The second report on queuing in BA, with the benefit of seven months more experience.
To read the first one click here.
“An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.” (Mikes 1946)
When George Mikes wrote this in 1946, he was, of course, poking fun at the proper English obsession with queuing, an obsession that Australians have inherited and made their own. This report reflects upon experiences of queuing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from the perspective of an Australian who has been living in the city for approximately nine months, and makes comparisons with observations and discussions of queuing made approximately six weeks after first arriving in the country. I chose the topic, although it seems trivial, because of confusion I felt when lining up to purchase items, which was compounded by frustration associated with not understanding the language. Little things that I did not expect before my arrival created a greater cultural shock for me than more important issues for which I had an existing preconception.
The original observations of queuing in Buenos Aires focused mainly on the ‘double-line system’ which is employed in a number of different businesses in the city including bars, clubs, pharmacies, bakeries and stationery stores amongst others. The system basically involves waiting in two lines, one in which the cash transaction is made, and the other in which the desired goods are received. The report pointed out the unfamiliarity that an Australian (or other foreign) customer felt with the system, hypothesised possible reasons for its use, outlined some of the connotations it has for a foreigner’s view of the average Argentinean, and concluded that it would be better for all involved if the system were changed. Some of the possible reasons hypothesised for its use included:
• A distrust of customers. By requiring that cash payments occur before exchange of goods, there is less of a chance of theft.
• A distrust of employees. By isolating the cash exchange to a single point, or a few points, if money goes missing it can be tracked to a single employer.
• It is a tradition inherited from colonial ancestors.
• It actually saves time for the customer because people are served more quickly at the cash register. In Australia for example, an employee serving a customer often has to wait for another employee to get access to the cash register.
• It provides a greater profit to the business if a ticket is lost and not redeemed or prints incorrectly and cannot be deciphered.
The connotations that the report claimed were implied by these possible reasons were that Argentineans are dishonest, poor, lacking in education or technical know-how, behind the times, resistant to change and not savvy business people.
A factor in my early views of the double line system and the connotations of its use may have been the fact that I had been robbed twice in my first few months in the country. Having never been robbed ever in Australia, nor in any other country to which I have travelled, to be robbed twice in a few months was a shock. It encouraged my view of the dishonest, poor Argentinean who was willing to take advantage of someone for their own personal gain. The security consciousness of my teachers at university, and the fact that eighty percent of the foreigners I knew had been robbed (some of them twice or three times) reinforced this view. One teacher related a story about how he had found a wallet containing only cash, and a gym membership card. We asked him what he did and he told us he was not willing to tell the employees of the gym that he had one of their members’ wallets because he thought one of them might pretend to be the member. He said he could not take it to the police, because he did not trust them and thought they would take the money. He eventually managed to return the wallet, money and all, which showed me that honest Argentineans existed, but the story that surrounded it reinforced exactly the opposite. In the end, I think I was partly at fault in the robberies for not being more careful, and I could eventually forgive my robbers because of their obvious state of need. Thankfully I have not been robbed since and my view of Argentineans as dishonest has changed.
My views of the double line system however, remain somewhat intact. It is still something I view as inefficient and slightly annoying, but I have become used to it. Although the issue may seem trivial to someone who has not experienced it, it remains a popular topic of conversation amongst new arrivals to the city. Opinions expressed during these conversations are usually negative, focusing on confusion with the purpose for the system and/or derision of the system. This shows that it is, at least, something very noticeable to foreigners. The reason for its noticeability is because, to an Australian (or to most foreigners in general), it is confronting. And it is confronting for two reasons. The first is because it causes a moment of confusion which forces you to realise you are in a foreign place, and which broadcasts to everyone in your immediate vicinity that you are a foreigner. The second is because it is inconvenient. Lining up for something twice is simply not fun. You remember the experience because it is unpleasant, and you try to avoid being embarrassed or inconvenienced in the future.
What makes that embarrassment or inconvenience harder to deal with is the associated difficulty in comprehending the reasons for the system. When something is different to what someone is used to and the reasons for it cannot be easily rationalised, it turns into something unnecessary and unwarranted, or even something stupid. This is evident in everyday life, but is particularly prevalent when someone experiences a new culture. It is a manifestation of culture shock (Hofstede & Hofstede 2005); as you learn about how things function in a new place, if they are not quite the same as what you are used to, they tend to be seen in a negative light. Compare this with an Argentinean’s opinion of the double line system: They rarely have one. It is something they are accustomed to and take for granted. When conversing about it, they often ask what is different about queuing in countries like Australia, and when it is explained, they do not think it is necessarily better or worse than what occurs in Buenos Aires. And perhaps it is not. In the end, what makes something better or worse than something else? Only your experience and your opinion.
With time, the double line system is something that a visitor to Buenos Aires becomes used to. In fact, my first report probably over exaggerated the number of businesses that employ it. There are pharmacies which do not use the system. There are bars which employ bar staff who handle the money directly. There are stationery shops where you can buy a pen without having to describe it in detail first. I found from personal experience that I actually began to avoid places with the double line system. This was particularly true of bars, but also applied to pharmacies. In the case of pharmacies, I would choose to go to the ones with a supermarket style browsing system followed by the cash payment. In the case of bars, I stopped going to the ones where I had to line up twice. As someone starts to settle into life in a new a city and leaves the exploration phase of the visit, they naturally do not see as many places as they were seeing before, and therefore do not see as many places employing the double line. More time is spent at home, at friends’ homes, or at places which are comfortable and familiar.
However, the major factor in becoming used to or tolerating the system is familiarity with it. Upon visiting a bakery with the system, the next time you return, you know what to do and where to go. Progression with the language also helps, so that later, if you enter a shop which employs the system, it can be explained to you. Avoiding the double line system, and settling into life in the city have played their parts in allowing it to become easier to deal with, but in the end familiarity with the system and accepting that you will be lining up twice before you do it is what makes it less annoying. Lining up twice is simply not as much of a big deal to me anymore. There are more important things to worry about.
An increase in familiarity is what marks the change between cultural adjustment and being culturally adjusted, or as Hofstede & Hofstede (2005) call it, acculturation and a steady state. When I first arrived, there were many things that I found unusual about the city. There were ‘big’ things like the language, the way the city looked and homeless children. These were obvious and to an extent, things that I had been expecting. But there were little things which were unusual also. Things like the twenty five and fifty centavo (cent) pieces being the same size, the broken footpaths covered in dog droppings, the difference in the comfort of cinema seats, and letting women on the bus first just because they are women. I definitely experienced the culture shock that Hofstede & Hofstede (2005, p. 323) write about, and if my feelings towards the new environment were not hostile, they were certainly condescending. I felt like Sydney was better than Buenos Aires in so many ways. ‘Why would a country which thought about anything for longer than five minutes make the twenty five and fifty cent pieces the same size?’, I would often think to myself (and rant to others). To me, with our beautiful, differently shaped and sized Australian coins and coloured plastic banknotes, it seemed utterly insane that someone in power could have decided to make different denominations of coins the same size. Exchanging currency is a fundamental part of most peoples’ daily lives, and when coins look, feel and weigh the same, it makes those daily lives just that little bit harder. The double line system, because I could not understand the reasons behind it, fell into the same category.
I suppose it is a reflection on my time here that if I have been preoccupying myself with issues such as the size of coins and whether I have to line up twice, it must mean that life in Buenos Aires has been an enjoyable experience overall. I will definitely be sad to leave, but at the same time I am looking forward to getting back to Sydney, to what I am used to, and where my friends and family are. I feel a little embarrassed about my original analysis of the double line system. I do not think I really had any right to criticise it so harshly, and I certainly did not have the right to imply some of the things about the people that I implied. In the end, the system works. You line up (twice), and you get what you need. Who am I, as a foreigner, to say that it should be replaced, or altered, or stopped? These are things that are decided by the culture, and something that a foreigner has to accept.
And for the record, as any Argentinean will tell you, the twenty five and fifty cent coins are slightly different sizes.
REFERENCES
Hofstede, G.H. & Hofstede, G.J. 2005, Cultures and organizations software of the mind, 2nd edn, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Mikes, G. 1946, How to be an alien : a handbook for beginners and advanced pupils, Wingate, London & New York.
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