Spoiler: I hate queues. About ten years ago, I drove up to the Polish–Belarusian border, panicked at the sight of ten cars ahead, and decided to take a detour (yes, back then you could still choose). Took a breath, calmed down, and crossed in an hour. In 2021, I crossed the same border with two cats, it took nine hours. Felt like eternity, but there was no alternative. Two years later, I spent nearly a full day waiting at that same crossing. Today (before the border closed completely), even several days of waiting wouldn’t be a record.
That lack of choice, I can understand.
What I’ll never understand is the national sport of Belarus and Poland: standing in line for food. Or for anything, really, when you could simply choose not to.
Once, I was convinced to stand in line for syrniki (!) for breakfast (Warsaw thing, don’t ask). It took almost an hour, no exaggeration. When I realized people were serious about it, I ran off to Żabka for a quick bite. Came back in great spirits, fully charged to mock everyone still waiting.
I’m being a bit dishonest when I say I don’t understand these people. There are motives: no hobbies, nothing to fill the free time, some form of socializing or belonging. But it doesn’t change a thing: for the rest of my life, I’ll be pointing at people who, on their one day off, consciously choose to spend two hours of their adult life standing in line for a dumpling.