The Quiet Culture of Queuing
Launch library · evergreen read
Queuing at a convention, for a panel, a signing, or a popular stall, has its own quiet, largely unspoken etiquette: holding a place fairly, not saving excessive space for absent friends, and generally accepting that a long wait is simply part of the shared experience everyone present has chosen to take on.
These queues often become small, temporary communities of their own, since strangers standing together for an hour or more inevitably strike up conversation, compare what else they have seen that day, and sometimes end up becoming genuine friends by the time the queue itself finally reaches its front and the doors open.
Handled with patience and good humour, a long queue can become a genuinely memorable part of a convention rather than simply an obstacle to be endured before the actual event. Some of the best convention stories fans tell later happened entirely while they were still waiting in line.