In which we save the day
Jan. 23rd, 2008 08:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
desperanceOoh, I was grumpy this afternoon. I'd been in town, working over a manuscript, and I thought I'd drift along to the sushi place, grab a booth and idle through my afternoon, finishing off the work between a nibble of this and a bite of that, a slurp of miso soup...
But! There were no booths! Inconsiderate people had occupied them all! And I can't work at the counter, for obvious reasons of sprawl. So I lingered, and drifted away and came back, and someone was on the very verge of leaving his booth, and I was on the very verge of seizing it when along came a couple with a baby in a buggy - so of course I stood back and ceded it to them.
And lingered, and drifted away and came back, and there was a couple about to leave their booth, so I was poised to seize - and along came a woman with her friend in a wheelchair, so what could I do...?
So I lingered, and drifted, and was about to grab another booth when along came the manager to observe that actually he had a queue, over on the other side there, see...?
Which I wouldn't mind if that was the system, but clearly it's not; sometimes you can grab a booth as other people vacate it, and sometimes apparently you can't, you have to queue. I hate inconsistency. Especially when I'm on the losing end of it, but I do hate inconsistency. I want one system that I can understand; give me rules that everybody will follow, and I'm happy. This was the other thing, and so was I...
So I came home all snarly, and did nothing useful for hours. Until I found a story that I'd nearly finished months ago but not quite; so I finished it now, and have sent it off (in my new guise as a legitimate SF writer honest! with shortlistings!), and we shall see.
And now I feel better, and will stop work and eat chilli. Though as far as I can see there is nothing on TV tonight, and apparently there's a reason why I haven't watched all those videos I've been accumulating for the last decade, viz I don't want to watch 'em. So I might just have to read a book.
But! There were no booths! Inconsiderate people had occupied them all! And I can't work at the counter, for obvious reasons of sprawl. So I lingered, and drifted away and came back, and someone was on the very verge of leaving his booth, and I was on the very verge of seizing it when along came a couple with a baby in a buggy - so of course I stood back and ceded it to them.
And lingered, and drifted away and came back, and there was a couple about to leave their booth, so I was poised to seize - and along came a woman with her friend in a wheelchair, so what could I do...?
So I lingered, and drifted, and was about to grab another booth when along came the manager to observe that actually he had a queue, over on the other side there, see...?
Which I wouldn't mind if that was the system, but clearly it's not; sometimes you can grab a booth as other people vacate it, and sometimes apparently you can't, you have to queue. I hate inconsistency. Especially when I'm on the losing end of it, but I do hate inconsistency. I want one system that I can understand; give me rules that everybody will follow, and I'm happy. This was the other thing, and so was I...
So I came home all snarly, and did nothing useful for hours. Until I found a story that I'd nearly finished months ago but not quite; so I finished it now, and have sent it off (in my new guise as a legitimate SF writer honest! with shortlistings!), and we shall see.
And now I feel better, and will stop work and eat chilli. Though as far as I can see there is nothing on TV tonight, and apparently there's a reason why I haven't watched all those videos I've been accumulating for the last decade, viz I don't want to watch 'em. So I might just have to read a book.