On our trip, I've tried to match the appealing mellow demeanor of Southwestern people and let go of my inner Eastern impatience. But a morning encounter with a Mesa Verde park employee tested my resolve.
We were rushing to get to our Balcony House cliff dwelling tour, and figured the park's pancake breakfast would be quick and easy. We figured wrong. The line was moving awfully slowly for pancakes. What could be going on? It's not that complicated. You order X number of breakfasts and pay. As we got closer, we discovered the problem. Ellen (not her real name) was at the window.
Every order, she treated as if assigned a word problem. She laboriously checked the boxes of her order pad, crossing out mistakes, redoing her calculations.
OK. I was trying not to fidget and mutter. I really was. She looked grandmotherly. Be laid back, I told myself. When in Rome, I told myself. But it was hard. We were running out of time. So before our turn, we decided to ditch the all-you-can-eat and go with the "Family Breakfast" option -- eight pancakes, eight sausages, four drinks. It was one of five menu choices. Simple, right?
Ellen seemed confused. Family breakfast? Yes, for four. With drinks? Yes, two coffees and two hot chocolates. More pad calculations. Family breakfast without drinks? No. Two coffees. Two hot chocolates.
Eventually, she scratched out $20.67 on her pad. I handed her $21. She couldn't open the register, fluttered her hands and left for help. Sigh.
We ended up wolfing down our pancakes and made our tour on time, almost derailed by Ellen. And I almost lost my adopted Southwestern cool.
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