Is Queuing Dead?

[ebikeerwidnes]

A Polish friend of mine told me about queues when she was young, in the communist times. If she was coming home from school and saw a queue, she'd join it. She wouldn't ask what it was for, she'd just join. Then one of her family would come and find her and take the place and wait for whatever it was. If it was attracting a queue it must be worth queuing for.

When I grew up that would be asking for a few kids at start a queue outside an abandoned shop then leave when it got started and sit around watching and laughing

well you would - wouldn;t you

 

[bobzmyunkle]

Ah in bars its fine to stand at the bar in no order what so ever, but then its polite to when the bar-person asks "whose next" to point to the person who was there before you and say this lady / gent was next. This also guarantees you getting served next.

I got seriously admonished in Oban Spoon's a few years back. Walked up to the empty bar only to be made aware of the orderly queue of locals at the end of the bar.
On the plus side the beer was about a quarter of the price we'd been paying on some of the islands.
Post Brexit I avoid Spoon's if there's an alternative.

 

[wiggydiggy]

I got seriously admonished in Oban Spoon's a few years back. Walked up to the empty bar only to be made aware of the orderly queue of locals at the end of the bar.
On the plus side the beer was about a quarter of the price we'd been paying on some of the islands.
Post Brexit I avoid Spoon's if there's an alternative.

Many years ago, at Edge Hill University (Ormskirk), I did the same. First time I'd ever seen a queue in a bar rather than standing around all the bar area.

I also used to boycott 'Spoons post Brexit, but my wallet cannot support the £6 pints pubs are charging now compared to <£2.50 at a 'Spoons.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I got seriously admonished in Oban Spoon's a few years back. Walked up to the empty bar only to be made aware of the orderly queue of locals at the end of the bar.
On the plus side the beer was about a quarter of the price we'd been paying on some of the islands.
Post Brexit I avoid Spoon's if there's an alternative.

Personally I regard an orderly queue in a pub as seriously un-British
I also regard the apparent anarchism of the normally system - cleverly disguising a system of queuing based on everyone knowing where they are in the virtual queue and honouring it by a system of politeness
to be wonderful

although it can be a

and, of course, in some pubs the bar tender - especially if female - that knows damn well who is where in the queue and if you try to jump it then you are waiting until Hell freezes over
especially in some types of pubs

 

[bobzmyunkle]

Personally I regard an orderly queue in a pub as seriously un-British

And a bit weird. Wonder if Germans have the same feeling of weird when us Brits queue for the bus in Majorca?

 

[PK99]

A Polish friend of mine told me about queues when she was young, in the communist times. If she was coming home from school and saw a queue, she'd join it. She wouldn't ask what it was for, she'd just join. Then one of her family would come and find her and take the place and wait for whatever it was. If it was attracting a queue it must be worth queuing for.

Same in Cuba in Feb 2020.
While we were there Soap and cooking oil were the most frequent queues.

Our tour group took to taking the mini bars from hotels and giving them to the driver and guide for their families.

Oh how we chuckled at the queues.
Not much chuckling a few weeks later queuing in the rain in the supermarket carpark.

 

[T4tomo]

I love the 'Spoons app, wish more pubs had one. The only downside is they don't update the real ale choice very quickly if something is added or removed.

Yes you have to clock what ale's are on as you walk in past the bar to your table, in case your fav / choice isn't showing.

 

[gbb]

In my experience, people still queue but I got caught in a pub the other day which genuinely surprised me.
Generally, you approach a gap in a bar, wait until the bar staff deem it your turn, hopefully they've been clocking the punters. It goes wrong sometimes but hey, nobody dies.
I approach a rather empty bar and clocked one guy being served...and another a yard behind him. Oh so we're queuing now are we ?
First on me...

 

[Dogtrousers]

In my experience, people still queue but I got caught in a pub the other day which genuinely surprised me.
Generally, you approach a gap in a bar, wait until the bar staff deem it your turn, hopefully they've been clocking the punters. It goes wrong sometimes but hey, nobody dies.
I approach a rather empty bar and clocked one guy being served...and another a yard behind him. Oh so we're queuing now are we ?
First on me...

Its a trend that emerged during/after Covid lockdowns I think.

I dunno, I don't go to pubs/bars very often these days.

 

[Electric_Andy]

In my experience, people still queue but I got caught in a pub the other day which genuinely surprised me.
Generally, you approach a gap in a bar, wait until the bar staff deem it your turn, hopefully they've been clocking the punters. It goes wrong sometimes but hey, nobody dies.
I approach a rather empty bar and clocked one guy being served...and another a yard behind him. Oh so we're queuing now are we ?
First on me...

Yes I've had that in Wetherspoons aswell. In pubs it's always been crowd at the bar and wait to be served, so sometimes I think people forget. I did see a queuing system with ropes in a pub once, and it was quite nice to see. It means there is no question or confusion as to who is served next. I'm all for following any system put in place, I just get annoyed when there is no system and the default is to push in rather than to attempt to queue.

When I was flying back from Thailand, we were all queuing to get through security. Then an Indian family walked right past us and formed a huddle at the front. A Brit behind us then said "oh so we're not queuing now, then f*ck this" and proceeded to barge his way through the crowd, biffing everyone out the way. I was quietly pleased for him, if only becasue it tells people if they want to get to the front and not queue then there's always a ruder person out there.

 

[tyred]

So you rolled down your balaclava, hefted your sawn-off, and dutifully went round the correct way?

Of course. I'm a gentleman thief.

 

[gbb]

And then of course, you get what I think of as 'timid' people.
Chip shops usually, walk in the door, someone's at the till getting served one other person, occasionally two, are stood back, not really anywhere so you assume they've ordered and are waiting, so you now start a queue behind person at till.
At this stage, I usually say to person/s...I assume you've been served ?, for them to indicate they've not.
For some reason it irks me and I internally think....so form a queue then, not stand 8 feet away where no one knows what the heck you're doing...

 

[NorthernSky]

i think it comes with the growing population, there are just so many people now all wanting to use whatever service it might be. oh and you have to be assertive don't you know and confident and speak up for yourself. people mistake these principles and just end up being rude.
i still believe in the queue and will adhere to it's principles where possible!

having said that i have a queue story. many moons ago i went to a convention with a girlfriend. the queue was absolutely massive so we / I decided to try jump it a little. we went through a barrier thinking we could slip in somewhere and round the corner was this huge line with hundreds of folk. we sort of turned round and stood there for a while feeling uncomfortable moving along very slowly but it was so obvious we had jumped in (people had made friends with each other they were standing there for so long).
some guy broke and called us out. we made a beeline for the way we'd come in and headed for the back of the queue, pretty red faced. lesson learnt. on the upside my GF at the time knew someone working at the event and he spotted us and walked us in a side door 5mins later

 

[Once a Wheeler]

In my experience, definitely a cultural phenomenon. It seems to me that the Second World War was probably the apex of polite queuing. You got out your ration tickets and you queued and, usually, you got your ration. As the war receded so did the tendency to queue. This opinion was strongly reinforced for me in the years following 2004 when east Europeans had easy entry into Britain. Never before had I seen so many younger people, apparantly east European, voluntarily giving up their seats on public transport for anyone with grey hair, an infirmity or a heavy shopping bag. Despite more recent restrictions on such immigration the practice does still continue: what happened in the buses was a very different story from what was threatened on the outside of some of the buses.

 

[gbb]

Flip side is I found when on holiday, Egypt was a perfect example, we wouldn't queue for the bus. Its every man for himself, so as soon as it arrived, I'd just make for the door.
No point in even pretending to queue when your the only one who apparently knows how it works.