a minute - A time that might as well be never, but no one knows exactly

A time that might as well be never, but no one knows exactly when.

I said I’d be back in a minute. Now I’m still out there. Who knows when I’ll come back?

He said he’d be here in a minute. I’ve been waiting for three years and he still hasn’t showed up.

They said it would take a minute to get the food. Now I’ve been waiting since the last century.