Nervous energy? or the “me first” syndrome?
Be it while driving, or in any queues at the bank or the airport, we all have encountered the “me first” syndrome. I was recently travelling back to Mumbai from New Delhi. I entered the Delhi airport and stopped for microsecond to look for the Indigo counter, when someone behind me exclaimed “ excuse me !!!” (Three exclamation marks, I know, are redundant but they prove a point here – she was rude !!!)
I moved out of her way ever so gladly. I then stood in the check-in line, only to see her try and jump the queue.This time is was my turn:
“ Excuse me !!!”
She shot me a dirty look but none the less, took her place back in the queue.
So much for cheap thrills.
However, this got me thinking of the age old question…
Why is everyone always in such a rush? By overtaking, jumping the signal and desperately cutting queues, how much time can one actually save? Why is it that some drivers start honking a few seconds before the traffic signal even turns green? Why is it that the moment boarding is annouced, every one rushes to the queue hoping to be the first? Will the airplane actually take off without them?
We have to wait in long lines at banks, bus stops, ticket windows etc., Waiting should have become second nature to us. So what happens to us ? Is it nervous energey the drives through our veins with the feeling the we might get left behind, or is it the “me first” syndrome, that it is our birthright to be first.
According to an article I read on the “Art of queuing; A combination of math & psycho” by Monhinder Singh,
“What upsets people most when waiting in queues is the impression of unfairness in the arrangements. The other is the feeling of wasting time. In multiple queues people often stay restive, they perceive other queues as moving faster. At multiple airline check-in queues, some couples are seen employing the strategy of standing in two different queues. The one who reaches the desk first can check in for both. Richard Larson of MIT, Harvard, highlights the second problem of queuing: the “empty time” effect. Time is actually a man-made thing, an artificial concept. You know this while queuing because it stops completely.”
V. Raghunathan , in his book Games Indians Play: Why We Are the Way We Are, writes-“The trouble in India is that the chances or being caught are low, and the consequences of being caught are weak. As a result, we have forgotten what self regulation means. Democracy has been misinterpreted to mean the right to do whatever you want. The only correct way to resolve this is, while keeping the well known prisoner’s dilemma in mind, is to ask yourself, “What is the correct thing, deep down, for me to do?” In other words, what is the action that if everyone were to follow it, would lead to the collective good? If you were to approach the prisoner’s dilemma that way, both accomplices would arrive at the same answer- not to squeal against the other. You need to approach the issue internally. The problem arises when you expect others to defect, so you try and pre-empt the harmful consequences by defecting yourself.”
I’m no expert and I certainly cannot offer any explanations to this. All I can do is that the next time I am in a queue or a traffic jam, I will try my level best to smile politely and and let the person who’s absolutuely dying to cut in – to go first. I will be the bigger person. Who knows? I may just successfully embarrass him/her into being more patient in the future. It’s worth a shot right?.
Unless of course, he/she is like the woman I encountered at the Delhi airport…………….Excuse Me!!!
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