Sometimes getting in the elevator at work feels like one giant inside joke.
Now, I should start by telling you that the max capacity of an elevator at work is 1650kg (aprox. 3600lbs) or 21 people. The average number of people in that elevator at the beginning and end of work is probably about that. In other words, squish to the back and shove your way out when you need to leave. People do not move for you to exit the elevator. People waiting to enter do not move to let you off. When the door opens, everyone laughs at the person getting on and continues to laugh for the entire ride. I have yet to figure out what is so funny, but everyone in the elevator, whether or not they know each other, seems to be in on the joke.
On that same note, the only time I've seen the people here successfully make a line and adhere to it is waiting for the elevator. The line will go halfway around the building at times.
In any other situation, lines are optional. People do not form a queue. Personal space is not valued. If you're in line and you leave enough space to not be on top of the person ahead of you, assume somebody else will take that as an invitation to cut in front of you. My first week here, I was standing in line at Mercury Drugs (the local Walgreens) and a woman walks up to me and motions at me and then at the cashier (as if to ask if I was in line). I nodded. She was apparently asking if it was okay for her cut me and not if I was in line because she proceeded to cut me in line. Baffling.
Another situation where lines are optional: the road. This is getting worse and worse, right! There are lines painted on the roads, but nobody actually uses them. For that matter, they don't even stay on the correct side of the road. I'm not sure it's possible to describe exactly what the driving is like here, but it's sort of like Mario Kart without the banana peels except the banana peels could represent the potholes. You drive, occasionally leave the road and go up a ramp or hill, you attack anyone in your way, you dodge traffic patrolmen, you swerve around the random obstacle or person, you wonder if you're actually in a boat due to the flooding, all in an effort to get to your destination 45 minutes after what you would expect with no traffic. Today our two lanes turned into 4 lanes driving right into on coming traffic. It's kind of like doing a death defying act twice a day. Living is a miracle.
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