Why when you join the shortest check out queue is it always the slowest ?

Question

Whenever I go to the supermarket if I join the shortest queue,it always takes the longest to clear because the scanner doesnt work etc,is there really such a thing as sods law ?

jlb I never once blamed the cashier and I never tut.
I am merely stating an observation !

Answer 1

Sod's law is the popular name of a classic scientific theorem called "Le Chartelier's Principle" basically if you try to do anything things end up conspiring against you to prevent it being done.

Answer 2

Yes, it is 'Sods Law' and it is more likely to come into effect when you are in a hurry. I go to the 'basket' checkout and never ceased to be amazed by the ingenuity employed by some people to beat the system Viz-

Baskets placed inside trolleys, sometimes more than one. Full trolleys, accompanied by, "Oh, I didn't notice the 'basket only' sign". Small trolleys used, arguing that I could have got all this stuff in a basket. Couples, carrying a basket each. One person holding up the queue whilst their partner goes off to get boxes of booze that would not have fit into a basket. Baskets used, but with an armful of things as well. I am sure that there are other tricks, but what surprises me most is that neither the staff nor the customers ever say anything. I haven't even mentioned, the ditherers, those who seem to want a conversation with the cashier, those who still pay by cheque and always want cash back, those who want to change something at the last minute, and oh! those women who never, never ever have their purses ready. Those are the ones who block the aisles whilst they are having a conversation with a friend and are, therefore, completely oblivious to all around them. I thought they could multi task, unless you count talking and getting in peoples way as multi-tasking. Sorry, I could go on for ever.

Answer 3

You notice when there's a prob. You breeze through when there ain't. Have you ever got back home and exclaimed God it was unbelievable I got to the back of the shortest queue and I got out of the supermarket quicker than if I had stood at the back any other queue.
I venture to suggest NO is your answer.
This is the whole ethos of sod's law. It's a belief system. I am a victim is the belief. It is like Catholicsm but they believe that they are guilty unless they are up in front of the judge.

Answer 4

Sod's LAw & Alanis Morissettes' ironic song all in one.

This always happens to me. Usually the shortest queue has an item limit of 10(items)or less, so in reality it's the people who want to squeeze in a few 10 other items that slow down the entire process.

Answer 5

Sods Law I'm affraid. Just one of those things. Like why do you always get stuck behind a tractor when driving down A-class roads. Or why does Toast land on the buttered side when dropped?

Answer 6

I picked the shortest Queue, there was one woman in front of me, okay, till I saw what she had in the basket. A load of cups and saucers, all had to be wrapped up seperately in pieces of paper.

Answer 7

know where your coming from the same happens to me, I even tried joining the longest queue as that seems to go down faster when I'm in the short one but it didn't work.

Answer 8

That happens to me every time too. It also work with traffic. Which ever lane I am in is always the slowest, and if I change lanes, the lane I moved to automatically stops moving and becomes the slowest lane.

Answer 9

Yup, I think you must be a perfect example of it.

Everybody telephones you the minute you leave the house, your football team always scores when you go to the toilet and your girlfriend only has an orgasm when you are not there.

Answer 10

no, it's just that you don't notice so much when your queue moves quicker than others, or the bread falls butter side up, or you find something in the first place you look etc.