The air conditioner in the building had “gone south” so the temperature hovered many degrees above the human sweat point. Standing in line that afternoon had all of the charm and enjoyment of mucking out a goat shed on a hot humid summer afternoon.
It was Friday; 4:45 p.m. Closing time was five p.m.
You would think that with the computer age, lines should be a thing of the past. But I guess no matter what happens to our world; we will still have two things: lines to stand in and cockroaches to step on.
Then someone walked up, looked carefully at a piece of paper and stared worriedly at the sign in front of the line. He started to leave, wavered, almost spoke aloud. He looked at the paper again, uncertain where he should be, fearful of being in the wrong line. He seemed angry that what he wanted to know wasn't easy to find.
At last, with an air of resignation, he stuck the paper in his pocket, sighed heavily and stepped into line; having decided it was the wrong line but he was going to have to wait until he got to the front of this line to find out which line he should be standing in. Further, he knew at 5 p.m. he would be in the correct line, but the person at the window would close the window before he got to the front.
A trickle of sweat ran down the small of my back. I turned and said, matter-of-factly, “I wouldn't mind these lines if it wasn’t for all the waiting.”
The effect on the people in line was immediate, most smiled. I was sure it was the first smile seen in that line all day. It was an important smile because I also smiled and my need for an aspirin/antacid/valium was relieved. Like the air rushing out of a balloon, the tension in the line vanished and people started talking to each other. It was an important lesson.
You cannot stand in line with people who are on edge, ill-tempered and full of anger without it affecting you. Likewise, if person after person steps to the front full of bile, it rubs off on the people behind the window until they are surly, grumpy and full of bile. So they hand that mouthful of bile right back to someone in the line forming a destructive cycle.
The way out of this is to talk to the people around you. These people are not doing anything else anyway and it is a tension reliever. Try a little humor if you like. Something like: “I hear the Governor just flew in from Santa Fe, I’ll bet her arms are tired.” Or, “How many psychology students does it take to change a light bulb? One, but the bulb has to want to change.”
Or you can just speak to the people in a friendly manner. You will be surprised how much better you feel. While it is true all workers should be nice to us regardless of how they are treated, the way it works is: the nicer you are, the better your chance to get what you want.
Seriously, when standing in lines to ask simple questions, ask hard questions, ask unanswerable questions; whatever you are doing in lines, take your humor with you. Be gentle, I may be in the same line. Also if you can’t bring yourself to laugh, at least smile, even if you have heard the joke, like:
“I understand the NMSU Aggie football team is so tough...”
“How tough are they?”
“They are so tough that when they play horseshoes, they do not even bother taking the shoes off of the horses.”
That will move the line right along.
Dr. Michael Swickard hosts the syndicated radio talk show News New Mexico six to nine a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. Email: michael@swickard.com
It was Friday; 4:45 p.m. Closing time was five p.m.
You would think that with the computer age, lines should be a thing of the past. But I guess no matter what happens to our world; we will still have two things: lines to stand in and cockroaches to step on.
Then someone walked up, looked carefully at a piece of paper and stared worriedly at the sign in front of the line. He started to leave, wavered, almost spoke aloud. He looked at the paper again, uncertain where he should be, fearful of being in the wrong line. He seemed angry that what he wanted to know wasn't easy to find.
At last, with an air of resignation, he stuck the paper in his pocket, sighed heavily and stepped into line; having decided it was the wrong line but he was going to have to wait until he got to the front of this line to find out which line he should be standing in. Further, he knew at 5 p.m. he would be in the correct line, but the person at the window would close the window before he got to the front.
A trickle of sweat ran down the small of my back. I turned and said, matter-of-factly, “I wouldn't mind these lines if it wasn’t for all the waiting.”
The effect on the people in line was immediate, most smiled. I was sure it was the first smile seen in that line all day. It was an important smile because I also smiled and my need for an aspirin/antacid/valium was relieved. Like the air rushing out of a balloon, the tension in the line vanished and people started talking to each other. It was an important lesson.
You cannot stand in line with people who are on edge, ill-tempered and full of anger without it affecting you. Likewise, if person after person steps to the front full of bile, it rubs off on the people behind the window until they are surly, grumpy and full of bile. So they hand that mouthful of bile right back to someone in the line forming a destructive cycle.
The way out of this is to talk to the people around you. These people are not doing anything else anyway and it is a tension reliever. Try a little humor if you like. Something like: “I hear the Governor just flew in from Santa Fe, I’ll bet her arms are tired.” Or, “How many psychology students does it take to change a light bulb? One, but the bulb has to want to change.”
Or you can just speak to the people in a friendly manner. You will be surprised how much better you feel. While it is true all workers should be nice to us regardless of how they are treated, the way it works is: the nicer you are, the better your chance to get what you want.
Seriously, when standing in lines to ask simple questions, ask hard questions, ask unanswerable questions; whatever you are doing in lines, take your humor with you. Be gentle, I may be in the same line. Also if you can’t bring yourself to laugh, at least smile, even if you have heard the joke, like:
“I understand the NMSU Aggie football team is so tough...”
“How tough are they?”
“They are so tough that when they play horseshoes, they do not even bother taking the shoes off of the horses.”
That will move the line right along.
Dr. Michael Swickard hosts the syndicated radio talk show News New Mexico six to nine a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. Email: michael@swickard.com
