Generally, what constitutes a "walk away" queue for you?

[El Presidente]

I am notoriously bad at "queueing".  It may or may not cause..... arguments 

3 people for me is a "queue".  It would take something very very special for me to jump on the back of that "queue" to make a 4th person. 9 times out of 10 I will walk on. 

Now my mate Artie will jump on the back of a line of 50 people for coffee takeaway and by the time he gets served he will have made friends with 15 people in the line and be invited to two weddings. He loves queueing. Di/Lisa's mum Rena is the same. I swear she queues at bus stops just to meet people. She doesn't even want to catch the bus. My mate Stan jumps on the back of queues even when he doesn't know why people are queueing because he believes if people are queueing then something good must be happening. Stan is ......"special". 

Am I normal?    Ok, scrub that question entirely. 

Take the poll. 

 

[yossie]

You can't play in Disney resorts. 🤪 For me, I hate to wait more than 30 minutes for eating.  When I was living in Tokyo, I sometime saw people wait for nurdles.  One of the places was probably on the MICHELIN Guide but I suspect they lost insane.

[LordAnubis]

Hate queues. What I hate most is that most of the time they are quite avoidable. I think the problem is exactly that “a queue must mean it’s good”. 
My biggest hate is when you go to a big event and the food van has a massive queue. It’s not that hard folks! Make food that is tasty and takes less than 30 seconds to put together. Can’t be that hard. 

[Ford2112]

Lines make me crazy. I am good for maybe 10 minutes tops.I'm just not very fond of crowds. Filthy animals, There's an ice cream store which is OK but not worth the 30 minute wait times to get their goods. But it amazes me people stand in line for anything these days. I order my groceries delivered now. I'm so anti social 🤣. Covid lockdown was actually good for me. It's when I had to get back into society where things have gone south!

[mprach024]

My time is too valuable to give any more than 10 min.  I can solve whatever I’m after online in 10 min while smoking a cigar.  That’s more my speed.

[LLC]

I’d say four people I’d walk away or if it slow and going to be more than 10 minutes. That’s all for something I really want or I might walk with three in line. 

[MattxG]

Totally depends on what the queue is for.  For coffee or food, if there's too many cars in the lot I drive on.  For something I really want though, I'll queue.

[La_Tigre]

3 hours ago, MattxG said:

Totally depends on what the queue is for.  For coffee or food, if there's too many cars in the lot I drive on.  For something I really want though, I'll queue.

+1

Need details to provide a complete answer.

If we’ve driven an hour to be someplace particular, no sense balking at a wait.

If it’s for a coffee, not waiting more than one person deep.
 

[El Presidente]

18 minutes ago, La_Tigre said:

+1

Need details to provide a complete answer.

 

The key word in the question is "Generally"

Don't overthink it 

[Bill Hayes]

5 hours ago, yossie said:

You can't play in Disney resorts. 🤪 For me, I hate to wait more than 30 minutes for eating.  When I was living in Tokyo, I sometime saw people wait for nurdles.  One of the places was probably on the MICHELIN Guide but I suspect they lost insane.

I have queued for Ramen with a Michelan star in Tokyo. Great for brunch with opening time at 11am. Get in line by 10:45am and make the first sitting. Ha ha! But was on holidays and did it on two trips. Think it's new location was in Ginza station. Famous for chicken Ramen but I chose the seasonal beef in anchovy broth. Best Ramen I've ever had and worth the wait but I hate to queue, especially for a drink at a bar or a taxi. Thank goodness for Uber.

[Cigar-Therapy]

What about joining a queue that isn’t really a queue?

 

bathroom, 3-4 guys standing in front generally grouped. Could be mistaken for a queue… wait a few minutes then just see someone walk straight in… and realize… there is none. 
 

This does remind me of South Park- episode with the ‘line ride’.

[Sir Diggamus]

I picked 4-10 or 20 min but I with @MattxG in that it TOTALLY depends on what the que is for. I try my best to plan visits to places when they are the least busy so I don't have to wait in line, and sometimes it drives my wife a little crazy.

The Costco close to my work location has the best price on gas but the que during lunch hour is 30-40 minutes TO GET GAS, so I go early in the morning when there is not a wait at all. Who wants to waste their entire lunch hour once a week just waiting to get gas? Apparently some people do. 

Some of the best things are just worth waiting for though, like waiting years to enjoy cigars and wine at their peak 😉.

Once I made a cross country trip with my wife, her friend, and her friends mom. We had a one night stop in New Orleans and wanted to try some of the good food in the French Quarter. We got there a little late and MANY of the restaurants were crowded with a que to even get in the door, so we decided to walk around until they found a place with no wait. BAD CHOICE, the food was not good where we ended up. I realized from a later experience that the reason those other places had the long wait was because the food was outstanding there and the locals knew this. Had we agreed to wait a little bit we would have enjoyed a great meal. 

  

[La_Tigre]

7 hours ago, El Presidente said:

The key word in the question is "Generally"

Don't overthink it 

Ahhh, reading the poll question and missed it in the title. Short attention span. Trouble is one of us isn’t queueing beyond one person and the other is making friends in the longest queue to be found. 

[joeypots]

I’ll wait for ten minutes and usually walk if it’s twenty. I rarely go to a restaurant if I don’t have a reservation.

[Groucho.]

Generally speaking I avoid queues unless completely necessary like a bathroom - then there is no other option but to wait.

[Fugu]

Have belonged to the former, now more and more to the latter type. Not necessarily in queuing, but the older I get (and perhaps with the growing awareness of the limited time that’s been granted to one on this beautiful planet) the more I enjoy interacting with “strangers”.

[Chibearsv]

4-10 people in front of me I can handle.  After that, I get itchy.  

[LizardGizmo]

If I'm mentally prepared to wait (lets say rewewing my driver's license, waiting for my table at a busy restaurant, getting into a concert or an amusement park), I can stand a reasonable queue.

However, if the line is completely unexpected, I'm out. No patience.

[Carrie Nation]

Standing on long lines is for peasants and refugees. Whatever it is you're waiting for, find another way.

 

[KCCubano]

I wont wait in line for jack s___t these days. Maybe at a bar for dinner etc. Nothing worse than going to a grocery store and having the 3rd person ahead of you argue with cashier whether a dollar off coupon is still valid. Then bring in store manager to make a decision. Happens to me all the time. 

[Fuzz]

9 hours ago, Sir Diggamus said:

 

The Costco close to my work location has the best price on gas but the que during lunch hour is 30-40 minutes TO GET GAS, so I go early in the morning when there is not a wait at all. Who wants to waste their entire lunch hour once a week just waiting to get gas? Apparently some people do. 

 

First you go into the Costco to get a pizza, then you drive to the pump, and eat your pizza while you get gas.... both types.