“In fact, queues are places where people are obsessed with fairness, and where cutting in line is seen as a terrible crime that can lead to all sorts of scuffles, fights and frictions. “People usually choose to queue because it is fair,” Professor Haslam says. Groups of people will often self-organise while waiting. “The environment is set up to imply queuing, and people are accustomed to following those expectations.”īut queuing is not always imposed on us. “If you see one of those long, serpentine queues leading to the Qantas check-in counters, it is very clear that you are supposed to queue,” says Professor Haslam. How do they achieve this? It all comes down to environmental design and, in many cases, the structured placement of retractable queue barriers. In fact, Professor Haslam says most service providers actively encourage their customers to queue, all without saying a word. With many services in constant demand, queuing is inevitable. “It also prevents people who are the loudest, the most devious, the most assertive or the biggest from gaining unfair advantage.” But in a world where there is more demand than supply, queuing is a very efficient way to deliver a service without having a scrum of people fighting to get to it first. “If we could get the desired level of service when we wanted it, there wouldn’t be queues. “Queuing exists because there is an imbalance between the supply and demand of services,” he says. People queuing to visit the Eiffel Tower: Picture: Alexandre Duret-Lutz/Flickr Professor Nick Haslam, from the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne, describes queuing as a social norm, governed by unspoken rules promoting efficiency and equality. It’s something we all do, whether we are waiting for a bus, our morning coffee or in the supermarket.īut how do we know when and where to form a queue? What rules do we obey and why are we so accustomed to waiting in line?
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