The parcels were ready before noon. Volunteers stacked them along the small hall's wall, checked the list, and opened the doors to people waiting in the cold. Then Nedžad, the organizer, said distribution would not start yet. The sponsor was late and wanted to hand out the first parcels personally. Alisa looked toward the entrance, where a woman in work uniform checked her watch. She asked whether they could at least begin with those needing to get to work.
Nedžad replied that explaining who received priority would be difficult afterward. The argument sounded orderly until an older man said his bus left in twenty minutes. Missing it meant a long wait. Nedžad advised patience. Alisa felt the discomfort she had previously suppressed, believing good causes should not be criticized over details. Now she watched somebody's time become material for someone else's ceremony.
Another half hour passed. The uniformed woman left the queue and said she had to go. Perhaps she could collect her parcel another time. Nedžad was already on the telephone and did not hear. Alisa took a parcel, checked the woman's name, and carried it to the door. When she returned, several people stood, assuming distribution had begun. Nedžad pulled her aside and said she was ruining his entire plan.
She asked which part of the plan included a woman potentially losing part of her day's pay because of the delay. He said he could not know everyone's story. Alisa replied that he needed no individual stories to begin at the time he had announced. She neither took his phone nor called on people to protest. She returned to the table and began calling names. Another volunteer stood beside her handing over parcels.
The sponsor arrived when half the hall was already empty. He did not look offended. He asked whether boxes needed carrying. Nedžad offered him a speech, but the man removed his coat and helped an older woman take her things to a taxi. Alisa felt no satisfaction at the organizer's embarrassment. She was angrier at how much humiliation arose from his assumption about what an important guest wanted, without asking a single real question.
They did not invite her to manage the list at the next event. Nedžad said they needed people who could follow agreements. Alisa offered help to another group, asking one simple question about the start time. Later she met the uniformed woman in the street. They waved and continued toward their respective jobs. There was no speech or shared photograph, only several minutes that day nobody had been forced to give away.