You line up at the cash register, line up for service, and for this and for that. You wait on the telephone after being put on hold, you wait in traffic jams, you wait and wait, and nobody, or almost nobody likes it. Right now around the world, millions of people are in queues of some kind, wasting millions of hours of time.
Experts say we spend anywhere from one to two years of our lives standing in line, or hold on the phone, or stuck in traffic.
A new documentary looks at the psychology and physical aspects of line-ups in various countries.
Award-winning filmmaker Josh Freed directed, wrote and is the protagonist in his newest documentary. “The Taming of the Queue”.
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Josh Freed is no fan of line-ups.
It was in a line-up seven years ago the idea to take a look at the phenomenon first came to him.
I don’t like line-ups either. And it seems whatever line-up I’m in, the other one moves faster.
I’m not alone in thinking that, according to people who study such things as shown in the documentary.
In the film Freed studies line-ups or queue’s from several angles, the scientific, personal observation and participation, and on an international level.
Britons it seems are entirely the most patient, even to some extent enjoying it in certain cases. North Americans tolerate them, although some will camp out for days in line-ups for certain events.
In some parts of the world, line-ups are unheard of, almost inevitably with chaotic results.
In some other places like India where trying to board a train is a unique experience in itself, physical force might be needed to get where you want to go.
And what about queue-jumping, Freed tried it, although it went against his Canadian upbringing. The varying results are interesting, including the fact there’s no flim of the attempt to do so in the U.S.
The film will be shown across Canada on the evening of June 28th on the CBC Documentary Channel, but will be distributed internationally shortly thereafter
The title in French is “Adieu a la queue-leu-leu”
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