Why We Hate Waiting
Few everyday experiences are as widely disliked as standing in a queue, and city dwellers may spend several days of every year doing it. Whether at a supermarket checkout, a post office or a theme park, waiting in line can make otherwise calm people feel frustrated and even angry. Yet queues are also one of the oldest ways of sharing out limited goods and services fairly. In recent years, researchers from several fields have begun to study what happens to us while we wait, and their findings suggest that how long we wait matters less than how the wait feels.
One of the clearest findings is that time spent doing nothing seems longer than time spent occupied. The social psychologist Ilse Marten carried out a series of experiments in which volunteers waited for an appointment in one of two rooms. In the first room there was nothing to look at; in the second, there were magazines and a window overlooking a busy street. Although both groups waited exactly twelve minutes, those in the empty room estimated their wait at almost twenty minutes on average. Marten concludes that 'an empty wait is a long wait', and many businesses appear to agree. Hotels place mirrors beside lifts, and some airports have moved baggage reclaim areas further from the arrival gates, so that passengers spend more time walking and less time standing beside the belt.
Uncertainty also makes waiting harder. When people do not know how long a delay will last, they tend to imagine the worst. This is why many transport companies now display the number of minutes until the next train or bus. According to Marten, such information rarely shortens the real wait, but it gives people a sense of control, which reduces stress. Interestingly, her research found that slightly overestimating the waiting time can increase satisfaction: customers who are told to expect fifteen minutes but are served after ten often leave happier than those who were promised ten minutes and waited exactly that long.
Perhaps the strongest feelings, however, are caused by unfairness. The economist Kofi Adaire has spent years studying the rules people use to judge whether a queue is fair. His surveys show that most people will accept a long wait as long as everyone is treated equally, but even a short wait becomes upsetting if someone pushes in. He also points out that people are prepared to wait longer when the order of service is clear to everyone. For this reason, Adaire is a strong supporter of the single snake queue, in which one line feeds several counters. Compared with separate lines for each counter, it does not make service faster overall, but it removes the annoying experience of watching a neighbouring line move more quickly than your own.
Not everyone believes that traditional queues are worth keeping. Sunniva Holt, who designs customer systems for large organisations, argues that physical lines are an outdated technology. In her view, virtual queues, in which customers receive a text message when it is their turn, allow people to use their waiting time for something more valuable, such as shopping or having a coffee. Holt admits that such systems cost more to set up, but she predicts that within ten years most banks and clinics in large cities will no longer ask customers to stand in line at all.
Critics of virtual queuing, however, point out that it may exclude certain groups. Older people and those without a mobile phone can find the systems confusing, and some customers simply prefer to see where they are in the line. Adaire also warns that virtual queues can feel less fair, because people cannot see who is ahead of them and may suspect that others are being given priority. Several organisations that switched completely to digital systems have since reintroduced a small physical queue for customers who ask for one.
What all of this research suggests is that the problem of waiting cannot be solved only by making service faster. Adding staff or machines is expensive, and in busy periods the line may simply grow again. Managing the experience of waiting, by keeping people busy, informed and confident that the system is fair, is often cheaper and more effective. It also brings a hidden benefit: customers who feel they have been treated well while waiting are more likely to return, even if the service itself was slow. As Marten puts it, the goal is not to remove every queue, but to make the minutes inside it feel shorter.
