Taiwanese people are amazingly good at waiting. Waiting in lines, waiting for appointments, waiting in traffic (most of the time they're good at this)...I'm impressed. I'm a patient person but I'm not even close to being as good at this as they are.
With a city this big there are lines for pretty much everything but it's the waiting in a long line at Costco for a little bite of food or a taste of a drink that amazes me. There could be 20-40 people in line and people just stand there patiently until they get their little morsel and then go join another line for a different tidbit. Honestly, I don't know how they do it. I can't even stand in one line for that long without becoming a bit antsy let alone line after line. Then, when they're done shopping, they stand in another line to pay and checkout. A quick trip to Costco can take hours! (One of the many reasons I avoid the place).
Doctor/hospital visits - more waiting! You are assigned a number like at a deli counter and you get to see the doctor when your number is called. Now, if you can read Chinese, you can log into the hospital website to see where they are in the numbers and show up when it's close but I can't do that so I just go and wait. Last Monday I waited for over 7 hours for about 35 minutes of time with my doctor, a PT consultant and the physical therapist. When I was told the physical therapy department could see me right away, that meant waiting for 2.5 hours in the waiting room for a 10 minute consult, 30 minutes waiting in line to pay before I could see the therapist, but by then they were closed for dinner, so waited another 1.5 hours to be seen by them. Everyone is very patient and relaxed while sitting there. It doesn't hurt that I seem to offer an endless amount of entertainment just by being there. All eyes are on me and little kids are especially fascinated. They even come up to touch me to make sure I'm real. No joke!
Supermarkets are okay during the week before 5 but after that or on the weekends, I often feel like a salmon swimming upstream. So many people and they all end up waiting in a really long line to checkout. Trust me when I say I don't do much shopping on the weekends and when I do I go when they first open. That seems to be pretty safe (except for Costco).
Night markets on the weekends are again with the long lines to get food. At least it's for cool things like snake, stinky tofu, chicken butt or fish balls but it's still incredibly long lines and people do it. It's so crowded and hot and sweaty yet they patiently stand in line to order their treat. I don't have it in me. I don't care how good it is, I won't be standing in that line. I just go to the night markets when they first open (around 5ish) and no problems. After 7:00? Good luck and no thanks!
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