Last night I did some grocery shopping, then headed to Chipolte’s. I parked a short distance away and noticed a pair of paramedics getting out of their truck. As fate had it, I reached the door just before they did, so I held it open. They walked through.
Perhaps fifteen seconds before the paramedics had gone in, a couple had walked in the door. The line was reasonably long, but nothing outrageous.
We’re standing in line for a minute or so, when a guy walks in the door. He passes both me and the paramedics and joins the couple. Then, perhaps feeling guilty, they wave the paramedics forward, ahead of their expanded party of three.
I found it curious; there wasn’t much reason to promote two people standing between the two groups, but not all three. I can imagine a few reasons… I wonder which was the actual cause.
Reason 1: They’re paramedics. You assume they’re on shift (since they’re wearing their outfits), so you make sure they can get back to their trucks.
Reason 2: They’re female. The two paramedics were female… perhaps it was courtesy/ chivalry. The group who let them pass was two men and a woman.
Reason 3: Adding one person means that you’re only impeding by one person, so one person should get to go ahead. (Actually makes no sense, but it is intuitive.) Since you don’t break up parties, you let one party ahead.
Any other thoughts? [A few minutes later, as the line behind us stacked up, two teens walked past us all and joined the party of 3, just before we reached the counter. There was no line adjustment for them.]
Odd side note: according to weather.com, the current temperature is 99, while the high today is 97. Hmm…