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I was at a Home Depot this summer in the garden section, 2 checkouts. I was straddling the middle, waiting for the next open lane. Some lady starts bumping into me with a large cart, pushing her way up my right. I looked at her with a frown, and she told me to pick a line. I told her I was 'next' and she scoffed and went into the right lane, and was serviced more quickly (but only randomly)

These little mental models of efficiency always make the nervous introvert in me worry that I am wrong, or if society in general publishes people who try something different.

The naive answer is to avoid retail interactions.




The clever answer is to stop worrying about the loss/gain of an insignificant couple of minutes and to use the time for introspection, problem solving, daydreaming, or whatever else it is you like to do in the comfort of your own skull. Although, for many here, that probably includes "worrying about queueing theory" so maybe my point is moot.


I would agree with you even if I came up in line behind you.

But I would fully expect the majority to find fault in it. And reasonably so. The system is in place and it is multiple queues. The consequence of bucking the system is, at its most polite, a sneer and a scoff.

Leading left hand turns at a vehicular intersection may be the wiser alternative, but to flout a trailing left hand turn and jump through at the green is dangerous, rude and illegal.




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