WEBVTT - Standing Line

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Dessa, and this is deeply human? Why you do

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<v Speaker 1>what you do before you were old enough to know

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<v Speaker 1>any real swear words. Some of the spiciest epithets hold

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<v Speaker 1>that your peers may have sounded like this, Hey, no

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<v Speaker 1>blood gen Alternately, no cutting in line, no skipping, no budding.

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<v Speaker 1>If you grew up in Ohio, you might have called

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<v Speaker 1>it ditching. In the UK, que jumping or barging. In Brazil,

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<v Speaker 1>you pierced the line Arkansas. You broke it for pint

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<v Speaker 1>sized tweakers and the grown ups they turned into. The

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<v Speaker 1>standing line evokes strong feelings about fairness, about justice. But

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<v Speaker 1>why now is the time to insert your mouth guards,

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<v Speaker 1>because we are going into the dark heart of this

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<v Speaker 1>standing line, a place full of violence, sex, power, struggles,

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<v Speaker 1>and time under bits. When you're surfing, there is a

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<v Speaker 1>very distinct queue for the wave. Once you start to

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<v Speaker 1>learn the rhythms of it, you can see there is

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<v Speaker 1>a line for the wave, and if you break that

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<v Speaker 1>or do what's called dropping in on somebody, that can

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<v Speaker 1>lead to fist fights. That's Jason Farman when not surfing,

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<v Speaker 1>he's a psychologist who studies how humans wait. Well, technically,

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<v Speaker 1>I guess he's still a psychologist. While he was surfing,

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<v Speaker 1>the wave will break at a particular point, and if

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<v Speaker 1>you're too far to the left or too far to

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<v Speaker 1>the right, you won't be able to catch that wave.

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<v Speaker 1>So people know where that point is, and then the

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<v Speaker 1>next person in line kind of drifts over to that

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<v Speaker 1>exact point. But sometimes somebody's on the wave already, somebody

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<v Speaker 1>who's new will drop in on that person further down

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<v Speaker 1>the wave and cause that person to fall off. So

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<v Speaker 1>there's a very clear hierarchy when it comes to waiting

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<v Speaker 1>in line for waves. I was next and you have

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<v Speaker 1>to So then what is that confrontation actually look like?

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<v Speaker 1>Is it just like are you kidding me? Yeah, I've

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<v Speaker 1>been in those kind of encounters before. Where as soon

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<v Speaker 1>as you start to paddle back out to the waves,

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<v Speaker 1>there's there's an argument, usually like you broke decorum, you

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<v Speaker 1>broke the rules, you dropped in on me. I bet

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<v Speaker 1>that's not the words that are used. No, yeah, it's

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<v Speaker 1>a little yes, you broke decorum. I'm very disappointed in you. Yeah, no,

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<v Speaker 1>it doesn't quite sound like that. But can it actually escalate?

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, two fists being drowned? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>that's not uncommon beach bronzed vegans in hand to hand

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<v Speaker 1>combat in the warm sands of Paradise. Even surfers like

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<v Speaker 1>freak out when they think that they've been skipped, which

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<v Speaker 1>can feel like a disproportionate response because it's not like

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<v Speaker 1>the ocean is out of waves. There's another one right

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<v Speaker 1>behind you. Jason has studied weighting behaviors all over the

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<v Speaker 1>world to see what we're really doing when we're in line.

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<v Speaker 1>What's interesting for me is that we all tend to

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<v Speaker 1>kind of despise waiting. We tend to want to use

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<v Speaker 1>our time well. But within cultures, what waiting looks like

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<v Speaker 1>is dramatically different. In Japan, there are very strict rules

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<v Speaker 1>around waiting. As you approach the Tokyo Metro, there are

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<v Speaker 1>even little lines that everybody is supposed to line up on,

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<v Speaker 1>and anybody who breaks those norms it is very frowned upon.

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<v Speaker 1>And then you see that in the wake of something

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<v Speaker 1>like the Tohoku earthquake and the Fukushima crisis, where people

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<v Speaker 1>queued up for rations of food and water, and the

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<v Speaker 1>lines would be just tremendously long, but they were very orderly,

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<v Speaker 1>very single file. There was no disruption to that because culturally,

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<v Speaker 1>lining up comes with very specific notions of decorum to

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<v Speaker 1>maintain the cultural identity of the people in Japan. In

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<v Speaker 1>some Latin countries, a customer entering a shop just calls out, ultimo,

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<v Speaker 1>who's last. Then there's no need to stand in line,

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<v Speaker 1>because everybody has made mental note of their position in

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<v Speaker 1>the sequence. In Britain, where I'm recording this podcast, the

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<v Speaker 1>ability to form meat waiting lines is a point of

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<v Speaker 1>national pride, which I find both endearing and totally bizarre.

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<v Speaker 1>The author George mccash wrote, an Englishman, even if he's alone,

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<v Speaker 1>forms an orderly queue of one. In the US, feverish

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<v Speaker 1>capitalists that we are, we get a special variety of

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<v Speaker 1>line standard. The hired gun meet Robert Samuel's who waits

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<v Speaker 1>in line for a living, queuing on behalf of his

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<v Speaker 1>clients for Saturday Night Live tickets, Limited edition merged book

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<v Speaker 1>signings by heavy hitters. I've met Hillary Clinton, I've met

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<v Speaker 1>Michelle Obama, I've met Bernie Sanders, I've met Jimmy Carter. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>so that that's a cool part. And sometimes if the

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<v Speaker 1>customer only wants one book and it's two poor persons,

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<v Speaker 1>and I score, and I get one for me. So

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<v Speaker 1>before the pandemic closed Broadway productions, I met with Robert

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<v Speaker 1>in Manhattan waiting for Hamilton's tickets, and when I texted

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<v Speaker 1>him to arrange our meeting, I asked for a photos

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<v Speaker 1>so that I'd be able to recognize him on the street,

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<v Speaker 1>and he just wrote back, I'll be the first one

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<v Speaker 1>in line, which seemed like such a total boss move

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<v Speaker 1>for a professional line water. I asked if his job

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<v Speaker 1>made him better or worse at waiting in his own

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<v Speaker 1>personal lines. If I'm going to wait in line for

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<v Speaker 1>a customer, yeah, I'm happy. It's cool. I know I

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<v Speaker 1>got paid for it, But if it's something I had

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<v Speaker 1>to do for myself, there are times, well, I'll hire

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<v Speaker 1>my own line to this God. I love that Robert

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<v Speaker 1>is intimately familiar with all the codified rules of waiting

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<v Speaker 1>in line and how serious we can get when they're broken.

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<v Speaker 1>There was one instance where I was waiting for a

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<v Speaker 1>pair of Nikes and a bunch of people in front

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<v Speaker 1>of me decided to put chairs down and leave like

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<v Speaker 1>maybe fifteen or so chairs in front of me, and

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<v Speaker 1>it was by myself, and then people came behind me,

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<v Speaker 1>and they're like other people started arriving and they're asking, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>what's with the chairs? And Robert says, oh, those people

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<v Speaker 1>just want to grab food. And the new arrivals asked when, like,

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<v Speaker 1>what time do they leave? And I'm being honest, so

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<v Speaker 1>they left about an hour hour and a half ago.

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<v Speaker 1>Um I said, oh no, if this, we're not we're

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<v Speaker 1>not tolerating this. They start clearing the chairs, and I

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<v Speaker 1>knew when the other group came back that holy hell

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<v Speaker 1>is going to break out. So I called nine one

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<v Speaker 1>one and said, please get to this block because all

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<v Speaker 1>hell's gonna break loose when these other guys come back.

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<v Speaker 1>And I didn't want to be a part of it.

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<v Speaker 1>And I knew, I knew what it had the potential

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<v Speaker 1>to turn into, which it could have got physical. Robert

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<v Speaker 1>is essentially a mercenary here, but there is still a

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<v Speaker 1>code of conduct. Also. The chair stuff, it's it's just

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<v Speaker 1>not very civilized. Now. That's just being inconsiderate and you're

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<v Speaker 1>having an inanamant object hold your spot and think you

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<v Speaker 1>can come back at any time. That's just rude and disrespectful.

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<v Speaker 1>It doesn't count, and it just goes against the sperrit

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<v Speaker 1>of line sitting. If there's any you know that makes

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<v Speaker 1>any sense. Lines are supposed to work first come, first served,

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<v Speaker 1>which makes them fundamentally egalitarian. Everyone has to wait their

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<v Speaker 1>turn no matter who you are, so it isn't just

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<v Speaker 1>an inconvenience when someone cuts in front of you. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a moral transgression. In some cases, even hiring a line

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<v Speaker 1>sitter compose a real problem. Years ago, CNN reported that

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<v Speaker 1>line sitters, some homeless, were being paid to hold spots

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<v Speaker 1>for lobbyists to gain access to congressional hearings. In two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand fifteen, the Supreme Court of the United States banned

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<v Speaker 1>lawyers from hiring line sitters to hold spots in the

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<v Speaker 1>lawyer's only line to hear oral arguments. As surfing psychologist

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<v Speaker 1>Jason explains, people in power can buy themselves better shorter

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<v Speaker 1>weights they're is a meme that's been going around It

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<v Speaker 1>as a picture Beyonce, and it says, why aren't you Beyonce?

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<v Speaker 1>She has the same twenty four hours you do, um,

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<v Speaker 1>and I don't think that's accurate at all. We all

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<v Speaker 1>do have objectively twenty four hours, but we are often

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<v Speaker 1>forced to use those hours in very distinct ways. I

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<v Speaker 1>think about people who have very long commutes to their

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<v Speaker 1>second job, and time is very different for them. The

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<v Speaker 1>people in a grocery store line who have to, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>use food stamps or cash and count coupons. They're using

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<v Speaker 1>their time at that check outstand very differently than I

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<v Speaker 1>have to. I don't know this for sure, but I

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<v Speaker 1>have the strong suspicion that Beyonce doesn't spend too much

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<v Speaker 1>time in line. Yeah, exactly. I think if you look

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<v Speaker 1>at lines in general and think about how people are

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<v Speaker 1>afforded the ability to skip the line or to reduce

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<v Speaker 1>the line, you can see some really interesting power disparities

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<v Speaker 1>going on. Who can afford two board, you know, with

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<v Speaker 1>pre boarding or platinum atis? And I sometimes do it,

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<v Speaker 1>and I feel such class skilled, feel so humiliated, right O, God,

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<v Speaker 1>do you do it? Can? I ask? No? I don't.

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<v Speaker 1>I wish I did. No, you don't. I take the

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<v Speaker 1>overhead compartment, but Jason takes the high road. Social class

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<v Speaker 1>can effect not just how long we wait, but how

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<v Speaker 1>much that waiting sucks. Take for example, the research on

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<v Speaker 1>the waiting rooms in Buenos Aires and in other parts

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<v Speaker 1>of South America. Were welfare recipients queue for their benefits,

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<v Speaker 1>they might talk to somebody to say I'm here to

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<v Speaker 1>pick up my check, and they'll have them wait in

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<v Speaker 1>the waiting room, and there's no feedback in the space.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, at the Department of Motor Vehicles, you take

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<v Speaker 1>a number and you have a sense of maybe where

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<v Speaker 1>that number falls in a queue. There's none of that

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<v Speaker 1>in this space. Not knowing how long the line is

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<v Speaker 1>or your position in it makes the whole experience worse.

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<v Speaker 1>That's why we prefer a progress bar on a computer

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<v Speaker 1>to that spinning beach ball of death, because uncertainty creates anxiety.

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<v Speaker 1>There are two few chairs, so people are often standing around,

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<v Speaker 1>their kids crawling around on the ground. So it's a

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<v Speaker 1>space where it emphasizes your lack of agency and also

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<v Speaker 1>emphasizes your position within the society that somebody else is

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<v Speaker 1>controlling your time. The way we structure our waiting lines

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<v Speaker 1>reinforces who is considered unimportant, whose experience really just doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>matter because they're broke or otherwise powerless. Conversely, the waiting

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<v Speaker 1>experience can also be designed to elevate the people in line.

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<v Speaker 1>Here is Dick Larson of m I T, also known

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<v Speaker 1>as Doctor Q, for his work on queuing theory, describing

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<v Speaker 1>a top of the line line. There used to be

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<v Speaker 1>something called the Manhattan Savings Bank in New York. People

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<v Speaker 1>would come in over their lunch breaks, which created a

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<v Speaker 1>big midday rush and a bunch of complaints. So then

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<v Speaker 1>one of the managers thought, I'm going to hire a

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<v Speaker 1>concert pianist from am to one thirty pm every day.

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<v Speaker 1>They hired the concert pianist, the complaints about the delays

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<v Speaker 1>dropped to zero. Customers were seeing waiting in the lobby

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<v Speaker 1>after their banking was over until the current musical piece

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<v Speaker 1>was completed. And I read in the New York Times

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<v Speaker 1>that some a guy was arrested for selling tickets five

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<v Speaker 1>dollars a piece to get into the bank lobby. One

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<v Speaker 1>particular American company has really delved into both the math

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<v Speaker 1>and psychology of standing lines. If you visited one of

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<v Speaker 1>Disney's theme parks, you've probably seen the fruits of their efforts.

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<v Speaker 1>The imagineers can throw a hell of a line, and

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<v Speaker 1>here's Dr Q on Disney's Mastery. One example is the

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<v Speaker 1>Q channel. You never can see the length of the queue.

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<v Speaker 1>The line is chunked up into little bite sized segments,

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<v Speaker 1>so you're not daunted by how long the tucker is.

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<v Speaker 1>They lined the Q channels with amusements. Don't look now,

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<v Speaker 1>but here comes Goofy. Be cool, back cool, stay cool, Goofy.

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<v Speaker 1>That's the law you. They might have a sign out

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<v Speaker 1>say if the line is out there here, you might

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<v Speaker 1>expect an hour of delay, but they intentionally pad the times,

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<v Speaker 1>so forty five minutes later, husband says to the wife, Honey,

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<v Speaker 1>we're fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. The lines at Disney

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<v Speaker 1>are so good that gaggles of kids think they're already

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<v Speaker 1>on the ride, which reveals the fact that are our

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<v Speaker 1>real problem with most cues isn't the time we spend waiting.

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<v Speaker 1>It's the idle boredom. If you're relentlessly entertained, you'll happily

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<v Speaker 1>spend most of a vacation day standing in line. Let's

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<v Speaker 1>now take leave of our costumed princesses sweating into their

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<v Speaker 1>polyester corsets and meet another sort of protagonist, Trader Joe.

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<v Speaker 1>Trader Joe's is a grocery chain in the US. I

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<v Speaker 1>write hard for their crunchy lentil curls. They're known for

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<v Speaker 1>their store brand organics and the epic lines, like the

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<v Speaker 1>entire floor plan is sometimes occupied by a single line

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<v Speaker 1>snaking through every aisle, there is an employee paid to

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<v Speaker 1>hold a sign on an eight foot poll that reads

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<v Speaker 1>end of the line. Experts call this a serpentine line.

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<v Speaker 1>It's long, single file and folds back on itself, and

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<v Speaker 1>it's actually preferable to the parallel lines you see at

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<v Speaker 1>most grocery stores for two reasons. First, a serpentine line

0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:37.480
<v Speaker 1>ensures first come are first served, whereas with parallel lines

0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:47.040
<v Speaker 1>you're plagued by that anxiety the other line is moving faster. Second,

0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.720
<v Speaker 1>a serpentine line is good at distributing any delays, so

0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.840
<v Speaker 1>if a register goes down, traffic is simply rerouted to

0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:57.040
<v Speaker 1>the other stations, as opposed to leaving a single line

0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:00.480
<v Speaker 1>of stalled out customers boiling with enough grocery rage to

0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:03.080
<v Speaker 1>air fry their lintil curls and their own cupped hands.

0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:08.400
<v Speaker 1>Before doing this podcast, I hated serpentine lines. Entering Trader

0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:12.560
<v Speaker 1>Joe's I thought, are you kidding me? But now, knowing

0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:15.920
<v Speaker 1>what I do about queuing theory, I'm like, okay, okay,

0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:18.440
<v Speaker 1>these guys know what's up. Where's the poll guy at

0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:22.240
<v Speaker 1>the end of the line thing. Now, let's take this

0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:28.960
<v Speaker 1>shopping cart underwater. Okay, easy, careful, please, Those are those

0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:34.480
<v Speaker 1>eggs in there. Some of them are green with red spots.

0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:40.080
<v Speaker 1>Others are orange with neon blue stripes. And they've got

0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:42.920
<v Speaker 1>a bit of an underbyte, so you'll see that their

0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:46.480
<v Speaker 1>little teeth on the lower jaws sticking up. That's Marry

0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:50.600
<v Speaker 1>and Wong. She's a behavioral ecologist who studies little tropical

0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:53.840
<v Speaker 1>fish called gobies. I have colleagues that have told me

0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:58.560
<v Speaker 1>that they think they're the ugliest official but for me,

0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:01.200
<v Speaker 1>I just think they're beautiful. For it's like they're so

0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:05.360
<v Speaker 1>ugly that they're beautiful. Marian lurks around coral reefs spying

0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:08.160
<v Speaker 1>on fish for a living, and she's discovered that the

0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:12.400
<v Speaker 1>social order of the gobies involves a strictly controlled waiting line.

0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:14.880
<v Speaker 1>I'm British, so I know a lot about queues. We

0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:17.880
<v Speaker 1>spend a lot of our time in queues, I told you,

0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.440
<v Speaker 1>and these fish do a similar thing. But what they're

0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:25.880
<v Speaker 1>queuing for is access to very limited breeding positions. So

0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:29.600
<v Speaker 1>in their group, breeding is monopolized by just the most

0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:33.160
<v Speaker 1>dominant male and female, and everyone else in a group

0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:37.120
<v Speaker 1>is reproductively suppressed. So they're just not allowed to breed,

0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.560
<v Speaker 1>and so what happens is is they're queuing. They're waiting

0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.520
<v Speaker 1>for the dominance to disappear or die, and once that happens,

0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:49.360
<v Speaker 1>the next largest non breeder will then ascend in that

0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.600
<v Speaker 1>hierarchy to become the new breeder, and everyone else ascends

0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:58.320
<v Speaker 1>one rank up. In the realm of the gobies, only

0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:00.600
<v Speaker 1>the homecoming King and Queen are have in any sex,

0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:03.359
<v Speaker 1>and every other fish is in a line of succession

0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:05.840
<v Speaker 1>behind the power couple, waiting for one of them to

0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:08.720
<v Speaker 1>get eaten by a predator or wander off, or to die,

0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:11.800
<v Speaker 1>and every fish knows exactly where they are in line.

0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:15.160
<v Speaker 1>And Marian and a team No. Two. Because each fish

0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:18.040
<v Speaker 1>controls its body size to make sure they're a little

0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:20.680
<v Speaker 1>smaller than the fish in front of them, they essentially

0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:24.440
<v Speaker 1>diet to make sure they maintain their exact position in queue.

0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:27.320
<v Speaker 1>So when they first come into a coral, they're just

0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:30.600
<v Speaker 1>really tiny babies. They've just spent three weeks in the

0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:33.840
<v Speaker 1>ocean is larvae, and then they settle into a coral,

0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:37.080
<v Speaker 1>so they're automatically right at the end of the queue,

0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.360
<v Speaker 1>and gradually, over time they might be able to ascend

0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:42.520
<v Speaker 1>in rank, and every time they do they grow just

0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.680
<v Speaker 1>incrementally a bit more? So? If I'm rank one and

0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.720
<v Speaker 1>my dominant gets eaten, how long does it take for

0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:54.359
<v Speaker 1>me to develop into the dominant? You know, behavi really immediately?

0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.680
<v Speaker 1>Why you will start to notice that the subordinate is

0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:02.920
<v Speaker 1>just really happy, and they'll just be a little more aggressive.

0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.399
<v Speaker 1>They will keep checking up on their own suborders to

0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:08.040
<v Speaker 1>make sure that you know they're in their proper place

0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:13.879
<v Speaker 1>in the coral. They may also start to flirt a

0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:17.480
<v Speaker 1>little bit with the remaining breeder. If I just got

0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:21.960
<v Speaker 1>promoted to breeding gobie, what does my flirtation look like

0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:25.840
<v Speaker 1>with the other dominant? Um? You tend to sort of

0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:31.359
<v Speaker 1>swim up to them, um and wiggle. Okay, not safe

0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:34.720
<v Speaker 1>for work, Let's move on, Family shall, Family Shall. If

0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:38.000
<v Speaker 1>a goilbie tries to jump the cueue, things can get ugly.

0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:43.280
<v Speaker 1>They will lock jaws, which we sometimes call mouth fighting,

0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.520
<v Speaker 1>and when they lock the jewels, they are just basically

0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:50.520
<v Speaker 1>in the throes of a full on brawl. It can

0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:54.320
<v Speaker 1>last for several minutes, and after that usually they break

0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:58.840
<v Speaker 1>away and the loser will then get kicked out of

0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:04.240
<v Speaker 1>the coral. Once it's evicted, it doesn't have much chance.

0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:08.160
<v Speaker 1>I'm afraid, so back on land. How does Marian herself

0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:13.240
<v Speaker 1>respond when someone tries to skip her jaw lock, headlock, matlock.

0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:17.359
<v Speaker 1>I usually will say something because a lot of the

0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:25.119
<v Speaker 1>time this kind of negative social behavior goes unchecked, and

0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:29.040
<v Speaker 1>so that allows for it to continue. We are actually doing,

0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:32.920
<v Speaker 1>you know, what would be defined as a social service,

0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:36.560
<v Speaker 1>because we're trying to stop Q jumpers wherever they are.

0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:43.520
<v Speaker 1>You sounds like the Batman of lines, aquatic researcher, slash

0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:48.280
<v Speaker 1>line vigilante Marian Wong The secret of your identity is safe.

0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:55.920
<v Speaker 1>With this internationally distributed podcast, Marian's gobies can spend the

0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:58.679
<v Speaker 1>better part of their lives in line, and some people

0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:04.960
<v Speaker 1>do too. Hello, Hello, Hi, Hey, is this Mr Janosh?

0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:10.040
<v Speaker 1>This is Brian Janosh wants something very badly and he's

0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:11.960
<v Speaker 1>prepared to wait a very long time to get it.

0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:17.920
<v Speaker 1>Like what's your current position online? I am one hundred

0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:22.320
<v Speaker 1>and seventeen thousand, two hundred and ten, so only a

0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.400
<v Speaker 1>hundred and seventeen thousand, two hundred nine people in front

0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:28.520
<v Speaker 1>of him. Brian is in line for Green Bay Packers

0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:31.600
<v Speaker 1>season tickets. For those of you who don't follow American football,

0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:34.159
<v Speaker 1>the Green Bay Packers played for the state of Wisconsin,

0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:37.200
<v Speaker 1>and they are incidentally the arch rivals of my home

0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:41.680
<v Speaker 1>states team, the Minnesota Vikings. Demand for Packers tickets is insane.

0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:45.080
<v Speaker 1>You can call them. The lovely woman who was on

0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:47.040
<v Speaker 1>the phone with me, I could only assume her name

0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:49.960
<v Speaker 1>was like Doris Um. I asked her then, how many

0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:52.560
<v Speaker 1>people are in the line total? She said it's hundred

0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:56.240
<v Speaker 1>and thirty nine thousand, and I said, okay, so that's

0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:58.320
<v Speaker 1>what thirty forty years And the first thing she did

0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:01.840
<v Speaker 1>was laughed. Is that probably longer than that? So I

0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:04.040
<v Speaker 1>don't know. I mean, like at this point, for reality,

0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.200
<v Speaker 1>it's not so much for me, Like if this happens,

0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:11.920
<v Speaker 1>you know, I'll be in my seventies, my eighties. It's

0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:14.399
<v Speaker 1>sort of like throwing a wish in a well. I

0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:18.840
<v Speaker 1>feel so wealthy or something. You are more or less

0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:22.040
<v Speaker 1>at this point thinking as much about your children and

0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:25.520
<v Speaker 1>the next generation as you are yourself. Do you have kids? No,

0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:28.040
<v Speaker 1>I don't get on that. If there's anything you know,

0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:31.720
<v Speaker 1>high on my list of why to procreate and have kids,

0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.399
<v Speaker 1>it's like someone's got to keep my place in line.

0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:38.200
<v Speaker 1>It is impossible to overstate the length that people will

0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:41.080
<v Speaker 1>go to for these tickets. The team doesn't allow people

0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:43.240
<v Speaker 1>to sell them, and they can only be willed to

0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:46.280
<v Speaker 1>a spouse or blood relative, which prompted a dude on

0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:49.479
<v Speaker 1>Craigslist to offer to marry and divorce a ticket holder

0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:52.800
<v Speaker 1>or to be adapted by one to get the transfer done.

0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:55.919
<v Speaker 1>There was someone one point in time who offered like

0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:59.440
<v Speaker 1>money to legally change his name so that he could

0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:03.160
<v Speaker 1>take some one's tickets. There have been things like that

0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:05.520
<v Speaker 1>that I've heard about. You know, I'm not a fan

0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:07.560
<v Speaker 1>of that. I feel like it's not very Green Bay.

0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:10.920
<v Speaker 1>It's not very like Packers spirit. You know, we're all

0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:14.399
<v Speaker 1>in this together, and that attitude is one of like

0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:17.040
<v Speaker 1>looking out for one another more than it is for

0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:19.879
<v Speaker 1>you know, jump in your place inline. That sounds a

0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:25.360
<v Speaker 1>little more like Vikings fan behavior. Not cool, Brad guy,

0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:27.800
<v Speaker 1>let's back off. Does it feel worth it to stand

0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:32.000
<v Speaker 1>in this line? Sure? This line is like a way

0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:34.560
<v Speaker 1>of identification. It's a badge of honor. You know, It's

0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:38.480
<v Speaker 1>like I'm happy to be number one. Two. Do you

0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:41.119
<v Speaker 1>ever wonder like, are those people getting tickets? Are they dying?

0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:47.000
<v Speaker 1>It's probably a bit of both. There's a little morbidity

0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:50.800
<v Speaker 1>to uh standing in this line, because you know there's

0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:55.679
<v Speaker 1>only two ways out of it. We'll check back with

0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.040
<v Speaker 1>Brian every decade or so to see how he's faring,

0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:05.560
<v Speaker 1>so you know, stay tuned. We all spend a decent

0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.720
<v Speaker 1>share of our lives in line for tacos, at the

0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:12.560
<v Speaker 1>emergency room for the last train home back from more tacos.

0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:16.399
<v Speaker 1>We hold positions in a web of invisible lines too,

0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:20.240
<v Speaker 1>waiting for an unknown clerk to approve alone or run

0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:24.679
<v Speaker 1>a background check or grant a marriage license. Lines, with

0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:28.360
<v Speaker 1>all their potential for foul play and righteous violence, are

0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:34.080
<v Speaker 1>like tiny, single file republics, self governed temporary sovereignties where

0:22:34.080 --> 0:22:37.760
<v Speaker 1>we are asked to regard one another equally. Bring a book,

0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:42.200
<v Speaker 1>but also like bring your best self next time. On

0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:46.800
<v Speaker 1>Deeply Human, we're investigating symmetry and beauty. Why are we

0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:56.840
<v Speaker 1>so attracted to symmetrical faces? Deeply Human is hosted Bydessa

0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:01.000
<v Speaker 1>Classic Third person Maneuver and as co production of the

0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:04.919
<v Speaker 1>BBC World Service in American Public Media with iHeartMedia