It's time to write the letter!

I was in the store with my hands full and expecting a call from my mechanic, who had promised to call to let me know when my oil was changed, but this is not a mechanic blog, and that is not who called.

Mom: It's time to write the letter!

From this sentence, I deduce that someone's pissed her off and she would like me to write a complaint letter, and I request details.

A.: What??
Mom: It's time to write the letter!
A.: I heard you. What are you talking about?
Mom: I'm about to tell you! I've never liked those jerks, they were difficult from the start...
A.: Who???
Mom: I'm telling you! Just listen!
A.: Tell me more efficiently, please.

I gauge that this might be a while and go over and drop my stuff in a basket.

I don't ask for a lot. I wouldn't have demanded that my mother begin the conversation with, "hi... how are you?" or even, "hi, how was your day?" However, I do think, "hi, is this a good time for you?" and/or, "do you have time to write a letter for me?" would have been in order. The answer to both of those questions was "no," but had she asked, I would have politely said, "not really but I'll call you when we get home," but she didn't ask, thus she was perplexed at my irritation.

The other thing that I don't ask is that my mother's English be perfect, or even very good. I do ask, when I write letters for her, that she not fight my choice of words or grammatical constructions, and I do suggest in general that she avoid figures of speech and other linguistic stretches, because they fall flat. I can only think that her opening line was an attempted twist on that old Dunkin' Donuts commercial ("It's time to make the donuts!"), but even had she gotten it right, it wouldn't have been funny.

To make a long story short, she tells me about how she's frustrated with ING Direct. I won't get into the details, but although I'm skeptical at first even though I've had my fair share of bank drama, she wins me over. Nonetheless, I request at regular intervals that she get on with the story.

A.: And....!
Mom: I'm getting there-- I need to tell you the details so you can write the letter.
A.: I am not going to remember the details anyway. I'm in the middle of shopping...
Mom: Oh, you're not home?
A.: No. Could you just send me an e-mail?
Mom: No, just write the letter.
A.: I'm not going to remember the details.
Mom: Well, I need you to get the general idea.
A.: I GET the general idea. Right now you are talking a lot about how frustrated you are and how "outrageous" this is, and that is not helpful.

And so on.

Anyway, I'd better get to writing that letter.