Queue Jumpin'

I do the screwing up their paper thing and throw it on the floor. Then turn round to face them, push my face in close, give them my best and scariest stink-eye and say “paisay” – but you have to grunt it and make it sound scary. It’s easy. And it ALWAYS works.
As for pushers on the MRT, I don’t know but it could be taichi. I’m finding it easier and easier to just hold my ground when someone pushes from behind. Not only that, but I’ve developed a way to “push back” without appearing to actually do anything. I’m getting pretty good at it and can actually push someone over on their back or into the people behind them without basically moving. If someone cuts in, that’s even easier – just use the toe of your show to scrape down the back of their heel and hopefully take their shoe right off. They HATE that. Again, a good scary stink-eye and a grunted “piesay” when they turn around add to the effect. Just make sure there’s no way they can misconstrue the “piesay” as being in any way apologetic. They NEVER take the confrontation anywhere. Never. Pussies.

Sandman - I totally agree. I call it T-Bowling. I’m so big that when someone tries to cut in front, I simply run into them and they do the knocking into the next guy and they all fall down. Damn good fun and then just look innocent and soooo apologetic. Nice way to have fun on the MRT, at the mall or just about any crowded area.
Woman walked around me yesterday, cuts directly in front and slows down. No problem. I kept my normal pace and ran into her _ not an unpleasant experience by the way. Her right shoe came off and she took a tumble. Skirt up to her neck and managed to take another passer-bye down with her. (Damn- she had slacks on) Anyway, I was so apologetic, and they learned a valuable lesson. Don’t cut in front of stupid foreigners.

Enigma I’m really trying to interpret this post in a way that doesn’t characterize you as some sort of sicko whose existence just goes to show that we really need those women-only carriages. But it’s not working. Please explain.

Exactly…You have elbows don’t you? Use them.

Exactly…You have elbows don’t you? Use them.[/quote]

Elbows, absolutely. And head, shoulders, knees and toes, if necessary.

Enigma I’m really trying to interpret this post in a way that doesn’t characterize you as some sort of sicko whose existence just goes to show that we really need those women-only carriages. But it’s not working. Please explain.[/quote]

Frankly I think the women only car is a great idea. I for one, and apparantly many others on this site, are sick of people cutting in front of them. Isn’t that the topic of this thread? All the explanation I plan on giving.

Like most of you, this is a major pisser-offer for me. But remember, sometimes the person cutting in has actually already been through the line, and was asked to run fetch some other document or pay at some other counter and come back without standing in line. I’ve been in that situation, too – where I’ve been told “you don’t need to stand in line again”.

Keeping this in mind, it’s of course better to be relatively polite and say to the clerk “doesn’t he/she need to get in line” rather than just ripping the line-cutter a new orifice or shoving them, no?

At least that way you are allowing for the above possibility, and the clerk’s reaction may clue you in on the nature of the situation. Even in a McDonald’s line, the person may just be asking for the neglected salt packet or something (although where I come from, they are likely to beg your pardon and/or explain as they cut in).

I guess this advice boils down to giving another person the benefit of the doubt. It’s a civilized thing to do. (Nowhere, mind you, did I claim that I always follow this advice.)

Then again, if they just obviously shove in front of you and start to order a set meal #3, I have NO problem with physically displacing the jerk and telling him or her what a line is for.

[quote=“EscapedFromTaiwan”]
4. Standing in line at Victoria’s Secret (in Seattle) not long ago only to feel someone tap on my shoulder. The person behind informed me that I had cut the line. I apologized and swapped places with the woman yet I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. She was Chinese.[/quote]

One should not assume that the linecutter is always doing it purposely as this example and the bank (come back into the line after filling out papers having lined up once scenario) shows. Some of you seem pretty aggressive. Probably in most cases, that may be justified though perhaps extreme. Still, there are occasions where you should exercise restraint. The balance is tough.

Not everyone is going to be passive about it if you step on their shoe or elbow them.

Sandman, you don’t even have to give people a stink-eye to scare them away. Just show them you Brit teeth is sufficient.

This happens to me all the time and I always speak up. In almost three years of this only 3 times has the person done anything other than say sorry and back off. oddly enough the three or so who argued were well dressed 40 something women, not the blue truck drivin’ ilk

I think the idea is if they pretend they don’t see you, you don’t count. However, as soon as you speak up and bring attention to their asshole actions they seem to be all smiles and sorry.

The “sorry” always pisses me off becuse they are not sorry for cutting in they are sory they got caught.

whatever, more and more of my Taiwanese friends are starting to speak up now.

[quote=“Dragonbones”]Like most of you, this is a major pisser-offer for me. But remember, sometimes the person cutting in has actually already been through the line, and was asked to run fetch some other document or pay at some other counter and come back without standing in line.[/quote]I can tell the difference :wink:

[quote=“Dragonbones”]Like most of you, this is a major pisser-offer for me. But remember, sometimes the person cutting in has actually already been through the line, and was asked to run fetch some other document or pay at some other counter and come back without standing in line. I’ve been in that situation, too – where I’ve been told “you don’t need to stand in line again”.[/quote]Good point DB. I always feel very embarrassed to have to “cut in line” in this way. For example, at the physical therapy clinic I go most days, I have to guahao (register and see the doc.) every six times. The staff encourage me to go and get my treatment first without waiting for my number to come up to see the doctor. When the treatment is finished, my number has long passed. I have to hang around at the entrance to the doctor’s office looking like the worst kind of queue-jumper.

[quote=“Jaboney”]Pain in the ass, ain’t it?

Sometimes I do nothing, sometimes it’s just one finger on the shoulder to turn them around and point the way to the back of the line. [/quote]

Yep, that works for me as well. I am getting annoyed by that. I usually make sure they look at me, show them a grim face, and my thumb pointing to the back. Worked the 2 times I had to use that move. Or a very loud, “Excuse me!”, usually gets there attention as well. They might not understand english, but they hell know what I mean.

Besides living in a fairly rough and ready blue collar neighborhood here in TW, I have to visit the mainland fairly often and endure the hellish experience that is China domestic air travel… Surprisingly it’s neck and neck as to which side of the straight has the worst queuing behaviour… But at least over the years I’ve been able to fine tune my anti queue jumping arsenal…

For most blatant cue jumpers it’s a firm squeeze of the shoulder, spin them around, and in a loud, friendly but very condescending tone say “需不需要我解釋一下排隊的概念?” then without waiting for a response launch into a highly public and face dissolving explanation of “first in first out” logic , consideration for your fellow waiters and how nice it is that we don’t live in the dark ages anymore… Once the arsehole has been dispatched to the back of the line, I usually then strike up a “conversation” with one of the nearby onlookers explaining how I firmly believe queues are fundamentally fair, and just, and righteous and worth fighting for, otherwise we’d be no better than savages (and cue backwards glance at the now seething offender at the back of the line…)

got a feeling than while very effective, this doesn’t do much for Sino-Western relations as this kind of carefully calculated and excruciating loss of face by being publicly told off and ridiculed, in a friendly and amicable manner, but in your own country, in your own language, and by a foreigner, is likely to cause a lifetime’s worth of seething anger in the already insecure and bottled up angst ridden locals… but hey, they asked for it… :laughing:

Deal with this all the time. And I don’t waste anytime in letting them know I was first. The best one was a 10 year old kid who just cut in front with his orange juice. I threw the orange juice behind my stuff and then moved him behind me. He just stood there with this shocked look on his face the whole time.

Kid’s I should probably have more patience with, but adults I think should be dealt with according to how rude they are being. The ruder they are the more direct in putting in check you should be. Unless they are a ganster, then I would just say f it. :smiley:

You shouldn’t be more patient with kids. If their parents aren’t teaching them manners, then go ahead and do it for them.

The civilising mission isn’t all beer, skittles and totty, sadly

HG

Enigma I’m really trying to interpret this post in a way that doesn’t characterize you as some sort of sicko whose existence just goes to show that we really need those women-only carriages. But it’s not working. Please explain.[/quote]

Frankly I think the women only car is a great idea. I for one, and apparantly many others on this site, are sick of people cutting in front of them. Isn’t that the topic of this thread? All the explanation I plan on giving.[/quote]

Isn’t anyone else taken aback by this account of a guy enjoying rubbing up against a woman, and regretting that he didn’t get to see the second woman’s panties as well? How can anyone make light of this?

The clerk will just say yes even if the answer is no. I find clerks are generally useless in this type of situation. Besides, it’s fairly easy to tell the difference between a line-cutter and someone who has already been through the line. The line-cutter actively ignores you while the person who has been there before tends to avoid the line altogether.

if I am at a “take a number” kind of place, like the bank, and if the teller asks me to fill out more stuff and come back, the teller will usually continue on with the next number. So, when I finish filling out the forms, I always wait behind the customer the teller is currently helping. That is only polite, there is absolutely no need to interrupt the ongoing transaction.

[quote=“ratbrain”]if I am at a “take a number” kind of place, like the bank, and if the teller asks me to fill out more stuff and come back, the teller will usually continue on with the next number. So, when I finish filling out the forms, I always wait behind the customer the teller is currently helping. That is only polite, there is absolutely no need to interrupt the ongoing transaction.[/quote]Sure. That’s what I see most people do in this situation.

DB’s point can be expanded though. Before responding too strongly to what we see as an injustice or act of discourtesy, we should make sure we understand the situation fully. More than once I’ve started blustering about some perceived slight, only to realise that I hadn’t understood the situation, that I was in the wrong, and that the polite and puzzled stares of the people around me are actually more discomfiting than if they started blustering back!