Giovanni Cafaro is available to stand in line seven days a week 'for those who don't have the time or desire'
They are arguably the twin plagues of life in Italy in 2014: mass unemployment and long waits for the most basic of bureaucratic tasks.
One man, though, has come up with a way of simultaneously combatting one problem and exploiting the other – by becoming a professional, €10-an-hour queuer.
"Bureaucracy in Italy is deadly," Giovanni Cafaro told Italian newspaper La Stampa, which recounted his story on its front page, poetically dubbing his self-created occupation "that of the patient man".
"I am the person who will wait in line for those who don't have the time or desire," he added.
The 42-year-old, who is originally from the southern city of Salerno but has lived in Milan for 12 years, lost his job at a clothing company last summer when his employers shut up shop.
Since then, he said, he had sent out about 500 CVs and received fewer than 10 replies. He is not alone in finding the job market hopeless: in November, Italy's unemployment rate hit a new high of 12.7%.
Cafaro, however, was undeterred: he decided to offer people the chance to rediscover hours of their lives by standing in line for them at locations such as the post office and the bank. He is available seven days a week, evenings too. He says he feels quite "at home" at the local tax office.
"The queues to pay [an unpopular property tax] are my daily bread," he was quoted as saying.
Since launching himself into this uncharted territory of self-employment, Cafaro, who has a degree in communications science, said demand had been increasing.
"I've had calls from Rimini, La Spezia, Naples," he said. "If all goes well I'll expand and set up an agency."
Asked whether he was tempted to follow other Italians out of the country, Cafaro said: "I can speak English and I have a degree but I'm not thinking of going abroad. It would be a defeat. It would be like throwing in the sponge. The future is here. My future is here."
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