Walk the Line

I used to get very upset about French people’s attitude to queuing. I found them so rude, so individualistic, so…so… annoying in their refusal to acknowledge a line of patiently queuing people and tag politely onto the end of it.
But now I’m beginning to wonder whether their failure to play the queuing game may be the result of a deep cultural divide that is not so much about one nation being polite (Brits) and the other rude (French) but rather a fundamentally different (and perhaps even legitimate) perspective on the whole matter.

Let me explain.
Last week I was waiting in line to buy my ticket at the cinema. There were two tills open (this was a private cinema, after all, not the Post Office!) but only one line (in front of one of the tills): everyone had presumably decided that if people were queuing in this way, there must be a reason for it. It crossed my mind that this was a surprisingly orderly situation, but quickly gave a Gallic shrug and joined the end of the line.
However, the next person to join the queue (let’s call him a “young gentleman”) looked perplexed. He ummed, aahed, cleared his throat several times then launched a bewildered “er, does anyone know why no-one’s waiting at the other till?” at everybody in general. Most people shrugged, muttered something incomprehensible and looked vague.
“Well, I think we’re just being polite,” I offered helpfully. “There’s one line, and then people go to whichever till-”

Of course, I never got chance to finish my sentence. Once he had deduced that the people in my queue were merely weak-minded, slightly dim sheep with zero initiative, he shot off to be the first member of the new, parallel queue.
“Well!” I exclaimed… but my indignation faltered and died as half the members of my queue stampeded past me into the new queue, headed by our quick-witted young gentleman. In short, it took all of 5 seconds for a new queue to form: people who only seconds earlier had been waiting patiently suddenly woke up and saw the light. People who’d been at the end of the old queue propelled themselves into pole position in the new queue without a thought for anyone else.

I was stunned. Upset. Shaken by this mass display of cut-throat individualism.
And that’s when I thought: wait a minute, maybe I’m the fool here, not him. I mean, come on, do I have no common sense? There’s a till available and a huge open space in front of it, and all I can think is “ho hum, well, that’s not for little old me, I should just join the longest line and wait as long as possible, thank you very much (and sorry to bother you)”.
That other guy showed initiative and good on him. Maybe the French just admire that get-up-and-go mentality more than the “sorry to disturb, don’t mind me, I’ll just tag along here and be polite” approach. And why not?



(this is not true, of course. I’m just trying to be culturally open-minded for the benefit of my French readers. I secretly still think the French are just rude when it comes to queuing!).