Today I visited a bank, and there was a line of customers in front of me. This Idea came from that. The bank had a number of unoccupied chairs, and I thought about how nice it might be to sit down instead of stand there, while waiting my turn to see the teller.

So, you probably know about the bad joke where someone puts a sign on someone else's back, like "Kick me!" How about something less hurtful, like a sign saying "I'm Next!" with your name on it? Then the sign holds your place in line, and you can sit down until the person with the sign on his or her back reaches the front of the line.

We would want the sign to be re-usable, like a Post-It note. We also need to acknowledge that when you arrive, the last person in line might already have someone's sign on his or her back, and you would need to respect that, when adding your own sign.
-- Vernon, Jan 04 2016

Post-it note https://en.wikipedi...g/wiki/Post-it_note
For anyone who doesn't know about them (perhaps not known by that name). [Vernon, Jan 04 2016]

song https://www.youtube...watch?v=he3QQeQNW_I
Sing out the next number instead ? [popbottle, Jan 05 2016]

Howabout just a take-a-number system and some chairs, like the notorious Bureau of Motor Vehicles?
-- RayfordSteele, Jan 04 2016


I remember in supermarkets at the deli counter you would pull a numbered ticket from a big reel dispenser, and then your number would flash up on a ceiling mounted display.
-- pocmloc, Jan 04 2016


[RayfordSteele], [pocmloc], tsk, tsk, remember, we want original Ideas here!
-- Vernon, Jan 04 2016


Exactly.
-- pocmloc, Jan 04 2016


Serial processing via lines (queues for those in UK) is old hat. Parallel processing is where it's at. A single clerk should be able to simul-process 3 to 5 people at a time. For official things that need forms, one form could be rigged to handle multiple applicants. The whole concept of "next" disappears and you simply scurry up to the wicket with the least number of people and start shouting.
-- the porpoise, Jan 04 2016


Japan bank/any other bureaucratic organisation, take ticket, go sit down.

But all numbers called in Japanese, so "Bango wa ni hyaku yon ju" is that me, or what?
-- not_morrison_rm, Jan 04 2016


Sarcasm accepted. I blame the smartphone of course.
-- not_morrison_rm, Jan 05 2016


The counselor at an International camp for kids is telling a joke: "So the guy asks: Excuse me, where is the line for meat?"

The Polish kid asks: What's meat?
The American kid asks: What's a line?
The Israeli kid asks: What's Excuse me?
-- pashute, Jan 07 2016



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