The Most Patient Man in Italy is a Professional Queuer

Photo: Bowery men in a bread line in New York City, Bain Collection (Wikimedia Commons)

A wise man once told me that half of life is showing up. The other half is waiting in line.

The economic crisis in Italy has created two big problems, massive level of unemployment and long lines at the government offices. Well, one Italian man decided to kill two birds with one stone by coming up with a solution for both problems at once: becoming a professional queuer.

When he lost his job, Giovanni Cafaro, 40, sent out some 500 resumes but couldn't get a job, so he decided to create his own occupation. "Bureaucracy in Italy is deadly," the self-described patient man told Italian newspaper La Stampa, "I am the person who will wait in line for those who don't have the time or desire."

Cafaro is charging 10 euros per hour to stand in line for other people - seven days a week and even during the evenings - and so far, business is booming. "The queues to pay [an unpopular property tax] are my daily bread," he said in The Guardian. "I've had calls from Rimini, La Spezia, Naples ... if all goes well I'll expand and set up an agency."