Consumer Musings

I recently visited Panera in the middle of the lunch rush. Though I had ordered ahead, the order was not ready yet. Along with a dozen other hungry folks, I stood impatiently by the pick-up counter for them to call out my name. Then I noticed a screen above the counter showing a list of names and their order status. And halfway down: “Glenn G: order received”. That had an interesting effect. First, knowing that they indeed got my order settled my nerves a bit. Secondly, it became distraction: watching the other names pop-up, how fast is the orders were processing, placing side-bets on who was next, etc.

A few weeks later I visited Ikea to return a product. There too, after entering my name at a kiosk, I found myself in a waiting room watching my name move slowly up a list on a screen. I just sat back on an Ikea Linanas sofa and people-watched until my name got ‘called’.

Waiting in line is a fact of modern life. It is anonymous and filled with tension, as you silently battle both the others that are waiting as well as the entity that is making you wait. But now increasingly, I am not anonynous — I’m “Glenn G” — and I can just chill-out on this sofa and work on today’s Spelling Bee.