Today I had occasion to visit an insurance office. The matter at hand – insuring some jewelry – required that I deal with my current agent in Clearwater. Thus I could not do business with the more convenient St. Petersburg agent in whose office I was until my account was officially transferred from the agent in Clearwater. Both were State Farm offices which led me to assume that transfer of my account would be a simple and almost instantaneous thing to do. I expected the transfer to happen online and take no more than 10 minutes or so. After waiting awhile I again called the Clearwater agent asking for the cause of the delay. I was then told agent transfers had to go through State Farm headquarters and would require several days to complete.
I am now 70 years old and still learning after all these years that to accomplish anything at all usually entails running through a process which can require a measure of patience while enactment of the process is completed. I think particularly as an American I am thoroughly spoiled in this regard. I am accustomed to substantially "off-the-shelf" items in which the processing has been largely completed before it reaches the consumer. Tonight for supper I had scrambled eggs and bacon. The bacon was precooked and required only a few seconds in the microwave to be crisp and table ready. Thus, when I encounter more atypical matters in which significant processing begins only after the consumer shows up – such as a doctor's exam or having my car serviced – the wait can seem interminable and is easily susceptible to cheap off-the-cuff accusations of bonehead inefficiency.
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