Patience, patience...

I'm not a very patient person by nature. I like things to be done straight away, and I really dislike messy, complicated stuff. However, right now, I'm learning a real lesson in patience.

Just last Sunday, my car was rear-ended by a Kancil along Greenlane at about 4.15 in the afternoon. It was truly a miserable state of affairs. It was grey, gloomy and drizzling with rain. My bumper was not too badly damaged but the front of the Kancil was wrecked. I can only be thankful that I did not stop too close to the Honda City in front of me or else his car would also be sacrificed to the unfortunate event. Anyhow, after taking a few seconds to recover from the shock of the impact, I got down from my car, stood in the drizzle and inspected my car. As it turned out, the other guy was very apologetic and after some discussion, we decided to go and make a police report since it was unlikely that both his car as well as mine could be repaired without making an insurance claim.

So the very next day, I decided to pay my insurance company a visit. To my frustration, I couldn't use the "express" system provided by my insurance company because I was not the registered owner of the car, which was my mother. The "express" system would be much easier because they will pay you on the spot after approving your claim, possibly on the same day itself. After that, you can take you car to any workshop of your choice to get it repaired. However, since I was only the second driver, this option was not open to me. Fine. I had to do it the conventional way. Take the car to a panel workshop, apply, wait for approval, etc. etc. Even with this, I learnt that I could not sign the relevant documentation, but had to get my mother to sign it as well. Following the conventional way, I had 7 days to file my claim, and it would be practically impossible to get my mother to sign the documents from all the way in Australia in such a short time. Further, they wanted her original signature. Really ma fan. This morning, I called up the insurance company in KL (the way they make you hold the line is really annoying, and for such a long time too!) and fortunately enough, they allowed me 14 days to file the claim, and I didn't have to courier the documents to get the original signature, which would have been time-consuming and costly as well. They said that under these circumstances, they would allow the documents to be faxed. Nevertheless, my mother would have to write a letter to them explaining the circumstances.

I was really frustrated these last few days. I've never had to deal with this type of situation before, and feeling like a spoilt brat, I wanted my car to be fixed RIGHT AWAY. After receiving a well-deserved lecture from my dad after I poured out all my grievances to him, I realised that this indeed is a lesson in patience. Patience to wait for things to happen step by step. Patience to follow procedure. Patience to know that my car will have to look ugly for a while. And above all, patience to have faith in God and to know that He is in control of all situations.