Greek Time (Version 2)

I asked my nephew, Kosta, to pick me up from an appointment and take me to my mom’s house where I had my car. I called him and said, “I will be ready in 20 minutes, leave now.” The temperatures in Chicago have been brutal these last couple of months so I waited inside the building until he arrived. After about 15 minutes, I called to see how faraway he was so he wasn’t looking for me.

“ETA is 7 minutes,” he said as he answered the phone, knowing exactly why I was calling him. “Wait inside because it is really cold.”

“I am. That’s why I called. I didn’t want you to be outside and you couldn’t see me. I will see you in 7 minutes.”

After 10 minutes I walked outside to make it a quick pick-up since I was putting him to trouble to pick me up and drop me off, especially in 14 degree weather. I waited outside for 5 minutes!

When he pulled up, he looked at me like I was crazy. “What are you doing outside? I told you to stay inside!”

I looked at him with my death stare and yelled, “I am freezing! You said you were 7 minutes away! I was inside for ten minutes and then outside for an additional five minutes! Where were you?”

I was on my way, but come on! We are Greek, we are never on time! I looked at the GPS, and subtracted about 8 minutes so you wouldn’t get mad. That’s why I told you to wait inside. I figured you wouldn’t notice how much time has passed if you were warm.”

I shook my head, swore at him, thanked him for getting me, and said, “I guess it really isn’t your fault . . .it’s in your genes!”