History Main / RightOnQueue

* [[http://debbieohi.com/waitingforfrodo/ Waiting for Frodo]] is all about how a group of friends queue up months in advance to watch the ''Lord of the Rings'' movies. A [[http://debbieohi.com/waitingforbilbo/ Waiting for Bilbo]] comic was also started but the queue seems to be moving veeeery slowly.

* In ''SluggyFreelance'', Zoe gets kidnapped by evil cloners, and Torg and Riff go through a LockAndLoadMontage and go after her. Zoe survives through a whole nerd-zombie outbreak and finally escapes from the cloning facility. Where were Torg and Riff? They were patiently waiting on line to file a formal complaint about their friend getting kidnapped.

** There's yet ''another'', from one of the latest season's episodes: Marge and Homer are waiting in line for a new marriage certificate, when they both decide to get married ''properly'', they both go to leave, when they're accosted by a security guard, telling them that ''That's'' the line to leave (cut to a line as long as the rest).

** In ''So Long and Thanks For All the Fish'', Fenchurch explains why her parents named her for a railway station: "They only say you wouldn't believe how bored it is possible to get in the ticket queue at Fenchurch Street Station". (No, she wasn't ''[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean born]]'' at the station.)

* TruthInTelevision: These are, of course, endemic at theme parks. The DisneyThemeParks handle them the best; a lot of effort goes into making the lines entertaining (because, of course, Disney knows you're going to be there for an hour or so). Short movies to explain the ExcusePlot are common. Other examples include GraveHumor at ''The Haunted Mansion'', decodable hieroglyphs at the ''IndianaJones'' stunt show, and TwilightZone memorabilia at ''Tower of Terror''.

* ''{{Scrubs}}'' used the gag when the hospital opened a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of Starbucks. When it's revealed that the line is so long the back end of it is in front of ''another'' coffee shop, and half the line turns around, the series ButtMonkey Ted is distraught to find out he's now at the end of both lines.

* The first episode of ''ThirtyRock'' opened with a sequence wherein a man ignores a line at a hot dog stand. Liz bought all the hot dogs to keep him, and the people who promptly lined up behind him, from having any because ItsThePrincipleOfTheThing. Of course, then she didn't have anything to do with all those hot dogs she had bought. It's Liz's EstablishingCharacterMoment.

* The first episode of ''ThirtyRock'' opened with a sequence wherein a man ignores a line at a hot dog stand. Liz bought all the hot dogs to keep him and the people who promptly lined up behind him from having any because ItsThePrincipleOfTheThing. Of course, then she didn't have anything to do with all those hot dogs she had bought. It's Liz's EstablishingCharacterMoment.

* The first episode of ''[[{{ptitleolsdue4jfzga}} 30 Rock]]'' opened with a sequence wherein a man ignores a line at a hot dog stand.

* spending a great deal of time (a significant part of an episode, if not its entirety) queuing for something only for it to be the wrong queue, or for the till at the end to shut just as the character(s) get to the front.

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* In ''AxisPowersHetalia'', there's a fake ad for a Germany sim, to simulate life through a German's eyes. He's standing in a horribly long line with a slow Greek cashier making conversation with a Spaniard. The lines not moving. Italy butts in. HilarityEnsues.

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'''Mr. Cheeky:''' Yes I know, out of the door, one cross each, line on the left...

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** ... Seriously? It was longer than just "It's the Queen's English word for 'line/line up', stupid?"

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-->Arthur Dent, ''[[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy]]''

* There's a line in OrsonScottCard's ''Shadow Puppets'', "The Dutch were trying to beat the English for queuing, but that's silly because everyone knows that standing cheerfully in line is the English national sport." (again, see the page quote)

*** Fast Pass is also helpful idea, as it gives a specific time to get in a much shorter linne. Also, you can only do one at a time.

* In ''SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'', Hilda and Zelda go to the magical DMV for some reason only to be met with a line. They inquire an elderly woman as to how long the wait is and are told (in a rather senile tone) that the woman's son is 58 years old. When Hilda points out that doesn't answer her question, the old woman informs her that said son was born in the line.

* One episode of ''WillAndGrace'' revolved around Will waiting in line for Barry Manilow tickets, and a little later waiting in line at a coffee house to get the key to the men's room.

* Appears several times in ''TheSimpsons'' as well:
** Moe goes to register as a sex offender and complains "There's always a line."
** Patty and Selma work at the DMV and comment, "Some days, we don't let the line move at all. We call those weekdays."
** Also used in "Selma's Choice"; Bart tells Lisa a mammoth Duff Gardens queue has to be for something fun. It's actually for the complaints department.
** In "Brush with Greatness", there's a long line for the [=H2Whoa=] water slide. Bart and Lisa cut to the front by claiming she's a lost child and he's helping her; Homer cuts by claiming to be a "line inspector".
** There's yet ''another'', from one of the latest season's episodes: Marge and Homer are waiting in line for a new marriage certificate, when they both decide to get married ''properly'', they both go to leave, when they're accosted by a security guard, telling them that ''That's'' the line to leave (cut to a line as long as the rest).
* ''{{Futurama}}'' played with this one with the queue for the Central Bureaucracy, which got longer every time someone had a baby in it and had an old man still waiting in line for his birth certificate.
* An episode of ''SpongebobSquarepants'', "Rock Bottom", had Spongebob in line at the bus station in Rock Bottom, when one of the locals spits out ''an egg'' onto his head, which quickly hatches three little critters that cut ahead of him in line.
* In MassEffect, on Feros you encounter an enemy Krogan attempting to access restricted information, whose rant on how stupid the machine is gets interrupted when the computer warns him that there is a queue forming for the use of the console. Said queue, of course, being composed of the most badass person in the galaxy and two compatriots.
* One of the first episodes of ''{{Chowder}}'' involved Shnitzel and Chowder spending nearly the entire episode waiting on line at the bank. Not only did poor Shnitzel have to deal with long, slow-moving lines and customers who were depositing huge amounts of change, he also had to put up with Chowder's shenanigans.
* ''{{Seinfeld}}'' had an episode queueing for a table in a restaurant. And then there was the Soup Nazi episode, but that queue moved resonably fast and efficiently; there, the joke was the abuse everyone was willing to put up with from the Soup Nazi, because his soup was ''just that good''.
** In RealLife, the line moved fast ''because'' the Soup Nazi yelled at people who took too long to order. Hungry people stuck at the end of a forty-person line populated by [[AcceptableTarget cornfed tourists]] probably felt he had a point.
* The ''ElGoonishShive'' side-story "[[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/?date=2006-07-17 EGS-Con 2006]]".

* The first episode of ''[[{{ptitleolsdue4jfzga}} 30 Rock]]'' opened with a sequence wherein a man ignores a line at a hot dog stand.
* One invention exchange on ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' involved a fold-up mirror you could hang on someone's neck so that you can primp whilst standing in line for a movie etc. "Don't get ready to go until you're already there!"

* There was a whole subsection in the original ''[=RollerCoaster=] Tycoon'' manual to discuss the word "queue" to any American who doesn't know what it means.
** ... Seriously? It was longer than just "It's the Queen's English word for 'line/line up', stupid?"
* One ''CalvinAndHobbes'' strip used several of these at once, with Mom running errands:
-->'''Mom:''' Fifteen people in line and the teller goes on break without a replacement... After I wait ten minutes, they open a new line for all the people behind me who have waited ''two'' minutes... I'm waiting to pay, and the cashier puts ''me'' on hold instead of the person on the telephone.\\
'''Cashier:''' (eventually) Have a nice day.\\
'''Mom:''' Too late.

* A classic ''{{Peanuts}}'' strip shows Charlie Brown waiting in line at the theater, hoping to be one of the first 1,500 children to get free candy bars. He lets Lucy go in front of him, and she becomes the 1,500th candy bar winner. According to Charles Schultz, this really happened to him.
* In one ''HomestarRunner'' cartoon, we see Homestar, Marzipan, and the King of Town standing in line at Bubs' Concession Stand... in front of a sign that says "Wait In Line: $5". Homestar turns to Marzipan and remarks "Best five bucks I ever spent."

* The ''SouthPark'' episode "Cow Days" has the boys wait in line for an interminable length of time to go on a ride of an unidentified nature. They finally make it to the head of the line to discover no ride waiting for them; it turns out that the line itself was the "ride".

* ''SchlockMercenary'' based a whole story arc around this. Luna's bureaucracy was so slow, and the queue so immensely long, only the oldest people in line remembered it ever moving. There were religions dedicated to the idea of reaching the front.
** Also, the merc company thought they'd been hired to disperse a crowd of rioters. Then they found out that it was just the line for the bureaucracy.

* In the ''DoctorWho'' episode ''Gridlock'' people were in their "cars" for years and decades on end, but that was because [[spoiler: the entire city above them had died]]
* When Jimmy is holding auditions in ''TheCommitments'', one guy sees everyone else queuing up and thinks Jimmy is selling drugs.

* In ''Postal 2'' there is a queue at the bank when you go to cash your pay check on Day 1. Being Postal, you don't have to wait, then again, you don't have to grenade the line from the roof either. How's that for moral choice in games?
* One episode of ''KingOfTheHill'' is about Lucky and Luanne waiting in line for several days to get the first tickets to see Brownsville Station (of "Smokin in the Boy's Room" fame.) When the box office opens, not a single person has gotten in line behind them. Then Lucky starts waiting at the door.
--> Lucky: "I want to be sure they don't run out of my shirt size, Women's Medium."

* ''Monty Python's LifeOfBrian'' has condemned prisoners standing in line waiting to be crucified:
-->'''Nisus Wettus:''' Crucifixion?\\
'''Prisoner:''' Yes.\\
'''Nisus Wettus:''' Good. Out of the door, line on the left, one cross each.\\
'''Nisus Wettus:''' Crucifixion?\\
'''Mr. Cheeky:''' Er, no, freedom actually.\\
'''Nisus Wettus:''' What?\\
'''Mr. Cheeky:''' Yeah, they said I hadn't done anything and I could go and live on an island somewhere.\\
'''Nisus Wettus:''' Oh I say, that's very nice. Well, off you go then.\\
'''Mr. Cheeky:''' : No, I'm just pulling your leg, it's crucifixion really.\\
'''Nisus Wettus:''' [laughing] Oh yes, very good. Well...\\
'''Mr. Cheeky:''' Yes I know, out of the door, one cross each, line on the left...
* In ''AxisPowersHetalia'', there's a fake ad for a Germany sim, to simulate life through a German's eyes. He's standing in a horribly long line with a slow Greek cashier making conversation with a Spaniard. The lines not moving. Italy butts in. HilarityEnsues.
* There was an episode of ''DrakeAndJosh'' where most of the episode is about the brothers (and Megan) waiting in line for a rollercoaster. [[spoiler: They finally get to ride,]] but beforehand, they are sent to the back of the line (if memory serves, twice - once for cutting in line, once for fighting), get into a fight with the mascot, and get stuck by a bratty kid with a mom who won't do anything about her child's behavior.

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* In ''SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'', Hilda and Zelda go to the magical DMV for some reason only to be met with a line. They inquire an elderly woman as to how long the wait is and are told (in a rather senile tone)that the woman's son is 58 years old. When Hilda points out that doesn't answer her question, the old woman informs her that said son was born in the line.

** The real standout is Star Tours (a Star Wars themed ride), with animatronic Droids putting on little shows all throughout the building. The line for that ride is so entertaining it actually ''could'' be its own walk-through attraction.

Examples:

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* The DisneyThemeParks contain several things for people to do in line, including GraveHumor at ''The Haunted Mansion'', hyrogliphs to decode at an ''IndianaJones'' ride, and short movies to explain the ExcusePlot.