Ten minutes in line for a sandwich is too much.
Ten hours in line for an iPhone 5 is a party.
Rashard Keen, who estimates he'd wait no more than 20 minutes for lunch, waited all night for the Apple store in Uptown Minneapolis to open Friday morning. He watched a movie on his iPad with those nearby and ordered dinner -- delivery, of course, so he could stay in line -- from a nearby restaurant.
"It's the hype. You fall in love with an item and get addicted to it," said Keen, 29. "It's a game, too, to come out here and beat the crowds."
Hordes of Apple fanboys and girls lined up across the Twin Cities to get their hands on the superstar tech company's latest offering, and while most people bristle at the thought of sitting in traffic or being put on hold, some seek out the chance to be the first, be in the wolfpack. And are happy about it.
"They pat each other on the back and say, 'Aren't we cool? We're in this line,'" said Richard Larson, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies queues. "Instead of a negative temporary imprisonment forced by somebody else, you and your friends decide to join this and make a social event of it."
The Mall of America opened one entrance at 5:30 a.m. Friday to let shoppers line up before the Apple store's 8 a.m. opening. At Rosedale Center, the food court opened at midnight for those who felt the urge to camp out.
Lines formed even though people could buy online for home delivery -- 2 million people did in the first 24 hours of pre-sale.