After some recent experiences with Chinese tourists who didn’t seem to understand or care about the concept of waiting in line to receive service, a brief web search turned up a lot of articles about exactly that thing. Here’s one example, in which the author suggests that the behavior arose during the mid-1900’s, when regular and widespread food shortages meant that if you didn’t elbow your way to the front of the crowd before supplies ran out, you were gonna go hungry that night. Presumably this behavior persists in times of plenty because it’s self-reinforcing, especially since some things (e.g. seats on the next bus or train) don’t have an unlimited supply.
So is this supported by examples from other cultures? More to the point:
-what other cultures show a similar disdain for waiting in line?
-which of these cultures have experienced prolonged periods of shortage in their recent history, during which disregarding queues might have made the difference between survival and death? all of them? Few of them? ?
Lining up is not very ingrained in many Latin American cultures. When I first came to Panama in the 1970s, there was usually a mad scrum for getting on buses and other events. However, the culture has changed enormously over the past 30+ years, and now people typically due queue up reasonably well. There are still a lot more line cutters than you would see in the US, however, and people tolerate line-cutting more.
When I traveled in Mexico and Guatemala in the 1970s, it was a huge hassle taking trains or buses because of the huge surge of people pressing forward whenever the transport arrived. I used to wonder how little old ladies ever got anywhere, since they would have been sure to be trampled trying to take public transportation. I don’t know if things have changed since. Although I’ve been back to those countries, I was driving rather than taking public transportation.
The article I linked to in my OP suggests cites British rule of Hong Kong as one reason that residents there are more likely to respect a line than their mainland counterparts.
Can you point to the part that mentions that? I will admit that Americans often seem to be jackasses when it comes to boarding an elevator, bus, or any other confined space, but I didn’t see anything like this mentioned in the article.
OTOH, people in Japan seem to be pretty good about standing to one side of the door and waiting for occupants of a train or elevator to disembark before boarding in an orderly fashion.
Swedes like to think they are excellent queuers but frankly they have nothing on us Brits. Same with weather obsession.
The worst Western queuers I have come across are the Germans. Due to aspects of my social life I end up in quite a few situations involving queues and many cultures. If a large group walks to the front of a queue, where one person has been waiting, and joins it with absolutely no sense of shame then they are almost always German. Being British, I give them a disapproving look, tut and then properly moan about them later.
I always thought there was some logic to “mad scramble” philosophy. Lines don’t account for level of want/need.
In a line, the guy who desperately needs a ticket for the train leaving in five minutes can end up behind the guy who is booking a ticket for six months out. Or the vegetarian who can only eat the veggie pizza could lose out to the omnivore who just picks that last slice of veggie on a whim.
A scramble is kind of like selective pricing. Those that are sensitive to wait times or scarcity can get things faster, while those that aren’t really too invested can hang back and wait for their chance.
Yeah, I’m sure that everyone who has ever pushed their way to the front has done so only because they had some urgent need to, never because they just didn’t feel like waiting their turn. :rolleyes:
In my experience, it generally selected for larger, stronger, and more aggressive people rather than people who needed it more. Assholes get a seat in preference to anyone who might be hesitant for any reason, like not wanting to be injured. In the case of buses or trains, missing the current one because you were pushed out of the way didn’t give you a guarantee to get on the next one, either. You would be shoved out of the way by newcomers and never get on unless you adopted the same topics.
As an American who wasn’t accustomed to shoving people out of the way, the only way I was able to get on trains and buses in Mexico or Guatemala was because I was a head taller and much heavier than almost anyone else in the crowd (although I’m only average height for an American). The only way my girlfriend got on was by holding onto my belt.
Fifteen years ago, I had a boss who was British, but had lived and worked in Germany for most of his adult life. When he came to the US, he would take time to go skiing out West, and always remarked how much better the line-forming behavior was in the States compared to Europe.
I used to work with someone from India (well, I still do but different people) who told me Indians do the mad-scramble, push to the front thing for everything. I know India is a big multicultural country, but that’s wheat he told me it was like. He was surprised how patiently Canadians waited in line for their turn.
Slightly off-topic, but one thing to bear in mind on this:
IME, if someone pushes in a queue in the west, they know they’re pissing everyone else off. Either they’re a bad person or on this occasion want to look like it.
That’s not how the chinese culture is. They aren’t trying to piss anyone off. When someone pushes in, everyone else just thinks that they weren’t being pushy enough themselves, or paying enough attention.
And, if you stand a couple of feet back from a counter in china, waiting for the person to say “Can I help you?” or whatever, first you’ll be annoyed by people pushing in around you. But then you’ll find even when you are the last person, the person at the counter will just ignore you. Because what we consider pushy is just the normal way people initiate conversations / transactions.
IMHO, Americans are fine at queuing (being British I am qualified to opine) unless in open space with two windows or gates or whatever. Britons will form one queue where the next person up gets the one that is available first, where Americans will form two and hope they’re in the quicker one.
I’m surprised Italy hasn’t come up yet. Italians do line up, however the form the line takes is jostling as close as possible to the front in a fanned out shape.
As 30 Rock says, it’s like the check-in line at an Italian airport, there are no rules!
