Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. (René Descartes, mathematician and philosopher,1599-1650)

Saturday 6 April 2013

Lockington's Everyday Fiji ... Life Goes On

              Simple Technique

Someone sent me a picture of people waiting to be served at a counter somewhere in the world. The picture is of people sitting on benches with their shoes placed one after another just like if they had been standing in line.

Fiji has so many places where people have to stand in line for a period of time. Some banks have an abundance of customers and during peak periods people stand for long. One place is the Registrars office in Lautoka they have seat's but people have to stand in line. There have been times when the cue-atic machine at LTA Lautoka breaks down and we have to stand in line.

In my opinion places where we have to stand in line for more than 15 minutes are not people friendly, especially for the elderly and the physically impaired.  We often see them taking a younger person to stand in line for them and when it's their turn they walk to the counter and the young person gives way.

But many places have seats that remain empty all the time while people stand in line. They leave with their blood pressure at boiling point.

Oh, if only we could adopt this simple technique of placing our shoes in line while we relax on the seats provided.

Allen Lockington is a self-employed customs agent and business consultant who has regular articles published in Fiji. I thank Allen for permission to reprint some of them in this political blog. They remind us that life goes on, whatever the political situation. And it's good to know that.

2 comments:

Groggy Flip Flopper said...

This photo was taken in Thailand and became popular after it was posted on Reddit.com

As usually happens on Reddit, there was much debate about the queueing technique. It was decided that the system could not work as a regular queueing method because everyone would have to periodically get up and move their shoes a step forward.
At this point it was realized that what was actually happening in the picture was that the counter was not yet open for business and the shoes-in-a-queue was only a temporary measure until such time as the counter was staffed.

Own the Problem (a former bank slogan in Fiji) said...

An ingenious method and creative too. It might be applied very aptly here in Viti in various institutions which have not yet adapted and adjusted themselves to "Serving the Public to the best of their ability". This might again include the Banks. They are now closed again on Saturdays? A pile of footwear outside on Monday mornings might adjust this gross oversight. The Public and Businesses wish banks to open on Saturdays. The length of the Saturday queues were ample demonstration, surely?