Queue

A queue is a line of people waiting for something. The person at the front is at the front, the person at the back is at the back, and the person in the middle has forgotten what they are queuing for but is too committed to leave.^[1]

The other queue

The other queue always moves faster. Joining the other queue immediately causes it to stop, and the queue you left to start moving. This is known as Queue Inversion and is the most reliably observed effect in social science.^[2]

Joining

New people join a queue at the back. Joining at the front is not joining a queue; it is starting a meeting with everyone behind you.

See also

• Time – spent in queues
• Meeting – a queue that sits down
• Mona Lisa – the queue in front of it
• Vending machine – a queue of one, staring

References

1. Line, L. (2009). Waiting. Patience Press. Eventually.
2. Society for Standing (1984). “Queue Inversion: A Report”. Delayed.