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One of the first things you read about in an Operations textbook is about the efficiency of the bucket brigade. More on bucket brigades here. Its a powerful concept that can be counter-intuitive: a way to maximize both throughput and utilization of any system. I've liked my Subway sandwiches since I had my first one six-ish years ago, but one of the things I noticed when I went to Subway back then during lunch hour was how the person making my sandwich had to play Twister with the other people working behind the counter as I pointed at the various condiments I wanted. Chipotle was the first restaurant where I noticed that the person simply handed off the sandwich to person standing next to him/her when they came to the same spot behind the counter. Potbelly's  ups the efficiency factor by putting a conveyor belt in the mix. The bucket brigade seems operations du jour now:  even the mom-and-pop sandwich shop around where I live seems to have this down. :)

Most airlines (unlike Southwest / Jetblue ?) have assigned seating for their passengers. I travelled United when this I flew to Chicago (more on this later maybe),and something puzzled me. Maybe someone who reads this can help. Passengers along with their seat numbers are assigned a seat area (1-4) and seating areas are boarded in ascending order. Now, why people rush for their seats when they have assigned seating (assuming the baggage storage space isn't a big consideration) is another human psychology conundrum, but anyway... People do rush: they stand in line for the longest time, and when their seating area is announced ( "Section 1 may board now" ) they rush towards the gate, knocking children and old people on the way, knowing well they may have to wait again for quite a while, as people in front of them take their seats. Now, airlines make a big deal of optimizing their gate turnaround time . So why on earth would they have people board in an order that is bound ...