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How To Cut In Line and Not Get Caught
ewenc writes "A psychology study of hundreds of people waiting for front-row access to U2 concerts points to the best ways to cut in line and not get caught. 'Super-fans' are most irked by queue-jumpers. People were equally peeved whether someone cut in front or behind, and cutters who jumped beside a friend were less likely to attract scorn."
...THESE GUYS! Seriously, can anyone explain a possible application for this research, other than acting like a prick?
Great... first post syndrome in the "real world"... what is this world coming to?
I'm waiting for a "-1 somepeoplejustshouldn'tgetmodprivileges" meta-moderation.
Preventing people like acting like pricks? Someone has to design the crowd control system, you know.
Oh great!
Now science is coming to the aid of line-cutters everywhere.. Though I'm usually not the type of person willing to wait in line for hours (regardless of the reason), seeing someone cutting into a line (however short it may be) really pisses me off.
It's one of those tell-tale things about a person's character. It implies, at the least, that the line-cutter lacks civility, or simply couldn't care less for "social norms". At the most, it's a sign of someone who simply thinks the "rules" do not apply to them, and everything that can get them ahead is fair game. In the latter case, it's also often accompanied with smugness: "stupid idiots waiting in line."
Sure, cutting a line is by no means a serious offense. And in most cases these lines are purely informal, so one could make the argument that cutting the line is a simple display of expedience, and that no rules have been broken.. But seeing as though many of society's rules are entirely unwritten (and often unspoken), such attitude is disruptive to say the least. Not trying to spread FUD here, but it's the kind of thing that when widespread, brings nothing but chaos into even the most simple of things.
If you were in a concentration camp, and you were in line to get bread but there was only so much bread, it could save your life by getting you food? Grasping at straws perhaps...
Suppose you're standing in line, and suddenly a whole line of people just slides into place right next to your line - at least as long as your line, in parallel, and apparently planning to enter into the venue in parallel.
Do you object? Do you assume that a second line has been "officially" been opened and you just missed out?
What if the new line of people has a lot more people than your line, and they start looking over at your line and saying "Hey - get to the back of the line! No cutting!" Does a fight break out - even if your line is obviously going to lose?
For full study results, see this month's Journal of American Douchebag Studies.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Sounds like they're in the running for an Ig Nobel Prize.
is to pretend you're doing a study on line cutting, and interview someone near the front just as they start letting people in. Then release an actual study to prevent reprisals. Then profit?
Basic research doesn't always have immediate applications. Studying the psychology and sociology of lines is a hot topic among retailers though. How do you get people to line up like cattle and still have them feel like they're being treated reasonably well, and fairly? At least well enough that they come back. How does our society react to cheaters? The answer determines how many (and what kind) of cheaters will tend to exist. Are there differences between cultures or does our sense of fairness have some component that is innate to all humans?
Generally, I have more important things to care about than if I have to wait an extra minute and a half because 3 people just got in front of me.
If I'm in line, then I just expect to wait and wait it out. -5 or +5 minutes in a 60 minute wait doesn't make a difference to me... I would rather stand there and zone out into Willy Wonka land and be happy.
Now in a situation where I'm not expecting to wait, it is much more frustrating. For example if I step up to order a hamburger, and the cashier decides to step out to smoke first... Then I'm irate.
90% of the time, it works all of the time.
Why does research have to have an immediately obvious purpose? I'm sure there have been millions of discoveries made by people just "messing around" with some aspect of science. This sort of thing is great in my opinion. If we only funded research that could be justified as "useful" the world would be a much more boring place.
http://twitter.com/onion2k
Everyone knows there are a few ways to cut a line that work every time:
1) be in a wheelchair,
2) be carrying a screaming baby,
3) have "credentials" of some kind.
So if you have a press pass and a screaming baby and you're in a wheelchair, in theory you should be able to cut the restroom line in the last game of the world series, Boston at NYY, wearing a Boston hat, without getting a second look.
stuff |
I think i learned this in high school when waiting to buy stuff at lunch. See a friend? Go say hi, start talking, act like you're not going to buy anything, and then when your friend gets to the front, look kind of surprised and "decide" to order something. Or instead, say "thanks for saving my spot", which people somehow value as a legitimate line technique. At a concert, try "hey man, wow, it took me forever to find parking!".
Now give me my god damn nobel prize.
What the hell is it with "researchers" doing projects that i figured out in high school?
-Taylor
Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
There isnt. besides the fact that this study is common sense, its a pretty worthless study. if youre jumping in line, you probably wouldnt care either way about what the people behind you think. i guess their "social psychology" degrees were bought on the internet for 3 dollars.
can anyone explain a possible application for this research, other than acting like a prick?
Better understanding of group mentality and the human psyche. Seems more worthwhile to me than developing a more powerful bomb. Then again, I am just a bleeding heart liberal.
Given the history of concentration camps, I'm not so sure I'd be all that eager to get in any line at all, let alone cut towards the front.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
user. Gah, sometime slashdot really irks me.
I post, it said I hit my limit, so I typed that bit about anon, then I forgot to click the ANon button and hit submit..and it took it.
You know, I can make my self look like a big enough ass without slashdots help~
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Murder everyone else in line.
You may get caught for the murders, but no one will ever know you cut in line.
The enemies of Democracy are
When I was at school there was an implicit code among students in which you could let all your friends get in the line AS LONG AS IT WAS IN FRONT OF YOU. Teachers couldn't understand how every student was fine with that, but since everyone accepted it and everyone benefited from it from time to time nobody ever complained.
Sure, there's a bunch of them. Right off the top of my head, I can think that such studies could be useful in terms of understanding how to best evacuate buildings, how to design queuing areas, how to optimize queues so as to be as unannoying and brief as possible, etc.
no application, they just cut in line when the gov was handing out research grants
could anyone explain a possible application for quantum theory at first?
and then we got transistors.
Best queue jumping story so far.
I was at Disneyland a couple of weeks ago and a woman was pushing through people in the Pirates line with her ~4 year old son. We let her go by because it looked like they were rejoining someone up front. Then we heard the woman say to a group in front of us, "Sorry, he doesn't know how to wait". Well, how the hell is he going to learn?
The article references "line Nazis" who mark everyone's hand with their position in line.
Obviously, you write a "1" on your hand, walk to the front of the line, then walk back along the line counting people. 30 peole back, you write "31" on someone's hand, hand them a marker and tell them to work their way backwards while you work your way forwards. You get to the front of the line, write "2" on the first guy's hand, nod with satisfaction at a job well done, and turn to face front.
If anyone objects, you just show them your hand...
First off, Transylvania University is in Kentucky.
... the origins and cultural development of vampires? ... and their obsession with U2?
Second off, Transylvania?
An "anthropologist at Transylvania University" researches
It might look like I'm writing a reply to this post, but actually I'm just trying to get as close to the top of the page as possible.
Why don't they just get a mage to polymorph them all into sheep like every other group that needs crowd control?
Why?
Do you know something I don't?
One swallow does not a fellatrix make
Cuting in line a problem? Ha! In South America we don't have such problem, as there aren't any lines. We replace a long period of diciplined standing time with a short period of mayhem until you get through the gate.
I know that I don't want to be in ANY line in a concentration camp. 50% of the time it probably leads to something like the "showers".
You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.
Detecting queue jumpers and techniques to apply lethal force to their genitalia
I went to a Madness concert a few years back, it was delayed by a few hours and we arrived a bit late too only to see a massive queue of people waiting.
My dad being the big fan of Madness that he is didnt really want to stand at the back so near the front of the queue we saw two people drinking beer and already seemed fairly drunk and just randomly started talking to them acting like we were best friends. Concert queues are good in that sense as everyone seems to be friendly and you know you already have the band in common. The people infront of us didnt care and the people behind us thought we were in the same group.
I got front row nearby a speaker and my punishment since has been living with tinnitus. Cheating always has a price attached to it.
Line cutting doesn't bother me, as long as they understand the fact that for ever extra group of people cutting increases the chances of me sparking up a joint. "Everybody needs a little 'fuck it' in their life"
Hey somebody cut!
Including most enlighteningly: "How to pay for concert tickets with grant money and not get caught."
Ten years or so ago I bought an advance-purchase ticket to attend the London Boat Show. I arrived early. Together with many other overly-keen boat geeks, I was marshalled by an official into an ever-growing queue of advance-purchase ticket holders awaiting the opening of the gates. The queue was kept 30 yards off to one side to allow access to the ticket booths for those buying their tickets on the day. The many gates duly opened but our queue was kept in line and stationary by the uniformed official. Others were arriving, buying their tickets, and gaining immediate admission. One or two from our queue tried to make a break for it but were bullied sternly back into line by the queue-fascist. I refused to be shuffled back into line and caused the official to run around barking as if he were a sheep dog trying to gather a stray as I marched purposefully towards the gate. Realising I was a lost cause he returned to marshalling the line. I turned before passing through the gates to offer encouragement to others to disobey authority. I was surprised to be met by the hostile stares of the still-imprisoned.
Paul Beardsell
Yes. It's actually a study in the annoyance level of useless research studies. You'll be receiving your cohort survey shortly.
While it wasn't scientific research like this, your post reminds me of Velcro, which was invented after George de Mestral looked at burrs caught in his dog's hair.
how to piss on the toilet seat and not wipe it off.
how to cut people off in traffic and not get shot at.
how to impregnate your friends wife and have them raise your kid.
I can think of only one award prestigious enough for this research.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Balls, I so much for not actually checking the links in the preview.
improbable.com
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Speaking solely from non-scientific anecdotal evidence, I have noticed a large difference between cultures in this regard. I've observed that my fellow Americans and I are easy game for Europeans and most other cultures when it comes to finding a target to cut in front of in line. We seem to like having a larger bubble of personal space and can be easily distracted from our place in the line, allowing large gaps to build up. Conversely I've noticed in both the US and the relatively few places I've visited abroad that non-Americans tend to jam themselves within inches of each other like cattle, breathing down each others necks.
Why does research have to have an immediately obvious purpose?
Because there are people like me who want to cut in front of people like rather than waiting 40 minutes for the best damn burrito in a 50 mile radius AND I don't want you getting mad at me for cutting in. ROFL
But seriously, there are probably immediate applicaiotns for this research. I lucked out at a car rental place and showed just before 20 other people. It was a long wait for those behind me. While I was waiting to go up, a platinum member walked in the door and right to the counter. I thought the people behind me were going to riot.
Anyone who thinks this research is about learning how to cut in line needs to read the article. This is about what kinds of line-cutting annoys other line-goers the most.
Another way to look at this is as disturbing a stable system to learn about it. People line up in queues everywhere, and do it without even thinking. This generates several interesting questions: Why? (is it a learned action?) What causes people to dislike it when people cut?(from individual standpoints, someone cutting in line behind you doesn't affect you at all) Why do some people cut in line, and others wait in line? By watching what happens when these lines get undermined, you can learn a bit about why they're created, as well as the respective thought processes.
The point of the research is to try to understand the whole queueing process, not to learn how to be a dick.
Every year, the folks down at Best Buy run a sale for the day after Thanksgiving. I know other places do this.. but I've never seen it as bad as at Best Buy. There's alway a huge line (and I used to stand in it).... but right as the doors open, there's always this mob of people who rush the door and just work their way in, regardless of the folks in line. It used to just piss me off to no end, but now I simply don't go.
Just because you had government sponsored dickery training and license at one time does not make it right.
It just makes your dickery portfolio thicker with dickery experience unavailable to the average "civilian" dick.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
...how much more effective your bullets would be - if you used a gun. You could take out up to 5 people with a single bullet.
On the other hand you might be able to take out the entire line with only a couple of explosive thingies.
Slamming into the line with a combine harvester would also prove rather effective I presume.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I have always found that the best way is to carry two cups of coffee, looking for someone near the front of the line who looks like they could use a cup (helps if it is cold out), offer them the second cup, strike up a brief conversation and slide through.
Someone should study queuing in italy... Basically it's first come first serve for a line of 2 or fewer people. After that the line turns into an amorphous blob where people shove there way to the front by any means necessary.
Maybe they just haven't researched the spell yet?
.Seriously, can anyone explain a possible application for this research
scitntists could use their new reaserch to move faster in the line at the patent office. just look at the wright brothers. even though langly's plane was a piece of crap they were both almost done at the same time.
Its not my fault, someone put a wall in my way.
I just want to support the parent's point about retailing. They're really starting to get involved in the psychology of shopping. I'd highly recommend Why We Buy to anyone remotely interested in this stuff. It was actually required reading for one of my marketing classes.
But if we combined these two fields of research, perhaps we could build a more powerful bomb that only targets pricks who cut in line!
I'm so excited I just made water in my pantaloons!
Becasue your one little piece of life is nothing more then an anecdote?
You realize that their ENTIRE study consisted of a U2 fan going to ONE U2 concert and ASKING the people in line how they felt about cutting and how big of fans they were?
That's not a study. That's a poll of statistically insignificant sample size. At least the guy who went to high school collected data over 4 years.
paintball
And I'm jumping in beside a friend. It's less likely to attract scorn.
When I was in Spain I noticed that the Spanish don't know how to form lines. It drives the Brits nuts. Spaniards kind of flock, which completely disturbs the nice orderly line that the British want to form.
And that is why you book your rental online. No need to be a platinum member and no need to wait in line like the plebes.
Best. Deadpan. Ever.
The point of the research is to try to understand the whole queueing process, not to learn how to be a dick.
thanks for the warning, i was about to read the article..
not only is time travel possible, it's irrelevant.
Wasn't there a Cory Doctorow story in which the hero was an expert in queue-forming?
At the Democratic Convention this summer in Denver, I lost count of the number of people who claimed they were delegates or otherwise had special credentials, and should be allowed to cut in line in front of us. We knew better - a person in our group really was a delegate (and waited in a different line, and got into the stadium long before us.)
It stopped being funny about four hours into the wait. Those people around us in line, had all gotten to know each other pretty well. The line experience was actually a pretty important part of the event, and while I won't say we "enjoyed" it, the time passed quite pleasantly, aside from the endless people who would try to cut in line, without realizing that everybody in line KNEW who was in line within 30 meters of themselves. And there was great solidarity.
Then, right at the end of the line there was a way to cut in from across the road -- and if you tried it, you had about a 30% chance of getting in the gate, or getting escorted off the Ivesco Field premises and not allowed back. People seem to not understand that the police at an event like that either are, or report directly to, Federal Secret Service. It was frustrating to say the least, but to watch them getting arrested was pretty satisfying.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
I was at $big_club_store a few months ago. After checking out, there was a long line to LEAVE the store. You know what I'm talking about-- the person at the exit who "verifies" your purchase by glancing at the receipt then drawing a line through it with a highlighter. Security Theater at its finest.
I had already waited in line to pay, and although I am normally a patient person I wasn't about to give them ten more minutes of my time.
I walked right past the line and out the door. The attendant told me to stop. She said she would have to call the manager. I said "fine"... but kept walking right out the door.
Did I cut in line?
Please tell me more, and add some proof of your assertions.
One swallow does not a fellatrix make
Sorry I'm late guys. Your mom says hi.
Ah ha. Just wait until you meet one or two of those Chinese ladies who wear skimpy clothes. They love to cut in front of you and pretend they know you or something. Geez...
I notice this happens a lot with, say waiting in line to get on a bus. People move up in line as space opens up, even if there's noone getting on the bus, or it hasn't arrived yet.
It's pasrtly to keep a sense of movement, nobody likes standing still for too long, and to prevent the jackasses outside the line from cutting in and slipping into the gaps, as well as the jackasses who start a new line, going the other way, at the front of the line.
Generally, though, the lines at the terminus are fairly lax, people sit, people smoke, etc, but tighten up once the ones who think they're sneaky show up.
I remember reading that if you make vocal contact, and add a reason "..because XYZ" - people are more than likely to let you proceed.
If you just arrive and slot in without saying a word, you've created a hostile situation - it's easy to be irritated at a stranger.
However, if you approach, make contact:
"Hi - would you mind if I drop in, because I've got a taxi waiting / I just had to fill in this form / etc" - even if they're not happy about it, most people can't bring themselves to be bluntly rude to someone that is 'polite'.
Incidentally, from living in France, I've learned that queues are generally for people who have time to waste. Normally in most queuing situations, some people *do* have more reason to be further up than others.
she witnessed one sure-fire tactic at a show, when a late-arriving fan made wild sprint to the front the instant the gates opened
FTW!
... Pamela Purse yelled "Ladies First!"
Hey buddy! How are you doing? Oh hey, mind if i cut in here?
So... we can expect a new kernel scheduler soon?
I hope if you don't mind that I jump ahead ...
PS: Some mod points wont go astray though, it will help us all get ahead
G
One of the episodes of The people watchers deals exactly with this: people jumping queue at an ATM machine. While this kind of line is much easier to jump (because is much shorter) the factors are all described and exemplified there.
The people watchers - Episode 6
url: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008y404
When I told the guy he should let me in "because I'm better than you. . .".
I think they missed the whole reason why line-cutters piss everyone off. It's because I came out here and invested time and discomfort - maybe a lot of both - to ensure my position in line. If someone cuts in, it's saying that they have no respect for the time and suffering I endured to get where I am at. Not only that, but the ONLY thing that allows their technique to work is the fact that people line up in the first place. If everybody tried to cut everyone else, it would be like Asia. So these douches are using my good-natured actions as a weapon to use against me and gain advantage over me. That PISSES me off.
...is if they could have convinced all the students at Newcomb Hall Pavillion XI not to "save seats" by placing their bookbags at tables. This resulted in long duration "occupancy" times of seats there, with a portion of the "occupancy" comprising a time where the seat was "occupied" by... a bookbag! I've never actually modeled it, but it seems like when the dining area was particularly crowded, it would suddenly "flash over" and you end up with poor students who refuse to engage in this unethical practice looking around for a seat, being confronted with a seating area of roughly 30% or more "saved" seats. As a result, people are driven towards this low standard of behavior, since nobody wants to move a bookbag and say, "you weren't there, your bookbag didn't look like it needed a seat; but I did".
The whole thing always used to infuriate me; but I was so busy in school there was no time to lobby for any kind of sign to be posted. I wonder how effective such a sign would have been. Ironicly, the honor system at UVa may have contributed to the problem--students were not afraid to leave their bookbags unattended, since stealing was an honor offense. Townies who knew of this behavior would occasionally take advantage of it; either that or somebody who was going to drop out anyway was stealing books and selling them back to the bookstore. However, at least at Newcomb Hall, people felt pretty secure. This was over 15 years ago. I wonder what it's like now. Maybe they finally realized how annoying the "saving seats" thing is when it's applied to a situation where there is "turnover" in the seats. It's not a problem at the movies, where all seats are cleared at the end of the show.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
If we only funded research that could be justified as "useful" the world would be a much more boring place.
Unfortunately, this is pretty much how the current scientific funding systems work. Mainly because grant funding is administered by small-minded fools in government, who haven't the faintest grasp of the truth of your statement.
However, one classic study found that New Yorkers were more likely to react to people who cut in front of them in a subway queue than behind.
So, you want to cut in line behind the big guy and in front of the little guy.
There's no need to get locked up for terrorism. Scarfing a couple of bean burritos usually works for me!
Oh, excuse me AC, didn't I go to school with you? How have you been? Have you heard from so-and-so recently... oh, what's this? The line is moving? Do you mind if I hang out with you for awhile?
A line? for U2 tickets!? You gotta be kidding!?!?
Cutting in line is easier than most people think. As long as you act normal and confident, virtually no one in our docile society will want to start an almost assuredly unpleasant confrontation.
First, don't get the impression that I'm someone who normally cuts in line. I'm the kind of person who, unless instructed otherwise, would probably wait patiently in an emergency room holding my own freshly-severed leg until called upon by a nurse or doctor. Now with that pleasant qualification out of the way...
The only time in my life I've ever intentionally cut in line was when I went with a group of four people to a night club. It was the only time I've ever been to a night club, in fact, and it must have been a pretty popular one because there were people lined up for about two blocks waiting to get in. But the guy who brought us there took one look at the line and said, "follow me." I knew what he was about to do, but I didn't feel it was right and was skeptical we'd get away with it anyhow. With all the people and the bouncers and probably even video cameras, we'd not simply be able to cut in line and not have anyone notice.
But cut we did. And we didn't just skip half the line or 3/4 of it, we went all the way to the front. I was waiting for one of the bouncers to say, "hey, you guys weren't here a second ago," but they never said anything. Waved their metal detectors around, stamped us all on the hand and let us in. After we were apparently in, I started wondering how the @#$% we just pulled that off. I can only imagine that it's because we didn't draw attention to ourselves and we didn't look suspicious whilst executing the cut. Perhaps because we acted like we were supposed to be cutting in line, everyone else assumed that we were entitled to. Like VIPs or something. Who knows.
By the time we were ready to leave, the line had moved forward enough that we would have been about 10 feet from the entrance had we stayed in line.
Well here in the SF area we have a system called FastTrack for going through bridge toll points without stopping using an electronic pass.
During peak hours the system gets jammed due to non-FastTrack drivers abusing the open lane to cut in line.
The system directors need this sort of study to understand that it is a serious problem that can create road-rage in addition to delays. And traffic engineers need to systematically analyze the behavior to determine what sort of countermeasures are needed to control it.
But I am irked, for I am a super-fan.
What's funny is that this article didn't give one drop of advice on exactly how to cut in line and not get caught as the title suggests. How misleading!
I clicked on the article in hopes of seeing a guide not to read about a study on fans that get mad...
Excuse me friend. Backcuts!
Preventing people like acting like pricks? Someone has to design the crowd control system, you know.
I believe that tear gas will take care of both of those.
Yo AC's pretend you know me!! i want to ride this less scorn wagon!
The Stanley Milgram paper about cutting in line is better written. This tastyresearch article which summarizes Milgram even has some lessons for queue jumpers.
It reminds me of Archimedes who, sitting in a tub, had an idea of a lightbulb above his head. Normaly you would say that it would be a stupid idea, having it when you are in a bath. Somehow the idea did catch on to have lightbulbs not only in the bathroom, but everywhere else as well.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Anyone else find it ironic that you have to buy a book about finding out why you buy books ?
What a depressingly stupid machine.
Generally, I have more important things to care about than if I have to wait an extra minute and a half because 3 people just got in front of me.
Agreed.
How do you feel if its already been an hour, the line up is half way around the block, and people at the back will take an hour just to reach the position you are at now; and there is probably 50+ people and another half our so to wait in front of you.
And then over that period, half a dozen groups of 5+ show up and join their various friends in front of you (we're talking couples meeting other couples, or groups of friends meeting other groups of friends -- not a boyfriend joining his wife, or the driver joining his group after parking here. This effectively adds another 30 people in front of you, pushing you back another 30 minutes, while speeding them up about an hour and a half.
It gets ridiculous, and infuriating.
I remember when the Wii and PS3 were selling out at launch and people were lining up. Some stores instituted one of the best trends I've ever seen to defeat this, and some lines even SELF ORGANIZED into doing this; they had someone give out numbers to the people as they arrived. One person got one number. (And they were limiting it to one unit per customer.) So if a group sends someone over to line up a 1am, and then his 5 friends showed up at 5 minutes to opening, they couldn't effectively cut in and score a Wii or PS3 while guys that had been there for hours lost out entirely.
start calling them names and don't back down.
i am not tough, yet have won these fights, if all else fails shake your dew up on 'em.
Talk crap till the rising of the tide.
it does work, we geeks in numbers destroy the sellers.
How does someone go about finding a job where you go to concerts you like and research things that are obvious to everyone in the world? What kind of training do you need to pull that off? I need to sign up for that.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
People line up in queues everywhere, and do it without even thinking. This generates several interesting questions: Why?
Is it all that difficult to understand? The vast majority of people have an innate sense of fairness when it comes to interacting in groups of others they don't know. It's built into us as children, taught by our parents, because to behave otherwise would be complete chaos.
Are you playing disconnected-alien-from-another-planet-who-is-seeing-earthling-behaviour-for-the-first-time again? Why does this need study? Are you looking for a grant?
A better study would be why/how SOME people think they're *entitled* to cut in line.
No change there then. Just like waiting for the 521 or any other bendy bus in the morning in London.
Reminds me of the scene in Dangerfield's "Back to School" when the guy (blond 80s university dick - also the dick in 'Karate Kid') tried to cut in the class registration line using the 'friend' technique...and then Robert Downey Jr. tells him he can cut if he gets written permission from everyone behind them in line. Funny scene.
Considering soon we will all be in line here in the US ( think bread lines ) it might be a rather important research project to prevent us common folk from causing 'issues'.
Of course that is after we are disarmed. cant have those pesky pheasants that can defend themselves can we?
( ya, it was a political flame/slam.. so sue me )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Germans can't queue either. The queuing technique is humorously called the "Deutscher Trichter", literally the "German funnel"...
Dude, What's up!
The thing is... Queue performance is predictable. The organisers know how long it takes to service a single request (on average), they know approximately the number of people who are going to use the service and they set the number of service points to minimise the costs of servicing the queue.
Now,if you live in the UK, everyone will stand around for hours with nobody daring to say a word, so they can get away with a fraction of the number of service points which would be required in a country like Germany where queueing is considered quaint. This means that people who live in the UK spend far longer standing in queues than in other countries.
Now, if they bitched to the management, or horror of horrors demanded their money back then queues would be a small fraction of the size they run to now because the management would organise more service points.
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In the early seventies in London the bus lines were fairly orderly. Over the next decade immigrants arrived from cultures where queuing was considered foolish. Also the bus service deteriorated. Gradually, the reserved Brits gave up. On Oxford Street, its now a free for all. If you form a line you can reckon on getting home by midnight.
I moved to Scotland for a while. The lines are still orderly. Just as many immigrants. The difference is that If you jump a line in Glasgow you will spend the next few hours bleeding in the gutter.
I've been stuck in a long queue consisting entirely of people with reservations before.
People line up in queues everywhere, and do it without even thinking.
Not really "everywhere". It's largely cultural. You can see a great deal of variation from place to place.
Not much queuing in say, France, but you can get lynched for jumping a queue in Britain. In Sweden, you see what appears to be a group of people randomly milling about, but really they all know who arrived before them and after them and they each go in turn without discussion (and again, lynch anyone who tries to jump the 'queue').
Why do people line up for getting on a plane, even if they have assigned seats? It's hard to believe that they're all more comfortable standing than sitting in the waiting area.
Oh, and why do people line up for getting out of a plane? Wouldn't it be much more practical if everybody got their luggage and went back to their seat instead of obstructing the aisle?
On iPhone's launchday in some countries, Apple had paid actors to queue in front of the shops. Would these actors let you cut in the queue without a word or would they actually play their role and become angry?
Of course that is after we are disarmed. cant have those pesky pheasants that can defend themselves can we?
Indeed. If all the world's avian inhabitants had access to the courts, the legal system would grind to a halt.
Oh wait, that might be a good thing...
ok ok, non-contextual spell check sucks :)
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I was in a queue here in Barcelona to buy the iPhone when it made its debut in Spain. There were around 80 people in the queue when a man showed up and was stunned by how many people were waiting and was not willing to go to the end of the queue.
When they opened the doors and announced that only the first 20 people would get an iPhone that morning, he offered to pay person #18 to take his spot in the queue. I was #16 so I didn't really care one way or the other, but person #21 did not like it all and they argued about whether it should be considered OK or not.
It got me thinking about the queueing etiquette in this case. Unless the guy that was paid was planning to leave anyway, it doesn't change the position of anyone in the queue, so should it be OK? Should it be OK to hire someone to queue for you, and then step in at the last minute? Or is it necessary to endure the queueing process in order to receive the rewards?
In what Spain were you?
Now go back to your hole in Liverpool or something.
I will burn a virtual hole in the back of your head with my imaginary laser vision, for the crime of perceiving yourself as more important not only than one particular random other person, but of the sum of the value of all those people in line behind you. That is highly antisocial behavior.
Jump into line in front of me and start smoking, however, and
I WILL kill you in self defense.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Hi--I'm one of the authors on the article. We didn't ask for any funding for this research. Just thought I'd make that clear :)
Basic research (...) psychology and sociology (...)
Come on. (Basic) Research in the humanities? Don't be silly!
I'm assuming because you posted as an AC that you're not just kidding. A lot of crap gets passed off as social science research, but the real science is probably the most difficult kind. It's hard to control, the subjects are finicky and the straight forward experiments are unethical. I've got a lot of respect for my colleagues in psych, anthropology et. al.
In Germany the rule is that you have to drive as far as possible before merging.
If you think about it, it's much more logical. The existing road is used better, decreasing the length of a potential traffic jam. If everyone adheres to this rule, nobody gets cut.
Also, whenever there's a merging situation a "zipper" system is dictated (meaning one car from lane 1, then one from lane 2, one from 1, one from 2...).
IMO this is pretty fair and logical. And it works well.
Because they would need an equal number of mages since they can only poly a single target at a time. Have you tried getting a 20,000 group of mages before?
A more systematic approach to the same problem: http://www.spring.org.uk/2008/09/do-you-challenge-queue-jumpers-and-line.php
I don't even know how this works out so well but I've noticed that sometimes it's okay to just start walking to the front of the line while repeatedly saying, "I'm just getting a salad." It doesnt seem to work for porta-john lines though.