I was standing at the toaster with the butter and jelly at my elbow, waiting for the bread to toast. I'll concede that I was ravenous, but as 1 stood there daydreaming, 1 noticed my right hand had to keep restraining my left hand from flipping up the little lever that pops up when the toast is done. I wanted the toast to be ready when I wanted it, not when it was actually brown.

As 1 watched this foolish interplay between my hands, I wondered what kind of person can't spare an extra minute to allow a machine to do what she had purchased it to do. I thought back to lunch yesterday and realized it was the same kind cf person who was furious at having to wait five minutes in a fast-food line. I had run in to get a sandwich wasn't always like this. I've become an impatient person. Can You Fast-food buying may be where my lack of patience asserts itself the most.

Why do they call it fast, if you have to Help? NAME: ETAN PATZ DATE MISSING: 052579 FROM: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK DOB: 100972 RACESEX: WHITEMALE EYES: BLUE HEIGHT: 40" WEIGHT: 50 LBS HAIR: BROWNBLOND LAST SEEN: 052579 at 8:00 a.m. Prince St. West Broadway in New York City. something, says it's because we don't have enough time to do everything we have to do. I see her point, but I've noticed that even after I've saved 10 or 15 minutes by racing around all day, I'll turn right around and stare off into space at my desk and waste it.

Having finally recognized my alarming lack of patience, I still don't know what I'm going to do about it. I could resolve to take deep breaths and think of an island paradise the next time I'm waiting in a line EMORIAL $1 0 off any perm $40 or more 20 off all retail gels, glazes and mousses Sale $30 Reg. $40 Sculptured Nails Salon Closed Memorial Day A mi vC 17 i 'i vh DAY SPECIAL Top off the festivities with one of our head-turning perms. And save 1 0 on any perm $40 or more. Some perms not recommended for bleached or frosted hair.

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Sale prices effective May 25th through May 31st. enney there were no cars in front of us and we were in a lather. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I've started to rush into the shower before the water is hot, trying to hurry it up. I go out and call the dog before he's ready to come in from doing his business.

I start scooting the iron up and down my skirt before it's hot enough, thinking maybe the friction will speed things up. I kill the lawnmower by trying to push it faster than it will go through tall grass. In supermarkets, I switch lines to whichever line I think is moving the fastest, and then move again when I think I see another line take the lead. The only thing I have gained through this activity is the absolute knowledge that any given line I choose, under any given set of circumstances, will have at least one shopper with a handful of out-of-date coupons. On my worst days, I stop the spin cycle on the washing machine before it finishes spinning and push the dial ahead to "rinse." My driving is a study in sheer agitated intolerance.

I don't yell out the window at other drivers because I am afraid I will be assaulted, but I do have conversations with them under my breath. "What can you be doing up there in that car, changing your pantyhose? Sit up there and put that thing in gear so I can get to work before my retirement party. Turn that thing left in this traffic and it'll be the last move you ever I wasn't always like this. I used to stand in lines happily, with my mind on nothing in particular. Extra time sitting in a doctor's office was just that much moie time to kick back and read a magazine.

I didn't think I needed a hamburger in six seconds, and I even sat inside to eat it. My friend, an attorney who's always racing around late for A I mm NAME: LAUREEN ANN RAHN DATE MISSING: 042780 FROM: MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE DOB: 040366 RACESEX: WHITEFEMALE EYES: BLUE HEIGHT: 5'3" WEIGHT: 95 LBS HAIR: SANDY LAST taken from home in the middle of the night. Foul play suspected. Charge it at this JCPenney store: SANTA MARIA, Santa Maria Shopping Center, 928-8010. Any Information? Call: 800-843-5678 1986.

C. Penney Company. Inc.