Lines in this country are more similar to a mob. It’s never really a line of people, but a cluster at the counter pushing forward into the counter. I learned at the phone office to wedge my way to the window and stick my arm in the hole in the window before anyone else could. Your arm in the hole makes you the next person in line. And in most places, if you don’t cut in line with force, you’ll never make it to the front. You have to learn to be aggressive. I’ve caught myself on vacation in other places a few times cutting in line, forgetting that this country is not like the rest of the world.
As a woman I have an advantage. Because women are less common in public, women and senior citizens have their own line at the electricity bill office (if the employee for that line shows up), and at the phone bill office it’s “One women after every four men,” which means I get to count to the 4th man from the front and wedge my way in the line there, hoping they will abide by the signs. Just because the signs are there doesn’t mean you’re not pushing your way into the line.
I am now way more appreciative of the organized lines in America!
