You're on the verge of being late for your interview / bat mitzvah / national pupusa conference. You timed your journey down to the minute, calculating exactly how much time you can spend eating noodles over the sink before you absolutely have to leave for the train station. (Because when faced with a deadline and a indiscriminate amount of time to squander, you suddenly become a mathematician.)
You just might make it on time, except for one factor beyond your control.....
The train that's supposed to be arriving at 6:10 is not here... And it's 6:12. With every train-less minute that passes your meticulously timed plan crumbles, like a sad, dry pupusa with no curtido. Alas, you're stuck in the all-too-familiar plight of urban living that all train goers experience- the stages of late-train grief!
Shock
What's going on here? The train app said 6:10. We're all still standing on the platform peering over the edge for train headlights when we're supposed to be standing on a train avoiding each other's eye contact. Why is this happening?
Denial
There's no way the train is this late. It's probably already here, just slowly crawling through the tunnel. The Pupusa Summit is probably not as far away as Google Maps said. There's no way it's actually 6:14. Time and space are probably social constructs created by the CIA to keep society in check. This is probably the Matrix.
Anger
Public transportation has BETRAYED us! I'll punch that train right in its dumb metal face! I'll learn karate right now and swiftly kick whoever made that false-hope-filled train app! I'll learn how to hack like Anonymous and I'll digitally disembowel Google Maps! Someone is going DOWN!
Bargaining
Maybe if I stop looking the train will come faster; that old saying, "love comes to those who aren't looking" probably also applies to trains. Maybe if I stare into the darkness hard enough the sheer power will materialize a train. Maybe if I break into a sprint the train will feel sorry for me and come to my rescue.
Depression
This sucks! What HUBRIS I had to try to manipulate the powers that be in my favor! I don't deserve a spot at the Pupusa Panel! It's hopeless to wait for a train that will never come, knowing that I'll be deservedly blacklisted from all social events by the time I get there! The world just isn't meant for people like me...people who are bad at time management.
Acceptance
Okay. This is it. it's 6:18 and there's nothing I can do except to stroll in calmly twenty minutes late like it was all part of my plan. This is not the end of the world and it doesn't make me a bad person. In fact, this is a character building moment that will make me stronger. Like the rings inside a tree trunk, this experience will leave a mark that shows I lived the ups and downs of a full life!
But more importantly, who cares? The train is here!
The stages of grief officially end once the train arrives and everything is quickly forgotten. At that point, it's on to the next problem: The stages of coping with a terrible smell on the train.
