Wait your turn
I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed with Gretchen's lists of things she'll miss about Switzerland...I had planned to do a list of my own and may still do so, but she really managed to nail it. Of course, that's not to say there won't be some things we won't miss at all, and today at lunch I was reminded of one of my major pet peeves...IS IT REALLY SO DIFFICULT TO WAIT IN LINE?!?
It's sort of an odd quirk of what is otherwise such an orderly society (the same can be said, by the way, of Germany as well), but there seems to be some sort of mass aversion to standing in lines. So, when you go into a bakery or try to get on a chairlift or board a plane, it's every person for themselves (possibly the most dangerous place in Europe is standing near the entrance of any Lufthansa gate when they make the initial boarding announcement...the stampedes rival the running of the bulls in Pamplona). In fairness, most people do at least try to make an effort to acknowledge when someone is ahead of them, but there's always the free-rider who will just barge right to the front as if it's their God-given right not to have to wait.
Sure enough, today I was waiting patiently at the counter of a nearby bakery to buy a couple of sandwiches when I noticed an old lady (not to be ageist or anything, but they really are the leading culprits) sneaking up to the front. I knew I was next, and so did the woman behind the counter because she looked right at me to ask what I wanted, but all of a sudden the old lady tried to shout out her order. When the woman behind the counter ignored her and started getting my sandwiches, the old lady started muttering in Swiss German that I couldn't understand, but that I could tell from tone and context was clearly directed at me. I'm generally mild-mannered, especially when I don't speak the language, but I wasn't about to have my integrity impugned (even if everyone else at the counter knew I was first), so I mustered up my best German, looked right at her, and said "Ich bin hier!". Which I think actually means "I am here" (I don't know past tense), but it seemed to have the desired effect because she all of a sudden got sheepish, looked away and said something like "ja, ja, ist gut" ("yeah, it's OK").
Every time something like this happens, I think back to when I was in London for a meeting 5 years ago when the Queen Mother passed away and her body lay in state at Westminster for people to pay their respects. At one point they were making announcements on the Tube that the line was 12 hours long(!), and yet this didn't seem to stop anyone. I was down near the Thames and you could see a perfectly orderly line stretching literally as far as the eye could see (probably a good mile or two). When I mentioned this to a British colleague, his only comment was that "you should never underestimate the desire of the British to queue." Clearly this trait never made its way across the English Channel...
It's sort of an odd quirk of what is otherwise such an orderly society (the same can be said, by the way, of Germany as well), but there seems to be some sort of mass aversion to standing in lines. So, when you go into a bakery or try to get on a chairlift or board a plane, it's every person for themselves (possibly the most dangerous place in Europe is standing near the entrance of any Lufthansa gate when they make the initial boarding announcement...the stampedes rival the running of the bulls in Pamplona). In fairness, most people do at least try to make an effort to acknowledge when someone is ahead of them, but there's always the free-rider who will just barge right to the front as if it's their God-given right not to have to wait.
Sure enough, today I was waiting patiently at the counter of a nearby bakery to buy a couple of sandwiches when I noticed an old lady (not to be ageist or anything, but they really are the leading culprits) sneaking up to the front. I knew I was next, and so did the woman behind the counter because she looked right at me to ask what I wanted, but all of a sudden the old lady tried to shout out her order. When the woman behind the counter ignored her and started getting my sandwiches, the old lady started muttering in Swiss German that I couldn't understand, but that I could tell from tone and context was clearly directed at me. I'm generally mild-mannered, especially when I don't speak the language, but I wasn't about to have my integrity impugned (even if everyone else at the counter knew I was first), so I mustered up my best German, looked right at her, and said "Ich bin hier!". Which I think actually means "I am here" (I don't know past tense), but it seemed to have the desired effect because she all of a sudden got sheepish, looked away and said something like "ja, ja, ist gut" ("yeah, it's OK").
Every time something like this happens, I think back to when I was in London for a meeting 5 years ago when the Queen Mother passed away and her body lay in state at Westminster for people to pay their respects. At one point they were making announcements on the Tube that the line was 12 hours long(!), and yet this didn't seem to stop anyone. I was down near the Thames and you could see a perfectly orderly line stretching literally as far as the eye could see (probably a good mile or two). When I mentioned this to a British colleague, his only comment was that "you should never underestimate the desire of the British to queue." Clearly this trait never made its way across the English Channel...
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