To think queuing etiquette is just going to pot!

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I'm British and there's nothing I like more than a good queue (except perhaps a nice cup of tea and a sit down) but it seems to me that the skill of forming a proper queue is going to the dogs.

Every morning at my regular bus stop I have to contend with people who were there before me standing at the wrong end of the shelter and leaving a big space at the bus end, so if I want to be protected from the mild drizzle I have to "push in" ahead of them, or people wandering about and not standing still. I mean, the odd shifting from foot to foot while sighing and looking at one's watch is one thing (I'm not a monster) but really people, make an effort.

WIBU to sneak along one night and mark out neat little numbered squares so there can be no confusion or ambiguity?

I hate dual carriageway traffic queuing, obviously there are roadworks or something ahead, hence the long line of static cars, then some knobber decides to whizz past everyone and try to push in the front

Tikimon So the person who arrived at the bus stop first might not get on the bus if it becomes full with the others in the queue?

Our buses come every 10-15 minutes. It's very rare that you have standing room only unless there's an event going on.

America has a big car culture, our schools have huge parking lots because kids drive themselves to high school, so not everyone takes the bus, and buses aren't really available everywhere either. They're cheaper than cars, but given the chance most people drive unless it's a long distance and parking is expensive.

Nalia Queuing for the bus is what put the Great into Great Britain.

You're a wanderer I think it's time to deploy an industrial staple gun...

I was queuing for the ladies loos in a shopping centre with DD6 and the queue had reached the outside door. As I had a pushchair with me I couldn't fill 'my spot' without blocking the door for anyone looking to exit so I left a gap to allow people to get out and it was promptly filled by an old woman who completely ignored the the fact that the rest of the queue had carried on outside the door. So infuriating!

Another moan. Find really annoying people who queue leaving a great space in front of them. I have seen it at bus stops, shops (not supermarkets) etc.

Yup. The random spacers. They drive me mad.

Worst is on rainy days when you can fit three people five feet apart inside the bus shelter and ten people in a crowd in the rain. Fuck them, I just stand in out of the rain.

As for people who look at the queue then stand beside you at the back, WTF??? Do they think they can make the whole queue change direction and skip one space? Hell fucking no.

Ohhh ... not that I disagree (at all), but that reminded me of the bloke who got up my nose the other week. We were all in a fairly tight-packed queue and it was raining, so people were pressing in. The bus always stops at the post with the timetable on, which is actually a metre or so from the shelter. Cheeky fucker came up, made shooing noises with his hands and said 'move up, all of you, move up there'. He was one of those posh-voiced types who clearly expected everyone to do as he said.

I didn't tell him to fuck off.

Loads of eastern European and other immigrants arriving all the time where I live. They just don't get queuing when they first arrive, and it is hilarious watching the social dynamic in our local co op ( I am rarely in any major hurry so don't mind, am grateful for the entertainment). Doesn't take them long to figure out what is going on though - which confirms my belief that they are mostly lovely people and a happy addition to our community.

How can anyone not understand the point of, and etiquette of, queuing? It is simply common sense. It is about order, courtesy, rewarding punctuality, not being 'grabby' and 'pushy'. There is no mystery to it. I think people pretend not to understand it, or ignore it deliberately to excuse their impatience and poor manners.

The signalling of queue disrespecters is a lesson in English manners itself.

The quiet tut.
The shared disapproving murmur between those who abide by queuing rules
The initially apologetic 'Excuse me, I'm sorry but there is a queue'
Even better when it is done on someone else's behalf, particularly if they are elderly , 'Excuse me, sorry but there is a queue and that gentleman was first in it'.
Then the more direct but still polite 'Excuse me, I think I was before you. Thank you', with the assumption the queue disrespecter will simply co-operate now the error of their ways has been made clear.

I love it all.

Lulu, that's a lovely list.

Maybe it's odd of me, but that's exactly the "entertainment" that I get from watching people quite new to the country beginning to understand our terribly polite English queuing system.

First, they look all put out, because they personally are in a hurry (maybe the same people who park on double yellow lines outside the school?), then they realise that people are tutting quietly, then they see some elderly person waiting, and feel honestly sorry, and maybe get told (in basic sign language) that there is a queue, and then they go, very meekly and contrite, all the way round the back of the sweet aisle so that they can get in the queue properly. Gives me a warm feeling every time and restores my faith in human nature.

Our queuing thing is great, and one of the things I love best about living in England

Oooh definitely, the whole queueing thing is nothing like it was when I were a lass. (I'm 53). As the years have gone on and there are more people from non-queueing cultures it's not surprising it's been watered down somewhat.

I'm not upset by it, because if people haven't grown up with neat queues for everything, it must seem as strange to them as just forging ahead and having a bit of a bunfight, is to us. I do feel irritated when someone blatantly queue jumps and knows full well they are doing so. That's just rude.

I don't understand how society functions without queing etiquette.

I was in Germany, at a

theme park. When the bus came not everyone could get on, it was a complete scrap. How do the disabled, sick or elderly manage to travel on public transport. It was so dangerous.

I can't imagine what it is like at a concert in Cologne, think I will stick to the O2.

I adore a queue. The fun of calculating which queue is the fastest moving. The smug feeling when you guess right and the masked disappointment when the person level with you is served before you on an adjacent till.
The introduction of the screaming 'NEXT?!' assistant is rather unwelcome. As a queuing nation, we are waiting, poised to move to the next available counter. All we require is for the shopkeeper to raise his or her eyes from the till towards the queue, perhaps a raise of the eyebrows, and the next in line will spring in to place. That is all the indication required to keep the queue flowing. The screaming assistant causes the queuer to rush forwards with a breathless apology even though we have just been screamed at for no reason.
It does, however, make me incandescent with indignation when a new till is opened and a new-comer shoots straight over without first offering it to the original queuers. I have employed a quick step to head these rogues off at the pass before turning to fellow queuers and offering them their rightful place in the new queue.
Laughing out loud at this thread- particularly 'sharpening elbows'

I lived in London for 15 years and people didn't really queue for the bus, unlike in Portugal where bus queues could generate huge arguments if anyone cheated. It was a huge culture shock at the time (much less now due to mutltiboarding trams).

Oh, we also beat you because sometimes we have to queue for services before they open. Instead of actually standing in a physical queue, we ask who was the last person to arrive before us and memorise it. When the doors open, we instantly fall into the queue pattern by going behind that person.
God help anyone who tries to jump the queue.

When I came Australia about eight years ago, I committed a fearful faux pas in Aldi. You know that part when a new sales point is opened? Well. I reversed and dived in, to the horrified glances and mutters of everyone else. It would seem that one waits for the person who has not put their stuff on the till to move to the front of the queue.

That was than and this now: this polite system has definitely broken down and there some evidence of rushing.

Do you think I started this slow decline into total collapse?

Just realised I suffered queue rage a couple of weeks ago in the Nespresso shop. Waiting patiently for my free coffee, I'd been there for a few of minutes while the guy made coffees for a family group (they are def not baristas in there - not speedy at all) when chap who had been behind me in queue for the tills joined the free coffee huddle.

He'd been there all of ten seconds, me several minutes, when the woman who'd served him at the till came over, switched on another coffee machine and said to him, 'which coffee would you like sir?'. Cheeky bugger started telling her instead of volunteering that I was next in the queue. I turned on my heel, muttered, 'I could have sworn I was next' and stormed out.

i turned to someone who pushed in front of me 'but i've been queuing a lot longer than you - don't i count?' in huge outrage. big deal for me. i can barely mumble anything at strangers.

she just looked at me like a rabbit in the headlights and carried on!

Haven't read the ft! But why do some people in queues feel the need to get so close? Like they might as well climb into my sons pushchair or jump in my bag

GIVE ME SOME SPACE PEOPLE

HappyDaysAreHere I'll admit to being someone who leaves a space between the person at a bus stop and me. The reason is that he/she is smoking and I do not want to arrive at my destination reeking of it. Don't smokers realise how awful they they, their clothes and their breath smell? Anyway, their outward breath makes me cough.

I'm English but currently live in Australia and it drives me insane the way people don't queue properly here. They just waltz right on up to the front and get served right away. Mill around inside the bank. Queue for the bus?? I CAN'T WAIT to come home.

Queuing in England is alive and well.

Just got back from a trip to mainland Europe and was horrified by lack of queue ettiquette. We lost track of the times we got pushed in front of. Including the memorable time when a pusher in let loose a stream of German at poor DH who was refusing to move out of the way so she could push her child forward.

Then there was the argument between two women at the children's face painting line.

I was at the airport coming off a 11 hour flight where my DS was stupidly fed air filled cheese puffs in the departure lounge in Cuba by my idiotic brother (19) and my mums friend (44) whilst I went with my sister to shop. cue the screaming infant in first class for 9 hours vomiting everywhere because they expand in the stomach and caused a stomach ache relevant because I was judged like a nun in a Whore House I did not appreciate the British man behind on my back tutting, moaning and for god sake hurry upping behind me whilst he stepped on my shoes and I could feel his chest on my back.

You being that close will NOT make the like go faster, like It will NOT make you be there any good damn quicker if you took a couple of steps back so I could breathe without having to hear you breathe in my ear! That was how close he was I could hear him breathe in my ear. Must admit it's something I hate so much!!