It can be one of the most frustrating things in life – waiting in line at the supermarket.
在超市排隊結賬確是一件很讓人懊惱崩潰的事兒。

But new research shows that a few simple 'life hacks' can make the process much quicker and pain-free than you may think.
但新調查研究表明，幾個簡單的生活小技巧可幫助我們加快結賬排隊速度，且并沒有我們想象中那么復雜麻煩。

Choosing to be served by female cashiers, standing in queues that feed into several tills and spying on other shoppers' grocery shop are just some of the ways to avoid the dreaded queues.
選女收銀員結賬的，排有若干個收款臺的隊伍，“偷瞄”其他顧客所買的雜貨都能讓我們避免那令人抓狂的長隊。

And opting for checkouts on the left or queuing behind shoppers with a trolley could also help cut down the amount of time waiting in line.
此外，選擇左手邊結賬口或排在推著購物車的顧客后面也能減少隊伍等待時間。

The 'life hacks' have emerged after researchers found that the average Briton spends between one and six months of their life standing in line at the shops.
生活小妙招的出現源于研究人員發現英國人一生平均要花費一到六個月時間在商店排隊等候。

Desmos, a US organisation that promotes maths, technology and data, has spent months analysing supermarket data and has revealed the best ways to beat the queues.
一家專業研究數字、技術和數據的美國機構Desmos花費了數個月時間對超市數據進行了分析，并提出了不用長時間排隊等候的最佳方式。

Dan Meyer, a former maths teacher turned chief academic officer at Desmos, said it takes a baseline of 41 seconds for each customer to pass through a till, with an additional three seconds added on per item they are purchasing.
達恩?邁爾表示每名顧客通過收銀臺平均要用41秒，購買的物品每件再額外增加3秒。達恩?邁爾之前為一名數學老師，后成為Desmos首席學術官。

'Every person requires a fixed amount of time to say hello, pay, say goodbye and clear out of the lane,' he told the New York Times.
他對《紐約時報》表示：“每個人說你好、支付多少錢、再見以及結完賬騰出空位的時間都是固定不變的。”

He said the data showed that standing in line with numerous customers who are buying fewer items – such as basket shoppers at the '10 items or less' checkout – can be a bad choice. Instead, he says it actually works out quicker to stand behind one person with a trolley full of items, as the face-to-face interaction time is quicker than having to wait for the cashier to greet numerous shoppers.
他說，數據顯示排在很多購物少的顧客后面——比如在“10件或少于10件”結賬口使用購物籃的顧客，會是很糟糕的決定。相反，站在一個購物車滿滿當當的顧客后面速度會更快，因為和等待收銀員一個個問候顧客相比，面對面交流時間減少能夠加快排隊速度。

Meanwhile, Robert Samuel, founder of the New York-based Same Ole Line Dudes – a service that stands in line on behalf of customers - said most people are right-handed and therefore tend to queue on the right-hand side. He advises customers to queue on the left, and said he opts for female cashiers.
同時，紐約Same Ole Line Dudes公司（一家專門代客排隊的服務機構）創始人羅伯特?塞繆爾稱大多數人是右撇子，故多傾向于站在右邊隊伍排隊。他建議顧客站在左邊，還說他會選擇女性收銀員。

'This may seem sexist, but I prefer female cashiers. In my experience they seem to be the most expedient at register transactions and processing,' he told the newspaper.
他還告訴《紐約時報》：“雖然這似乎有點性別歧視，但我確實更傾向于選女收銀員。根據我的親身體驗，女收銀員在結賬交易處理上更快捷利索。”

His other advice includes always facing bar codes toward the cashier, removing the hangers of clothes before they are scanned and splitting the items between yourself and a friend to get through the tills quicker.
他還提出了一些其它建議，比如將商品條形碼正對收銀員，在收銀員掃碼前把衣服上的衣架摘去，將自己和朋友買的東西分開來，這些都能加快結賬速度。

Around three-quarters said seeing staff not serving customers when there was clearly a long queue was their top gripe.
約四分之三的人稱最讓他們崩潰的是明明大家排了很長的隊伍，但收銀員卻不給顧客結賬。

This was followed by shoppers who skip the queue (72 percent), queues without a clear system (66 percent), people who slow a queue down (46 percent) and staff not apologizing for a long queue.
其次是插隊現象（72%的人受不了），結賬隊伍混亂不清（66%的人受不了），某些人降低排隊速度（46%的人受不了）以及大家長時間排隊工作人員卻不主動道歉。

英文來源：每日郵報
翻譯：張金瑤
編審：yaning