Banks are the devil

I had to go to the bank yesterday, to pick up a cheque book. It should be noted that I absolutely detest banks, and in particular, my current one. My bank is currently in the process of privatization, and its employee union is rather under the impression that each employee deserves a privatization bonus of almost a full annual salary. And so, they strike. They strike when the negotiation continues, they strike when the negotiation halts, they strike when the temperature rises above 23 degrees and when it falls below 19 degrees. In short, they strike whenever the fancy strikes. Understandably, after a three day strike, the place was more crowded than usual. Add to that the utter incompetence and inability to grasp customer service demonstrated by their employees, and the bank becomes a confusing place.

But yesterday, after floundering a bit trying to find said cheque book, I won a moral victory that lifted my spirits considerably. See, there's this habit Israelis have, of showing up anywhere they need to line up for something, tapping you on the shoulder, announcing they're behind you in line, and then disappearing. So if you're the tapee, you're left there to defend this person who you don't even know who has suddenly popped up just when their turn is called, to the people who have since lined up behind you. As the person behind the phantom presence, you end up waiting in line about 7 hours, because there are elevnty thousand people who suddenly appear to claim their place in line, just as your turn is about to be called.

Well. Not at my school, my friends. I got in line, and of course, seconds before my turn, a woman brushes by me, tells me she's in front of me, and then flits away. I loudly say: "If you're not in front of me, then you're not in front of me in the line." She ignores me and moves on to talk to one of the bankers. When she comes back, an old man barely standing up and aided by a cane has already joined the line behind me. She flits back to the front of the line, and the old man tells her there's a line and she can stand in it. She begins to argue that she was there before. I say: "You can stand in line just like the rest of us. My time is just as valuable as yours, and I don't see fit to walk out while waiting to take care of other errands." She continues to argue that she was just gone to the ATM, and I continue to hold my own that I don't give two shits. Either she's IN the line or she's not, and if she's not, she can go to the back. She yammers something and then goes into the manager's office to take care of something else, and of course, comes back to stand at the front of the line. When the next turn is called, she says to me, as if doing me a HUGE personal favour, that she "guesses I can go on up". I walk up to the teller with a big grin of victory, but that isn't where the story ends! Oh no! The little old man made her wait too! Yay! I love getting the upper hand on idiots.