Nothing is worse than standing in line – nothing! Make sure you’re not making a bad situation worse; brush up on your waiting in line etiquette!
No one likes to wait in line. Whether what is at the end of the line is something you are really looking forward to, like a carnival line, or something completely boring, like renewing your driver’s license at the DMV, lines are horrible. You can not do anything else while you are standing in line! The advances in cell phone technology with their games and internet access have helped tremendously, but, lines still suck. And the only thing worse than standing in line is when someone breaks the unspoken etiquette rules in relation to waiting in line. In order to teach the ignorant, we have published this list of waiting in line etiquette tips:
- No cuts, no matter what! The only exception is if you are with a group of friends and you are either meeting them at a venue (like the line to get in the movies) or they went to stand in line while you went to the bathroom. Otherwise, no cuts. When you are standing in line and someone walking by recognizes a long last friend standing a couple of people ahead of you and they get to talking and suddenly, the person who found their long last friend has jumped into the line and added their five friends in front of you, I bet you are a little ticked. So, remember that and do not do it to someone else.
- If you are going to use the grocery check out lane that is fifteen items or less, you better only have fifteen items or less.
- If you are standing solo in line, it is perfectly acceptable waiting in line etiquette to ask the person behind you if they do not mind holding your spot if you need to go to the bathroom or any other item that will take just a moment. It is not acceptable to ask if you are running off to do something that will take awhile. For example, if you are in a line camping over night for concert tickets, it is not polite to ask the person in line behind you to hold your place while you go home and take a shower. They have to suffer and you do, too.
- If the above happens to you and someone asks you to hold their place, waiting in line etiquette means you actually do that.
- When standing in line, do not crowd the person in front of you. They are as far forward as they can go. Keeping in line with this, pay attention when you are standing in line and move forward when the line moves forward.
- If you are at the front of the time, keep your eye out for the next agent/kiosk/whatever you are waiting for that is available. Do not stall the line down when you are all so close to the end!
Waiting in line etiquette can help a bad situation from turning into a worse one. Let’s all get to our destination politely!
Photo: dreamstime/Enrique Gomez
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