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WAITING IN LINE
The public’s popular chorus in Guyana is the amount of time spent by the average person standing in line to access goods and services, conduct business or to pay a bill. In every country, people stand in line for various reasons and Guyana is no exception.
It could take several hours if not days to get things done in Guyana, especially in the rural areas of the country. The reason is Guyana has a centralized system. Being in line, whether it is at the hospital, at the bank or at the post office, has become a way of life for most Guyanese.
Those who have ever paid an electricity or telephone bill or any other utility bill know what it is to stand in a line for very long hours without restroom facilities or any accommodation for the elderly, pregnant mothers or the disabled.
Perhaps the biggest influence on people’s feelings about being in line to conduct any type of transactions has to do with their perception of fairness, which extends beyond mere self-interest. Like any social system, lines are governed by an implicit set of norms that transcend the individual.
The universally acknowledged norm for standing in lines is first come first served; any deviation from this norm is, to most people unfair and can lead to violent queue rage. The time that people spend waiting in line in Guyana could affect production and hurt the economy.
Rain or shine, whether it is government agencies, private business or the banks, it is customary for people to wait in line for long periods of time. The passport office is a case in point where people from the rural areas of the country had to be in queue from three or four o’clock in the morning in order to be served. It was an exasperating experience.
Waiting in lines at public places can be long and difficult. It is painful, emotional, stressful, boring, and the nagging sensation that life is slipping away.
The last thing people want to do with their leisure time is squander it in lines, which will never be eliminated altogether. It began in ancient times and will continue forever.
Studies have shown that in the United States, the average American spends about 40 minutes a day waiting for transportation, roughly one and a half hours a day waiting for medical services, 15 hours annually waiting for customer service, 45 hours a year waiting in traffic and 24 hours annually waiting to be served in restaurants.
Taken together, this adds up to roughly 39 billion hours each year Americans spent waiting in line. Although statistics are not available for Guyana, it is estimated that the average Guyanese will spend 10 years standing in line in their lifetime due to poor systems and lack of customer service awareness.
In Guyana, people stand in line for almost everything, and until there is an alternative, the practice will continue indefinitely. For one reason, the systems are not fully computerized, they are archaic and the fact that Guyana is a cash-based society that relies on face-to-face interactions to conduct the simplest transactions has made it very difficult to reduce the long lines.
Another reason is poor customer service or the lack thereof. Improper training has made the process of doing any type of transactions in the country frustrating for the people, including businessmen.
But over the years, there have been some improvements in the business and banking sectors and at some government agencies. Recent changes and greater efficiency in some government agencies such as the passport office, Guyana Power and Light and the Guyana Revenue Authority have reduced the waiting time substantially.
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