#Microblog Mondays 183: Queue Up
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I just read about the “sociocultural history of the line,” a topic that doesn’t sound very interesting but turns out to be fascinating.
Did you know that the first historical recording of people using a line was in 1837? Before that you just gathered around the counter and joined the push to be served. I would have never gotten bread. First of all, I’m usually too short to be seen over a counter. Beyond that, I would have given up in about three seconds. I have a weak will to push into crowds.
The rest of the article is about how we behave in line and our willingness to participate in the construction. Read it — I promise you will think about it the next time you’re in a long line at the grocery store.
Which would you rather do — queue up or join a free-for-all at the counter?
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14 comments
I’ve learnt how to push through when needed 🙂
That article was weirdly fascinating. One thing that struck me was this whole idea of the virtue of busyness and how so many companies are trying to profit off that.
A line sounds a lot less violent than a rush to the counter. I’m also too short to be acknowledged from over a lot of counters. (Moe’s “Mexican” restaurant is a good example. I usually have to order through the refrigerated food case in front because my mouth is exactly where the top of the counter is so nobody can hear what I’m saying.) However, if there were no line… the New Yorker in me would make sure I got fed.
I’m going to argue that you would have perfected the elbow jab, fighting your way effectively to the front of the counter to get what you needed. Most people who hate crowds tend to be no-nonsense this way.
I remember reading articles prior to the Olympic games in Beijing about teaching people to form lines. Apparently we are the odd ones: http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/everyone-line-up-canadas-tradition-of-orderly-queuing-foreign-and-strange-to-many-newcomers
What?! That sounds really late in time…
ha. We’re going to go skiing in a another country soon where I’ve heard they have no idea what a line is, or don’t care. I will freak out. I love lines. I love order, I love keeping my kids in order. This is going to be rough.
As the name suggested I am too OCD for a “willy nilly” approach to getting things. I like the idea of a nice orderly line where you stand in your place and wait your turn. Plus I am such a push over I would let any old person, lady with a child, handsome man, or just overall sad looking person go in front of me and would inevitably never get what I wanted. Lines are good. With that being said I also have almost no patience so I will more than likely wine the entire time I’m in a line about how long it’s taking. Meh! It is it what it is….LOL!
Typical Canadian here — I would definitely prefer a lineup, and preferably ONE lineup where the next person in line gets served, no matter how many cash registers are open. 😉
Pretty sure it was a Freakonomics pod cast that talked all about queueing and it was fascinating. They were saying how inefficient it is, and I seem to remember there was a theory that the most efficient way for a line to function is for the person who has arrived most recently to be at the front! I don’t mind the odd chaotic free-for-all…
Wow. I would not have expected that to be such a recent thing. The article sounds fascinating! FTR, I first thought it was the sociocultural history of geometric lines (even though “queue” in the title should have tipped me off), and I would definitely read that, as well.
That was FASCINATING! My favorite part was when he went to Do and there was no line: “It felt pointless to spend the $4 without waiting.” The waiting somehow makes it seem more valued, which is weird but makes sense. I would totally rather wait in a line than push to the front of a counter. (Although in college I was pretty good at getting to the front of the keg line, with shameful cleavage-pushing…) I really enjoyed that article, thanks for sharing!
Interesting article. I am pretty good about pushing to the front…I was always the shortest so everyone would make me push and weave to get to the front of the crowds during shows…
I would much rather stand in a line, within reason. Krispy Kreme’s are re-opening all over and the lines are ridiculous. I won’t be waiting in any sort of fad-have-to-have -it line. I can’t think of a good example right now, but I know that it is almost never worth the wait.
Stands for concert T-shirt’s never have a line, just a mass of people. It’s sort of obnoxious but also a little fun to be able to get to the front and make a purchase amid the chaos.
I haven’t read the article, but look forward to it. When I was 17 I went from NZ where we are very British and queue for everything, from living in a sparsely populated country where our personal space distances are large, to living in a city of 10 million or so (give or take a few million) where they don’t queue. Culture shock!
My husband is great at making his way through crowds. I’m not. I’m tall, and so feel like a bully if I push through. (I often feel that short people get away with it more easily. Though obviously not in your case!)
I’m thinking I might need to write about queues now!
Like Geochick, I love the order-from-chaos of the line.
While we lived in the Middle East, we joked with others about how much Americans respect the line compared to others (think customs line when arriving in Syria; those arriving home crowded and the Americans like us queued, which was a disadvantage in this setting).
This article was interesting to me to find out the line’s French and British roots.
Given a choice, I prefer the line. Though, I get really antsy in long lines.