Lesson #1 in Spain

It is impossible to do anything quickly in Spain, at least when one is relying on other people to also move quickly. This is not a value judgment, at least not initially, because natives don’t care and don’t have the need to do anything with great speed. So it really only bothers people, like me, who are accustomed to other things.

Today I had an hour break between two of my classes and I had some errands to run. Because my school is in the center of the city, I figured this would not be a hard task to complete.
I walked briskly to El Corte Ingles, the main store in the center, much like a department store with most everything you’d ever have a desire to find. My list was short: birthday card, and snacks. After getting the card (which took slightly more time than I had allotted) I went up to the market and found some fast snack and went to stand in the line.

Lesson #1: Markets are ALWAYS busy in Cordoba. And even if there aren’t a lot of people in the isles (which there usually are), there are always a lot of people waiting to check out. I think there are usually a lot of people in the markets because unlike the US, people grocery shop most days (they don’t have the tendency to “stock up” to the same degree that we do, and are therefore having to shop on a daily basis for most meals they prepare. So the lines are always long partially because there are always a lot of people. But the lines are also very long because there isn’t the same demand/pressure/necessity for the cashier to work briskly (I think this could possibly originate from their naturally slower pace in Spain or the fact that every job has tenure). So the cashiers take their time, do their own price checks, stop the line to do an exchange, all various things that inevitably make the lines incredibly long and slow.

Today was no different. At first I was waiting in a line when an older couple with a filled cart [very intentionally] cut the line in front of me and told me I was better off waiting in a different line. OK. I moved to a different line where the cashier was nowhere to be found. I then moved to another line. The first customer was counting out exact change (oh, and they usually only deal in cash, and in [mostly] exact change, so it takes a little longer than just swiping a card). Then an older gentleman that had already checked out was waiting for a price check (and I assume a refund too) which the cashier started to help then had to call over another cashier (who was already having issues with her stand). I was still another 3 people deep in line and had to forfeit my groceries so I could ensure getting back to school in time.

I was definitely frustrated (mostly because I was hungry), but also was fully aware that it was probably only a problem for me and no one else (who are probably all very accustomed to such practices), which put it all in perspective. Overall, I came to the conclusion that the reason everyone is notoriously late is Spain is because they’re all waiting in market lines.