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 around the line; rocking the body back and forth; turning and looking around the area; and sometimes asking the people around them, "What is the hold-up? Why is it taking so long? Why don't they open up more lines?" and other statements of complaint. They tend to move up immediately as space appears in the line. In some cases, where people in the active category have either stepped on or run into the person in front of them. Some of these people could be describ...