Queue Jumping Hypocrisy

[DiogoJ42]

I had a great time on the north meet this weekend, but one thing has been bugging me for the last few days that I need to get off my chest.

In the queue for Knightmare on Sunday, there were a couple of instances of queue jumping. We all complain about them online, but when it comes to the crunch, no one but me is prepared to stand up to them.

It seems to be sods law that whenever someone queue jumps, I am always the one at the back of the group. If I try to stop them, the rest of you suddenly ignore it and chat amongst yourselves. This happened on our last ride on Knightmare. When I was eventually forced to relent and let him through (he was a big guy and looked like he was about to hit me), everyone else just let him pass without saying a word. This made me look like a d!ck. If I try to stand up to a jumper, I would have thought my friends would back me up, not pretend it isn't happening.

If we all stood up to him, if we all turned round and said "You're going to have to get past all 30 of us", he would have backed down in shame. It's strength in numbers, guys. I can understand that if there's just a few of you you don't want to risk a fight, but when we are in such a big group, one lone queue jumper is not a threat to us.

We need some sort of official policy on how to deal with them. Even simply chanting "queue jumper!" at them would be a start. But more importantly, we need to stick together as a untied front. No one is going to push past 30 people who stand firm.


I'm very disappointed in all of you.

[Bear]

Exactly right Diogo, I had the same problem the last meet I went on! Guys, you can't complain about queue jumpers if you are going to do toss-all about it!

[Benedique]

I see what you are saying but the reason I didn't bother was because he was one guy in a short queue. Sometimes it just isn't worth the hassle and Sunday was one of those times.

It was the last ride of the day, everyone was tired and had already done the ride earlier in the day. Had it been one of the first days of the meet then I'm sure people would have reacted.

I honestly wasn't bothered, I was just in the queue 'for the sake of it' so let him past to join his group.

[DiogoJ42]

It is always worth the hassle, Dom. It's the principal of it.

[Benedique]

There are certain times when I'm willing, as others probably are, to just 'let it go'.

Did any of us really want to be at Camelot on Sunday for any reason other than it was 'part of the meet'? We'd already done knightmare numerous times and when you couple that with us all being at Camelot for the sake of it then I think it gives you an answer as to why said queue jumper didn't really provoke a reaction from anybody other than yourself.

Yes, I understand it's the principle but sometimes even principles are wavered every now and again. It's hardly cause to create a topic highlighting hypocrisy and proclaiming your disappointment in us all. Then again that's just my view, just as it's your view that we didn't react as we should have done, so I shall say no more.

[Khanage]

In Matalan on Saturday the queue for the checkout was incredibly long (I do try and avoid these situations, you know shops with clothes in them) it was probably 40 customers long. I witnessed a queue jumper then, who used the theme park "excuse me" method and then just stood at the front of the line to be served. I didn't say anything but I did complain to the missus about and then continued to rant about it in theme parks and how it grinds my gears.

Anyway Diogo I'm with you in this one. Queue jumpers get away with it way too easily!!

[DiogoJ42]

[quote=""Benedique""]Did any of us really want to be at Camelot on Sunday for any reason other than it was 'part of the meet'? [/quote]

I'd only been to Camelot once before Sunday. So yes, I did want to be there. There were some people who had never been before.
I know it's local to you, but to us southerners it's easier to get to DLP than the northern UK parks.

[fredward]

Going off topic... Diogo is right, it is often cheaper to get the Eurostar to Paris, then a train to Disneyland, then a train to Blackpool, Yorkshire and sometimes Staffordshire, Which is incredibly ridiculous...

but I am with you Diogo! Next meet I'll stand with you against the evil Queue Jumpers! Or attempt to!

[Magrathea]

I can't help feeling that it could be fun to try and plan an official action to execute in the event of queue jumping :P

[Dylan]

I think the problem I have with tackling queue jumpers is that, even though there are signs around queue areas saying 'Queue jumping will not be tolerated', park staff are never on hand to deal with it (as they are never really in queues!). I've tackled some queue jumpers in the past - when I say tackled, just effectively blocked the path so they have to try and shove past before I say anything. Sometimes they retreat, sometimes they are determined. If they are determined, then I just let them go. It's just not worth risking your own safety should someone turn nasty.
It's annoying, but I am not really one for conflict so i just let it go.

[Tom G]

I think if you don't say anything and just see it then that's kind of acceptable if you have a passive nature.

However, if you are physically moving out of the way to let people through then that's fine. I usually don't move an inch for people or make it even more physically difficult for them to get past (without obviously blocking), then when a comment comes, I usually begin to verbally challenge.

But your point about bitching online but being as quiet as a mouse in reality (if indeed that's what goes on), would seem to stand.

[HAJiME]

When I worked at Chessington, I was very strict on queue jumping.

The reason why it is fundamentally wrong is simple, the queue jumper could be lying. But actually, this is a very rare occurrence. The real reason that queue jumping should not be tolerated is that it annoys other guests, causes arguments, and bad feeling between guests. If you are rejoining family members in a queue after realising you lost your wallet or needed to go to the toilet, none of the guests you're passing know your story or how true it it. It creates aggression that, quite simply, should just be avoided. Applying a blanket rule of "no queue jumping what so ever" avoids guests becoming stressed with variations between cases. It's the same reason there is a no reride rule a lot of the time, despite there being no queue. If you've worked at a park you'd see how if you let one person reride, you then find later that some guest saw you doing it and argues with you, failing to understand that there was no one waiting at the time and now there is. It's just easier to avoid the problem in the first place.

Most people queue jumping are trying to "catch up" with their friends and in that situation their friends should come back to them. I don't know why people can't just wait up. Crap friends I guess.

I've noticed though that only British people get worked up about queue jumping, me included - it drives me crazy. Just makes my blood boil seeing people do it. All parks I've been to in other countries, you never see people angrily shaking their heads and contemplating standing to the queue jumper - ever. It's a non issue. They just don't care. Even in the US, a country where people are so involved with what everyone else is doing, it's so rare to see it.

And I don't think anyone should get involved. If it's upsetting you, tell a staff member... if they do nothing, make a complaint to guest services about said staff. Do not directly get involved, because then you are directly contributing to the issue. As a staff member, well it's your choice - but I think staff should always aim to keep guests happy. If you can see guests getting stressed over it, you should step in. One thing that annoyed me was when other staff failed to back me up.

It's funny because we get fed up with queue jumpingers who only marginally contribute to queue time, but do we ever stand up to ridiculously slow staff who are the main cause?

[James-Allgood]

Queue jumping is my number one hate at uk theme parks! When im with friends or if im on my own I dont let them past unless its like a parent taking there kid to the toilet but if its a adult or a teenager like my self I refuse to move in the past ive had security come and take them away and take me to the front of the queue to go straight on the ride! So its worth saying no!

[Gloomy Dude]

Interesting topic matey. I'm often inclined to let queue jumping go. Mainly because I'm a flabby, cowardly weakling but also because I visit parks with my good lady. Any personal pride has to take a backseat to my protective instincts towards her. And god knows I bitch and fume and moan about the slightest incident. Letting it go makes me feel small, and the 'short queue' argument doesn't cut it. It's the sheer disrespect I can't stand.

I'd like to think had I been there on Sunday (without a fair lady to defend) I'd have stood with you Diogo. I'm glad to hear that you don't take any $h!t.

But HAJiME makes a very interesting point. It's a very British hang up. I haven't been to a UK theme park yet this year (unless you count 3 rides at M&Ds) but in my experiences of Holland, it seems that it's very common and nobody cares. Makes me feel very petty. In the rapids queue at Efteling, we tried out damndest to stop a young girl queue jumping us. But I ended up feeling like an evil, mean troll, as she genuinely couldn't seem to understand why we were stopping her. Oh, and I was lucky not to get into a fight when I wouldn't let a drunk git past us in the El Condor queue at Walibi.

But at the end of the day, I'm a coward. I'll happily stand up to children, but not adults. Simple as.

[Anthony]

I very rarely see it happen.

The only times I remember it vividly happening is when I was about 11 at Drayton Manor and I wouldn't let some teenagers past in the queue for the rapids.

The other time didn't affect me really as they were already ahead of me in the Thirteen queue but due to the layout I could clearly see them. They weren't just queue jumping but one had a piss in the plant sections. The staff must have seen them on CCTV because when they did eventually get to the station they were sent straight through and not allowed to ride.

Ultimately, I very rarely go to theme parks and I very rarely experience queue jumping. I'm quite a laid back guy toward that sort of thing. I go to a park to have fun and relax and I've never had enough people go in front that it would impact which train I got on. If one person meets their friends then I'll most likely be on the same train as them. It just has never been that big an issue for me.

I don't really care for principles - they make me more miserable so I just see how I feel in any one particular instance.

[Dormiens-Dave]

TTF generally do tackle queue jumpers really depends on the situation. Like with the guy and the kid on dragon flyer for such a small queue it was not worth a punch up because we where adults on a kids ride and ut would have looked bad on our part... However 9 times out of 10 we usually do stop queue jumpers examples have been seen by me on Thirteen rapids and BLOVIA

[Pennywise]

First off I'd like to point out that this is not hypocrisy, hypocrisy would be complaining about queue jumpers and then having TTFers queue jumping themselves, and for one alarming moment I actually suspected that this topic would be centred around such an incident, and am greatly relived to see that it is not.

Personally, whilst I frown upon queue jumpers, I'm not one that has the courage to stand up to them... whether in a group alongside TTFers, with family, with friends... but I support any TTF 'campaign' against them, I too agree that a plan of action for when such incidents occur would be a good idea, and think that the idea of a chant is a good one.

[Jordan]

I'll hold my hands up and admit that I often 'do the right thing' and let people past me in the queue if they appear honest and ask politely, not assuming that they have the right to get past me. After all, it's only going to add a few minutes - if that - onto my queue time and I'm pretty sure karma will return the favour someday. :-P

I think causing a scene with a queuejumper is usually quite counter-productive as it only really angers both parties, which spoils everyone's day.

[Magrathea]

I'm torn when it comes to queue jumpers.

The closest I've ever come to stopping one was calling the Saw The Ride hotline to report a group of about 20 who all jumped over and missed out about half an hour's queueing.

The problem is, I'll often try and create a barrier, but if a small child comes up and goes "Excuse me..." I don't have the heart to reprimand them, on the logic that they could have been separated from their friends. Unfortunately, this extends to slightly older children too. I don't want to be responsible for ruining one kid's day because I didn't let him rejoin his friends and they didn't want to come back to him.

Then you get adults who queuejump, who I wouldn't feel comfortable standing up to for fear of repercussions (members of the forum know how brilliant I am at complaining to a member of pub staff, let alone an errant member of the public). Thus, I can't win.

I think the only situation in which I'd feel fully comfortable challenging a queuejumper, therefore, would be a GROUP of people who weren't too intimidating, as then the result isn't someone riding alone/not getting to ride.

I guess I'm too sympathetic to someone who is blatantly breaking park policy, and I think one way in which Thorpe Park are particularly praiseworthy is their no-nonsense treatment of queuejumpers, something they do better than any other park. (Witnessed here)

[Mi-Nigle]

I've only ever seen someone stand up to it once, and it was almost on the epic scale.

We were in the Rita queue and we were stood at the gate that determines whether you go into cattle pens or straight past the front of Thirteen.

This woman comes past us and into the cattle pens (I never say anything to these) and soon enough she managed to go through the whole thing and onto the other side of the gate. However, on the other side of the gate was this bald bloke with a rucksack who just turned around and told her she couldn't pass. She told him to move out the way and tried to go round him but this bloke just put his arms across the queue line and blocker her.

This led to her shouting and making a scene, saying that she needed to get to her friends further up but the bloke wouldn't budge. She even threatened to call over the park staff, to which the bloke replied,
"Fine call them over, don't think they're gonna be on your side though love."

She was getting more and more frustrated and was using more and more force to try and push past this guy and eventually she gave up and walked back through, took a good 5-6 minutes though!

Hats off to the guy, that took balls and the most interesting thing was he immediately got the support of the surrounding guests and they applauded the guy when she left.

I still think it's more hassle than it's worth but it was nice to see someone actually stand up for it for a change.