Eastern Europe's "Lines"

So I've heard from others in Eastern Europe that lines are pretty much commonplace where they live too. You may think you understand what a line is from a Saturday morning visit to Kroger. I'm sorry to tell you that your 'long line' definition would be considered an express lane here.
Romanians are especially used to long lines. During Communism they would hear rumors of a truck coming with some sort of item. Not knowing if they actually had a voucher for that item or not they would arrive in the middle of the night to stand in line for hours until that truck arrived. Then the truck would start unloading and the people, out of obvious desperation, would swamp the truck hoping to be one of the lucky few to actually get it. Some aspects of this are still seen every day.

1. For instance, the lack of personal space and crowding. When you stand in line at the ATM it's more of a crowd around the ATM. And, more than likely I'll get handed a few ATM cards from new users who don't know how to do it and need me to make the transaction for them. Of course this doesn't happen everyday but I promise you it has happened on several occasions.

2. The hours waiting. Let's take today for an example. I had to go today and get all of the paperwork done and inspections done on the car I bought because the registration for the car was only good through today. It was today or never pretty much. Normally I wouldn't do this by myself, ever, but our car guy wasn't able to come with me. So, I loaded Caleb up and decided that it couldn't be that long of a deal since I had made an appointment last Friday for 10:30am this morning. Do you know how long I waited, or I should say Caleba nd I waited, in line for this to be done? FOUR HOURS! Do you know how many cars were in line ahead of me? SIX! And, I should mention, 1 big truck. But honestly people FOUR HOURS with a three year old in a little car for this to be done. And, we are in Oradea - over an hour away from Marghita. Did I bring lunch for Caleb? Did I bring extra drinks to last over the 4 hours? Of course not. I mean I had brought stuff for the morning when we were on the road but a 10:30am appt. should have put us back in Marghita before lunchtime. I definitely did not anticipate a 4 hour line, that's for sure.

3. Not enough for everyone. How did this play out today? Well, because I didn't bribe the people working there I didn't get put in the "fast line." The "fast line" was full of the most expensive cars that Romania has on its streets. Those guys just showed up, were put in that line, and gone a 1/2 hour later. Although I didn't see bribes changing hands sadly you know it's the only reason why it was working that way for them. And, because I had to wait so long they weren't able to get my paperwork done before they closed at 4pm. That means I have to go back tomorrow morning at either (meaning it may or may not be ready at the following times) 10am, 11am or 12pm or 1pm. I about lost it when I heard that. It's not easy to just grab a car and drive 1 1/2 hours to this office with a 3 year old who already missed his nap in a 4 hour line the day before.

Thankfully though, I did get a car to drive and pick up the papers tomorrow. Get this, the office is only open every 15 min...more interesting info for you. Caleb will be getting a HUGE "special special" for his incredible putting up with all of this. God certainly graced me today when I had an extremely HAPPY boy during out entire time today. Even when missing his nap time! And, halfway through the line I saw a break in the fencing where people could walk out and buy hot dogs and french fries - God provided lunch too!

So our day from start to finish with this specific process was 8:30am to 4:30pm. Remember how bad your line COULD be the next time you get ticked at waiting 15 minutes at the grocery store. Take a deep breath and smile - give a shout, whatever! Celebrate your short line!

Now I'm hitting the sack!