The other day, while I was waiting for my turn at a reservation-only place out and about… right at the crucial moment when my name was supposed to be called in just a few minutes, an urgent phone call came in (why do they always happen at times like this?).
I had no choice but to step outside to take the call. A few minutes later, a staff member came out to let me know my turn had arrived. However, the phone call couldn’t be wrapped up quickly, and it ended up lasting about 10 minutes.
As soon as the call was over, I rushed back and sincerely apologized for missing my turn. It was entirely my fault, and I genuinely felt terrible about it.
…And then came the checkout. As I looked at the counter, I happened to catch a memo written plainly on a piece of paper: “Notified, but did not show.”
The moment I saw it, an inexpressible, complicated feeling welled up inside me. “Sure, I was in the wrong for being late, but since I already apologized, could you at least write that where I couldn’t see it…!” It left me with a vague, frustrating sense of lingering annoyance.
Of course, thinking “I should have just called them back later” or “I should have told the staff beforehand” are all just hindsight after the fact.
As humans, life rarely goes completely perfectly. We make clumsy mistakes, and we get inconveniently timed phone calls. At the same time, the shop staff probably didn’t mean any deep malice—they were likely just noting it down as a routine record.
Even knowing that logically, it still left a little sting in my heart for a moment. The imperfect version of myself, the unexpected moments of annoyance—well, days like that happen! I’ll take a deep breath, drink a nice cup of warm tea, and completely shake it off today.
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