Cutting In Line

I went to Goldilocks earlier for dinner. I was craving for Filipino food, some adobo or bopis so I decided to drive all the way to Goldilocks in Pleasant Hill which is about 20 minutes away from my house. I patiently stood in line, waiting for my turn to order my food. By the way, this Goldilocks is not like any other Goldilocks. There are no food trays to look at so you can't just point to whatever you want. It's not the "turo-turo"* style Goldilocks. There, you have to order from their menu, you pay for it, you get a number, sit down and wait to be served.

So I stood in line for about 5 minutes, patiently waiting for my turn. I think I was fourth in line. When my turn came and I started placing my order, a sweet, young Filipino girl came up beside me and asked the Cashier if she could pay for her stuff that were sitting on the counter. Cashier girl looks up at me, smiled and said can I just ring her purchase up real quick? I looked at the young girl standing beside me. She's probably around 15 or 16. Then I looked at the Cashier in the eye and said, "You know, I stood in line and patiently waited for my turn. If she's in a hurry, well, I am in a hurry too. I am starving so I'm sorry, you can't let her cut in line. And besides, there's people in back of me waiting for their turn too."

The Cashier was taken aback. Poor woman. She must have expected that I was gonna let that sweet girl slide. But no, she has to learn early in life that if there's a line, then she has to go and stand at the end of the line and wait for her turn. I could have easily let her cut in line. But when you do that to people, they get used to it and they will eventually do it again. I think it is rude to cut in line and I'm sorry to say this but it happens a lot among Filipinos and other Asians.

It must be a cultural thing, huh?

*turo-turo (literally means "point-point" in English) is a Filipino-style dining where all the food are already cooked, placed in trays and all you have to do is point to whatever you like.