Oh, queue up!

I wish I’m the kind of person who is not disturbed by bad behaviour from others.

But I am.

And people who do not queue annoy me a lot.

It annoys me when people do not queue up when queuing up inconveniences them. And somehow it still happens quite a bit in China.

I made a bad decision by agreeing to travel to Shanghai from Beijing on the 530pm flight. My colleagues and I reached the Hongqiao airport at around 740pm.. during what seems to be the “peak hour” at the airport.

The queue for cabs was I think, at least 2km long. Okay, so maybe not 2km. But it was the longest I’ve seen.. and I have been to the Shanghai Hongqiao airport a number of times.

A couple tried to squeeze in front of my colleagues and I while we were queuing.

It reminded me of what happened to me in Beijing a couple of days before at a fast food restaurant. It was my turn to place my order and a man just stepped in right in front of me to place his order. I chose not to interrupt him.. but allowed him to order. Then I told him, “I think you just cut my queue”.

Instead of an apology, he said loudly, “Alright, isn’t it YOUR turn now huh?”

"...."

Determined not to allow this particular couple to cut my queue, I spoke up and told them to go back. The man said brashly “Huh? Yes, of course.. We ARE queuing.. We ARE queuing” But he and his partner fell back behind us (and cut the queue of the lady and everyone else behind us instead).

And when we almost got to the end of the line about 40 minutes later, an lady in her 50s strolled leisurely in and stepped right in front of us to board the cab we were supposed to take.

Sometimes, you just have to give up.