1. Grade 9 Behaviour Campaigns - Ashwin
What is my courtesy campaign about? – Cutting Lines!
DIFFERENT TYPES OF CUTTING LINES!
Some people consider leaving a line and coming back a form of
cutting. An example can be a person who is in line for buying a ticket
for a movie who realizes that he might need a little more money from
his mom/friends. Should the person leave the line, get the money and
return to his place might be considered as cutting (even if it was
known he was in the line before).
One type of cutting is when one member of the family/friends “saves
a place” for the other member’s specially when the wait is considered
lengthy. This action is more acceptable then the other’s but is still
considered a form of cutting by some people.
In a place where time if important, such as the airport there is a type
of cutting called “queue drift”. “Queue drift” happens when an
impatient person treats the queue as a race in slow motion, using
every movement in the line for cutting in front of people to attain the
pole position. This starts from a funnel effect, where large amounts of

2. people try to squeeze into a small entrance where there is no formal
queue. Queue drifters are usually less obvious then direct line
cutters, while they are annoying to those who notice them but they
usually manage to go unnoticed.
A type of cutting seen many times at amusement parks is when the
line area is nearly empty, some guests will walk through all the steel
railings to proceed until the end of line, while others might just slip
over/under them rather then walk through the entire network. If a
person is not going over/under the rails, but rather is walking
through the path to the line, and another person does bypass them
(and, in doing so, reach the line before the other), it is sometimes
considered cutting even though it did not actually take place in the
line itself.
Cutting is also present on roadways, especially at traffic light’s or toll
booths. Driver’s who bypass traffic by waiting until the last possible
moment before merging into the line are considered “cutters” and
are frequent instigators of road rage.
Why is not a courteous behaviour?
First of all you are breaking the rule. Cutting line’s can be very
annoying for the people behind you. It is also unfair to the people
behind you because they have been waiting, and if you cut in would
have to wait for less time. This rule should also be applied to VIP’S
because they are no different then ordinary humans. These day’s
there is almost a caste system even for line’s where the more
important people are allowed to go in front of all the ordinary people.
This just proves that we are allowing injustice to be caused to the
ordinary people!
Why is it so important to change this behaviour?
First of all it’s for their own personality development. People
should learn how to be more patient and wait for their own turn. This
behaviour is not really going to harm us in any way right now or even
in the future but it is all about morality. People cut lines because they
consider themselves more important the all the other people and it is
not like that. Giving people in a perfectly fit state the permission to
cut in front of many others is just plain unfairness or injustice. If this

3. does not stop, it could develop into a kind of caste system where only
some people would be allowed to cut in lines.
How will I motivate people to change their behaviours?
The act of cutting in line is frowned upon by most people,
however there could be a new rule such as “fair cutting” in which the
person wanting to cut would first have to ask for permission from the
person who he/she wants to cut in front of and would only be
allowed if the person said “yes”. Another rule could be a “back cut” in
which you can get behind a person instead of them but you would
still have to ask and if denied, you would not be allowed.
Another thing that you could do is increasing the amount of
counters if possible. For example, at our school there could be two
cashiers because I have witnessed and experienced lots of people cut
in front of me. Having more cashiers could solve the cutting problem
because people would have to wait for less time and also it would
solve the problem of getting late to lunch activities like Student
Council and House Meetings.
A possible solution could be to increase security. I don’t mean for
places like schools but more formal like the immigration at the
airport or the ticket counter at a movie theatre where time is of the
essence and no one gets to have a unfair advantage. I don’t mean
having security cameras or anything but just a guard to look over the
line would really help.