patience. . .apparently it's a virtue very few possess

Eight years ago, I spent some time in China. I rode the subway a lot. There were many times that I'd be buying my ticket and hear the rushing wind and screeching wheels of the approaching train. At that point the 25 Chinese men and women behind me would basically shove me forward with their bodies and I'd see in my peripheral view lots and lots of brown hands waving Chinese bills at the ticket person. I'd elbow and shove my way through to catch the train followed by all the other lucky people who were able to shove their way forward to the ticket booth and retrieve their ticket. It was not unusual to feel a little battered after buying a subway ticket. It was shocking to me, a very rule and order oriented person, to experience this lack of civil behavior for the first time, but at some point I became accustomed to it, even participated in it. Not waiting your turn seemed as Chinese as waiting in the drive thru is American, after all we wait in an awful lot of lines here is the USA. We wait in line at Panera Bread for lunch, at the grocery store (for 30 minutes with one person ahead of you at Walmart because one particular checker is s-l-o-w!), at the bank, for rides at Disneyland. It's American and civil and respectful.

So, yesterday I was at the gym. A lady and her daughter walked in the door right behind me. They walked in to child watch right behind me. I placed Anderson's back pack on the counter, opened a pocket, grabbed my iPod and gym cards out to sign him into child watch. It took no longer than 30 seconds and within that time, the lady had grabbed the binder from in front of me and began signing her daughter in which caused me to wait the minute for her to finish. I just looked at her. I wanted to say, "Excuse me, you don't have a minute to spare apparently!" but I didn't want to cause a scene; eww I was miffed because there is something to be said for being first in line. We do live in America after all.