An international resident in Switzerland recently witnessed a scene at a train station, involving a group of Italian tourists jumping the queue to get on the train before all the other passengers, even though the group had arrived last.

Witnessing this moment, other commuters expressed their discontent, saying that this type of impolite behaviour is “typically Italian…they have no manners”.

Beyond the well-known propensity of some Swiss people to routinely blame foreigners for everything that is out of whack in their country, there is a clear irony here: the Swiss themselves are notorious queue jumpers.

‘It’s just their way’

But the irony doesn’t stop here.

In all other spheres of life, the Swiss are meticulously organised and like to micromanage everything that surrounds them, with every patch of greenery cut and trimmed, and every cow counted and named.

But their penchant for law and order doesn’t carry over to situations where waiting in lines is necessary.

For instance, if you have ever waited to get on a ski lift at a resort, you probably saw how the usually orderly people morph into unruly masses.

Such a situation caught public attention in 2020, when skiers in the Belalp-Bahnen region of Valais jostled to get to the front of the queue rather than wait patiently in line.

Even the former US ambassador to Switzerland, Suzi LeVine, complained in 2015 about the “inefficiency” and “chaos” at Swiss ski lifts. 

READ ALSO : US diplomat sparks flap over Swiss ski ‘chaos’

The reasons for this kind of non-compliance with the ‘first come, first served’ principle are often debated on social media and on various online forums.

“Why oh why can’t the Swiss learn the polite art of queuing?, one user of The Local’s forum asked. “We use the ferries on a very regular basis, we get in line but a ton of folk just pile up in front of us? And they are so blatant with it too.”

Others have suggested what could be a plausible explanation for this common (mis)behaviour: one person said that the problem could be that the Swiss, who are accustomed to a certain order of things, “are awful at handling ‘unusual’ situations” like chaos.

“They aren’t being rude on purpose; it’s just their way.”

How do you deal with this behaviour?

There have been no concrete suggestions for how to deal with this habit other than appeals for common courtesy.

It appears that the Swiss themselves see nothing wrong with the mayhem at public transport stations or other situations that surely would benefit from people standing in line in an orderly fashion. 

In terms of crowds at ski lifts, certain resorts, and tourists alike, have been calling for ski lift operators to adapt a system common on the ski slopes in the United States and Canada, which consists of forming two lines, which then merge into each other.

READ ALSO: Will an American-style queuing system end chaos at Swiss ski lifts?

Currently in Switzerland there is only one queue for the ski lifts, often resulting in pushing or bumping against other skiers.

Waiting in a funnel-shaped line in front of the turnstile, as is common on Swiss slopes, is “a chaotic queuing system,” one resort manager said.

Other options for dealing with this behaviour include being passive aggressive – like rolling your eyes at violators.

Meanwhile, some people become equally aggressive, elbowing their way up front to give these line breakers a taste of their own behaviour – although that would result in more aggro, which could mean the whole experience gets even more stressful so we wouldn’t recommend that.

But some businesses in Switzerland have already taken proactive measures to rein in this kind of practice.

Many banks, post offices, and some shops now have a system in place where each entering customer gets a ticket with a number from a machine and everyone must wait patiently until their turn comes up. 

It’s certainly one way to get the normally order-loving Swiss into line.

What’s your experience of queueing in Switzerland? Let us know by leaving a comment or emailing news@thelocal.ch