In the Soviet Union it wasn't uncommon to have long wait times for luxury items, like cars.
A man walks into the nearest car dealership and places his order for a brand-new Lada. The salesman reminds him, "Sir, that model has a five-year build time. Are you okay to wait?"
The man says, "sure - but would it be the morning or the afternoon?"
"Why do you care? It's five years away!"
"You see, the television repairman is visiting in the morning, so I was hoping it'd be in the afternoon..."
(Not quite an engineering joke, but I was reminded given the current chipageddon nonsense...)