Everybody hates waiting in the line, or the queue, however you want to call it. Supermarkets can anticipate on this by hiring non-conspicious, blending-in-with-the-crowd looking people: Queue Fairies.
They too stand in the line, but every once in a while they look behind them at the (real) customer and ask them if maybe they wish to take their position, because the Q.F. is in no hurry. The real customer gladly accepts and this results in a happy customer / person, who will never want to go to another supermarket again, and also gets inspired to be a bit more friendly him/herself, thus making the world a more pleasant place.
The Queue Fairy's job can be extended to doing jobs that people think caissiers should do, but nowadays don't (like to do) anymore, like helping with heavy groceries, looking up the price of their, for example, coconut or rubbers (without shouting it throught the whole supermarket) & such.
Queue Fairies could be recruted under The Unemployed, or maybe volunteers, the last could be rewarded with X (hours) times Y (amount of groceries), for instance. Preferrably, the supermarket has a team of very different looking / aged people. And maybe it is a nice idea to have, for instance, a gothic looking person act very nice, that way they can fight possible existing prejudices as well. When this gets way too complicated, one can think of different outfits and / or disguises.
(note: I'm not Gothic, I couldn't come up this instance with another example, since my native language isn't English, it's Dutch)-(and I also don't mean to offend gothics)-- miaca, Jan 23 2003 I would love to meet a queue fairy. Unfortunately in the country where I live we only have anti-queue-fairies (queue trolls?) who bare facedly push in in front of people who have waited patiently. The problem is that the natives of this country are so used to these rude bastards that they don't say anything. I do. I make a point of doing so loudly and embarassingly. Up to this point they have always gone to the back of the queue very red faced. Haha! Ahahaha!
In my home town on the other hand it can sometimes take twice a long to buy say a loaf of bread as it should while the people go "after you ....no, no, after you, I'm in no rush " etc..
"No really, after YOU".-- squeak, Jan 23 2003 U.S. Customs & Immigration in the Toronto airport (yes, Toronto--they clear US bound passengers before boarding) has queue fairies. However they are specialists, they only look for folks likely not to make it through the long line before their plane leaves. Much appreciated if you happen to be running late.
Nice first idea, welcome to the bakery.-- krelnik, Jan 23 2003 The problem is, when you're scanning the checkout lines to see which is the shorter one, these queue fairies will artificially increase the length of the lines they stand in (presuming you don't know they're queue fairies until they perform their duty).-- waugsqueke, Jan 23 2003 I think not offending goths is offensive to goths. The vast majority of those that I have met are only goths to offend others and it bothers them when you accept them. They seem to like to argue about their lifestyle.
I was hoping this was an idea for actual fairies that hang out wherever there is a line spreading joy (through prancing, flitting around, etc) and covering everyone in glitter. But I still like the idea. I remember reading somewhere that before WWII, the korean war, and vietnam, asian folks didn't really have the line system until they had to line of for military stuff. They all just kind of massed around what they were waiting for. Not sure if that is true or not.-- notme, Jan 23 2003 i would be happy if i was waiting in a line and someone dressed as a fairy came up and covered me in glitter and stuck a star on my nose. i would feel quite privelidged "why are you all shiny?" "I was accosted by a queue fairy"-- Zali, Jan 23 2003 I had a queue fairy right behind me the other day. He was only going to buy a banana. It was already in his pocket. I asked him to take my place in line.-- FarmerJohn, Jan 23 2003 You're sure he was a fairy, just because he had what you assumed to be a banana in his pocket?-- thumbwax, Jan 23 2003 Well, I felt it through my wallet.-- FarmerJohn, Jan 23 2003 If you two want to poke each other, take it off line.-- egbert, Jan 25 2003 can they still wear wings and silly tutus?-- yousei, Aug 26 2005 Well I know this thread is really old, and I'm not sure if [miaca] is active anymore, but I'm having a lot of trouble making sense of this:
"The real customer gladly accepts and this results in a happy customer / person, who will never want to go to another supermarket again..."-- yabba do yabba dabba, Aug 26 2005 ...never want to go to a *different* supermarket again.-- sleeka, Aug 26 2005 funny that this thread should include an exchange of that nature betwee [UB] and [FJ]-- normzone, Aug 26 2005 And what an exchange it was ;-)-- blissmiss, Aug 27 2005 random, halfbakery