10:41 a.m. - 2003-07-22
Jumping queuse.
When you're standing in a long queue to pay the electricity bill, waiting in a bank to cash that long-awaited cheque or just waiting at the grocery store to pay for your stuff, how many times have you felt like telling people not to jump the queue?
Irritating, isn't it? Ask all those people who realize the importance of a queue and respect its purpose.
I often tag along with my mum to pay up the utility bills and stock up the larder for the coming week. Well, not one visit goes by without my mum yelling at the queue jumpers or the manager of the bank for being unfair to the rest of the people. The offenders usually give the lamest of excuses such as, "I am getting late for work," or "My wife is in hospital and I have to reach her as soon as possible". But don't we all have important business to attend to? We too have other work to do rather than wait in a long queue for ages till all the queue jumpers have dealt with their matters.
I am compelled to recall a similar incident which took place with my elder brother. He had to call home once from a public phone booth to tell my mum that he would be home late. A man was talking on the phone while my brother stood in queue behind him. As soon as the man got off the phone another man came in front of him and picked up the receiver. Fuming, my brother said that he had been there before him. The man replied, "This is Pakistan." Saying this, he took out a phone card from his pocket and inserted it in the phone. It popped out. He tried again, but in vain. He then took out another card from his pocket but the same thing happened. In a huff, he came out of the booth and glared at my brother. "You were lucky," he said. "It wasn't me, it was from above," my brother replied.
Is it only Pakistan where one gets to experience things of this sort? I haven't travelled much, I've only been to the UK and I can assure you that nothing of this sort ever happens there. Ignorance and lack of understanding of moral values is probably the main reason for this attitude.
So what can be done about this? Advertising on television just like the advertisements about children's rights? Putting up sign boards in all public places reading: "Queue jumping prohibited". I don't think it'll help though, considering the fact that the dirtiest lane in my residential area has a sign saying "Do not throw garbage here". Maybe we could try jumping the queue before the real queue jumpers get in front of us; an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But that would be stooping down to their level not to mention the guilt with which we would be plagued for committing such a heinous offence.
I guess we could all just wait for a miracle to happen or revelation to come upon those people who have made queue jumping a habit so that our time can be saved and our lives, which have become a living hell, can become more peaceful.
