Having to wait in line seems like an inefficient and uncomfortable way to do things. A long line is essentially people clutter...
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| A queue in front of a shop - a common sight in the People's Republic of Poland during the 1980s. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Queue
At some point in time we all wait in line.
Lines to buy tickets or buy other things,
Long lines of traffic when we wish we had wings.
Waiting our turn at the DMV--
That's not a place where I like to be.
Please pick a number, then wait for your turn
While employees work slow--they have no concern
About people who wait for hours on end.
Lines take up time that we didn't intend
To be wasted on waiting and even more waiting.
So if you need to do something then what do you do?
Go stand in a line and wend your way through.
Through to end of the line you're in now
And on to the next one as time will allow.
Time marches on, the days seem to fly.
Minutes, hours, and years pass us by.
We're part a system. What else can we do?
We're all waiting for something while stuck in a queue.
What is the longest line you've ever had to wait in? What kinds of lines do you dislike most? Can you think of some better solutions than having to wait in lines?
Wonderful "Q" post Lee. How I hate standing in a queue at the supermarket. I always get stuck behind someone who seem to be feeding the five thousand with the amount of provisions being bought.
ReplyDeleteYes! there are queues for everything as you say.
Yvonne.
Yvonne, I must pick the right time to go because there is rarely more than one person ahead of me if any at all. I've been behind the kind of shopper you describe.
DeleteLee
Ha ha, what a wonderful post! I LOVE the thought that a long line is people clutter! That is going to make me laugh all day. Surely one of the most frustrating lines to wait in is at the grocery store...especially if there are a multitude of unmanned checkout stations in sight. Everything within us screams, "Open them, please!" As a cashier at Kroger I am proud to say that we have a "queue" management system that counts the number of people in line, determines how many checkout lanes need to be open and prompts management to open additional lanes based upon need. It works! Getting rid of people clutter the Kroger way, lol!
ReplyDeleteElaine, stores are having to find new ways of making things easier for customers. There are so many options now. I've thought about trying delivery service.
DeleteLee
Longest line ... umm, I'm not sure - probably a queue for a concert. My sister and I used to take advantage of the queues at conventions where we would sell raffle tickets for the con charity to the captive audience. :) I thank the internet for making a lot of queuing unnecessary these days.
ReplyDeleteTasha
Tasha's Thinkings - Movie Monsters
Natasha, internet has definitely made a lot of things easier. If I can do something with ease online then that's what's happening.
DeleteLee
I've waited in some long concert lines. Also waited in a really long line for the first Star Wars when it came out.
ReplyDeleteAlex, I haven't waited in too many long movie lines and just a few concert lines. It's been a good while since I've gone to either.
DeleteLee
I absolutely hate waiting in lines, esp at the store. Longest lines were probably in Disney World but they moved fairly quickly.
ReplyDeleteJoJo, Disney and other places like that have made a science over people moving, but I guess they have to considering how many people visit those places.
DeleteLee
My post today is about a Q-line too. Guess great minds think alike! Concerts and Disneyland are about the longest lines I wait in. Nothing else is that important to me.
ReplyDeleteJanet’s Smiles
Janet, not many things I wait in line for if I can avoid it.
DeleteLee
There's a whole area of operations research called queueing theory that studies how to minimize the wait time and the frustration that comes from long lines and long wait times.
ReplyDeleteWe recently had to go to the Social Security office to get new cards because ours were lost and we needed them for identification purposes. The place was packed solid with people, but they had an express window whose sole purpose was to service the people coming in for replacement cards. Of course, no one was staffing it all the time, but they were able to clear quite a few people, which alleviated the congestion in the waiting room.
Any time a business or the government gives individuals the ability to do something for themselves, at a kiosk or using their computer or smartphone, they both reduce the number of people waiting in line and increase customer satisfaction. The Internet allows for all of that. If I can do it from my computer or phone, that's the way I go.
John, some places like Disney even make it almost entertaining to be in line. Last time I was at the SS office a couple of years ago, I had to wait in a fairly long line. I did expect that many people to be there.
DeleteLee
The longest line was at O'Hare airport. Storm and lightening had cancelled all flights from the day before, so the line was the length of several thousand people. We were in line for 8 hours.
ReplyDeleteSusan K, I forgot about airport waits. It's been several years since I've flown. I never had to wait 8 hours in one of those lines, but I've waited in some long security check lines during holiday travel season.
DeleteLee
A long line is people clutter. Brilliant! I will always remember this and see how I feel next time I am in a queue.
ReplyDeleteSue, I'll probably remember it that way too next time I'm in a line which could be today.
DeleteLee
That was really great!!! LOL I don't mind lines as I always have a book in my purse.
ReplyDeleteCalensariel, I always think of the book idea after I've gotten in line. I usually end up people watching or talking to someone in the line.
DeleteLee
That's an admirable poem, lovely to read it. I think the longest queue I've ever been in was at Euro-Disney in 2007 waiting to get on the Nemo ride with my daughter. We'd queued for at least an hour before we reached the health warning signs and after that long wait and still assuming it to be a kiddies ride there was no way I was leaving that line. The ride didn't finish me but it was more extreme than I should have been coping with. I'm sure I've 'waited in line' longer than that at local authority offices but with the ticketing system it's not a queue as such.
ReplyDeleteCollette, thank you for the kind words. It's been a long time since I've been to an amusement park, but that's where I've waited in many long lines. Fortunately I haven't had to go to any government offices very many times either.
DeleteLee
Been in some long lines - supposedly Brits lover queues. First reaction was 'concerts' but can't be specific...then movies like first day of a Star Wars sequel. Except, Disneyland ride queues seemed longer. Worst, though, has to be at St Paul's-Minneapolis airport when blizzard weather meant a sequence of cancelled/grounded/kaput planes delaying our ongoing trip west.
ReplyDeletehttps://rolandclarke.com/2018/04/20/r-is-for-resident-evil/
The longest I guess I've ever waited in line was when I lived in SoCal and commuted from Ventura to Burbank every day for about a year. When it rained, it could take up to two and a half hours to get from Point A to Point B. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteLove the poem and how true! I’m playing catch up still.... my longest line that came into my head was having to wait in lines to get registered for my classes at Brock University back in 1983. It took 12 hours of waiting in lines to get all in order and then they took my picture..hahahaaa. I look exhausted. The funniest line I was in was with my mom who hated waiting especially in lines. We took my niece to the carousel that is over 100 yrs old and one can ride it for 5 cents. My mom, in her 70s, wanted a certain horse and didn’t want the other kids to get her horse so when to carousel stopped I thought she was going to walk over the bodies of the kids! She was budding ahead and moving fast despite her cane and she got her horse! Her pouting look while waiting in line and he quick “run” to her horse made me embarrassed but now I laugh at this fun memory
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