todayiamadaisy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
todayiamadaisy) wrote2012-11-12 01:58 pm
todayiamadaisy) wrote2012-11-12 01:58 pm
Entry tags:
Passions in the Sand
Here is a thing that might stave off soul-crushing ennui for a minute or two. Or fill in a coffee break. One or the other.
I have got out of the habit of my random words. Out of the habit and only a quarter of the way through. That doesn't bode well.
25. Queue
From the Anglo-Norman queue, meaning, er, queue (or tail). Not as exciting as I'd hoped.
You will of course be familiar with queueing theory, a branch of statistics that attempts to predict waiting times. A basic formula used in queueing theory is Little's Theorem, which states N=λT, where N is the average number of customers, λ is the average customer arrival rate and T is the average service time. So, for example, if more customers arrive but the service time stays the same, then the number of customers waiting will increase. Or if customers arrive at the same rate, but the time taken to serve them decreases, then the average number of customers will decrease. So, yes, that was a morning well spent by Little.
The thing is, queueing theory is all about helping organisations reduce waiting time. What's more interesting to me is the behaviour of people in queues. I'm always impressed how people keep a mental queue, even when there isn't a physical one; how a shop assistant can ask, 'Who's next?' and, as one, everyone turns to the right person. I also like the little dance when two people aren't sure who's next. Looking and pointing and 'Is it you? No? Is it me? Are you sure? All right then.'
There is so much etiquette to queueing. What to do if a new checkout opens at the supermarket and the operator says to someone at the back of a queue, 'You can come through this one': Are you obligated to let the person in front of you know? What if someone says, 'I've only got two things, can I go ahead of you?': Do you oblige?
Old ladies, I have found, are the worst. I was once pushed out of the way by an old lady using her trolley as a battering ram to get to a freshly-opened supermarket checkout. Another one, in a department store at Christmas, took the place ahead of me in the queue with an empty trolley, while her middle-aged daughter ran around the store and fetched things to fill it. That, f-list, is bad queue etiquette.
Next time: mutton
I have got out of the habit of my random words. Out of the habit and only a quarter of the way through. That doesn't bode well.
25. Queue
From the Anglo-Norman queue, meaning, er, queue (or tail). Not as exciting as I'd hoped.
You will of course be familiar with queueing theory, a branch of statistics that attempts to predict waiting times. A basic formula used in queueing theory is Little's Theorem, which states N=λT, where N is the average number of customers, λ is the average customer arrival rate and T is the average service time. So, for example, if more customers arrive but the service time stays the same, then the number of customers waiting will increase. Or if customers arrive at the same rate, but the time taken to serve them decreases, then the average number of customers will decrease. So, yes, that was a morning well spent by Little.
The thing is, queueing theory is all about helping organisations reduce waiting time. What's more interesting to me is the behaviour of people in queues. I'm always impressed how people keep a mental queue, even when there isn't a physical one; how a shop assistant can ask, 'Who's next?' and, as one, everyone turns to the right person. I also like the little dance when two people aren't sure who's next. Looking and pointing and 'Is it you? No? Is it me? Are you sure? All right then.'
There is so much etiquette to queueing. What to do if a new checkout opens at the supermarket and the operator says to someone at the back of a queue, 'You can come through this one': Are you obligated to let the person in front of you know? What if someone says, 'I've only got two things, can I go ahead of you?': Do you oblige?
Old ladies, I have found, are the worst. I was once pushed out of the way by an old lady using her trolley as a battering ram to get to a freshly-opened supermarket checkout. Another one, in a department store at Christmas, took the place ahead of me in the queue with an empty trolley, while her middle-aged daughter ran around the store and fetched things to fill it. That, f-list, is bad queue etiquette.
Next time: mutton