Unit7-Text2-On-the-Pressures-and-Politics-of-Waiting-in-Line.doc

On the Pressures and Politics of Waiting in Line1 The British queue up and the Americans wait in line, except for New Yorkers, who wait on line. No one seems to know the reason for this local idiom. It is something to ponder while waiting in/on line. 2 Another thing to ponder: It is estimated that Americans spend up to five years of their lives in that tedious, stressful but unavoidable process known as waiting. The estimate comes from Dr. Thomas Saaty, a University of Pittsburgh1 mathematician and systems analyst 2who is also an authority on waiting lines or queues, as scientists call them. 3 Being forced to wait in long lines by faceless institutions3 is like being victimized by a monster, he remarked the other day in a telephone interview frequently punctuated by the beep-beep of waiting calls. Studies show that otherwise rational people act irrationally when forced to stand in line or wait in crowds, even becoming violent. Remember the gas lines4 a few years ago? 4 Standing in line is not a necessary requisite to being part of a queue, as Dr. Saaty pointed out. One can be trapped on hold at the end of a phone line, stacked up over an airport, tied up in highway traffic, delayed in a doctors crowded waiting room. 5 Of course, queues are more than a matter of academic interest to ordinary New Yorkers. They are a grim reality of city life. While there seems to be no consensus on the citys worst line, the ones mentioned most often in talks here and there were lunchtime lines at banks and post offices and, among younger people, movie lines and college-registration lines. 6 Bank lines, said Mark Sloane, an investor. No matter what time of day you bank, the number of tellers is inadequate to the number of patrons5. Even when the bank is open you see long lines in front of the money machines outside. 7 Department stores, said Margot Albrecht, who resents missing a days work as a systems engineer to wait for furniture deliveries, another queue of sorts. They always tell you to expect delivery from 8 A.M. on. You sit home waiting and waiting, and they always arrive at 6 P.M. I dont know if anybody gets furniture delivered before 6 P.M. 8 Supermarkets, said Ed Frantz, a graphic artist6, who once abandoned a full sho pping cart in the middle of a long checkout line. It was not a political act. The line was filled with coupon clippers7 and check writers, he recalled. and suddenly I had to walk away. Food no longer mattered. 9 Not all lines are deadly. Some lines are actually fun, Doreen Schroeder insisted. She is a hair stylist, and she has met some interesting men in the Rays Pizza line 10 In any line the fundamental rule is first come, first served, or what social scientists call distributive justice. Exceptions may be made, say, in fancy restaurants8 where the headwaiters have their favorites, but, in general, the rule prevails. 11 In theory, then, everyone should have an equal interest in keeping an orderly line. In practice, the interest varies depending on ones position in line. Researchers in one of Dr. Milgrams classes demonstrated this when they took turns barging into two kinds of lines - railroad ticket lines at Grand Central Terminal9 and theater ticket lines at Duffy Square. 12 In both cases the strongest protests came from the immediate victims or the people directly behind the line jumpers. People farther down the line complained less or not at all, even though they had been equally penalized by losing a place. Its very neat the way the amount of opposition to the intrusion diminishes systematically with the point of remove from the intrusion, Dr. Milgram said. 13 Similar findings were reported by Dr. Mary Harris, a University of New Mexico10 psychologist, in experiments at airports, theaters and supermarkets. She also found people less angered if the line jumper said, Excuse me, please, or told a hard-luck story or if an accomplice in line agreed to admit the line jumper.14 People will put up with a lot of aggressive behavior as long as they dont feel it is directed at them personally, said Dr. Robert A. Baron, a s pecialist in human aggression at Purdue University11. Clearly, standing in line is an obnoxious activity for almost everybody. Realizing that youre not being singled out, that youre one of a large group of sufferers, seems to help. 15 If misery loves company, so do sports fans. Dr. Leon Mann documented this several years ago when, as a Harvard professor, he studied the long overnight queues for tickets to ball games in his native Australia. 16 Outside the stadium something of a carnival atmosphere prevails, he wrote in The American Journal of Sociology. The devotees sing, sip warm drinks, play cards and huddle together around the big charcoal braziers. If he has come as part of a large group, or a cheer squad, the aficionado enjoys a brief taste of communal living and the chance to debate endlessly the fine points of the game. 17 Like the teams they had come to watch, the fans in line took timeouts. Some worked in shifts, with certain members leaving to take naps or eat meals, while others saved their places in line. Some staked claims in line with items of personal property such as sleeping bags and folding chairs. During the early hours of waiting, Dr. Mann noted, the queues often consisted of one part people to two parts inanimate objects. 18 Nobody has ever seriously studied Helen Quinns Saturday morning line for Metropolitan Opera tickets, but perhaps someone should. Miss Quinn is not an official at the Met and she will be the first to tell you that. She is merely a persistent member of the line for standing-room12 tickets, one with a certain command presence and a certain philosophy: Standing on line should not be a physical endurance contest. If the wait is long you should be able to report in and then leave to go to the washroom, go to church or have a bite to eat. 19 For 15 years standees at the opera have been doing just that, thanks to Miss Quinns ticketing system, which functions like that of a busy bakery. She makes, dates and numbers her tickets - one for each of the 175 standing-room spots available - and dispenses them to early birds, who begin showing up about 6 A.M., two hours before the box office opens. Assured of a place, ticket holders then leave and return shortly before 8 A.M. to line up for the real tickets. 20 When Miss Quinns authority as the self-appointed keeper of the line is questioned, she shrugs and says, Somebody has to do it. When the integrity of her line is threatened she fights. Last week we had some trouble with a man who tried to bump the line, but we caught him, she said firmly. We almost al ways catch them. Rotes1. University of Pittsburgh (paragraph2) University of Pittsburgh is a state-affiliated university system in Pennsylvania. The system operates a main campus in Pittsburgh and four regional campuses. The University of Pittsburgh was founded in 1787 as the Pittsburgh Academy. It became Western University of Pittsburgh in 1819 and received its present name in 1908. The university is often referred to as “Pitt”.2. systems analyst (paragraph2)Someone who studies business or industrial operations, and uses computers to plan them, improve them, etc.3. . institutions (paragraph3)Established systems or customs in society 4. gas lines(paragraph3)Energy crisis gas lines. During energy crisis, people frequently have to wait in long lines to purchase gasoline.5. the number of tellers is inadequate to the number of patrons(paragraph6)Customers completely outnumber bank clerks.6. graphic artist(paragraph8)Graphic art is a general term for drawing and other techniques used to reproduce words and pictures. The techniques include block printing, engraving, etching, lithography, and silk-screen printing. Printing was once considered one of the 7. coupon clippers(paragraph8)People that have cut the coupons from newspapers and magazines.8. fancy restaurants(paragraph10)Fancy hotel, restaurants, cars, etc. are expensive and fashionable.9. Grand Central Terminal(paragraph11)Two major railroad stations serve New York City Grand Central Terminal (sometimes called Grand Central Station) at 42nd Street and Park Avenue and Pennsylvania Station on 31st Street at Seventh Avenue.10. University of New Mexico(paragraph13)University of New Mexico is a state-controlled coeducational school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It has colleges of architecture and planning, art and sciences, education, engineering, fine arts, nursing, and pharmacy; school of law, management, and medicine; and University Colleges. Students belong to the University Colleges in their freshman year, after which they may enter one of the other colleges.11. Purdue University(paragraph14)Purdue University is a publicly controlled coeducational land-grant school. Its main campus is in West Lafayette, Indiana. The university also has regional campuses in Fort Wayne, Hammond, and Westville. Purdue operates the Fort Wayne campus jointly with Indiana University. Both university also offer course at Indiana University- Purdue University at Indianapolis. Purdue is supported by the state of Indiana, but it also receives aid from the federal government and various private sources.12. standing-room(paragraph18)Space for standing in a theatre, sports ground, etc. standing room only : no seats leftQuestions for discussion1、According to the passage, what is the definition of queue?2、Why did Ed Frantz abandon a full shopping cart in the middle of a long checkout line?3、According to the passage, what do sociology and psychology study?4、In the passage, what pressures are being referred to?5、How does Miss Quinn defend her ticketing system?