We live in an age moving at an exuberant speed. We are constantly moving, expecting everything to be at our fingertips in an instant.

We do not stop for anything. Our texts and emails are on our phones, enabling us to constantly send and receive communications as we wish.

If the Internet takes more than a minute to load we become frustrated. If somebody is driving a couple of miles under the speed limit, we honk our horns and maybe even yell some obscenities.

If we receive news an hour after an event happened we are asked “where have you been?” This is an age in which information is expected the second we want it, whenever we please.

The result: impatience. We are an impatient society, and while some may be perfectly content with this fact, have we ever stopped to think about the effect our impatience really has on other people?

A few weeks ago, at a Wegmans in Clay, N.Y., a customer berated an employee with Asperger’s syndrome for going “too slow,” according to a Fox News article.

The employee, 28-year-old Chris Tuttle, was apparently upset and shaken by the incident.

After this unfortunate incident occurred, Tuttle’s sister made a post on her Facebook account explaining what happened.

She said, “Yesterday at Wegmans, a customer yelled at him and then in the middle of her transaction, left to complain loudly to a manager, came back to his line and he was so shaken, [he] dropped a candle she bought on the ground and it shattered.”

Tuttle’s sister also commented that as a result of his Asperger’s, Tuttle cannot move on or understand that the impatient woman is not worth getting upset over.

Is this what we have come to? Are we so impatient that we are willing to berate and upset a man with Asperger’s just because he is not moving as fast as we would like?

Of course, this customer does not represent society as a whole, but I bet that everyone can identify with being impatient over something with such little importance that we are even embarrassed by it afterward.

Whether it be screaming at your phone for going too slow, not tipping your waitress because she took too long to get the check, or rolling your eyes because the person in front of you is walking slowly, we have all had our unfortunate moments of impatience.

We are so impatient and focused on the future that we never take time and appreciate what is happening in the present.

Impatience is inevitable. But maybe we can help avoid it simply by being aware of the present and the people around us.

The next time there is a long line, or somebody is taking a while to check you out at a store, try not to think about what you are missing out on by waiting.

Instead, observe what you would be missing out on if you were not there, in that particular moment. Maybe it is a kind smile, maybe a warm hello. Maybe we are avoiding a drunk driver or unfortunate accident by being delayed.

We may even be about to meet our future spouse, or a new best friend. This may be improbable and unlikely, but it is by no means impossible.

I guarantee that most people who hear about the incident that took place in Wegmans find it shocking and horrible. In fact, thousands have reached out to Tuttle, complimenting him while at work and sending him thank you notes.

While this is a more extreme situation compared to our everyday impatience, maybe we should start being shocked by our own freak-outs and irritation. Maybe we should treat everyone as if they would not be able to get over our hurtful words.

If we knew that people would be shaken and upset over yelling at them for being too slow, we would think twice about screaming at that slow driver, or that slow walker and even at our poor, inanimate cell phones.

Having to wait ten extra seconds, minutes or hours is not important when looking at the bigger picture.

The next time we find ourselves in an annoying or time consuming situation, let’s look at the grand scheme. Think of the effect your actions will have on others, and remember that a little more time waiting is nothing on the rest of your life.

To contact the Ionian’s Claire Maurer e-mail her at [email protected]