On 12/02/2012 14:20, Neil Williams wrote:
On 11 Feb 2012 21:55:47 GMT, Hans-Joachim Zierke
wrote:
BTW: I felt a similar sensation, when I saw Britons queue for bus
stops.
Don't know wether it still works this way, but never did in Germany.

It sort-of does, but doesn't work because more than one route tends to
serve most busy stops.

The most interesting one is perhaps the bar or barber's shop, where
there is most definitely a queue, but it is not visible.

I've noticed an increasing number of shops with designs which make
queuing difficult; Greggs seem particularly bad for it. There also seems
a trend for places to be unsure whether they are adopting post office
queueing or not, causing problems because no-one is sure what is going on.

The Sainsbury's at Clapham Junction is (was?) laid out so that people
coming from the sandwich shelf can't see the queue because it is hidden
round the corner, and so they go straight to a till (at least the first
time - I've done it, I've seen countless other people do it).

OTOH smaller branches of M&S go for nicely defined queues, but they are
far too narrow and people knock stuff off the racks of sweets.



Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK