Patience...

Yesterday morning was kind of a non productive morning.

I had a 9:30am meeting at the ANPE to meet a job adviser as I registered again as a “job seeker” as soon as I stopped working as a temp salesperson last January. I know that these meetings are mostly useless for people who have diplomas, it’s just not the right place but I have to attend these appointments to stay registered.

Here is how it went:

- The woman asked me about my professional background

- I told her I had already been registered as a job seeker in June but forgot to actualize my situation as I was abroad for a summer job and not used to doing this thing, that I had been working as a salesperson and now I was back on the track to find a better job

- She asked if I had any leads

- I replied that I was waiting for some answers so far

- Then she proposed to see if there was any interesting job offer on the ANPE Website as Marketing Assistant

(… the lady was very nice but can’t I do that from home, as I’m used to do regularly?...)

We finally selected three job offers that she printed for me and type down conclusions of the interviewsto let my next month’s job adviser know about it.

I, then, drove to the Sous-Préfecture ( du Raincy to go and get my new license (as I passed the moto license last February). Six years ago when I went to the main Préfecture to get my driving license, I had waited for about an hour and I thought it was quite long.

I arrived at 10:49 when I took the little ticket where was marked 447. And 410 was announced on the little red screen. OH-MY-GOSH!! After 5 people had been called, I did a little calculus and arrived at the conclusion that my turn will arrive in about 1h30 (what?!?!). Fortunately, I had thought about bringing a book* I started there.

There were about fifteen rows of chairs all oriented towards the little desks like a public waiting for a representation that was never beginning…

People were reading, sleeping, chitchatting, almost dying waiting, being on the phone, cell phones ringing (about a dozen times, I had wisely thought about putting mine on the vibrating ring), going to the bathroom, going outside, coming back, arriving, getting up to have a drink at the coffee machines (I had NOT thought about having some change to get me something to drink while waiting).

I chose a quiet place near the large window at the back of the rows and began to read my book. The two little screens began to change numbers (one for the driving license and one for the car registration papers). It strangely appeared to me that the 2^nd one was changing numbers quite quickly compared to the 1^st one that still had not change since I sat. The numbers would keep on changing with the little bip while the driving license screen would very slowly change numbers. I tried to reach from sight the desks and I suddenly understood! There were 7 car registration desks and ONLY 3 for the driving license! How lucky!

An hour passed and I decided to make a break, go to the bathroom, have a hot drink (that’s when I realized I had not enough coins), sat back where I was, sent some text messages, called my mom to let her know that I wouldn’t be home early as I thought and went back to my reading.

Another hour passed! I was now beyond the delay I had calculated. And began to find that waiting very long. People would continue to arrive, be called at the car registration desks and leave. Whereas the driving license numbers had not changed much. I was now thirsty, hungry and my backside was kind of fed up of being on this uncomfortable chair.

About 2h30, the screen was now approaching the 447 ticket the little machine had awarded me. Suddenly, I looked up and it was announcing 446, YES, my time was about to come! And it did, 447 appeared on the little red screen, indicating just below which desk to go to. I packed my stuff and triumphantly left the soon-to-die waiting rows to approach desk #9. It took the lady about 5mns to prepare my brand new driving license.

As I was leaving with my brand new little red paper, looking at the more good looking picture (the former one dated back from 1998 when I was in highschool) and the new printed date beside the motorcycle drawing. I was as excited as 6 years ago, this time I was officially allowed to drive a moto. Now, I’m just eager to be able to buy one!

*Petite Anglaise (from Catherine Sanderson, go and see her very nice blog)