Friday, March 15, 2013

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

I have heard the saying that "no good deed goes unpunished" for many years. In fact, upon doing a little research the statement is attributed to Oscar Wilde. In my work worklife sometimes it seems to be the reality.  In my private life though, not so much--until yesterday.

How can two minutes doing a good deed turn into a fifteen minute delay? Fairly easily, as it turns out.

Heading out the door to take Makayla to the vet for her annual teeth cleaning I was asked to take a pie to the car to celebrate Pi-day. My hands were full and so I needed to make two trips. One trip for the pie and one for Makayla and her stuff.

That 2 minute delay leaving the house did not seem like a lot of time, but upon arriving at the vet to drop Makayla off another person with two dogs walked in just before me--maybe 30 seconds ahead of me. No bid deal, I was wrong!

Fifteen minutes later, the man was done checking his dogs into the vet for their procedures. It took less than 5 minutes to check Makayla in for her dental cleaning.

Ugh.

As the clock ticked and my blood pressure climbed I was in awe of how slow the checkin procedure was and how the man with the dogs found new and creative ways to lengthen the process.

The maxim about no good deed going unpunished was confirmed. Two minutes doing a good deed became a fifteen minute delay.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

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