Posted on 08/15/2002 12:09:37 AM PDT by tictoc
Active Queuing Tips
By Jonnie Skye Clifford
Ever waited your turn in line at a German bakery or grocery store only to have someone cut right in from of you as though you were invisible? To many foreigners this is the ultimate affront, so shocking that they often let it slide. But you needn't worry that you have been outflanked because you are a foreigner and look easy to take advantage of. On the contrary, line jumping is a fairly normal and accepted practice in Germany, so don't get upset and think that people are being unfriendly or rude. It could be that you are not practicing active queuing, or as a German colleague of mine puts it, “aktives Anstehen.“
If you want to practice active queuing, make sure that once you are in line you have everything you need. Don't look around as if you have more shopping to do. This may indicate to fellow shoppers that you are not quite ready to be standing in line. That's a golden opportunity for other shoppers to cut in, since you are obviously not 100 percent sure that you should be in the queue in the first place. Try and look ready to buy!
Also take note of who is in front and in back of you. Body language often says more than words. Making contact with the sales woman could save you precious minutes. It also does not hurt to look like you are in a hurry. People who are in a rush can be nasty, and most potential line-jumpers won't risk a confrontation at the local HL market.
If someone is in a hurry, I am happy to give up my place in line, but I reserve the right also to do so when I am in a rush. This can be tricky. If you want to take short cuts yourself then you will have to be able to justify this or go about it incognito.
Be on the offensive when you are waiting in that long queue at Aldi. If someone slithers in front of you and you object, then slither right back. There is a good chance that you can win back your spot without an altercation.
Never forget the saying, what comes around goes around. If you are in line at the grocery with only a couple of items, chances are that the person in front of you with 26 items will let you go ahead. So just think of the many times considerate people let you go before them, saving you five minutes of standing in line.
Don't think so... The Emperor Charles V said that "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse". Nothing much has changed since then...
Among faults Germans may have, lack of decorum while shopping isn't one of them.
In a situation where several customers are waiting, say at the butcher shop, the sales peson will ask 'who's next, please', and the customers will make eye contact among themselves until the the correct person is determined.
Almost all villages have 2 bakeries, 2 butcher shops, etc. Each shop is closed one day a week besides Sunday. The shops have a different day off to allow customers to go to the 'competition' on their closed day.
Traditional decorum serves to keep order in the crowded situations often found in Europe. Any shop that allowed some impolite customer to violate this decorum would see it's customer base disappear rapidly.
The gestures, signals and vocabulary for polite behavior while shopping is automatic, and is necessary for smooth operations in crowded situations.
Someone had to reach a long way to pull this article out of wherever it is one goes to find such BS.
Meine Ansicht nach
longjack
There you are, cheek and jowl with some large countrywoman who does not use the dry cleaner or the bath. You are pressed tightly in the pack but you have a chance at merchandise because you were at the front of the line when the doors opened and maintained your position all the way to the first goods counter.
You pick up a hand full of, say bath towels only to have them snatched from your hand by one of the hundreds of other shoppers, usually women. You have not lived until you are wedged between these line jumpers who break full sweat during an overhead corset grab. Said article will not fit any of them but ten pair of hands test the garment's stretch and you are lucky a garter does not grab your ear as it snaps by on its way to the winner.
Yes, Jack, line jumping is common in Germany at the butcher, baker and the Bundespost. Some of it is pure rudeness but much of it is sheer sport.
Explain all this to me in German so I'll know you're able to communicate with the very people you wish to insult.
longjack
Es langt allmaehlich, Leute anzuhoeren, die gesponne Eindruecke als Tatsachen verbreiten.
Servus.
Ich glaube, Ich spinne...eindruecke?...nein, ganz einfach dumkopf einstellung.Wie es is sagen?..."schmallspur denken"? Prost!
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