University of Brighton, Brighton

Although many of us have already forgotten the momentous day that was Standinaqueue Day, I am rather pleased to say that it has not been forgotten by the lovely Dr David Brand. Yesterday in my inbox, I received his brilliant entry about a queue that he was in on November the 9th:

Here is my, admittedly rather late, contribution to StandinaQueue Day:

A few days after StandinaQueue Day, I looked at your website and thought, rather sadly, that I hadn’t actually stood in any queues on the great day. But then I realised that I had, in fact, stood in a rather interesting queue without realising it.

A new professor at the University of Brighton was due to give an inaugural lecture with the intriguing title ‘Smashing Atoms’; here’s the slightly alarming poster for it:

(I’m afraid that I have no other pictures.) Well, as I knew the Professor slightly, I felt that I should attend her lecture, so I trekked off to the University after work. The lecture room was at the back of the main building; it was comfortable, but rather cold.

We were told that refreshments would be provided after the lecture in the canteen (two floors above the lecture theatre). So, at the end of the lecture, all the academics, friends and family of the professor, and assorted hangers-on moved towards the door and the stairs. The inevitable result (since this was England) was the formation of a delightful queue of around 100 people.

William Deed, as you have so rightly stressed on many occasions, it is the essence of the English queue that there should be no talking (or any other inessential communication). In this case, however, everyone in the queue knew several other people there. The result, of course, was that the queue became noisy and rather ill-defined. People kept seeing other friends at other places in the queue, and moving one or two places towards the back or front.

Eventually, we arrived at the canteen where only two people were serving wine and food. This meant that the queue moved very slowly, but the prospect of a glass of wine was enough to keep us all happy.

As people in a queue move through it they usually walk away after they have reached the front (and been served). In this queue, though, people just moved aside a little, so that the queue gradually changed shape from a line into a kind of amorphous rectangle. People suddenly recognised friends that had been some way away from them in the queue, so there was quite a bit of shuffling around.

After taking our glass of plonk and a plate of food, we all mingled and chatted, and the noise level began to rise steadily. I’m glad to say, however, that everyone behaved impeccably, and there was no unseemly jostling.

So I did StandinaQueue on StandinaQueue Day after all. I hope that this account of a happy, chatting queue will add to the considerable body of queue research that you, William Deed are in the process of amassing for the benefit of mankind.

Pret A Manger & Greggs, London

We have another entry for International Standinaqueue Day.

I am very pleased to welcome Picklin Paul the Prince of Pickles who reports on two queues from London town. He has also thrown in an extra queue from Chicago O’Hare which, although international, was unfortunately not taken on Standinaqueue Day. But, as we’re all friends here, I don’t think that anyone will mind this inclusion.

Without further ado:

Overall, I really enjoyed my day of queuing but I really could do with some advice on the art of queue photography. As you can see I missed queues and failed to capture complete queues. Mainly this was due to a shyness about taking a picture and then having to remain in the queue. This explains the rather furtive first picture shot at waist height – it was a shame I forgot to turn the flash off therefore completley negating any attempt to hide my photography.

The first queue of the day was in Pret A Manger. There was only one queue for four servers which always leads to tension as opportunists try and jump in. Notice the gentleman all in black standing slightly outside the queue, attempting to block any attempted queue jump.

He wasn’t helped by the man on the coffee machine (you can just see him on the far left with a baseball cap on). He was asking people in the queue if they wanted a coffee. This allowed the more assertive queuer to get their order in first. Surely this practice negates the whole point of the queue?

Next a retrospective queue photograph from Greggs.

Being new to the art of queue photography I wandered in unprepared and found a short queue and an efficient server. I left with a pasty but no photograph. You will just have to imagine the service.

Finally, not a queue from Standinaqueue Day but a rare oddity. A highly regulated queue from America.

This one was for passport control at Chicago O’Hare airport. On a recent trip to the States I found that automation and a highly effective table service culture had made queues a rare experience. But as you can see they can queue when they want to. The flags helped to emphasis that everyone was welcome in this queue – how’s that for professionalism?

HSBC, Kilburn

The third and final entry for today is from the delightful Willoughby. If you have never visited his blog, I suggest you do so now.

His entry is actually for Standinaqueue Day, but has been a little tardy in its arrival:

This is a queue in my local HSBC. There is always a queue there, so this was no surprise. But can you imagine my upset when I realised that the guy right at the front of the queue was actually reading a paper!

I don’t know about you, but I felt this broke queue etiquette by being just a little too brazen about how long he intended to hold us up.

I’d love your expert opinion on this.

Love, Manchester

We have another entry for International Standinaqueue Day. Hooray.

I have also received a couple of emails from those wanting to know if they can send in late entries for International Standinaqueue Day, and the answer is of course. And if there is anyone else out there who has a queue but just hasn’t got round to sending it (to standinaqueue@gmail.com), then please do so and be part of this unforgettable day.

Without further ado may I introduce Simon from Love, who shares with us his experience of the telephone queue:

Queuing for me on the National Day seemed very limited – maybe I should have tried harder – but I did have to call Leeds City Council as they’d forgotten to collect our Green recycling bin the previous day.

I was then kept in a queue for more than fifteen minutes. It’s a very lonely life in a telephone queue – you can’t talk to your fellow queue-ers, or even see how near the front
you are. You’re just in a void. Anyway, once I was connected they said they’d come and pick up the bins within 48 hours.

They didn’t.

Waterloo, London

We have another entry for International Standinaqueue Day. Hooray. The brilliant Tom Blackford reports on the queues in Waterloo Station.

In london, as everybody knows, money talks, so it should come as no suprise to see dedicated ‘first class only’ queues in the ticket offices of stations in our beloved captial.

It is, however, commonly accepted by all good people that when standing before the cold efficiency of the automated ticket vending machine, all men (and women) are equal -  a view clearly not shared by the enraged city-type who, in the absence of a machine dedicated to important people like himself had taken to executing daring dives towards the coveted front few places in each queue, in the hope that someone would notice his obvious importance, do the decent thing, and let him in.

The queue were already moving slowly due to delays arising from an absurd design flaw in the machines which meant that, without bending over and obscenely thrusting one’s behind into the crotch of the person behind, the majority of the screen used to enter one’s pin number is obscured from view.

Clearly, in an effort to cut costs within the creaking Rail system, somebody had employed pygmies to test the ergonomics of the machines, with tragic consequences.  As it was, I was left to smirk into my copy of Metro as said city type lunged ever faster between the various queues, before eventually retreating in despair.

A smirk which was soon replaced by a grimace of pain as I realised that in all the excitement, I too had missed my train.

Wal*mart, Kentucky, US of A

We have another entry from the States. The lovely Miss Cellania also reports on a Wal*mart queue but this time it’s in the state of Kentucky:

I am sad to say that my digital camera died when I dropped it on vacation last week. But I did stand in a line this morning at a discount store that I hate to patronize, but sometimes have no choice.

I noticed that there were two checkout options. The express lane (for ten items or less), or the self-serve line, which I have never tried (and don’t intend to). The other 25 checkout lanes were closed. This is the case most mornings when they aren’t busy. I went through the express lane, then remarked to the clerk that I originally had 15 items, but I decided not to buy five of them because of the checkout situation. I doubt she understood, or cared.

There is a photo of an interesting queue today at Arbroath:

Wal*mart, Urbana in Illinois, U.S of A

I am rather pleased to announce that National Standinaqueue Day has just turned International with our first entry from the United States.

Jenn LaMontagne reports on her queue experience in her local Wal*mart:

Well, Standinaqueue Day was a roaring success for me. Being a new mom, I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t have any opportunities to queue, as I rarely have time to do anything other than go to work and go home again. Luckily for me, though, today I needed a stop at the Wal-Mart over lunch to pick up a couple of items for tonight’s dinner.

The Wal-Mart is always an interesting experience, just by its sheer size. This Wal-mart has no less than 25 check-out lanes, stretching so far that you can not see to the 1st lane while standing at the 25th. So, as you can imagine, at mid-day on a weekday, only 2 or 3 lanes are open.

Finding which of the 25 lanes are the 2 or 3 they have decided to open is a challenge itself. Also, being rather short, I can’t see over the top of the shelves of impulse buys (candy, magazines, whathaveyou) separating each of the checkout lanes to see if a particular lane is occupied, how many shoppers are in line, and how much stuff the shoppers have yet to unload and ring up. Always a dilemma. Do I stick with the lane close by with 3 people with 1/2 full carts, or do I walk another 75 feet in hopes that the lane mid-way down has fewer people? It’s a timewaster either way.

Now, as to the queue on this particular day. I had only a few items, so chose the “20 items or less” lane. Two people with one cart at the front of the line, followed by 1 lady with an armful of items. Swinging my cart into the lane, I turned to the side to read the tabloid headlines for the week.

Poor queuing etiquette, perhaps, but certainly not so flagrant as to warrant the disrespect that followed, as a woman with 2 or 3 items brazenly cut right in front of me! So now, instead of 2 in front, I had 3. And a fine example of American queue behavior on this, International Standinaqueue Day!

The line-cutter was quite a larger woman than I, and Wal-Mart can at times attract less than savory customers, so I kept my words to myself and resigned to having lost my place. Thinking this would be my only finding to report, I turned my attention back to the front.

My astonishment was not yet complete though, for I soon realized the 2 with 1 cart at the head of the line were themselves engaged in an egregious breech of the checkout lane rules. 20 items or less, reads the sign. These 2, having more than 20 items in their cart, had decided that one would unload and then pay for some, while the other would unload and pay for the rest, as though they were each a separate customer with the maximum # of items, rather than a single customer with far too many items.

Would rather they just checked out their 40 items all at once, as it would have required less time of the cashier, and a shorter wait for me.

So, in all, a successful Standinaqueue Day for me – even though I had a rather uneventful queuing experience, would have been a good day anyway, having a chance to get out of the house!

Enjoy!
PS – Sorry I have no pictures to send to illustrate! I will perhaps try to take a photo this weekend, so that you can appreciate the vast expanse the checkout lanes occupy.

Four Seasons, Bayswater

Our next post for National Standinaqueue Day is from the lovely Hsien, who reports on a queue from lively London Town:

We went to the Four Seasons restaurant in London at 84 Queensway. It’s one of the best roast duck restaurants in the city and is so popular, the queue fills up the entrance way and spills over onto the street during weekends.

Fearing the same fate on weekdays, I made sure to get to Four Seasons at 11:50 this morning. Lo and behold, these three Japanese guys (and my mother-in-law behind them) were already there! Sadly, no proper queue ever formed during our meal so the mob that I had hoped to capture never materialized. RATS!! I shall endeavor to find a more impressive queue for standinaqueue fans next time.

Oh, and I should add that for all the talk about the Japanese being terrific queuer-uppers, these three were just milling around. The atrocity! I’ve never seen anything like it during my five years in Japan.

Gary Wood’s Sitting Room, Edinburgh

The next entry we have for Standinaqueue Day is from Leila, appearing here in all her different genres which are queuing up to go back into the wardrobe.

Tesco, Hackney

The third entry for National Standinaqueue Day (hooray), comes from our friend Spike who is currently studying queues to, and I quote, change and enhance the inevitable queuing experience by engaging the public using playful intervention.

More on that here.

She writes:

seems i have spent most of my day observing the cashpoint queue on the corner of gray’s inn and clerkenwell. (i’m sure i looked quite suspicious…a mohawked bird taking photos
from across the street for 2 hours)

it was getting good and busy, till the cashpoint ran out of money!

anyways, i DID spend about 4 minutes in the hackney central tesco queue – which is a shock in itself, cos usually its much longer than that. and yesterday, a fight almost broke out among 2 customers in the queue next to me.

my favourite bit about grocery store queues is checking out the combinations of items you see on the counter. i’ve attached my assortment of the day.