when having snow tires put on my car

had an early appointment

brought my laptop and a giant coffee

to settle in for an hour and a half or so.

while waiting

i planned to write and read and catch up on things

knowing there is always something going on

with any group of fellow ‘waiters.’

i sat at a high table to make for easy typing

 most everyone else sat in the lower, more comfortable chairs

quite soon after my arrival, the ambiance changed.

on the left side in front of me

a woman sat down

in the seat next to the remote control for the tv

meant to help the time pass, amuse, and distract everyone.

she immediately took control of the controller

switching whatever channel had been on

to fox news.

the woman in the family to my right

politely asked if she would mind changing

the channel from fox to something else.

she said yes and all good

in no time

we were all watching baywatch reruns

in high def, on the big screen, 90s music pumping

those red bathing suited beauties

running on the beach, boating, emoting, doing pull-ups, rescues, looking hot, and whatnot

and david hasselhoff, the hoff.

the workers at the tire store desk were mesmerized

some young enough to never have seen it before

some old enough to have had the poster and remembering.

i refilled my coffee

 the channel was not changed again

throughout my entire (now 2 hour), wait.

new customers coming in had mixed reactions

what an early holiday surprise!

“of all men’s miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing.”

-herodotus