The other day I dropped in at the White Hen Pantry for a cup of coffee. It was around the lunch hour, and the line at the cashier counter was deep.

The coffee was $1.25, and having the exact change, I cut to the front of the line, deposited money on the counter and left.

A gentleman in line gave me a blistering look, and to his fellow waiters a “do you believe this guy?” roving glance.

I felt lucky to have escaped without verbal or physical abuse.

I had rationalized that placing the exact change on the counter would not have had an impact on the others’ waiting time.

I don’t believe it did, but the gentleman’s reaction made me realize I had done something that I have always found in others to be rude and selfish — cutting in line.

We have long known that the notion of waiting one’s turn had been losing adherents.

You are driving on Interstate 290, the traffic is crawling, and you realize the lane to your right merges with the one you are in, so you resist the urge to jump in the right lane and barrel past everyone else, then at the last, minute, force someone to let you back in when the lane finally merges.

Not everyone is as patient as you, however, and it sometimes makes you wonder who the idiot is, when you sit there helplessly watching someone else do what you wouldn’t.

It is the holiday season, you are at the mall trying to get a parking space, you observed someone leaving, and so you put on your turn signal and wait for the person to vacate the parking spot. But suddenly a driver coming from the opposite direction takes the spot, ignoring you and your blinker.

You are at the fair. You and your child are waiting in a long line to get on one of the rides. Suddenly another parent and child walk right by and cut in front of you.

Yes, line-cutters have always boiled my blood and that of many of you, I am sure.

What you might find interesting, however, is the way in which we deal with line-cutters.

Apparently, I was in little danger of being physically and even verbally assaulted for my antics at the White Hen Pantry.

According to research on the issue, line jumping is discouraged by a number of constraints, but if social pressure fails, physical force is seldom used to eject the intruder.

In addition, it appears we will allow line cutting for good reasons.

Felix Oberholzer-Gee of Harvard Business School, for example, conducted a study in which he offered cash payments for being allowed to cut in front of people in queue at an airport.

The more money he offered, the more likely that people would allow someone to cut ahead of them.

Interestingly, however, most of those who allowed the cut would not accept the money.

This behavior, according to Mr. Oberholzer-Gee, “is motivated by a norm that says you should help others when they are in need, but you must not exploit this situation.”

An article, “Response to Intrusion into Waiting Lines,” which appeared in the “Journal of Personality of Social Psychology,” indicates that line jumpers are objected to 54 percent of the time, with the person directly behind the intruder objecting the most frequently.

That makes sense, but what you might not know is that the people directly behind the “intruder are socially regarded as more responsible for that spot and that it is their duty to object to those who jump directly ahead of them.”

What about cutting in traffic?

Well, in Mukilteo, Washington, where riding a ferry across the Puget Sound creates long waiting lines for cars, line jumpers are being put on notice.

The Washington Legislature is working on a bill that would make cutting in line to catch a ferry illegal. The penalty would be at least a $101 fine and a trip to the end of the queue. (Hint: budget-strapped Massachusetts.)

As for me, I won’t jump the line at the pantry anymore, but I might try bribing my way to the front.

Contact Clive McFarlane by e-mail at cmcfarlane@ telegram.com