Long Lines Before Technology

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Banff Canada.

I wonder what happened to a friend who warned me against internet banking. She was scared of all those hackers on the loose. She must be banking online by now because the government and all service providers dragged us kicking and screaming to it.

We don’t even think about it any more. Don’t have a computer? No problem because apps enable you to check your bank balance on your phone, if you have any balance, at all. Technology is responsible for most job losses but we don’t miss long lines.

1. I was held up at the bank because of long lines.

2. I tried to renew my passport but lines went round the block.

3. I need a visa for Canada but I keep postponing it when I think about long lines at the embassy.

4. We need season tickets for Raptors and hockey games but who has time to stand in line.

5. Harlem Globetrotters will be in town next month. I was put off by long lines, before the ticket office even opened.

6. It’s Friday, so supermarket lines for cashiers are crazy. I’ll do it tomorrow.

7. I’m broke. Let me try my luck and play the Lotto. I laughed when I first saw long lines at a Bay Street mall in Toronto. Bay Street is synonymous with money. That’s why I didn’t expect them to play hit or miss schemes like sweepstakes.

8. Let’s fly to Banff National Park to see the Canadian Rockies up close and personal. Sorry. I cringe when I think of airports and check-in lines.

That’s all behind us now.  Supermarkets have self-serve cashiers now. Most things are done and found online, except COVID-19 in 2020. It spoilt all the fun because we made vaccination appointments online, but waited in long lines for the little prick. 

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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