Waiting in Lines
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Have you noticed that we spend more and more of our time waiting in lines? We wait in lines at the market, to buy theater tickets, at the bank, coffee houses, restaurants, and numerous other places. Recently, I found myself standing in long lines almost every day. Since I seldom plan to stand in line for very long, it's a relatively boring activity. Then I rediscovered people watching. People watching has always been a fun and fascinating activity. Plus, one can gain valuable insight into the actions of others and ourselves. Over time, I was able to identify a number of visual cues. Watching my fellow line-members, I became aware of how people acted depending upon their personality, the environment in which they were in line, and the other people in line with them. People conveyed a wide range of nonverbal communications while standing in line. As I observed, some definite patterns of behavior became evident. I categorized them into the following types: active, quiet, resistant, incomplete, and resigned. Of course, every person is different and may demonstrate any number of the cluster of behaviors I observed. The first group has three sub-categories: active people standing alone, active couples or groups of friends, and people with children. Active people standing alone may demonstrate a number of behavior clusters, including any of the following: standing on tip toes to look over the heads of the people in front of them; leaning to the side to peer arou
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companying adults are able to deal with the children and their resistance to the adults' methods. In my experience, the children usually win this struggle. People in line are initially sympathetic. However, there is a direct correlation between the length and volume of the disruption and a decrease in the compassion of the people in close proximity to the person to the children. People in line demonstrate their displeasure and annoyance with the situation through their facial expressions, whispering, and a noticeable moving away from the offending adults and children. I've noticed that no one is annoyed enough to allow these people to go to the front of the line to alleviate the aggravation of the situation. I'm usually in the line which includes these children.
The quiet waiters, my second classification, are a marvel of planning and ingenuity. These people take out a book or magazine to read, fill out paperwork, check calendars, make notes, and use every minute of their waiting time productively. Attentive and alert, they frequently check the progress of the line and move forward when a space opens before them. If one must wait in a long line, a line with these people tends to move quickly and quietly becaue they are
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1350
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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