LINE SWITCHING

I had just explained to a friend of mine that I had long ago given up on trying to switch supermarket lines when it seemed that my line was going particularly slow (which seems to be always). Whenever I would change, inevitably the line that I moved into would immediately slow down and the line that I had previously been in immediately would speed up so that all I did was work against myself.

About an hour later I was in the supermarket. The checkout line that I ended up in was held up. Looking over to the side, I saw that the next line over was down to its last customer. Switching from my stated policy, I quickly moved over to that line. I immediately engaged in some reverie or another. Finally, coming to my awareness, I looked over to see that there was absolutely nobody in the line where I had previously been waiting.