When I was a child, I often queued; queuing became a daily routine for us children.
In the 1960s and 1970s, due to the shortage of materials, people had to queue up to buy everything, including rice, meat, sugar, wine, etc. At that time, because there were too many people queuing up, parents would not be able to buy anything for a while, so parents would arrange for their children to queue up, and when it was almost their turn to buy something, the parents would come to buy.
Once, my second uncle returned to his hometown from Henan to visit relatives. My mother wanted to entertain him well, so she borrowed 2 kilograms of meat coupons from her aunt the night before. At exactly 1 o'clock in the morning, as soon as the chicken began to crow for the first time, my mother put on a large cotton coat and went to the meat stall to queue up. When I arrived at the meat stall, I saw that there were already people queuing up. My mother counted and she was ranked 17th. My mother spent most of the night in front of the meat stall. The next morning, I got up early to see if my mother had bought meat.
It was ten o'clock in the morning. I saw that my mother was still in third place. I thought, it's almost time. I bought the meat and the whole family and my second uncle had a good meal. I saw that the two people in front of my mother were I had already bought the meat happily, and it was my mother's turn. I happily stood aside, holding the corner of my mother's clothes, waiting for my mother to buy the meat home. At this time, I heard the uncle who sold the meat say to my mother: "Sister, I'm sorry, the meat has been sold out, why don't you come back and buy it tomorrow!" My mother didn't say when, but I saw tears in her eyes, and I couldn't help but Cry out loud. In those days, crying couldn't solve the problem. My mother spent most of the night, but when it was almost her turn, the items were sold out. Who could blame her? She could only blame herself for the bad timing.
In order to allow my second uncle to eat meat, I said to my mother: "Mom, I am not leaving. I will take your place and wait until tomorrow. I must buy meat!" My mother couldn't bear it at first, and then nodded after thinking for a while. He said to me: "Okay, because of your second uncle, he hasn't been home for 10 years. It's time for him to have a good meal of meat." In this way, I have always been in the first place, and even eating is my mother Sent. When it got dark, my mother came again wearing her big cotton coat and said to me distressedly: "My child, you are only 13 years old. Go back to sleep. Anyway, we are first in line and we will definitely be able to buy meat tomorrow morning!" That night! , mother spent time at the meat stall again. Later, I heard from my father that it rained heavily in the middle of the night. It was my father who gave my mother a raincoat. I slept soundly and had no idea about the heavy rain in the middle of the night. The next morning, my mother finally bought 6 kilograms of meat, which was all the meat stamps for our family for one month. She also borrowed 2 kilograms of meat stamps from my aunt's family, and she had to pay them back later. The second uncle finally ate meat. Of course, the details of the meat purchase were not known to the second uncle.
After the reform and opening up, supplies gradually became abundant, and people gradually stopped queuing up to buy things. Especially since the new century, various supplies have been quite abundant, and many businesses have adopted various effective methods to compete. Promotional means, grain, meat, wine, household appliances, etc., all products are delivered to your door. The days of queuing up to buy things are gone forever.
Note: The picture comes from the Internet
