Everyonehatestowaitinlines.Wegetthatanxiousfeelingthatourpreciouslifeisslippingawaywhilewe’redoingsomethingsomeaningless.Butit’snotalwaysthelengthofthewaitwefindsounbearable.SomepeoplecampoutsideApplestoresforanentirenightjusttogettheirhandsonthelatestproduct.Butwaiting10minutesinagrocerystorejusttobuyadrink?Forgetit.

Ourbehaviorwhenwaitingisonlypartlydecidedbythelengthofthewait.“Oftenthepsychologyofqueuingismoreimportantthanthestatisticsofthewaititself,”notestheMITresearcherRichardLarson.

Oneapparentaspectofqueuingpsychologyisthatwegetboredwhenwewaitinline.Thisissueissolvedinmanyways,frommagazinesinhospitalwaitingroomstomirrorsinelevatorssothatwecancheckourappearance.

Wereallyhateitwhenweexpectashortwaitandthengetalongone.Butstudiesshowthatwearemuchmorepatientwhenwearegivenanideaofhowlongwe’llbewaiting.

WaltDisneyCoknowsthisbetterthananyoneelse.Itpostsestimatedwaitingtimesforattractionsinitsthemeparks.ButaccordingtoLarson,thesetimesareoverestimatedsothatvisitorsgettothefrontofthequeuemorequicklythantheyexpect.Itkeepsthemhappy.

Butperhapsthebiggestinfluenceonourfeelingsaboutwaitinginalinehastodowithoursenseoffairness.Whenitcomestoqueues,theuniversallyacknowledgedstandardisfirstcome,firstserved.Anydeparturefromthisprincipleisregardedasunfairandcanleadtoviolentqueueanger.

You’veprobablyexperiencedmildqueueangeryourselfinfastfoodrestaurants,watchingpeopleintheotherlinezoomaheadofyou,cursingyourselfforhavingchosenthe“wrong”line.Inordertosolvethisproblem,theserpentine(蛇形)linewasinvented.Theserpentinelineguidesallcustomersintoonebigsnakingqueue,separatedbyropesorbarriers.Whenyoureachtheheadofthequeue,youaredirectedtothenextavailableserver,orteller,orcustomsofficial.Theserpentinelineisn’talwaysfasterthanmulti-linesbeforeanarray(排)ofcashregisters.Butitoffersimportantcomfort:youabsolutelyneverhavetoseesomeonearriveafteryouandgetservedbeforeyou.

Inlife,waitingisinevitable.Butabetterunderstandingofthepsychologyofwaitingcanhelp