The politeness that overrules

So I have been thinking for some time about what to write my next blog about. I was trying to think of something really clever, but in the end I decided I should just stop aiming so high and pick a not so clever topic and at least attempt to make it clever. So when you work at a Newsagent, I’m pretty sure you become more annoyed at the state of society. I mean you get everything in there, and unlike a Supermarket like Coles where you just beep the groceries and your done, in a newsagent you get a lot more contact, with many stranger people. Unlike Coles or a clothing store, you also get quite large lines, and our little newsagent doesn’t really have any mechanism in place to control this line. We also have a wide counter, with Scratchies and Lottery down one end. See the issue you have with this, is that people start forming a queue in an orderly fashion, which is fine, despite the fact most have papers and the right change to pay, which takes about two seconds, however then someone decides to push in from the side. And then they get angry at you for not serving them! My friend once got a magazine chucked at her by such a person.
Now there is one thing I really can’t stand, and that is people pushing in. Sure the people who wait in line correctly and are just waiting their turn, then suddenly their at the back of the line. Its incredible that people can still expect to be served when we have seen them push in, and I mean what are they in a hurry for? Do they have to do a bit of gambling before they go to that work meeting their late for? Its only gambling, and it’s always going to be there. Like it or lump it. I just can’t believe that people expect to be served when they didn’t queue. Its completely illogical in our society.
However, a friend did tell me that line queuing is an English tradition, and most other European countries don’t do it. That got me thinking. When we were in Turkey and our whole bus went for a toilet stop, I remember a Muslim woman just walked in and completely disregarded the line. It may have been because she was using different toilets but even so. I remember getting really angry. But at the same time I guess it was just her culture.
But doesn’t line queuing constitute politeness? In our society it is polite to let people who were there before you go first. It seems to be ingrained. We immediately assume that if someone doesn’t follow those rules they are not polite, and we don’t like them for it. But perhaps we are so wrapped up in being polite, we forget what really matters. Sure, its all well and good that we let someone go first. But if it gets to the point where we get so angry when someone skips in front of us, maybe we need a life. Myself included. I think line queuing, although it annoys me to no end, is quite a petty annoyance when we look at other things. In the big picture queuing doesn’t matter, in fact on a world scale, sure we might be queued up for food and coal, but what about the countries that don’t have that? Should we stop caring about our place in the line and let them go first? I think in the end queuing is something we have created to try and make order in our society, but instead it has got us so wrapped up in politeness we stop thinking about people other than ourselves, and how the hell are the little guys meant to survive with that? Sure the little guy might queue just like everyone else, but he’s at the back, and by the time he gets served, there’s nothing left.