<p>Funny thread!</p>
<p>Before the Olympics in Beijing they had people practice queuing. Apparently the Chinese don’t understand the concept…apparently most Americans don’t either.
Been there done that at Home Depot and the supermarket and the deli counter…</p>
<p>Where I live, it is quite common (usually at a bank) to stand in line, then tell the person in front or behind you that you are leaving to do something but are coming back… Everyone accepts this without a murmur. It is not fun when you almost reach the front of the queue and someone miraculously jumps to the front as they apparently were there earlier. I challenged this the first few times it happened to me but everyone else in the queue stood up for the queue jumper…so now I just fume inwardly and try and transport myself to a better place in my head!</p>
<p>I hate being in the first group to board an airplane. All it does is that you get elbowed and get to sniff everyone that passes you. I’d much rather be the last to board and be noticed by all. Everybody gets to sniff me too :)</p>
<p>^^ But on Southwest you’d miss out on the anticipation of whether the oncoming passenger will pick the center seat next you or not. You’d miss out on the opportunity to not look them in the eyes, place your jacket or paper on the seat, spread out your arms to appear to take up more room, etc. in an attempt to discourage anyone from sitting there. You’d be inwardly happy to see that thin lady decide to skip your middle seat thinking to yourself, “another one down, just a few more to go and I have it made”, only to find out some college basketball or football player is eyeing ‘your’ seat and alas, decides to take it.</p>
<p>I kinda like the middle seat. The aisle seat is nice, but everyone passes by you. The window seat is nice but the rowmates are looking thru you to see the wing and clouds, you have to move thru two other people to get to the loo, a bit colder too. The middle seat is just right-you get to your choice of disturbing the left person or the right person, or both.</p>
<p>I no longer go to HD Because of the autocheckout. The other one is better.</p>
<p>If you go skiing in Europe, you might get your skis all scarred up because those people do not know how to queue at all. What I don’t get is that if they are scarring up the tops of your skis, then they are also scarring up the bottoms of theirs.</p>
<p>I totally agree about Home Depot and other stores with self-checkout and no queuing instructions. Makes me insane.</p>
<p>But that car merging thing makes me even more insane. Silverweed, I finally came to the same conclusion that you did. There are too many people who will take advantage if everyone merges early; you just have to stick with two lanes until the end. But here’s the good thing. Don’t you like that kinship you feel with your fellow drivers when you stay right on one another’s bumpers to keep the line jumper from merging? :)</p>
<p>“Don’t you like that kinship you feel with your fellow drivers when you stay right on one another’s bumpers to keep the line jumper from merging?”</p>
<p>Except that there is always that one person, usually the one right in front of you, that let’s at least ten cars in.</p>
<p><<it’s difficult=“” for=“” most=“” people=“” to=“” grasp=“” the=“” concept=“” that=“” best=“” outcome=“” themselves=“” is=“” achieved=“” when=“” they=“” take=“” into=“” consideration=“” not=“” only=“” their=“” own=“” desires=“” and=“” interests=“” but=“” those=“” of=“” group=“” as=“” well.=“” seem=“” think=“” if=“” about=“” keep=“” doing=“” things=“” benefit=“” them,=“” they’ll=“” come=“” out=“” on=“” top…=“” won’t=“” everyone=“” suffers.=“”>></it’s></p>
<p>If this was applied to our entire lives (not just driving or standing in a line), then the world would be a better place for ALL OF US</p>
<p>As Spock said in Star Trek II, “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one”.</p>
<p>I guess this thread is supposed to be about proper etiquette for waiting in lines. Instead I wonder if it is time for Home Depot to face chapter 11. I used to shop at KMart but the check out lines just got too long and I avoided the store. The same thing started to happen at CompUSA. Now both the KMart and CompUSA stores have closed.</p>
<p>“Don’t you like that kinship you feel with your fellow drivers when you stay right on one another’s bumpers to keep the line jumper from merging?”</p>
<p>…and I thought that line jumper stuff was just a Rochester thing, we call them “chislers” - on the commute it is the same people everyday. If there are two turning lanes at a stop light, #2 will go up to the front of the other turning lane aside #1 instead of being behind him, just to gun it and cut him off after the turn…who died and made YOU so important???</p>
<p>Strange timing. For the last almost 8 yrs I have volunteered at my kids school at snack time. Just last week the other volunteer and I were so frustrated that we both had to tell the kids several times “Do you know what a line is?”
Also I hate those self service lines at Home Depot. I avoid them. My H on the other hand loves them. If he can figure out how to get those machines to work without all the beeping I don’t understand why he doesn’t know how to work the washing machine.</p>
<p>^^ it’s a condition known as “selective technology incompetence”</p>
<p>I bet he’d figure it out if you stopped doing his laundry :-)</p>
<p>I actually don’t mind his laundry. I just laugh at the few times he needs to wash something and I am not home. He doesn’t wear anything complicated and nothing that needs ironing.
Plus he does something in return for me. Drives my early morning carpool when it is my week. Which to me is priceless.</p>
<p>My personal pet peeve is at the gas station. I’ve always thought, everyone drives in, faces in one direction, waits for a spot at a pump on the side where their gas cap is. No circling around like a vulture! Never fail, I’m patiently waiting in line only to have my turn taken by a “circler” pointing the wrong way!!</p>
<p>(Of course my whole family thinks I’m absolutely insane…“What are you TALKING about, there’s no RIGHT way at the gas station!!”. Even my own mother! <em>sigh</em>*)</p>
<p>JustaMom, that used to be my pet peeve, too, until I discovered Costco gas stations: one-way entrance and exit and the hoses long enough to reach the tank no matter what side of the car is facing the pump. And now they let you earn 3% cashback with a Costco Amex card.</p>
<p>And I join the crowd of HD sef-checkout haters!</p>
<p>I don’t much care for the self-checkout lanes. If I have only a couple of things it’s ok, but if I have a lot, including random produce, it’s always faster if a cashier does it for me. That’s what they get paid for, right? I’d hate to put them out of a job. ;)</p>
<p>Plus there’s inevitably some item that has to be looked up, or the machine won’t let you buy wine, or something…Grrr.</p>
<p>The lines at Whole Foods are so well managed by store personnel that nobody complains about the wait. Everyone knows that their turn will come eventually (and fairly) and no one will jump the line, so the stress level is very low. If more stores understood this (and why don’t they??), that people are willing to wait as long as it’s organized and they’re assured of fairness, their business would improve. Maybe now that stores are begging for business, they’ll get with the program. Being a big box discount store will not save you in this economic climate if people hate shopping there – witness Circuit City’s bankruptcy. (Personally, I hate shopping at Home Depot or Lowe’s precisely because of lack of customer service. It’s worth it for me to go to the neighborhood hardware store.)</p>
<p>Circuit City’s demise started when they laid off their most knowlegeable (most expensive) empolyees and replaced them with cheap HS dropouts. At least that’s what I think happened in our area. I stopped going to their store because I could never get any help from their sales associates. The local Costco impressed me once again when their photography expert gave me some really good tips and recommendations about digital cameras.</p>