The "Standing in Line" Trend

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Did you ever find yourself in a long queu waiting for your turn to order the "the next big thing" after people have flunked to a newly opened cafe or desert shop? Of course, people have always stood in line to wait for something-- paying for food in the cafeteria, the grocery store quee, or paying for school fees. However, in the recent years since 2010, it was said that standing in line has become a trend in itself. 

 

Once, while scrolling on my facebook feed, I saw a video where people standing in line on the street were interviewed about what they were waiting for. To my shock, one answered that he didn't even know what they were about to order, but the line was long so it must be something good. 

 

In other instances, some people would read a post on social media about the first opening of a famous fastfood or store branch in a local area, then would stand in line just to get hold of a new item/food experiment. In fact, in the USA, people who started to get in line at dawn to get a hold of the newply released iPad or newly launched shoes from Nike, have become a common sight. 

 

According to an article in racked.com, the sidewalk dessert line has predictable behavior:

1. A novel foodstuff debuts, usually a play on a childhood staple.
2. Consumers line up to taste it.
3. The line becomes a fixture on the street (and object of scorn for eye-rolling locals).
4. New shops open nearby to feed off the funds of the people who wait.

The people standing in line seem to uphold the idea of "good things come to those who wait".  They would think that the product in question must surely be important — why else would they all have agreed to wait? 

 

In the local scene, even in my own city, I've also noticed this standing in line phenomena like when Krispy Kreme opened, the line would be so long for a few days because everyone would like to try but after a month, the queu would go back to normal or on some days, there would be no queue at all. Maybe because after getting the item desired, one realizes that it's just an object after all or they have satisfied their curiousity.

 

Truly, the trend of getting to try something first or being involved in the latest buzz has been embedded on today's culture.