Beehive Queues

Everyone in India must be painfully aware of the unique "Beehive Queue" formation that we seem to specialise in. Just for those not aware, a "beehive queue" is one where everyone tries to reach the entry point/counter from all possible directions quite similar to bees homing on to their hive.

Now I have seen this happen at airport lounges where there is no fear of someone taking your seat or a counter running out of tickets. I have thought long and hard about this and have reached the following points to ponder:

1. Basically I think we have been a scarcity economy and continue to be so in some spheres. Anyone who has rushed at a DTC bus and climbed onto it and sometimes been left behind, will vouch for this.
Our behaviour continues to be like it should be where there is scarcity even when there is no need for that. I have observed that very young kids stand in queues far more patiently than some of the elder ones do.

2. Somewhere in our psyche, I feel, breaking a queue and getting something out of turn is seen as an achievement and not as something to be ridiculed at. A guy probably feels more macho if he leans on the counter from the side and buys his tickets in between two customers in queue. He will then be congratulated by his group and he will become their official queue breaker.

3. Another thing which contributes to this mentality is that in shops, the shopkeeper or attendant attends to ten customers at a time, probably employing a round robin to handle their requests. Anywhere in the West, only one person is attended to at a time. Although research needs to be done to find out which creates the shorter average waiting time but the many customers at one time surely generates a higher level of blood pressure and increased irritability. Any one who has ever tried to get 100 pages photocopied and has been interrupted by 10 people with 2-3 copies each, will understand exactly what I mean.

So where does all this lead us to, not that everything has to lead somewhere.

The only way out of this, apart from not breaking queues yourself, seems to be that the queue breaker needs to be objected to by the others in the queue more vocally

So next time someone breaks the queue or walks into the ATM while your are withdrawing your cash or tries to put his hand over your shoulder to reach the counter, please please stop him and make a hue and cry. Do not shrug and let that pass.

A simple thing like that could change things a lot.