Thursday, February 19, 2009

Epiphany...

I just got my driving lisence today (yes, I passed!) =D and I think that the few hours I spent there taught me some ver yvaluable lessons.

First and foremost, I've realized that the Egyptian public does not and will never actually grasp the concept of a simple, organized line. To get a simple form from the booth, I was squeezed between one man's testicles and another man's behind for almost ten minutes. The smell of sweat literally filled the air, and I had to cover my nose in order not to vomit on the man's head. People were shoving, kicking, swearing, cursing, shouting trying their best to get to the window first. It got so violent that two men beat each other to a pulp because one tried to take the other's turn! I of course took the opportunity and submitted my application while everyone was preoccupied with the fight.

If the people aren't enough, the actual employees are too lazy to even tell people to stand in a line, let alone actually do their job to get things moving! They simply sit on their ever widening asses sipping tea and dunking breadcrums into it at intervals, all the while talking about the latest in the world of underwear and bras with their fellow co-workers.

To top it all off was the perfect ending for the perfect day. As I entered the room where I was to be photographed, an ugly, grubby old man shouted at me, pointing at some official: "Move! Get out! Let the Pasha pass!" The Pasha and his two bitches, excuse the language, left the room quickly having cleared the path, only to bump into an old man also waiting his turn.
I, being annoyed by the entire experience, consolled the old man...

This experience taught me a lot of things, but the one most important piece of information I got from it all was simply this:
We're not called a third world country for nothing!

1 comment:

Bruce Johnson said...

I am not sure if the third world moniker is a bad thing or not. We are so obsessed with lines in this country that we have taken it to the other extreme. Transients and beggers will offer to stand in line for you if you pay them, so you are not inconvienced by having to stand in line for 30 minutes while waiting to file paperwork. Now that is progress!!!! I think the world might get more done, if there were more fist fights in line.