Shelley Bridgeman: Are you a queue jumper?

It takes someone with a special sense of entitlement to try their luck with queue jumping. Photo / Getty

Queues are inevitable. Even if you go out of your way to avoid peak times and large crowds, you can become caught up in a miniature one at the supermarket, bakery, book shop, bank or movie theatre. I'm partial to a well organised queue, one that is orderly and populated by people with a sense of fairness, but don't get me started on queues that turn bad.

As discussed in 2012, there are plenty of potential irritations that lie in wait for the unsuspecting queue participant. Here are the six main problems.

1. QUEUE JUMPERS

People who attempt to cut in give queues a bad name. When everyone else is patiently waiting their turn, it takes someone with a special sense of entitlement to try their luck with queue jumping. I've always found it strange that a queue jumper seeks only the permission of the person he (or she) is sneaking in front of. Really, everybody in the queue behind the point at which he/she wishes to insert himself/herself should get to vote on the proposition.

Research has shown that if queue jumpers give a reason (even if it makes no sense) for needing to cut in line, they're much more likely to be allowed to do so.

2. QUEUE DENIERS

I encountered one of these in the local Bakers Delight on Sunday. I was the fourth person waiting to be served. Although there wasn't a line per se, it was clear by everyone's position where in the system they were. I stood back so the three people ahead would naturally be served before me. Not everyone observes such courtesies. When the fifth person entered the shop, she waltzed ahead right up to the counter where the first two shoppers were. I didn't take my eyes off this woman. I was prepared for confrontation if she tried to get served ahead of me. She wasn't oblivious to the concept of waiting for her turn; she was attempting to foil the system. I was onto her. Sure enough, when we were the only two people left, the bakery assistant looked at each of us in turn, silently asking who was next in line. I paused just long enough to register that this woman wasn't going do to the decent thing and indicate that I'd been waiting longer. I placed my order knowing my initial instinct had been correct. She was a strategic queue denier, hoping to gain advantage over other customers.

3. ENABLERS

Shop assistants who reward bad queuing behaviour, and fellow queue mates who are too polite to cause a kerfuffle, inadvertently ensure that queue jumpers and queue deniers continue with their antisocial antics. In such circumstances, politeness and inertia can be the enemies of fairness.

4. MULTIPLE QUEUES

A single queue that feeds into multiple service operators is preferable to several standalone queues because it means everyone will be served in the right order. When customers are forced to choose which queue to join, it's almost guaranteed they'll regret their decision mere seconds later. It's a well documented phenomenon that we always think the "other" queue moves faster than the one we're in. But that's not always true. In fact, it's been revealed that it's more about how your brain perceives time while you are waiting.

5. LAST-IN-LINE PRIVILEGES

Another problem with multiple checkouts is that sometimes people last in line can be served ahead of those who have been waiting longer. This happens when an extra checkout is newly opened; in such circumstances, people at the back of the adjacent queue typically peel off to take advantage of it, leaving people ahead of them stranded in the old queue.

6. BANTER AT PEAK TIMES

I'm not against a bit of friendly chitchat between customer and shop assistant but excessive nattering and laughing when people are waiting in line just isn't necessary.

***

Finally, recent research from Denmark revealed that serving the last person in the queue first would be most efficient. If people were no longer rewarded by getting there early, a backlog would not form and people would be able to be served almost as soon as they arrived.

It's a great idea but I can't see it taking off. Even if some people try to subvert it, the first-come-first-served rule is ingrained in our collective psyche.