Back to front: why switching queues will get you nowhere faster
by Ian Sample Science editor from on (#3BQVN)
Harvard Business School finds that people are four times more likely to quit a line if there is no-one else waiting behind them
No-one relishes the moment. You are stuck at the back of a queue and as those in other lines sail past and get served, the time to decide arrives. Do you hold your nerve and stay put, switch to another line in the hope it moves faster, or give up altogether?
The pressing question has now been tackled by research at Harvard Business School. It found that when a person finds themselves at the end of a queue, they can make decisions that swiftly backfire. And it is all down to our aversion to being last.