Opportunity cost (the one that got away)

Of all the things the Internet has brought us, I would rank eBay in the top five. Actually, it would be in my top three. I am an avid fan and a frequent bidder. Most of the girls' clothing has been purchased from eBay, and I pick up a lot of things for myself from auctions, too. Due to scads of experience, I have become a very proficient bidder. Unless the price is exorbitant and I bow out, I win auctions. I used to bid with 30 seconds remaining on the clock, but now I wait until about 10 seconds for the intial bid. I usually confirm the bid with five seconds remaining.

I am an auction sniper.

Last week, I went to the dentist. My appointment was at 11:00am. However, an auction (see above pic) I was watching was scheduled to end at 12:02pm. I had a 15 minute wait, meaning that I wasn't actually in the chair until 11:20. My dentist was replacing an older filling. There would be topical numbing, shots and drilling. I was concerned about my auction.

While my gums were numbing from the topical salve, I remembered that I had intended to remove my phone from my purse and place it in my pocket so that I could consult eBay, but I failed to do so. My purse was in a chair across the room. I waited until the dental assistant left the room. I tried to make a lunge for it, but was totally caught by the dental assistant who mistakenly thought I was reaching for a tissue. She provided me with a tissue, and I tried to devise another opportunity to make a move.

Ten minutes or so passed. By then, various preparations were being made for the procedure. Why does everything in the dentist's office look so ominous? I wanted my dentist to be sharp, to be vested in the procedure, to perform her best work. Unfortunately, I doubted that my furiously monitoring an eBay auction would be the best way to "meet her halfway" in our dentist-patient partnership. The bar needed to be raised high, and it seemed that bidding would work against that.

After the procedure, I grabbed my purse, accessed the eBay app, and saw that the aunction had ended. It was 12:07pm -- five minutes too late.