Queuing- what’s the story behind it?
Posted by Fast-Perception5945@reddit | AskABrit | View on Reddit | 43 comments
As an Irish person there are some specific aspects of our beloved neighbours in Britain that seem very strange to me - not necessarily indicative of a broader strangeness but still very odd- like for example the imperative to organise people standing in a queue- I was at a work event in London recently and there were multiple people from the organisers employed simply to direct and organise how we queued up to register.
In Ireland people would just have spread out in a slightly haphazard fashion and approached the registration desk in an order that closely resembled the sequence in which they had originally arrived and everyone would have gotten looked after in due course.
In England it was apparently critically important that we all stood in double file and squashed up under the careful and highly technical direction of the organisers in an orderly and regimented fashion.
BreqsCousin@reddit
It's important to be fair and to have others recognise me as behaving in a fair manner.
I don't want to be served later than I deserve but I ALSO don't want to seem like I'm trying to get served earlier than I deserve.
Without a clear queue I might I accidentally push in front of someone.
Fast-Perception5945@reddit (OP)
Interesting- fairness and courtesy are important to Irish people also we’re just maybe a little more chill about it perhaps.
I suppose it’s the kind of thinking that you need if you want to have an imperial adventure across the entire planet and not have anyone marching out of line on the way!
Subterraniate2@reddit
Ive never noticed any trouble with queues in Ireland. Maybe at a bus stop where a bus is very overdue, but as a rule queuing seems as normal here as it does in GB,
Fast-Perception5945@reddit (OP)
Ya it works fine- though it’s probably a little more disorganised at times than in the UK
Zr0w3n00@reddit
Ah yes, the Irish, well known for fairness and courtesy.
Fast-Perception5945@reddit (OP)
Ouch judging by the downvotes I think I have caused offence which was very genuinely not my intention. As a supplemental question, do you really think that Irish people don’t value fairness and courtesy? It’s my strong view that we do btw.
Aromatic_Pea_4249@reddit
Definitely let a person with a lot fewer items to buy in front - unless - they try to barge in because they only have a few things to buy. Then icy politeness takes over and the end of the queue is pointed out to them.
I'm also a sucker for a child joining a queue just to buy a bag of sweeties or a magazine, I'll let them in front of me everytime.
Fast-Perception5945@reddit (OP)
Absolutely- it’s a courtesy to be graciously extended and graciously accepted not to be arrogantly presumed.
rh6078@reddit
I have visited Ireland several times for work and pleasure and the vast majority of people have been fair and courteous and I’m personally not aware of there being a stereotype that suggests otherwise
R4ndomResp4wn@reddit
In Cuba they have a very fair system. You rock up and ask who is last in the queue (there is never really a line per se), the last person identifies themselves and now you are La última and so on. You just remember the person who was last when you arrived and it all works out.
Impossible_Theme_148@reddit
How would that work when there's a 100 people (or more)?
Riovem@reddit
Easily, each person only needs to remember one or two people.
If I'm 97 it doesn't matter who's 16.i know who was 96 and who was 98. That's all I need.
Impossible_Theme_148@reddit
If you are 97 you only need to know who is 96
How do you find out who 96 is?
If you ask someone they might be 16 and surrounded by people who are 4, 8, 23 etc
You can ask someone else and they might be in the 30s or 40s and surrounded by others with a similar number
Asking who is last in the queue obviously works with 20 or 30 people
It seems less obvious once you get into triple figures (or quadruple if you think about the queue for an arena or stadium)
Hence why I asked the question
Riovem@reddit
They said? You ask "who was last"
And it's helpful to know who's after you in case they forget.
Stratospheric-Ferret@reddit
I quite like that system.
kebabby72@reddit
In Thailand, you leave your flip-flops in the queue position and retreat to shade.
Fast-Perception5945@reddit (OP)
Could you not just… I dunno join the queue and stay behind the person before you- is that crazy talk?
R4ndomResp4wn@reddit
There often isn’t an obvious queue, or it’s a bit of a wait and someone is off to the side chilling in the shade rather than a big line in blazing sun. The system works for them, and they have to do a lot of queuing.
Historical_Project86@reddit
It's just a system that works. In Spain, at least Madrid, when someone enters a shop, say a grocers, they just ask "Who's last?", so they know who they go after.
Double-elephant@reddit
At the bus stop when I was coming home late from work, I’d often just lean against a post and wait. I knew exactly who was before me (often I was the first) and when the bus came I would step forward at the correct point in the queue in my head. Sometimes, if it was busy, I’d get a sharp look, or (rarely) “Oi! There’s a queue y’know!” but usually someone would say “oh, it’s fine, she’s been waiting ages”.
I think Brits are now born with an internal queue receptor…
WatchingTellyNow@reddit
As it was a work event, I wonder whether the nationality of the queue members wasn't all Brits but maybe a good few other nationalities? That may be why they had the queue police in place. Any normal place that has queues do it the same as you do, including the invisible queue at the bar of a pub. I don't think you can judge an entire nation by a single work event.
Fast-Perception5945@reddit (OP)
Yes a good point. It was a mix of different European business people who were already queueing in an orderly fashion until the organisers took charge of regulating where everyone stood- to the point of directing people to step forward into very close quarters even though there was lots of room for the queue
PootMcGroot@reddit
Queuing in a British pub is roughly like you describe in Ireland - there is no actual physical queue, but you will be served in the exact order you arrived, not a rough approximation.
That's also the case in many "informal" queues - like people waiting in a pharamacy.
The important thing is people are served in order - that exact order, and in many situations, that's people standing in a line.
It's about fairness, and ensuring fairness. No matter how drunk someone is in a pub, they would not attempt to be served before people waiting longer, even though there's no physical queue.
Fast-Perception5945@reddit (OP)
Haha it’s a free for all at the bar in an Irish person on a busy night and can be a bit chaotic - but everyone gets sorted and hydrated in due course and no one gets too bent out of shape about it
runwithcolour@reddit
As a Brit married to an Irishman who I once saw organise people at a taxi rank into a queue - you guys queue just as much as we do. The haphazard system you describe is the standard, but at organised events organisers sometimes go beyond that. It reduces the chance of attendees complaining that it’s poorly organised. Don’t judge everyday queuing practices the same as organised events.
Fast-Perception5945@reddit (OP)
A good point thanks I hadn’t thought of that
Plus_Band_3283@reddit
Queues in the U.K. were formalised during rationing in WW2. People didn’t just get ration books, they had assigned stores to shop at. Butchers, bakers, clothes stores so that the correct amount of stock could be sent to each store. Queues ensured fairness. Everybody rationed and everybody got the same rations, even the royal family and the political elite. Everyone was encouraged to supplement their rations by growing food in their gardens, which most people did.
Queueing became so normalised that people during the war would join queues without knowing what they were queueing for.
The behaviour stuck.
Fast-Perception5945@reddit (OP)
Great insight thank so much
Great_Chipmunk4357@reddit
Americans wait in line.
One_Complex6429@reddit
Get to the back of the queue.
ume-shu@reddit
Oh look another "You Brits are weird for using this sensible system that other countries also use" type reddit post.
Yawn.
Friendly_Database263@reddit
It makes sense and prevents any altercations. Why should someone who just turned up get “serviced” before people who were there first. I will pull you up if you try and skip me in a queue. I do it at the turnstiles going into football matches all the time. Most people know they are in the wrong and back down….most.
OllyDee@reddit
I think it’s just a sense of fair-play and respect. Now granted I would think that being British, but I genuinely do think there’s an element of truth to it. I’ve often wondered why though. Maybe it’s just good manners.
Jayatthemoment@reddit
In case you never noticed, we like deciding what’s best for people and telling them what to do …
Fast-Perception5945@reddit (OP)
True!
Rowmyownboat@reddit
Your one experience of queueing in England involves the queue Gestapo and assume all of our queueing is like that?
Queueing is based on a sense and an expectation of fairness.
Fast-Perception5945@reddit (OP)
Very helpful thanks
littlerabbits72@reddit
I suspect it's the inherent embarrassment in the "you first, no you go, no no, you were here first, no I insist" conversations that would likely ensue.
Better when you know where you stand.
Fast-Perception5945@reddit (OP)
Yes that makes sense
nathanherts@reddit
In those instances the organiser's are usually there to maintain order so it doesn't piss of the neighbouring businesses/ other people just going about their day.
Fast-Perception5945@reddit (OP)
This was indoors in a large conference venue where everyone in the venue was attending the same event.
KonkeyDongPrime@reddit
Wait in line long enough and someone will let you know.
qualityvote2@reddit
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