Turning Two into Twenty...

Hello, friends! 
Confession, I have never lived in a city with a spectacular public transportation system.  In Orange County, everything was far too spread out to be useful.  In Saint Louis they have the Metro, which is great for going to the airport, but not too much else.  In Columbia, the busses run, but not for very long, and not to anywhere west of downtown.  That is one of the reasons why I love biking so much.  I can go pretty much anywhere on Sulu.  There is one downside to biking instead of driving.  It sometimes takes me a touch longer to get places.  Sometimes that touch longer can lead to a big difference. 

Yesterday I had to head up to Staples to make some copies so I could bring them to campus.  It was a simple, 5 minute job.  All I needed was 20 copies of a flyer on cardstock then cut into quarters.  Simple enough, right?  Since I would be heading straight to campus from Staples for a meeting, it made sense for me to bike there then bike straight to Mizzou.  All said and done, it's probably about 2 minutes faster to drive than to bike, which is usually worth it. 

EXCEPT, when getting there two minutes later means you end up BEHIND the guy with the really long order instead of BEFORE him.  Oy. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not faulting the guy for having a large and complicated order.  He got there before I did and he had every right to ask for his photos to be copied on a certain type of paper.  It is not wrong for him to have multiple sheets that needed to be copied in different quantities.  Please understand that he did nothing wrong.  Nor did the gal behind the desk.  She was attentive to the customer and making sure she got the order right.  Everyone did exactly as they should have done. 

But understanding the situation doesn't mean I get to cut in line.  So, as a 5 minute job turned into 20 minutes of waiting for a 5 minute job, I started to freak out a bit.  Should I say something?  No, I don't want to be THAT guy, right?  Do I go without the copies so I can make it to my meeting on time?  No, I need those copies to give to students so they can promote our upcoming event.  I was stuck. 

Fear not, dear reader.  I eventually got my copies done and my student was very gracious in my being late (I texted her beforehand) so everything worked out ok.  It just made me think about how two minutes can turn into twenty.  It's like missing the subway or bus (here's the public transportation tie in.  I'll bet you were wondering what that first paragraph had to do with anything, right?).  Another one will come along soon enough, so there's no need to worry.  But, it'll be a bit, so a small miscalculation leads to big(ger) ramifications. 

Stats:
Places traveled: Staples, Campus, Home, Campus, Downtown, and back Home
Distance traveled: 10.5 miles ($.88)
Meters: Campus 4 hours ($4.00) + Downtown 2 hours ($1.20) + Campus 1 hour ($1.00)

Total: $8.08
Grand Total: $103.03
Left to Save: $471.60

Happy Biking!

~Adam