What's the deal with standing in line these days? I saw it in Russia as well, but mostly western Europe. I'm sure there must be some sort of sociological reason why some Europeans don't like waiting their turn, but I've yet to figure it out. A couple years ago my wife and I were standing in line at an Italy rail station, waiting to talk to a customer service rep. The line stretched out the door of the office, and we had been waiting for over 45 minutes for our turn to talk to the only person running the office. Just as we were 3 people from the desk, this woman comes up and sort of casually takes place in line in front of us. My wife says, "Excuse me, there's a line, people have been waiting." The woman says, in an Italian accent, "This is Italy, we do things differently here than you do." My wife, who's not usually one for confrontation says, "You're being a rude b...., why don't you wait like everyone else!" The woman rolls her eyes, and walks to the back of the line. The British woman behind us says, "Thank you for saying something." It was absolutely hilarious looking back, but it still makes me wonder why some people think they're more important than others.