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Why do we always have to queue in this country? It seems that we are a nation that is obsessed with queuing for just about everything. I know, it's the British way and we have always done it. I can see how foreigners however, might find it all a bit irritating.
I think it kind of hit me the other day, when funnily enough I was standing in a queue at the bar, that we really spend a lot of our lives doing this. I don't mean we spend a lot of time in bars, although that happens to be very true as well! We stand in line for just about anything. Supermarkets, bus stops, taxis, the post office, the cinema and just about anything else you can think of will attract a line of people.
Why is it that it is considered appropriate to queue in some countries and not in others? For example the Chinese are notorious for queue jumping, but Russians who have experienced poverty and food shortages will queue quietly for hours or even days without complaint. Queuing is a really bizarre thing when you think about it.
We hate queue jumpers
But it is polite, and maybe that is why we British hate queue jumpers. Queue jumpers by the way, are something we deplore even more than the queues themselves. If you want to upset an Englishman, just push your way in front of him whilst he's queuing for his fish and chips!
Here's a though. I'm surprised us Brits haven't found a way of making visitors queue to view pages on a web site. There again, maybe we have if you have ever been to the BBC News site around lunchtime.
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For an impatient, fast-paced person like myself who doesn't like queues and is very driven by time, the frequent, lengthy queues was quite frustrating. The lesson learned on this holiday is to schedule more time for each activity given how long and slow many of the queues I encountered were.
I, personally like to make a quite (note: loud enough to be heard) comment to the person behind me when someone queue-jumps. Or I simply say 'excuse me?!' in that one way all Brits would recognise as the 'affronted, but not going to mention it anymore' voice.
I'll happily wait in a queue if it means everyone's served in the order they arrived!
During the Tube strikes of about 10 years ago, I remember the bus queues snaking all around Liverpool Street Station, but most people weren't complaining apart from at the odd queue-jumper! Then last week I was waiting for a bus in North London (where I grew up) and I'm sad to say, but there was no queue...
If there are two cash points, should each machine have its own queue or should there be one queue for both?
There is a distinct lack of etiquette and this is because the surge of migrants to the UK has brought people who do not understand the 'norms' of the country.
JessieJ(no, not her)