Does waiting on the phone count? If so, six hours to get someone at the IRS, so they could fix the mistake in 2 minutes.

Line to vote in 2020 Presidential election.

Waited just over a year in the Steam Deck line.

I thought waiting a line with 30 to 40 people ahead was a nightmare, until I saw the Brits queuing for a mile to see the deceased queen. That day I realized no one can beat the Brits at queuing.

Waiting for my checks from trickle-down economics to roll in.

Probably not the longest, but the most ridiculous. We have a big free African music festival in our city and there are loads of different food stalls with great food. There was a Kenyan one that my best friend really wanted to go to as she lived in Kenya when she was a kid, and the queue was big which usually means good food. However once we were in the queue we realised the queue was moving really slowly… No matter, it must be worth it when we get there surely… After 45 mins I really wanted to go somewhere else but the sunk cost fallacy and the thought of getting in another queue made me stay… After over an hour we finally get to the front and realise that the reason it’s so slow is because they have the most illogical ordering system that doesn’t make sense, and even the staff seem totally confused. An hour and a half later we finally get our food and it’s ok. Just ok. In a big field full of amazing food we managed to pick the most mediocre one, and stupidly queued along with loads of other stupid queueing people for no good reason except being in a queue.

7 hours at the DMV only to get rejected even after checking documents when I arrived because I needed another one.

Never went back to that hellhole office and found another one that took 15 minutes.

Waited 3 hours for a Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios.

Family used to go to Disney World in Orlando every winter when I was a kid, and we ended up visiting Universal too one of the years. At the time, the Harry Potter section was still new so everyone wanted to check it out. We got in line for the main ride which runs through a giant Hogwarts castle. Every time we thought we had finally made it, the line snaked into a new room and we would all groan. We probably shuffled through rooms for like 2 hours until the line went outside and you could finally see the sheer volume of people ahead of us. Eventually we did make it and I was very excited to finally see what the ride was-!

Turns out the entire thing was just 15 minutes of rocking around on a seat while watching a projected video of some dudes on broomsticks.

I remember the first thing we all joked about afterwards was how much of a let-down the final ride was after all that build-up. Funny enough, today I still only really remember the wait in line and almost nothing about the ride.

This also ended up being the last of our Orlando trips. My mom found out she had cancer around that time and would pass a few years later. Now writing this out, I wonder how she felt back then, spending one of her last remaining moments in this world waiting in line for a silly theme park ride.

For me at least, the entire thing is still a fond memory with family.

I am no longer interested in amusement parks unless I have some kind of fast pass (or it’s a slow enough day to not need one). If the line takes 2-3 hours, you only get to ride 3-4 rides in an 8 hour period, and even then only if you don’t eat (or eat in line and don’t have to wait in line for the food).

These days, the longest line I’m willing to wait in is like 15 minutes.

I once waited 3.5 hours for free pancakes at IHOP. I had a shit week and just wanted some free pancakes, but they accidentally crossed my name out before even seating me, so I saw multiple groups arrive after, eat, and leave before my dumbass thought “maybe I should say something.”

Also, my phone was dead for the last 2 hours of that.

I had to wait in line for 3-4 hours for airport security, for a 40 minute flight.
It might not have been the longest line, but it sure felt like it. It was the first time we used that airport, and every time the line passed a corner I was sure that we would be reaching the end. But no, just more of the line. Winding and winding through the corridors, up and down the escalators. At one point I was almost convinced we were all going in circles :)

All day at the emergency room when my ex burned the skin off his palm. This was the very early 1990s and apparently they triaged: Gunshot wounds, then anyone who had insurance and could pay, then everyone else. So it became a much more complicated medical event than it needed to be, and he was in pain the whole time.

Traffic. I25 north from Denver. 3 hours from when I realized my fuck-up to the next possible exit thanks to a flatbed truck across all 3 lanes trying to remove a white suv that was somehow high centered perpendicular on the concrete median with no visible damage.

One of the rides at Disney World. I honestly don’t even remember what ride it was. It clearly wasn’t worth the wait lol

Probably the Empire State Building. It was about 3 or 4 hours, but instead of one line, it was a series of lines. It was set up so that you think you’re done with the line only to be at the end of another line.

Another line I can remember was for a food truck. It was the 4th of July and my city has a food truck fest every year. During the pandemic, there were fewer trucks than normal. Ended up in a line that was like 2 and a half hours only for the food truck to stop sales about 7 or 8 people in front of me. I was hangry after that.

As far as a non physical line, I waited 2 years to get a CPAP. I almost gave up on getting one when it finally happened.