Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Monday, March 5, 2007
Quote
"You can't make somebody understand something if their salary depends upon them not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair
The sociology of customs
In the latest years, with all the terrorism paranoia, great delays are in place, not only on flight schedules, but also on customs procedures.
These long lines, started to get me thinking, as whenever arriving in the US, the waiting got a different feeling from other countries - not better nor worse, but different
On my last visit to Heathrow Airport, the difference became clear to me - virtually on every country, there is a single line for foreigners (of course, this single line is serviced by multiple agents ), while in the US there are multiple lines each serviced by a single agent
At first, this seems like a simple logistic choice, but allowing the creativity to kick in, becomes unavoidable the comparison with the sociological belief in place.
The ambitious-rewarding US model, could not be better illustrated by their multiple lines. Once getting into the country, two visitors arriving at the exact same time at the customs rooms may leave after a very different waiting period. Depending on driving such as attention, ambition and luck, the difference can be of hours before making the line and arriving at the booths.
While other countries have a more protective system, where assures that all visitors, being in a single line, will reach the booth simply by order of arrival (therefore, if 2 visitors should arrive at the same time, they'd reach the booth at the same time) - if this can be pretty frustrating by someone who is in a rush, it protects from unexpected situations or simply from the bad luck of being on a slow line
These long lines, started to get me thinking, as whenever arriving in the US, the waiting got a different feeling from other countries - not better nor worse, but different
On my last visit to Heathrow Airport, the difference became clear to me - virtually on every country, there is a single line for foreigners (of course, this single line is serviced by multiple agents ), while in the US there are multiple lines each serviced by a single agent
At first, this seems like a simple logistic choice, but allowing the creativity to kick in, becomes unavoidable the comparison with the sociological belief in place.
The ambitious-rewarding US model, could not be better illustrated by their multiple lines. Once getting into the country, two visitors arriving at the exact same time at the customs rooms may leave after a very different waiting period. Depending on driving such as attention, ambition and luck, the difference can be of hours before making the line and arriving at the booths.
While other countries have a more protective system, where assures that all visitors, being in a single line, will reach the booth simply by order of arrival (therefore, if 2 visitors should arrive at the same time, they'd reach the booth at the same time) - if this can be pretty frustrating by someone who is in a rush, it protects from unexpected situations or simply from the bad luck of being on a slow line
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
