Comments on: Justice

By: Bauke

Bauke — Thu, 04 Dec 2003 21:08:58 +0000

Although portuguese are really bad drivers (I got my drivers license here, S C A R Y!) they are pretty okay when it comes to queueueueues(sorry didn’t know when to stop)
There’s always one that tries it, but usually there is a policeman waiting at the end of the line… (I’ve seen one guy get turned back onto the highway, in the algarve, a detour of at least 50 kilometers)

By: kristen

kristen — Wed, 03 Dec 2003 07:58:11 +0000

yay! score one up for the good guys. this made me smile.

By: mig

mig — Tue, 02 Dec 2003 00:09:32 +0000

There was an animated thing going around the Internet a few months ago, about the Italians vs the rest of the EU – how they drive, wait in line (or don’t) etc. 99% of it would have applied to Austrians as well, who someone once called Germans corrupted by their proximity to Italy. I like Austrians fine, but they have no familiarity with the concept of waiting one’s turn, waiting in line/queueing and you should see them at a buffet, wow.

By: francis s.

francis s. — Mon, 01 Dec 2003 18:45:28 +0000

Swedes are kind of strange on the whole issue of keeping one’s place. I don’t have a car, so I haven’t really noticed if they cut or not in traffic, but I would suspect not.

But in other instances, they have engineered society so that in most situations, it is impossible to cut: instead of having queues, they have number systems where you take a little slip of paper with a number, used everywhere from the meat counter at the grocery store to the state liquor store to the immigration office to the ticket booths at the train station to the bank.

When Swedes do get in those rare situations where they actually have to queue up, they’re often not so good at it. Which is not to say that they cut in front of each other, they just don’t know how to go about making a nice organized line, so it easily turns into confusion about who is where.

By: bhikku

bhikku — Mon, 01 Dec 2003 14:16:39 +0000

Re the British taking cuts: no, not usually. But there’s a certain more-money-than-sense class who feel that people should just melt away in front of them, their needs being obviously more pressing.
And yet at the School Christmas Fair, in the line to Meet Santa, who would have thought *anyone* would cut in? But they did, right in front of me with their five-year-old.
-C’mon Callum (I’d like to point out to them at this point that Callum is not a name), lets go in front of this guy. I’m sure his kids won’t mind waiting an extra few minutes.
I bet the real Santa (not his helper, dressed up like him, who we met) is somewhere shaking his head, downsizing Callum’s stocking. When it should be the parents who suffer.