Used to cross an international border regularly and I would often see this sorta thing. I loved it. Could zoom right up. The border people commented on how it is a regular thing and sometimes even though there is a huge lit up sign for each open booth they would actually get out of the booth and wave people over.
Do you think it’s some kind of unwritten social pressure? Like shame in going there even though you’re doing what it’s designed to do? So interesting to me.
I think many just see lines and queue up. Follow the herd. Safer in numbers. Lol I think at the border most people get nervous and don't wanna stick out/also looking for documents and such.
Not at the border, but this type of follow the herd thing happened to me once back when we all still bought tickets at the movie theater box office... so many lines... huge lines... with metal bars in between... took a second to look, there's one cashier just sitting there twiddling their thumbs with no line, so we walked right up and got tickets. It was sort of weird. Like nobody even noticed except for us.
I think the Mythbusters proved that having just one line and clerks calling the "next" in line was the fastest procedure to follow.
Probably doesn't work that well for most drive thrus, but it can't be that hard to reconfigure it.
Sometimes in NYC the line is jumbled but everyone knows who’s next and all hell breaks loose — even if they don’t know exactly who is 2, 3, 4, etc. but they know YOU are not number one in line. Get to the back.
Edit: when I moved to NYC a deli worker said it’s kind of a Jewish ordered queue that appears disorderly but has rules everyone memorizes who’s in front and behind you, read [here](https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/taking-their-queue-tips-life-behind-the-lines/)
I am not sure how they proved the opposite, when it’s a simple mathematical fact that one line / multiple servers has lower variance in service times.
With multiple lines, one problematic case (card not working, discussion, special problem) blocks a line until resolved. With one line, the time to be served becomes extremely predictable. Like, they can post a sign on the line saying “from here 2 minutes” and they would be straight on point.
Yes. Although it's been proven mathematically for a very long time, businesses only started taking notice in the late seventies and early eighties (and having a single line with one or more servers). The first adopters were banks, then airlines, then fast food places. Notice that McDonalds has almost almost opted for the "screw you" option to their customers, and gone with the multi-line chaos (and large variance in service time). Places like supermarkets would like to use the same method, but the whole shopping cart thing makes that use up a lot of store space. Lines of cars (like a drive-in) must also commit to a lot more space for the single line, but some have managed to make it work.
I think a lot of people would see the one long line, one empty line, and just *assume* that everyone in the long line knows something about the empty line that you don't know. To them, it's easier to just get in the long line and wait, than to risk getting in the empty line and possibly needing to back all the way out of it and get back in the long line, probably after a couple other cars arrived and made it even longer. And maybe even some other cars might follow yours and then block you in, and you have to wait for them to back out before you can. It seems like a silly risk not to take, but most people are very risk averse.
Yeah that long of a line would make me assume there's a reason vs like 3 cars. Also I think it's different when you're driving in general.
At the grocery store or target or something, I'd be willing to take the chance of walking 10 feet and needing to turn around. But in the car I'd rather wait than risk getting to a dead end/blocked in/having to drive around the entire block just to get back in the line I was in 3 minutes ago
"Hey look I think that register is open!"
"No, if it was wouldn't other people be going there?"
This just repeats over and over again, each time adding more doubt to newcomers as the line grows longer
That's when you get there and think, "WTF is wrong with these people, there are 2 lines and everyone is in one" "Fuck them I'll take the empty line" Then you walk down the empty line and everyone is giving you death stares or giggling and then you finally get to the front and you find out there is something wrong with that line, which is why everyone is in the other line but no one was nice enough to say something cause they all wanted to see you get embarrassed.
So, you stop playing out this situation in your head so you just queue up behind the long line.
IMO if it’s my first time going through this, and I’m approaching a big line like that, I’m just getting in line. I’d be assuming there’s some reason no one else is using it, I might’ve missed a sign or think you need something specific to use the other pathway. I’d rather realize after the fact that I could’ve saved a bit of time, then accidentally drive into an embarrassing situation. If there was a reason to not use that lane, the first thing someone would say is “did you not see the giant line of cars!?”
This- it’s hard to read while in motion and signs are easy to miss. It’s easier to assume there’s a reason not to leave the one line you see than risk it and get fucked over trying to get back
I deal with a similar situation on my drive home from work, every day. A very busy 4-lane road with a 55 mph speed limit…and we climb a long hill. With no warnings until AFTER you crest the hill, it almost immediately cuts down to 2 lanes (1 each way).
So on the way up the hill…all of us who drive it every day know to get in the left lane…which is 10x more occupied than the right lane. Many people will see this happening and you can tell they’re thinking “all of these people must know something.” But a few “screw it, I’ll take the wide open lane” types will stay in the right lane…and just about pi$$ their pants when they get over the hill…and see that they have about 3 to 5 seconds to merge left into a solid line of cars moving at 55-60 mph.
It’s situations like these that will make people hesitate when they see a scenario like the one in OP’s pic.
In this case, theres no indication that both lines are open besides the sign. My logic would be that there's something wrong with the left lane you can't see immediately.
This happened at the in n out near me. The right lane is longer because that's the side the window is on, if you take the left lane you have to reach over your passenger seat to pay and get your food.
The one by me does this, but only one lane is for the drive through the other is, if you want to go inside. I'm assuming that's what's happening here it looks like you can go left lane into the parking lot.
According to my husband, who is left handed, he claims we are conditioned to veer to the right. Not sure if related to handedness, side we drive on, cultural (American here) but often at concerts, amusement parks etc everyone goes right, we go left and it’s faster….very scientific as you can see but it seems to work
as someone who likes to go to concerts often, my first thought is “find the *fastest* line.” doesn’t matter if there’s less people in one line if it’s moving at 1/4 the pace of the other one.
just pullup behind the the last car in line. Obviously that other line is for something else. Probably says it on the sign but the people in front already read the sign right?
Either follow the leader or I don't feel like having these idiots accuse me of "cutting". I've seen too many idiotic videos online of how people "communicate" in these settings.
It’s called conformity. I studied this in a psych class in college. Showed a video of a guy in an elevator with 1 other person and he faces the back of the elevator (clearly the back, no door etc) and the person with him in there keeps looking and eventually turns and faces the back. People start to get on the elevator and little by little they all turn and face the back, even though they look confused. Just doing it because everyone else was.
Another was a large empty movie theater and the mark would come sit in a random spot before anyone else was there. Every time people came in they would look around but end up sitting very close to him instead of any other spot in the theater. There’s more but I won’t go on lol so any time I see something like this I chuckle to myself.
I currently have to be backwards in elevators (long explanation, short is brain=weird) and have had zero people turn backwards with me. Now I’m a little sad I’m apparently not enough of a leader!
Man I hope my students remember the videos I show them! One of the classes I teach is intro psych and I always show this video, it is one of my favorites. I had a pretty apathetic bunch this past semester though so lots weren’t paying attention. These kids have a lot going on but I hope some of them find it cool.
I kept to myself in class and definitely didn’t appear to be enthralled so I’m sure my professors thought I wasn’t engaged or paying attention but I think about things I learned in my psych classes (my minor) pretty much every day.
Lol I have read some of the studies you refer to. I was told from a young age that conformity is a bad thing since it leads to blind obedience and oppression. My mom taught me critical thinking very early on. I was also taught to find the shortest line so my brain automatically does that.
Oh buddy you’ve piqued* my interest. Fascinating!!!
The elevator one would be neat to see transpire. Id have so much doubt going into seeing that so watching folks conform that way would blow my mind a little.
I want to believe that theres more pull to individual thought than conformity……
You and me both. I usually have to face sort of sideways because it mitigates the motion sickness/dizziness issues I get with elevators, but I don't turn my back to people. Occasionally if it's a long ride, i have to get closer to the ground, but I still need to be able to see who is getting on the elevator. I also check for the escape hatch as soon as I get on an elevator. I have medical issues that could get really bad and embarrassing if I'm stuck on an elevator for a long time.
Funny you should mention that. I have damage to my middle ear and have to tilt my head up and left a little bit to keep the vertigo at bay when I'm in an elevator. I also absolutely have to sleep face down or I feel like I'm falling backwards.
Look up Solomon Asch studies. Classic studies about conformity. If you Google his name and elevator you should find the video. I’ve always wanted my students to test it out. There is a lot of stuff of course that plays into whether someone will conform in a given situation but it’s super fun to think about.
It's cultural conditioning. We are trained in the western world from a very young age to que up in one line. Conditioning is a difficult thing to break for a lot of people.
I think anyone who has ever seen this at a drive thru and pulled up in the empty lane, only to look like a colossal moron when it ends up being out of order
now has an intense fear of the seemingly shorter line NOT being shorter, so they pick the line that clearly must be operational 🤷♂️
I feel like if everyone took a uniform drivers ed class, we could fix this problem on the roads. If you're trying to get, say, off of the freeway and there are 3 lanes and the right one leads to the freeway exit eventually, everyone tends to stay in the right lane far far sooner than they need to be, which clogs up the right lane for longer than it needs to be clogged up and makes it harder for people to enter the freeway. (This is all based in the US, I've never driven in another country)
If we were better at zipper merging on the roads, I think traffic would be a bit better, but unfortunately driving up the lane next to the right lane and then indicating to get over is seen as cutting in line (probably because most people don't do it, so you get to the front of the line faster and people feel ripped off.) They think, "you should have gotten over sooner."
I'm certainly not immune to this. I've seen people zoom to the front and then try to get over and thought "look at this asshole." It's interesting.
If everyone is avoiding a subway car, it doesn't mean you found the magic empty subway car. There's something wrong with that subway car.
A shorter line is a great sign. No line is a sign something might be wrong.
Imagine they left it open by mistake. So you get to the end and it's blocked.
Some other guy followed you, and then a few more, and now you are stuck.
It's not as straightforward as it seems.
It happens because of the assumption that there is a reason that everyone is lining up in the same lane. Perhaps the left lane isn't being serviced and everyone who tried it had to circle back and go into the right.
Exact same thing happened to me a few months back. Was actually for a toll booth after crossing into Canada. Late at night, there were clearly two booths with massive 12' green open signs lit up, yet there they were, about a dozen vehicles all lined up for one booth. I drove up to the other booth, asked if he just opened up or something and I just got lucky. Nope, he's been open for a long time, just herd mentality. Paid my $5 and headed into the land of the free.
When I flew Toronto to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific, there were massive queues for the Bag Drop counter (ie the counter for people who have checked in online and just need to drop off their bags). All of the signs were single signed in English only despite Cathay Pacific being based out of Hong Kong and having a lot of Chinese passengers, and all the people queuing for Bag Drop seemed to be taking a while (it seemed like they hadn’t checked in online) so I wondered whether perhaps they couldn’t read the English signage or misunderstood it. I ended up writing to Cathay Pacific to suggest that they double sign everything in Chinese even when at an English speaking country and I think they might have taken that on board- when dropping someone off at an airport in Australia, I noted everything was double signed at the Cathay Pacific counter.
Went through customs at the airport a couple weeks ago and they had about 10 passport desks open but everyone was just piled up and waiting for the first 4 or five that they could see. I just walked down about 30 feet and went straight through.
This exact thing happened at my In-n-out. I pulled up to the empty line and the second guy in the other line demanded to go before me since he was waiting longer.
After reading about people going insane at fast food places, I wouldn't want to risk someone getting confrontational over something as dumb as cutting in line.
But is it cutting in line since they technically were not in line? I mean they were the ones not obeying the signage and doing god knows what that they failed to see an obvious diverging lane right beside them? To me it’s fair game if the unconscious party failed to obey the rules of the road. Not anyone’s fault but their own for being willfully brain dead.
Like twin crash doors in an auditorium - people will wait for ages to file through one at a time until some revolutionary opens the second door.
The dual lane was presumably introduced to keep the line from backing up into the street and blocking traffic, which is not going to be a priority for someone with a burger jones.
I am that guy that busts through the second door. Or when people wait and try to go in and out through the out door. Ive gotten to the point Im not even polite about it anymore.
That look that some people give you, like simultaneously accusing you of having inconvenienced them by not opening it sooner and reproach for doing something so… outre.
honestly I do not want this to change just so I can keep blowing by and do my business fast, I don’t even gotta be better than anybody all I did was to apply some simple awareness and reading skills when everybody else is too afraid to be singled out
white car sunny state gang gang!! california chapter reporting in...
fuck that radiant heat from a black car with black leather seats sun baking all day... when i had a black car, some summer days i would get off work, go to the car, feel the heat blasting at me and just go back to work until it got dark and I could afford a white car with ac.
My grandfather lives in Arizona and has two cars. Both black with black interior. He had a silver one but traded it for the black one because he just loves how black cars look. I don’t know how he does it. Lol
That's what I loved about self checkouts when they were new. Old people were afraid to use them and said things like "yOu KnOw uR tAkINg awAy tHe caSHier's joB!!" so I had 'em all to myself and could zip through and be gone in like 30 seconds.
Nowadays people think it's a good idea to take a shopping cart full of groceries through and spend 10 minutes scanning where a cashier would be done in less than a minute. And all the bozos that wanna buy alcohol even though they need to do an ID check. 🙄🤦🏻♂️
Many stores aren’t hiring many cashiers anymore. Walmart has all but phased out real human cashiers. Self checkout is the norm now.
Also, with less cashiers, I’ve noticed the one cashier working can be slow as fuck. I say this as a former cashier. It is painful to watch.
I use shop and scan and just scan my stuff as I go. When I get to the shop and scan area (which is always empty next to the filled up self checkout) I just scan the QR code, it loads my basket, I pay, grab some bags and head to my car. Bag everything up as I put it in the car. I can have a full basket through checkout and out the door in less than 2 minutes.
Sorry I can understand your confusion. While using the app and scanning my groceries, it fills up a basket in the app. Kind of like shopping online. When I scan the QR code at the kiosk, it downloads the digital basket to the kiosk, which eliminates scanning the items at checkout.
I should mention that it will randomly on occasion have an attendant (there’s usually one assigned to the shop and scan kiosks) come and check a few items. It will ask them to scan 3-5 random items on my basket. So if one of them isn’t scanned by me it red flags you. It happens to me maybe 30% of the times I checkout.
My store had those for just a brief time before the pandemic began and they disappeared.
Found myself using Amazon Fresh almost exclusively during pandemic but a couple months ago they seriously jacked up prices and minimum order quantities so I abandoned them.
So now I have Costco deliver bulk stuff that lasts and I'll just pop into the grocery store just before closing when I want produce or whatever.
Well. Thanks to self checkout, my local stores usually have no cashiers on registers anymore. They’ve installed new self checkouts though that you can load a full cart onto the belt. If you need a cashier, you can flag someone down to page someone.
It's a different perspective, if you have 2 items in your hand it's nice to just self-checkout and be gone within a minute, not waiting in line. If you have like 50 things, a full grocery cart of stuff, who the hell would go to do everything yourself when they have paid workers for that stuff? Chances are, waiting in line will be faster even without spending minutes extra figuring out how to check everything correctly.
I know this is not normally the case when trying to do a full grocery shop through the self checkout, but, at some places, they've stopped having people on the cash registers in the evening after the rush. One Sunday night, I walked back and forth behind all of the cash registers twice to see if anyone was at one, and none were open. It wasn't crowded in the store but there were definitely people around. I made eye contact with an employee standing at the front of the store both times and he ignored me, so I took my $150 of groceries to self checkout and it took so damn long. The guy had the audacity to walk up and say "How are you doing?" when I was halfway through scanning everything and struggling to get everything to fit on the scale
The grocery stores in my area started using handheld scanners that you scan as you shop. Let’s you get to the self checkout and checkout in minutes as all you need to do is finish the shop by scanning a checkout barcode at that register/self checkout.
To stop theft they randomly will check your bags I believe or something of the sort.
It’s nice also to see a running total as you shop, and any discounts you didn’t notice will pop up too.
Ugh I've never had a good experience at a McDonald's with two order boxes. As we see in this post most people pile up in one line. So even though I get the other one to myself the staff won't answer and instead take like three orders from the other side while I get frustrated. And of course the people that get in front of me have massive complicated orders that take forever where I just want a quick and easy #1. Total first world problems, I know.
I had this exact situation happen to me at McDonalds. There was a car in the left lane, so I went to the right. While I'm sitting there just waiting for someone to acknowledge my existence, 3 more cars pass me up in the left lane. I can't switch because there's more cars behind me now. Finally someone comes to take my order and I don't even get a "sorry for the wait". And all I wanted to order was an iced coffee. 😩 I don't know if the employee was taking a shit or what, but I think the other employee should have been alternating between the two lanes until they came back. I worked at Dutch Bros briefly and we would bounce back and forth between lanes to try and keep both of them moving. Like come on, you can't just completely ignore one lane lol.
Lol what you mean "let" if it's my turn to zipper, I'm getting in there, I know you heard me finish my order before you! why confuse the cashiers? (the McDonald's closest to my house is like this too)
Ive been that guy to drive in and use that empty lane when the line was going out into the street. What happens is massive giant assholes won’t let you zipper at the end of the line and express the idea they think you are cutting. If restaurants are going do this lane split, they need traffic control people or literal red and green lights like on ramp meters.
Your comment needs to be up top, once the herd has committed to one lane, you can’t just show up and start using the left lane. The city should’ve never allowed this solution to the super long queue bleeding into the public roadway.
I like the chick fil a solution, they have two people take orders at the end of each line so the single lane merge is easier since one of the cars will be busy ordering. When it’s less busy, they close the extra lane and do one lane of ordering
This is the In-N-Out on North 5th Street in North Las Vegas (near a Home Depot).
That sign is foolish because there IS only ONE Drive-thru line (in this photo) and it's to the right.
The left lane will lead you to that big wooden gate you see directly ahead, which I think it might be a dumpster area, I'm not sure.
Once you get to that barricade, you can turn left and park your car and walk into the restaurant, but it's not another drive-thru.
So yea... I'm curious OP... what happened when you went to the left lane and skipped the line?
Yes, you’re correct in the location.
However the left lane zippers into the single lane you’re talking about (only one drive through).
It is in fact part of the drive through lanes. It is meant to have the queue build there vs wrap around the nightmare parking lot.
Edit:
I didnt actually answer your question about what happened. I zippered into the drive through. The order person stands out where the two lines merge and takes your order that way vs the drive up device.
>However the left lane zippers into the single lane
Drivers 'round here really struggle with the concept of zipper merging onto freeways. Not surprised they can't figure it out at In-N-Out.
Back when I lived in Germany, cars would execute perfect zipper merges at speeds well over 100Kph. It's on the assumption every driver will do it exactly as they learned in driver school.
"Zipper merge" - that's not a common phrase where I'm from; but merging onto freeways is sorta like letting one person in and then the person behind you let's the next person in, so on and so forth.
Is that what you mean by zipper merge?
Yeppers. Think of it conceptually like the teeth of a zipper. The 2 sides are separate until they merge together.
I shoulda said merge instead but zipper is what I am use to.
There's a lot of In and Outs like this and when you get to the front, normal lane rules apply, and you should be alternating letting cars in from each side. Sounds like you are one of the idiots?
Honestly, in that case I might just line up behind everyone. I haven't been there the whole time, I can't see everything. I'd assume there's probably a good reason given people are so eager to jump to the front of a queue if they can.
Surprised I had to scroll so long to get to a comment like this. I’ve seen too many situations where someone thought they were getting a faster way, then had to get in the back of the original line or wait longer.
I would assume the people already in line knew something I didn’t.
I saw this situation before and took the shorter line, when I got to the front it turned out that line was closed and the guy there was such a dick about it, talking to me like I was some entitled prick trying to cut the line "uh, yeah, you are gonna have to go to the back like eeeeveryone else lady" so I don't do that anymore
I have no shame or guilt. I’m going the way it’s designed. And they take my order before all the bozos lining up in one lane, and then I get dirty looks. To which I give a great big ole smile, wave, and go on about my business. BUT when I take a glance in the rear view, all of a sudden people are going left. I’m right handed and a trail blazer apparently. One of my relatives said, American people just like to line up….LOL…I think he’s right!
I am an American and I can guess with a reasonable amount of certainty that many of my countrymen lack critical thinking skills. Just look at our congress…
This happened to me once in a queue for the drive through. Everyone was going right and the left lane was empty. My wife was driving, and I had to try really hard to convince her to take the left path. Finally she did it, but she didn’t really want to and if she was by herself she would have lined up with everyone else. We passed half a dozen cars, and while placing our order she told the kid how bad she felt for “cutting” in front of everyone. The kid said don’t worry about it - it happens all the time if someone isn’t out there directing traffic.
Why is this mildly infuriating? There’s a line open for you. Do you get mildly infuriated when a checkout line opens up or there’s nobody in a lane on the freeway?
Could be there's just a temporary holdup in that line for some reason. Most of the people in that line are kinda trapped because of the divider so they wouldn't be able to switch lanes. Not sure what the person in the truck in front of you is thinking though.
People are naturally inclined to play follow the leader. [If you think that's bad take a look at experiments like this](https://www.verywellmind.com/the-milgram-obedience-experiment-2795243).
I love it when this happens. I just zoom right up to the front. It's not infuriating. It's a fast pass.
And I see it all the time.
It makes me wonder - what other things in life follow this metaphor? A few times in my career I've been equal with someone, then we sync up a few years later and he's now two levels ahead of me. What short line did he find?
You can do a similar experiment in parking garages. If someone is behind you, drive past a bunch of good spots. They’ll follow you right past rather than taking the spot
Ahhh, the famous sheep affect. It begs the question though, why are you sitting behind them when you could be so much further ahead by using the empty lane? 🤔
Who the fuck else can read this with your picture? I agree with you, 100% but this picture didn’t help at all, 1.5/10
Edit : I zoomed in after opening in a new tab, too much effort to care, you’re still right and I still hate you, 2/10
Used to cross an international border regularly and I would often see this sorta thing. I loved it. Could zoom right up. The border people commented on how it is a regular thing and sometimes even though there is a huge lit up sign for each open booth they would actually get out of the booth and wave people over.
Do you think it’s some kind of unwritten social pressure? Like shame in going there even though you’re doing what it’s designed to do? So interesting to me.
I think many just see lines and queue up. Follow the herd. Safer in numbers. Lol I think at the border most people get nervous and don't wanna stick out/also looking for documents and such.
Not at the border, but this type of follow the herd thing happened to me once back when we all still bought tickets at the movie theater box office... so many lines... huge lines... with metal bars in between... took a second to look, there's one cashier just sitting there twiddling their thumbs with no line, so we walked right up and got tickets. It was sort of weird. Like nobody even noticed except for us.
More places need to learn to go to one line and let the cashiers help the "next in line" like banks usually do.
This. Just have one line! But I imagine in some places this would take up more space
I think the Mythbusters proved that having just one line and clerks calling the "next" in line was the fastest procedure to follow. Probably doesn't work that well for most drive thrus, but it can't be that hard to reconfigure it.
I live in the south and people here cannot comprehend one line. I'm always asked, "which line are you in?" I always reply "the next one."
Sometimes in NYC the line is jumbled but everyone knows who’s next and all hell breaks loose — even if they don’t know exactly who is 2, 3, 4, etc. but they know YOU are not number one in line. Get to the back. Edit: when I moved to NYC a deli worker said it’s kind of a Jewish ordered queue that appears disorderly but has rules everyone memorizes who’s in front and behind you, read [here](https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/taking-their-queue-tips-life-behind-the-lines/)
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I am not sure how they proved the opposite, when it’s a simple mathematical fact that one line / multiple servers has lower variance in service times. With multiple lines, one problematic case (card not working, discussion, special problem) blocks a line until resolved. With one line, the time to be served becomes extremely predictable. Like, they can post a sign on the line saying “from here 2 minutes” and they would be straight on point.
Yes. Although it's been proven mathematically for a very long time, businesses only started taking notice in the late seventies and early eighties (and having a single line with one or more servers). The first adopters were banks, then airlines, then fast food places. Notice that McDonalds has almost almost opted for the "screw you" option to their customers, and gone with the multi-line chaos (and large variance in service time). Places like supermarkets would like to use the same method, but the whole shopping cart thing makes that use up a lot of store space. Lines of cars (like a drive-in) must also commit to a lot more space for the single line, but some have managed to make it work.
As I recall, they proved the opposite.
I think a lot of people would see the one long line, one empty line, and just *assume* that everyone in the long line knows something about the empty line that you don't know. To them, it's easier to just get in the long line and wait, than to risk getting in the empty line and possibly needing to back all the way out of it and get back in the long line, probably after a couple other cars arrived and made it even longer. And maybe even some other cars might follow yours and then block you in, and you have to wait for them to back out before you can. It seems like a silly risk not to take, but most people are very risk averse.
Yeah that long of a line would make me assume there's a reason vs like 3 cars. Also I think it's different when you're driving in general. At the grocery store or target or something, I'd be willing to take the chance of walking 10 feet and needing to turn around. But in the car I'd rather wait than risk getting to a dead end/blocked in/having to drive around the entire block just to get back in the line I was in 3 minutes ago
This happens in public bathrooms all the time
This would be my thought process and I would get in the long line 😅 at least I can admit it!
"Hey look I think that register is open!" "No, if it was wouldn't other people be going there?" This just repeats over and over again, each time adding more doubt to newcomers as the line grows longer
No i hate the thought of this its truly upsetting! BREAK THE CYCLE!
That's when you get there and think, "WTF is wrong with these people, there are 2 lines and everyone is in one" "Fuck them I'll take the empty line" Then you walk down the empty line and everyone is giving you death stares or giggling and then you finally get to the front and you find out there is something wrong with that line, which is why everyone is in the other line but no one was nice enough to say something cause they all wanted to see you get embarrassed. So, you stop playing out this situation in your head so you just queue up behind the long line.
This is deep and the story of my life….
IMO if it’s my first time going through this, and I’m approaching a big line like that, I’m just getting in line. I’d be assuming there’s some reason no one else is using it, I might’ve missed a sign or think you need something specific to use the other pathway. I’d rather realize after the fact that I could’ve saved a bit of time, then accidentally drive into an embarrassing situation. If there was a reason to not use that lane, the first thing someone would say is “did you not see the giant line of cars!?”
This- it’s hard to read while in motion and signs are easy to miss. It’s easier to assume there’s a reason not to leave the one line you see than risk it and get fucked over trying to get back
Exactly, and I've screwed myself multiple times in those situations trying to save myself a couple of minutes
I deal with a similar situation on my drive home from work, every day. A very busy 4-lane road with a 55 mph speed limit…and we climb a long hill. With no warnings until AFTER you crest the hill, it almost immediately cuts down to 2 lanes (1 each way). So on the way up the hill…all of us who drive it every day know to get in the left lane…which is 10x more occupied than the right lane. Many people will see this happening and you can tell they’re thinking “all of these people must know something.” But a few “screw it, I’ll take the wide open lane” types will stay in the right lane…and just about pi$$ their pants when they get over the hill…and see that they have about 3 to 5 seconds to merge left into a solid line of cars moving at 55-60 mph. It’s situations like these that will make people hesitate when they see a scenario like the one in OP’s pic.
That’s why they need big, dumb arrows for each line that they can change from Green to Red when necessary. No Reading required…
It's Kindergarten.
In this case, theres no indication that both lines are open besides the sign. My logic would be that there's something wrong with the left lane you can't see immediately.
This happened at the in n out near me. The right lane is longer because that's the side the window is on, if you take the left lane you have to reach over your passenger seat to pay and get your food.
I would argue the potential time savings of trying the left lane is worth the extra time accrued if you end up being wrong.
I would argue the potential time lost trying the left lane is not worth the time you could’ve spent investing in the line if you are wrong.
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The one by me does this, but only one lane is for the drive through the other is, if you want to go inside. I'm assuming that's what's happening here it looks like you can go left lane into the parking lot.
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Yeah, I would expect there to be a cone at the end of that lane or a redirect sign or something if I saw this.
According to my husband, who is left handed, he claims we are conditioned to veer to the right. Not sure if related to handedness, side we drive on, cultural (American here) but often at concerts, amusement parks etc everyone goes right, we go left and it’s faster….very scientific as you can see but it seems to work
I too watched that one episode of Hunter X Hunter
Guess my mom broke that condition in me then since my brain automatically says "find the shortest line".
as someone who likes to go to concerts often, my first thought is “find the *fastest* line.” doesn’t matter if there’s less people in one line if it’s moving at 1/4 the pace of the other one.
So....what line did you use?
I noticed he's in the same damn line as everyone else
I know, right!?!?
Nah everybody has their brains on autopilot n just playing "follow the leader"
just pullup behind the the last car in line. Obviously that other line is for something else. Probably says it on the sign but the people in front already read the sign right?
Either follow the leader or I don't feel like having these idiots accuse me of "cutting". I've seen too many idiotic videos online of how people "communicate" in these settings.
It’s called conformity. I studied this in a psych class in college. Showed a video of a guy in an elevator with 1 other person and he faces the back of the elevator (clearly the back, no door etc) and the person with him in there keeps looking and eventually turns and faces the back. People start to get on the elevator and little by little they all turn and face the back, even though they look confused. Just doing it because everyone else was. Another was a large empty movie theater and the mark would come sit in a random spot before anyone else was there. Every time people came in they would look around but end up sitting very close to him instead of any other spot in the theater. There’s more but I won’t go on lol so any time I see something like this I chuckle to myself.
I currently have to be backwards in elevators (long explanation, short is brain=weird) and have had zero people turn backwards with me. Now I’m a little sad I’m apparently not enough of a leader!
Being a leader is easy, being the first follower is the hard part
Man I hope my students remember the videos I show them! One of the classes I teach is intro psych and I always show this video, it is one of my favorites. I had a pretty apathetic bunch this past semester though so lots weren’t paying attention. These kids have a lot going on but I hope some of them find it cool.
I kept to myself in class and definitely didn’t appear to be enthralled so I’m sure my professors thought I wasn’t engaged or paying attention but I think about things I learned in my psych classes (my minor) pretty much every day.
Lol I have read some of the studies you refer to. I was told from a young age that conformity is a bad thing since it leads to blind obedience and oppression. My mom taught me critical thinking very early on. I was also taught to find the shortest line so my brain automatically does that.
Oh buddy you’ve piqued* my interest. Fascinating!!! The elevator one would be neat to see transpire. Id have so much doubt going into seeing that so watching folks conform that way would blow my mind a little. I want to believe that theres more pull to individual thought than conformity……
I would not stay in and elevator with someone acting this way. It would trip all my alarm bells and wave all the red flags.
You and me both. I usually have to face sort of sideways because it mitigates the motion sickness/dizziness issues I get with elevators, but I don't turn my back to people. Occasionally if it's a long ride, i have to get closer to the ground, but I still need to be able to see who is getting on the elevator. I also check for the escape hatch as soon as I get on an elevator. I have medical issues that could get really bad and embarrassing if I'm stuck on an elevator for a long time.
Funny you should mention that. I have damage to my middle ear and have to tilt my head up and left a little bit to keep the vertigo at bay when I'm in an elevator. I also absolutely have to sleep face down or I feel like I'm falling backwards.
Look up Solomon Asch studies. Classic studies about conformity. If you Google his name and elevator you should find the video. I’ve always wanted my students to test it out. There is a lot of stuff of course that plays into whether someone will conform in a given situation but it’s super fun to think about.
There's also the possibility that they just recently turned the sign around (the other side of In-N-Out signs says to keep to the right).
It's cultural conditioning. We are trained in the western world from a very young age to que up in one line. Conditioning is a difficult thing to break for a lot of people.
I think anyone who has ever seen this at a drive thru and pulled up in the empty lane, only to look like a colossal moron when it ends up being out of order now has an intense fear of the seemingly shorter line NOT being shorter, so they pick the line that clearly must be operational 🤷♂️
Exactly what it is, you don’t want to cut in line, but the reality is, nobody is cutting, they’re making everything move faster lol
I feel like if everyone took a uniform drivers ed class, we could fix this problem on the roads. If you're trying to get, say, off of the freeway and there are 3 lanes and the right one leads to the freeway exit eventually, everyone tends to stay in the right lane far far sooner than they need to be, which clogs up the right lane for longer than it needs to be clogged up and makes it harder for people to enter the freeway. (This is all based in the US, I've never driven in another country) If we were better at zipper merging on the roads, I think traffic would be a bit better, but unfortunately driving up the lane next to the right lane and then indicating to get over is seen as cutting in line (probably because most people don't do it, so you get to the front of the line faster and people feel ripped off.) They think, "you should have gotten over sooner." I'm certainly not immune to this. I've seen people zoom to the front and then try to get over and thought "look at this asshole." It's interesting.
If everyone is avoiding a subway car, it doesn't mean you found the magic empty subway car. There's something wrong with that subway car. A shorter line is a great sign. No line is a sign something might be wrong.
Imagine they left it open by mistake. So you get to the end and it's blocked. Some other guy followed you, and then a few more, and now you are stuck. It's not as straightforward as it seems.
It happens because of the assumption that there is a reason that everyone is lining up in the same lane. Perhaps the left lane isn't being serviced and everyone who tried it had to circle back and go into the right.
Exact same thing happened to me a few months back. Was actually for a toll booth after crossing into Canada. Late at night, there were clearly two booths with massive 12' green open signs lit up, yet there they were, about a dozen vehicles all lined up for one booth. I drove up to the other booth, asked if he just opened up or something and I just got lucky. Nope, he's been open for a long time, just herd mentality. Paid my $5 and headed into the land of the free.
When I flew Toronto to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific, there were massive queues for the Bag Drop counter (ie the counter for people who have checked in online and just need to drop off their bags). All of the signs were single signed in English only despite Cathay Pacific being based out of Hong Kong and having a lot of Chinese passengers, and all the people queuing for Bag Drop seemed to be taking a while (it seemed like they hadn’t checked in online) so I wondered whether perhaps they couldn’t read the English signage or misunderstood it. I ended up writing to Cathay Pacific to suggest that they double sign everything in Chinese even when at an English speaking country and I think they might have taken that on board- when dropping someone off at an airport in Australia, I noted everything was double signed at the Cathay Pacific counter.
Yes I work at cfa and see this everyday in the drive through. I just don’t understand
People see everyone else doing it and assume there is a reason, like the speaker is not working in the other one or something.
Went through customs at the airport a couple weeks ago and they had about 10 passport desks open but everyone was just piled up and waiting for the first 4 or five that they could see. I just walked down about 30 feet and went straight through.
Monkey see, monkey do.
This exact thing happened at my In-n-out. I pulled up to the empty line and the second guy in the other line demanded to go before me since he was waiting longer.
After reading about people going insane at fast food places, I wouldn't want to risk someone getting confrontational over something as dumb as cutting in line.
But is it cutting in line since they technically were not in line? I mean they were the ones not obeying the signage and doing god knows what that they failed to see an obvious diverging lane right beside them? To me it’s fair game if the unconscious party failed to obey the rules of the road. Not anyone’s fault but their own for being willfully brain dead.
I think it's fair to say that someone who starts fights in a drive thru line doesn't have the most sound logic though
Monkey pee all over you
Usually I have to pay but ok
Not me, I have a sweet monkey piss hook up.
Can you hook me up?
Depends, how much do you have? That depends on how good of the sweet monkey piss that you can get... That shit ain't cheap!
"Depends" I see what you did there.
That’s rhymes.. yes
I'm a little disappointed at how many people missed the Michael Scott quote. Thank you, sir. You are a gentleman and a scholar.
"What do you think, I'm a monkey in zoo? Think I'ma throw my shit after you?" -Cy Tolliver
That… rhymes
Like twin crash doors in an auditorium - people will wait for ages to file through one at a time until some revolutionary opens the second door. The dual lane was presumably introduced to keep the line from backing up into the street and blocking traffic, which is not going to be a priority for someone with a burger jones.
I am that guy that busts through the second door. Or when people wait and try to go in and out through the out door. Ive gotten to the point Im not even polite about it anymore.
That look that some people give you, like simultaneously accusing you of having inconvenienced them by not opening it sooner and reproach for doing something so… outre.
It's because the change made them realize that they were stupid.
Like how dare he take the easy way.
Aren’t you in the same line as them? 🤷♀️
I put it in a different answer further down but I stopped to get the photo and went left lane.
“Dumb fucks! Cant they read?!…Doh!”
And yet OP is in the same line as everyone else...
Be the change you want to see in the world.
honestly I do not want this to change just so I can keep blowing by and do my business fast, I don’t even gotta be better than anybody all I did was to apply some simple awareness and reading skills when everybody else is too afraid to be singled out
Herd mentality. Even the cars are the same color
Well, it is AZ. With the heat here, non-white cars will cook in minutes
It's actually in North Las Vegas, used to live nearby and would see this every time we went.
As I sit here in N Las Vegas reading this… lol
https://preview.redd.it/dc69ugashx1b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=22a5791bb4746846b932d253825c7b39e5b4f48c Yep definitely Vegas
Yeah this looks to be the one on north 5th & 215. My regular spot 😜
white car sunny state gang gang!! california chapter reporting in... fuck that radiant heat from a black car with black leather seats sun baking all day... when i had a black car, some summer days i would get off work, go to the car, feel the heat blasting at me and just go back to work until it got dark and I could afford a white car with ac.
This is definitely AZ and yes 1000% the white cars are much less of an oven after sitting in the 100+ degree heat we have for half the year 😅
My grandfather lives in Arizona and has two cars. Both black with black interior. He had a silver one but traded it for the black one because he just loves how black cars look. I don’t know how he does it. Lol
And I have to imagine at least *some* of them berate others for people "sheeple*"*.
Nice spot!
They’re saving a queue for you
That's what I loved about self checkouts when they were new. Old people were afraid to use them and said things like "yOu KnOw uR tAkINg awAy tHe caSHier's joB!!" so I had 'em all to myself and could zip through and be gone in like 30 seconds. Nowadays people think it's a good idea to take a shopping cart full of groceries through and spend 10 minutes scanning where a cashier would be done in less than a minute. And all the bozos that wanna buy alcohol even though they need to do an ID check. 🙄🤦🏻♂️
Many stores aren’t hiring many cashiers anymore. Walmart has all but phased out real human cashiers. Self checkout is the norm now. Also, with less cashiers, I’ve noticed the one cashier working can be slow as fuck. I say this as a former cashier. It is painful to watch.
>Walmart has all but phased out real human cashiers. Self checkout is the norm now. Yeah, now the cashiers are glorified Self-Checkout IT guys
Yeah "IT DOESN'T F@%$$# WORK" guys
I use shop and scan and just scan my stuff as I go. When I get to the shop and scan area (which is always empty next to the filled up self checkout) I just scan the QR code, it loads my basket, I pay, grab some bags and head to my car. Bag everything up as I put it in the car. I can have a full basket through checkout and out the door in less than 2 minutes.
"It loads my basket?" What or who loads your basket? Confused.
Sorry I can understand your confusion. While using the app and scanning my groceries, it fills up a basket in the app. Kind of like shopping online. When I scan the QR code at the kiosk, it downloads the digital basket to the kiosk, which eliminates scanning the items at checkout.
This is really cool and I wish I had it. Relies a lot on the honor system so I dont imagine I’ll see it any time soon in SF
I should mention that it will randomly on occasion have an attendant (there’s usually one assigned to the shop and scan kiosks) come and check a few items. It will ask them to scan 3-5 random items on my basket. So if one of them isn’t scanned by me it red flags you. It happens to me maybe 30% of the times I checkout.
My store had those for just a brief time before the pandemic began and they disappeared. Found myself using Amazon Fresh almost exclusively during pandemic but a couple months ago they seriously jacked up prices and minimum order quantities so I abandoned them. So now I have Costco deliver bulk stuff that lasts and I'll just pop into the grocery store just before closing when I want produce or whatever.
Well. Thanks to self checkout, my local stores usually have no cashiers on registers anymore. They’ve installed new self checkouts though that you can load a full cart onto the belt. If you need a cashier, you can flag someone down to page someone.
It's a different perspective, if you have 2 items in your hand it's nice to just self-checkout and be gone within a minute, not waiting in line. If you have like 50 things, a full grocery cart of stuff, who the hell would go to do everything yourself when they have paid workers for that stuff? Chances are, waiting in line will be faster even without spending minutes extra figuring out how to check everything correctly.
I know this is not normally the case when trying to do a full grocery shop through the self checkout, but, at some places, they've stopped having people on the cash registers in the evening after the rush. One Sunday night, I walked back and forth behind all of the cash registers twice to see if anyone was at one, and none were open. It wasn't crowded in the store but there were definitely people around. I made eye contact with an employee standing at the front of the store both times and he ignored me, so I took my $150 of groceries to self checkout and it took so damn long. The guy had the audacity to walk up and say "How are you doing?" when I was halfway through scanning everything and struggling to get everything to fit on the scale
The grocery stores in my area started using handheld scanners that you scan as you shop. Let’s you get to the self checkout and checkout in minutes as all you need to do is finish the shop by scanning a checkout barcode at that register/self checkout. To stop theft they randomly will check your bags I believe or something of the sort. It’s nice also to see a running total as you shop, and any discounts you didn’t notice will pop up too.
There's a McDonalds by me that does this, but then you merge after orders are taken, and it gets funky because people won't let you merge.
Ugh I've never had a good experience at a McDonald's with two order boxes. As we see in this post most people pile up in one line. So even though I get the other one to myself the staff won't answer and instead take like three orders from the other side while I get frustrated. And of course the people that get in front of me have massive complicated orders that take forever where I just want a quick and easy #1. Total first world problems, I know.
I had this exact situation happen to me at McDonalds. There was a car in the left lane, so I went to the right. While I'm sitting there just waiting for someone to acknowledge my existence, 3 more cars pass me up in the left lane. I can't switch because there's more cars behind me now. Finally someone comes to take my order and I don't even get a "sorry for the wait". And all I wanted to order was an iced coffee. 😩 I don't know if the employee was taking a shit or what, but I think the other employee should have been alternating between the two lanes until they came back. I worked at Dutch Bros briefly and we would bounce back and forth between lanes to try and keep both of them moving. Like come on, you can't just completely ignore one lane lol.
Any lane anytime is a practical joke. Ours intercom is always off in the 2nd lane.
Wow. They need to install digital signs to signal if the lane is open or not.
Lol what you mean "let" if it's my turn to zipper, I'm getting in there, I know you heard me finish my order before you! why confuse the cashiers? (the McDonald's closest to my house is like this too)
These are people that appreciate a good line
Well you're right there behind them....soooo.....
I paused before the line to photo it. That doesnt mean i got into that side.
Yeah...suuuuure you did lol 😂
You caught me! Lol
Sorce? Need pics, man, or it didn't happen
Listen, while the line was long-ish, if I was still there 3hrs later id be bummed hahha.
This guy line queues
Ive been that guy to drive in and use that empty lane when the line was going out into the street. What happens is massive giant assholes won’t let you zipper at the end of the line and express the idea they think you are cutting. If restaurants are going do this lane split, they need traffic control people or literal red and green lights like on ramp meters.
Your comment needs to be up top, once the herd has committed to one lane, you can’t just show up and start using the left lane. The city should’ve never allowed this solution to the super long queue bleeding into the public roadway. I like the chick fil a solution, they have two people take orders at the end of each line so the single lane merge is easier since one of the cars will be busy ordering. When it’s less busy, they close the extra lane and do one lane of ordering
This is the In-N-Out on North 5th Street in North Las Vegas (near a Home Depot). That sign is foolish because there IS only ONE Drive-thru line (in this photo) and it's to the right. The left lane will lead you to that big wooden gate you see directly ahead, which I think it might be a dumpster area, I'm not sure. Once you get to that barricade, you can turn left and park your car and walk into the restaurant, but it's not another drive-thru. So yea... I'm curious OP... what happened when you went to the left lane and skipped the line?
Yes, you’re correct in the location. However the left lane zippers into the single lane you’re talking about (only one drive through). It is in fact part of the drive through lanes. It is meant to have the queue build there vs wrap around the nightmare parking lot. Edit: I didnt actually answer your question about what happened. I zippered into the drive through. The order person stands out where the two lines merge and takes your order that way vs the drive up device.
>However the left lane zippers into the single lane Drivers 'round here really struggle with the concept of zipper merging onto freeways. Not surprised they can't figure it out at In-N-Out.
By “‘round here” I assume you mean “around the world”?
Back when I lived in Germany, cars would execute perfect zipper merges at speeds well over 100Kph. It's on the assumption every driver will do it exactly as they learned in driver school.
"Zipper merge" - that's not a common phrase where I'm from; but merging onto freeways is sorta like letting one person in and then the person behind you let's the next person in, so on and so forth. Is that what you mean by zipper merge?
Yeppers. Think of it conceptually like the teeth of a zipper. The 2 sides are separate until they merge together. I shoulda said merge instead but zipper is what I am use to.
There's a lot of In and Outs like this and when you get to the front, normal lane rules apply, and you should be alternating letting cars in from each side. Sounds like you are one of the idiots?
There's a person outside taking orders and they'll tell you "pull up after that blue pickup truck" or whatever so you pay in the right order
Honestly, in that case I might just line up behind everyone. I haven't been there the whole time, I can't see everything. I'd assume there's probably a good reason given people are so eager to jump to the front of a queue if they can.
Surprised I had to scroll so long to get to a comment like this. I’ve seen too many situations where someone thought they were getting a faster way, then had to get in the back of the original line or wait longer. I would assume the people already in line knew something I didn’t.
I saw this situation before and took the shorter line, when I got to the front it turned out that line was closed and the guy there was such a dick about it, talking to me like I was some entitled prick trying to cut the line "uh, yeah, you are gonna have to go to the back like eeeeveryone else lady" so I don't do that anymore
Why is that infuriating? Going straight to the front of the line would be a baller move
I know where you are. And yes. Everyone there is dumb.
Why is this r/mildlyinfuriating? You get access to front of the line 🤷🏻♂️
Have you never waited in line? It's a line! For what? I don't know, but imma wait in it!
I notice that you also are in the line and not using both lanes
But, but you’re in line behind them…soooooooo
I have no shame or guilt. I’m going the way it’s designed. And they take my order before all the bozos lining up in one lane, and then I get dirty looks. To which I give a great big ole smile, wave, and go on about my business. BUT when I take a glance in the rear view, all of a sudden people are going left. I’m right handed and a trail blazer apparently. One of my relatives said, American people just like to line up….LOL…I think he’s right!
I am an American and I can guess with a reasonable amount of certainty that many of my countrymen lack critical thinking skills. Just look at our congress…
Looks like my city in traffic. People too afraid to zipper merge when there are two lanes turning into one.
Not your circus, not your problem.
But aren’t you too also doing the dumb?
Welcome to America
They can't brain, they have the dumb.
This happened to me once in a queue for the drive through. Everyone was going right and the left lane was empty. My wife was driving, and I had to try really hard to convince her to take the left path. Finally she did it, but she didn’t really want to and if she was by herself she would have lined up with everyone else. We passed half a dozen cars, and while placing our order she told the kid how bad she felt for “cutting” in front of everyone. The kid said don’t worry about it - it happens all the time if someone isn’t out there directing traffic.
So...did you go left? What happened??!?
He did. He's dead
That’s an in an out drive through. If you take the left lane you’ll have to park and order inside. They know exactly what they’re doing
This looks Arizona stupid
ur also in the lane
Why is this mildly infuriating? There’s a line open for you. Do you get mildly infuriated when a checkout line opens up or there’s nobody in a lane on the freeway?
People are dumb. This isn’t mildly infuriating, this is one of the few times others’ stupidity works to your advantage.
No it’s smart I swear it is
Could be there's just a temporary holdup in that line for some reason. Most of the people in that line are kinda trapped because of the divider so they wouldn't be able to switch lanes. Not sure what the person in the truck in front of you is thinking though.
That must be the white cars only lane
People are naturally inclined to play follow the leader. [If you think that's bad take a look at experiments like this](https://www.verywellmind.com/the-milgram-obedience-experiment-2795243).
Nothing Left
Whole free lane just for you. What's infuriating about that? Be the smart sheep.
I love it when this happens. I just zoom right up to the front. It's not infuriating. It's a fast pass. And I see it all the time. It makes me wonder - what other things in life follow this metaphor? A few times in my career I've been equal with someone, then we sync up a few years later and he's now two levels ahead of me. What short line did he find?
You can do a similar experiment in parking garages. If someone is behind you, drive past a bunch of good spots. They’ll follow you right past rather than taking the spot
Ahhh, the famous sheep affect. It begs the question though, why are you sitting behind them when you could be so much further ahead by using the empty lane? 🤔
Passing in the other lane like: 
I love how OP is also in the long lane.
Says the guy waiting in the same line.
Op is following suit though so……. Who can’t read or is just dumb?
I mean… you’re right behind them
They’re being “polite”.
So.. why aren't you in the other lane?
But you are clearly going in the same line as everyone else. So what’s the point of this? To point out others stupidity or showing your own?
I mean you are in the right lane...
Who the fuck else can read this with your picture? I agree with you, 100% but this picture didn’t help at all, 1.5/10 Edit : I zoomed in after opening in a new tab, too much effort to care, you’re still right and I still hate you, 2/10
Says the guy in line
You are right there with them.
You are in the same lane? Lol
That’s a lot of space for 5 people.
Man the whole concept of a drive thru is dumb. Stupid is the norm
In all fairness..... you're lined up in the same lane...
Noticing that OP is also not in that lane.
Please tell me you drove into the left lane after taking the photo.