IRRITATION

I got irritated today.  When I got back to my hotel room, the key card didn't work.  It meant I had to go back to the front desk.  I had to drive there because there are many buildings in this hotel and it was too long a walk.  The clerk gave me a new key and you may be able to guess what happened next.  This key didn't work either.  This time I tried calling the desk but for some reason I couldn't get through.  So it was back into the car to the front desk. I was by now very irritated.  The clerk gave me another key, I said I want someone to go with me because I'm not coming back again.  He said he was calling the engineer since something was obviously wrong with the lock.  When, I wanted to know in an irritated voice. As soon as he can walk over from wherever he is on the property. I drove back to my building, took the elevator up and went to my door.  I looked at the time and said to myself, if he isn't here in twenty minutes, I'll -- what?  My things were in the room so I couldn't storm off.  Then, just as I looked up from the time, there was the engineer.  The problem was the lock but his master key worked.  I thanked him for coming so quickly, went inside and plopped on the bed.
     I thought about irritation, mine in this particular case.  I was tired but my real question was why did I want the clerk to know I was irritated?  What was the point?  He didn't do something to the lock and I could see the edge in my voice made him nervous. My ego wanted to show the irritation, to say I'm important!  Drop everything right now and fix the lock! That would be counterproductive to say the least;  I learned a long time ago that showing anger or irritation only makes A bad situation worse.
     As I relaxed it came to me that the opposite of irritation and anger is humility. The way out for me from the driving back and forth and the frustration of the key cards not working was to acknowledge that these things happen, they happen to everyone and I'm not exempt. Daily life is full of obstacles and problems - if I don't take them personally I'll be helping them get resolved.
   Three cheers for humility, for recognizing that I'm not the center of the universe!