The Concept of Queuing

It’s been three years since I, Vita, moved to Albania, and still every time before making a trip to the post office or to pay bills I must make a resolution not to educate people on waiting in queue. As I am often taking Eva with me, being with a huge stroller I stand at a respective (in the eyes of a north-European) distance. More often than not people think that I am just lingering there for the fun of it…

Recently, as I’ve complained to a lady about jumping the line in front of me, she apologized explaining, “I thought men were waiting on the right, and the women on the left.” (Whereas I was lost somewhere in between.) How strange, thought I, and quickly started recollecting my recent queuing experiences. To my surprise, in most cases I could picture men crowding on one side, and women – on the other. Could it be yet another sign of Muslim-rooted gender separation? I inquired a friend of this phenomenon. And yes indeed, she confirmed that during the communist times women and men would form two separate queues. And at that time there was a lot of waiting in lines.

Now who would have thought that there is some logic in the absence of a queue (despite the wide-spread queue jumping)!