New problems waiting in line

Just the fact that “waiting in line” is an unwritten rule we all follow willing is kind of baffling when you think about. And they say people don’t care anymore. Eitherway, we all follow the rules and wait our turn kindly.

Recently, however, the rules of lines seem to be changing. I attribute most of this change to the methods by which people are going about their daily business at stores. I think at one point in time there were separate lines for each outlet…meaning there was a line for each register at the store. You’re at the grocery store and there are four lanes open and there are four lines.

Now with the advent of self-checkouts the rules have been changed seemingly by revolution because now there is just one line that forms way out in the aisle where everyone waits for the next open register.

Say there are four self-checkouts, two on either side of a space. Instead of a line forming behind each one, there is just one line and people take their turns. In some ways this makes perfect sense - it eliminates the quarrels that could arise. But the downside is there is now one long ass line that winds its way down through the aisles disrupting other shoppers and just messing up everything else.

In some places, like fast food places and banks, they solve the single line disruption by putting out barriers that direct you where to go. This is acceptable; One line that is dictated by the establishment. When the line is dictated by the people, you’ll never get anything practical.

A recent experience I had at a local Wendy’s just awakened my mind to this problem. I walked in for lunch and there were no mazes telling you were to go. There were two registers, both with cashiers, and two guys were waiting in line for the one on the right, and the left one was open. My impression was those guys were waiting for that register, one line per register. So I walk over to the left register and the cashier looked at me like I was nuts. Thus she points over to the guys waiting in the other line. I look back and ask, “is there just one line?” She didn’t answer and just pointed.

I gave in because I didn’t want to create a problem, but it is the exact type of problem that happens all over the place. But I bet had someone come in the entrance on the left side of the building and gone right to the open register no one would have said, “hey, you go to the end of this line because this line goes everywhere.”

When there is one line that wiggles its way all around tarnation you have know idea who is in line, who isn’t and what they’re waiting in line for.

Let’s look at the bank drive-thru. You pull up and all the lanes are equally full. You pick lane A and wait to be next. Another car pulls up and gets behind the car line in lane B. Lane B gets done first and the car that came after you gets to go first. Do you get out and say, “woah dude, I was here first, wait your turn.” No. You suffer because you picked a line and it juts so happens it was the fast lane. Tough shit. That’s how it works.

Waiting in a single long line just isn’t practical - very democratic and nice - but not practical. It confuses people and takes up a lot of space. Let’s look at a crude diagram.

The first shows what I experienced; a single line off-center going to a single register when there are clearly two open registers. The second shows what is happening at the self-checkout at places like Kroger; taking up room and not clearly defining anything.

Some simple solutions that were once the norm are like this, where there is a line for each open register. For self-checkouts, it makes sense to have one line for each side, with the first person moving up to the first checkout then filling in the second. This way you’re not getting in the way of others and people know why you’re standing around.

Not until things like the self-checkout did this type of thinking start becoming the norm. Before these things everyone went to one line for each place. No questions asked. If you didn’t like the line you were in, you switched lines. Now we’re seemingly forcing everyone to be in one line.

Let’s get with it and start making things work for us, not against us.