This is 99% invisible.

I'm Roman Mars.

So tell me why this is Nareepi.

Look man, in the first story, we talked to Dr. Keeh.

Okay, in the first story, we talked to Dr. Keeh at MIT.

And he told me how America used to be all about the serpentine line,

the first come first serve cue.

This is where one line serves all the available registers,

like the way the airline ticket counter used to be, or Wendy's.

But when I asked him if the priority cue might be changing

the American experience of waiting in line,

he said that I was on to something.

A priority line is where you pay to get to the front of the line,

where you pay to get to an exclusive, shorter, faster moving line.

All right, I think that's good, right?

That is Benjamin Walker.

To hear all about cue theory and design,

check out episode number 49 of 99% invisible.

Benjamin Walker is cue obsessed.

He also did a half hour radio documentary on priority cues

for the BBC.

I took a trip across the country, and I visited highways,

...