On: How Completely Messed Up Practices Become Normal

[slavik81]

I'm not sure I understand how that continues for very long. Once the clerks no longer have customers, they can just call people over and the queue will redistribute. If they're not doing that, presumably it's because they're doing something else that takes priority, like replacing the till or handling a problem with a previous transaction.

It only seems like it would be a problem at businesses with bad staff.

[klenwell → slavik81]

In my experience, clerks tend to circumvent the issue by simply yelling out, to no one in particular, something like "Next in line!"

I've also noticed the acquired habit in more experienced retail staff, when confronted with a queue of indeterminate order, to say, "I can help the next customer in line" and leaving implementation of the next method as an exercise for the customers themselves.

FWIW, I find the best arrangement is a Fry's style mega-queue with boundaries clearly defined by racks of candy, magazines, or other impulse-purchase crap that feeds into multiple registers.

[geon → klenwell]

Here, clercs use o say something like "This register is also open.", and a new line will form.