the monkey manifesto: adventure

I noticed yesterday that waiting in lines is a pretty civilized undertaking for the most part.
Nobody likes waiting, but we do it all the same.

At the supermarket you're there with your cart of groceries and you wait patiently in a line until you reach the cashier.

At the bank, you wait in the twisty-turny maze of velvet ropes until you reach the front of the line and one of the tellers finishes with their customer and beacons you toward them.

At the ATM, the line starts three to five feet from the person who's using the ATM so no one can see them enter their PIN or see their account balance.

The only time that there is an exception to this is waiting for the bus. There's no kind of orderly conduct at all, just chaos. Everyone just rushes for the door, and God help you if you get in their way.
Some poor old lady almost got trampled the other day. I'm really sorry about that, but she should have moved faster.

I was taking the #23 bus home from work last night . It was butt-ugly cold out. The kind of cold that cuts right through you when the wind blows, no matter what kind of winter-weather gear you happen to have on.
Well, I happened to be right there in front where the bus stopped and I was pushed into the bus and toward the back by the tide of people behind me rushing to get on to escape the freezing temperature.
Nobody ever questions this. It's S.O.P.
Try to butt into a supermarket or bank line and people would get irate.

Waiting patiently in a line for your chance to be next is what separates us from the animals.