Excuse the “British” English in the title (I don’t think anyone in Canada actually queues, we just line up)… I think travelling for a year has made me become conscious of using English that most people worldwide can understand. Such as, “winter hat” instead of “toque”, “mobile” instead of “cell phone”, “sms” instead of “text”, “soda pop” instead of “pop”, “toilet” instead of “bathroom”, and so on…

Anyway, I wanted to vent about a situation I run into all too often in Canada when I go to Tim Horton’s or McDonalds. Walking through the door, I see two cashiers each helping one person, and then a line of 2 more people forming behind one of the customers.

I have two choices. Do I:

a) Be a jerk and form a new line behind the customer with no line? There’s a risk of being yelled at by the other people already waiting, though it’s extremely low, since most Canadians want to avoid conflict.

Or, b) Line up behind the 2 people, knowing full well that the next person to walk into the store will do a)! And without fail, before anyone in my line can comment or change lines, somehow a big group of people will all enter the store at once, forming a new line behind asshole. Then I fume while having to wait an extra 5 minutes longer than I should.

Times like these make me wish we had Sweden’s ticket dispensing system.