Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is something I noticed in Italy. I’m not saying it’s an Italian specific thing, but that is my association at least. See, Italians are temperamental. If you make a mistake, they won’t gently tap on your shoulder, whisper “I’m terribly sorry to disturb you, sir” and *then* tell you what you “could have done differently”. No, they will come right out and say it, yell it most of the time. If you make a small mistake in traffic, you get car horns going off all the way around you, because order must be preserved.

Here’s the rub. Italians will stand in line at the post office or the check out line in the supermarket for an hour without issuing a hint of complaint. They will happily blather on with their friend (or on the cell phone) without the slightest sign of alarm of urgency. This is what I call Italian patience, because in spite of being so impatient in some contexts, they can be incredibly patient elsewhere. Why get pissed off about waiting in line? There’s nothing you can do about it anyway, this is just the way it is.

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