# Annual "Not Enough Lines Open Thead"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-not-enough-lines-open-thead/521027>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 12, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-not-enough-lines-open-thead/521027 "2009-12-12T21:25:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-not-enough-lines-open-thead/521027/21 "2009-12-19T03:42:47Z")

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I don’t care about lines. I can amuse myself pretty well with people watching.

Today I was in Target, waiting for my mom to show up. I was standing at the jewelry counter with my cart and was watching the lines.

Not only did they have more than enough lines open, they had a woman with a clipboard directing people to the best line.

In spite of the large amounts of people checking out, there was never more than 2 people in line and most people were out of line in under 5 minutes. I was standing there for a good 20 minutes, intrigued with the efficiency. While directing customers, this woman was also cycling through the cashiers, sending some to break and sending others home.

She absolutely was good at what she was doing. It was like clockwork.

I was even more impressed when she helped customers find what they were looking for without getting backed up on her traffic duty.

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**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-not-enough-lines-open-thead/521027/22 "2009-12-20T02:48:15Z")

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Today was the worst of all possible worlds around here, since we had about 6" of snow last night and a LOT of retail employees ended up calling in to work. A lot of people here live out remote backroads that become genuinely impassable with even a moderate snowfall, and, well, a whole lot more people claim that they do. (What’s the boss going to do, drive up everybody’s holler to make sure the roads really are that bad?)

Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of people could get out just fine, and it being the Saturday before Christmas, get out they did. I only had occasion to go to the grocery store, but despite huge crowds they only had four of their 10 lanes open, two of which were staffed by managers who were trying to do the usual manager stuff on the phone while they checked.

I heard Wal-Mart was worse. I’ll take their word for it. There’s nothing I need that badly.

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**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-not-enough-lines-open-thead/521027/23 "2009-12-20T02:56:01Z")

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I don’t do christmas so am surprised when I see longer lines and now i see why. The library is pretty efficient, but the grocery lines have gotten longer lately and I wondered if there was a sale or something.

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