Do you QUEUE?

Singapore
June 23, 2007 10:08am CST
I was watching the news and it was reported that Singaporeans spend 2 years of their lives queuing. I hope to think I continue to be an abnormality here. It just feels ridiculous that so much of our time can be wasted on something as pointless as queuing. It is not that I doubt the wisdom of order and equality. Chaos will erupt if queues are abolished and everyone is forced to elbow their way to their destination. And if the first-come-first-serve rule no longer applies, then the tall will step on the short, and the young will knock down the elderly. So, the benefits of the queuing system are apparent. Yet, do you QUEUE? Are you one who stands in line for your turn when e.g. paying for things or going up the bus? Or are you one of the naughty queue-jumpers who turn a blind eye to those frowning at your act? Or are you one who prefers to wait near the start of the queue but will only take your turn when you reach your "official" place? Or do you boycott the queue altogether, disdaining contact with the crowd? Or are you one to start your own queue, pretending yours is the more legitimate one? Or... ? Do share your thoughts. :)
21 people like this
68 responses
• Singapore
23 Jun 07
HI lordwarwizard, I queue up for the sake of queuing up, just the same as you, I truly think that queuing up is a waste of time. Therefore, I check if there is any queue at counter before making purchases. If there is a queue, I will come back in a few minutes to the counter. However, if I am caught in the queue, I will patiently wait for my turn, it is pointless to jump queue and boycotting the queue.
• Singapore
25 Jun 07
However, I don't understand in the past why foreigners say that Singaporeans are more kiasu?
1 person likes this
• Singapore
25 Jun 07
LOL, seems that the brits are worse then hehe.:P
1 person likes this
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
Right, not to mention it reflects badly on our behaviors.;)
1 person likes this
@lecanis (16647)
• Murfreesboro, Tennessee
23 Jun 07
I live in a small town, and I don't often find myself in a queue for anything. Especially in the summer when many of the university students are gone, it seems like my town has more businesses than people. So if a place is too busy, I will usually just go elsewhere. I have lived in bigger cities where there was more of a problem with queues, and I patiently waited my turn when that happened. Usually I use the time to look at the people around me and imagine things about their lives. Later I would remember the stories and write them down, or tell them to my friends. It's a fun way of exercising your imagination when the time otherwise seems wasted.
3 people like this
@lecanis (16647)
• Murfreesboro, Tennessee
23 Jun 07
But of course! It's so much fun! =)
2 people like this
• Singapore
23 Jun 07
Now I know why your eyes turned pink. :P
4 people like this
• Singapore
23 Jun 07
And indulge in voyeurism perhaps. :P
5 people like this
@charms88 (7538)
• Philippines
23 Jun 07
I always fall in line accordingly. Whether in the grocery, mall or bank. I can't stand seeing anyone trying to make a pass at me. But then, I always zip my mouth and never uttered a word. However, my eyes will turn venomous and wishing that the rude person will stumble or slip on the floor. That would be my day. Nasty thought, don't you think.
• Singapore
23 Jun 07
Just bite them.
4 people like this
@tmlnmr (1850)
• Canada
23 Jun 07
Well Wizard I do queue. I will patiently wait to pay for something but if another till opens up and I am the last person in line I will go to the other till. I should mention to that not only will I wait my turn I will let the person behind me go ahead if I have a lot of stuff and they have only a few things. I will also do this if what I want is going to take a long time. To tell you a story I was in the pharmacy two days ago refilling meds and someone was at the counter so I gave them plenty of room and privacy to talk to the pharmacist and someone else came in and walked right past me and stood right behind them. I more or less ignored it and thought well apparently she needs her meds more than me. I went to the other end and looked at other stuff there while she was talking to the pharmacist until she left then I stood right at the counter. LOL. :)
2 people like this
@Modestah (11179)
• United States
23 Jun 07
she probably did not even notice you were in line since you gave a generous and considerate space for the person ahead of you. I like your attitude, would that more people shared it.
3 people like this
• Singapore
23 Jun 07
I am as sweet as you lol. Like when I have a lot of things to pay for and the guy behind me only has 1 or 2, I will offer to let him go first.
5 people like this
@tmlnmr (1850)
• Canada
23 Jun 07
No I don't imagine she did realize it. I myself likely would have asked before just going past but that is just me. Yes there would be a whole lot less tension if people had that attitude. I just think that I am never in that big of a hurry that I can't wait for one more person.
2 people like this
• India
23 Jun 07
Standing in a queue depends on the priority of the thing to be done. If its something important I will spend time waiting in the queue till my turn is come. Some things can be postponed which I do all the times. I usually go at the odd times when the queue is at its minimal. Going at the peak hours will only waste my time. I follow the rules and don't do anything which is wrong as considered to standing in a queue.
3 people like this
• Singapore
23 Jun 07
And the lunch crowd is the worst lol. :P
3 people like this
@tredale (1309)
• Australia
23 Jun 07
Firstly wizzy I queue, I will stand in line until its my turn. What I want to know is the person that first notice this how did he calculate how long some poor singapoorin queued for. Or was it someone that queued and kept notes.lol Two years is a long time.
3 people like this
• Singapore
23 Jun 07
To be honest, I have no idea. I was waiting for my TV program to start so I was surfing channels. Then I chanced upon the 7pm news and the newscaster just said that and showed people queuing. I guess they must have used some statistics like how long people normally stand in line for different kinds of queues, etc. Take it with a pinch of salt yes... 2 years still sounds real silly if you ask me... imagine doing nothing but waiting in line for 2 years. But of course, 2 years would be the combined time over our lifetime but still..
5 people like this
@tredale (1309)
• Australia
23 Jun 07
I agree but am glad that queuing doesnt seem to happen that much for me I have at least a year and half of extra living.lol
2 people like this
• Singapore
23 Jun 07
Not queuing is like extending life lol. :P
4 people like this
@arkaf61 (10881)
• Canada
24 Jun 07
I queue when the situation requires it. If it takes longer than what I am willing to wait or I can think of an alternative I leave the queue. I don't like queues but I respect them whenever I am in one, and it bothers me deeply when people don't respect them. I can actually get quite mad when I"m waiting for my turn like someone else and then some smart soul decides to just pass in front of everyone else. It bothers me not just that I am loosing my turn for this person that feels so special to pass in front of everyone else but even more the fact that there was a blatant lack of respect for others. I've seen parents doing that with their children and sometimes even telling the kids to go ahead in front of the queue and then they join them there as if the kids have been there all along, and that really ticks me off, they're teaching the kids to be disrespectful. Nobody likes to be in a queue, and yet, we need to and since we do either respect others or get off. I remember a time back home where if you as much as tried to butt in - not that many did - the others in the queue would talk you into going to your place and if you didn't they would get you there by any means. I know this created a few fights here and there but the fact is that queues were respected then. I'm sorry for the long answer but this subject is one that really gets to me :)
@arkaf61 (10881)
• Canada
25 Jun 07
I was too heated and did not explain myself properly, my lord LOL I meant that I've seen parents sending kids to the front of a line - that was already there and had people in line - and then when the line starts going the parents meet the kids at the front of the line - in front of everyone else that was already there. I have no problem with kids queuing and have their parents joining as long as they go to the end of the line as they should. People spend time on those queues not because they enjoy it but because they have to. So it is really not right that someone that just got there goes in front of everyone else.
1 person likes this
• Singapore
25 Jun 07
Oh, you mean forcing the kids to cut queue and then pretending the parents didn't know - along that line. Oh that is wrong of course. What I feel is ok is for the kids to join the queue proper.
1 person likes this
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
Well, asking kids to queue for the parents is not really wrong - because someone has invested time to queue. A kid is a person too.
1 person likes this
@whyaskq (7523)
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
Even if I do not want to queue, I have no choice but to queue. I do not have super privilege to cut queue when everyone else is queuing, especially when there are so many controls in place to manage queues. The only place I do not need to queue is at my home. It is free and easy. Perhaps in mylot too when we respond to discussions and posting discussions. There is no need for any queue order. Maybe you are also aware we are on queue even if we want to give up our identity cards :P
2 people like this
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
Can't you just knock them aside with your big head?
1 person likes this
• Singapore
25 Jun 07
Just try lol.:P
@whyaskq (7523)
• Singapore
25 Jun 07
I wish I could :(
1 person likes this
@misheleen73 (6037)
• United States
23 Jun 07
I hate standing in lines. I always look for the shortest line at the grocery. I no longer skip in line or "butt" in. BUT when I was younger, we went to a amuzement park with my school. We would yell "mom, dad" and skip people. Then we would stand behind a couple and say "hi, how are you" to look like they were our parents when in reality they were total strangers..lol. But I don't do such horrors anymore ;P
2 people like this
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
Oh gosh, so you were such a rascal when young! :P
1 person likes this
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
Thanks for your pluses.;-)
1 person likes this
• United States
24 Jun 07
I guess I wasn't always a saint ;P And I see our efforts have risen you to blue once again... :)
1 person likes this
• United States
23 Jun 07
i'll only queue if it's something i absolutely need,or if i absolutely have to get somewhere (like the bus).otherwise,i don't have the patience for it. if it's a store and it's that full,i'll most likely go somewhere else instead to shop.
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
But most people are so little. They dare not walk out.:P
3 people like this
• Singapore
23 Jun 07
Same here, if a place is too busy, it will likely lose my business lol.:P (Not that they care about small consumers like me though.:/)
5 people like this
• United States
24 Jun 07
they think they don't-but enough of us lil' people walk out,it does add to a problem for them eventually. then we got 'em ;)
2 people like this
@derek_a (10874)
23 Jun 07
I would say that queuing is a part of life so therefore not a waste of time. Each moment we are alive, we could focus on what is going on here and now. What are we saving time for? Zen practitioners spend hours in meditation - therefore when they queue, it is an opportunity to meditate on the art of waiting in line. If I find myself in a queue I use it as an opporunity to just be still in my mind. If I have another appointment and I need to get to it on time, I will put off queuing and go back later. A good question is, why is everybody in a rush to do something else? We are all going eventually to the same place :-)
2 people like this
• Singapore
23 Jun 07
LOL Derek, I zoomed in first on the response... without seeing the name of the poster. And as I was reading, I thought of zen and I suddenly looked at your name and there you are, it is you alright! :P
5 people like this
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
Isn't it good to be famous for your case? - you can impart zen values to even more people and touch more souls. :D
3 people like this
@derek_a (10874)
24 Jun 07
LOL.. I seem to be getting famous with some members.. Just have to get back to my queue of emails now - LOL
1 person likes this
@ibuemma (2953)
• United States
23 Jun 07
I think i do QUEUE...specially here in US, people yell at you if you cut them! I think it's kind of neat...i see people here live quite in order. Even on traffic...you know that intersection with no traffic light only 4 way STOP sign, is pretty amaze me first time i got here. Back in Indonesia, where I came from people cut each other...traffic really give you headache. and no way you only have that STOP sign in the intersection like that in there, accident will definetely happening everyday.LOL!
2 people like this
• Singapore
23 Jun 07
Haven't come across that amazing sign so I am not quite sure what you are describing...:P
4 people like this
@maehan (1439)
• United States
23 Jun 07
This is something that I had learned when I drive in US at the intersection with no traffic light at all. Luckily, my friend guided me and tell me the rule of queue at the intersection. Cool!
2 people like this
@ibuemma (2953)
• United States
23 Jun 07
some of intersection here + ( 4 way intersection ) have no traffic light only stop sign with additional 4 way/ all way...so if it's crowded...it's just amazing people stop and they go according who got there first, and rarely any accident happen. Back in Jakarta, my city where I grew up...people just "kill' each other to go first...sometimes they won't even stop first...
2 people like this
@sakana (260)
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
:O You mean you don't queue at all? Tsk tsk. When buying food in the canteen, I do queue up (that is, if I can't find any friends in the queue to buy food for me) because otherwise the teachers would haul me to the principal's office :P While waiting for the bus I usually hang around the interchange to see which of the three buses come first, then I'll go to the start of the queue and wait for my "official position", lol. While shopping I skip queuing altogether because I shop online! Haha.
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
Your england not powderful enuff. When I said I did not queue? I am such a good boi always.
1 person likes this
@sakana (260)
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
More like your england veh misleading so it isn't my fault! You said you hope to think you continue to be an abnormality here, which implies that you - unlike us plebeians - don't queue. IS THAT SO XD
1 person likes this
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
LOl. Ok I see what you mean. I mean I don't join queues at all - I avoid them. I don't cut queue - just avoid.:P
• Australia
24 Jun 07
well... lol... at school in the canteen Queue, i usually do line up and wait for my turn, but if i seen a friend that is infront of me, i just ask them to buy for me so i dont have to wait, most of the time though i do wait in line =d
2 people like this
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
Cheat, cheat.:P
1 person likes this
• Singapore
25 Jun 07
Sure, it is more efficient. Wouldn't it be more efficient too if everyone gives me their money to manage? This way, the bank needs not deal with 1 million customer. The bank just needs to serve me alone. So much efficient. Wouldn't you agree? :P
• Australia
25 Jun 07
Hahaha, but another question is, would it not be more efficient if the canteen lady could serve more than one person at a time? if one person buys 2 person worth of stuff of things from the canteen, the time they take to get the change for money is less since they only have to do it once, so that becomes more efficient. I do not see a point in lining up in a hot summers day when you have a friend in line, and it takes them no more time than just buying for themselves! So it is more efficient and furthermore it reduces the workload for them and for those people BEHIND me (if i did line up) the line would be shorter =D
1 person likes this
@mansha (6298)
• India
24 Jun 07
Yes I do que. Infact in my building where I go for my computer classes we have to stand in a que for the lift. Last wednesday as it hapened, I was the tenth person in the que and the lift capacity is also ten persons at a time apart from the operator. I was secretly glad that at last I can get on to the lift in the coming round, otherwise you have to wait for it to make next trip and that means delay of about eight to ten minutes. Then a very smartly dressed girl walked by and as the lift door opened she started to get in, I could hear myself thinking, "there goes my chance to get on the lift this trip". She was jumping the que. Fortunately the lift operator stopped her and told her to stand in the line. She pretended to be dumb and asked him, "Oh!, is there a line system?" I went in to the lift thinking, how smart, what did she think fifteen of us were doing standing behind each other , playing train? SO you see I do que and I am glad that people have a que system nowdays and follow it, thankfully.
2 people like this
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
That's real inconsiderate of that girl. Good thing the lift operator stood his ground.:D
@vani24 (783)
• India
24 Jun 07
Hi Lord, Well i am from India, well here for almost everything Queue system is there which i dont like, but what to do, and the end of the day we have to get our work done right so we have to do that no go...:(( to achieve something we have to sacrifice something thats the case here which is followed by most of the people over here...:)) Usually , i stand in a queue for my telephone bills sometimes when for some reason i could not do that by online, and most of the time near the bus stop, when i go for my pass renewal, i have to stand for 1 hour easily in queue which is really pathetic, thats why i go early in the morning and try to get my work done with ease...you might be knowing all these things are quite common in India...Is that so in your place as well, i think singapore is not that much far from India right? Anyways thank you so much for posting such a good discussion... Have a great weekend Enjoy Lord:)) Bye... Thanks, Vani.
2 people like this
@vani24 (783)
• India
26 Jun 07
yes lord...but now the situation became much better...:))
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
Hello Vani, it sounds really bad there.:(
@stella1989 (2274)
• India
24 Jun 07
Yes ..And that too a lot ...!! I holds a BIG part of my life..!! Queuing....!! Its very much normal in the middle class people of my country..!! Queing for bus,Queing in ATM,queuing in store rooms for payment queuing in a clinic...!!And many more..!! If ou don't want to queue then you must be rich so that you'll have to wait for nothing in this life.But we middle class people needs to wait ..!! thats the truth .But now I am used to it. It is very very normal to me. And also the most thing I hate about queuing is waiting in park to get your chance to get to the swinging thing. I really love swinging but waiting is the thing I wait..!! he he :)
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
It's quite sad... you hate it yet you have no choice but to get used to it.
1 person likes this
• Singapore
25 Jun 07
Not if you are alone and have nothing to do.:P
@5000ml (1923)
• Belgium
24 Jun 07
I always queue, I see no other way around it really. I'm not one of those rude people who will try to jump the queue.
2 people like this
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
Yea, better to play fair. :D
• Canada
23 Jun 07
not often if there are more than 2 people in line and there are registers closed i will not even bother most of the time. and if it looks liek i am going to be waiting more than 5 minutes then i leave even if the cart is full.
2 people like this
• Canada
24 Jun 07
I am to the point where i refuse to if they want my money they better make sure i can get in adn out in a reasonable amount of time .
2 people like this
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
Yea, I can't stand waiting too.
2 people like this
@Katagiri (426)
• Brazil
24 Jun 07
Lol! Here you can spend 45 minutes on supermarket and bank queues, they don't have enough ppl working.
2 people like this
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
As if. Pay employees better then.:P
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
If the pay is good, more would want to become employees..
@Katagiri (426)
• Brazil
24 Jun 07
Actually they don't need to pay better, they need to hire more. the problem is that they don't hire enough employees, so, the costumers pay all the price for that.
1 person likes this