the jet effect

Picture this.

It’s a nice warm day, and you spend it walking around the mall. Suddenly, hunger gets to you. So you decide to stop by the nearest fast food store. You happily enter the store as you notice that you’re the only one in line. You order your food and give the cute cashier a dainty smile as she hands you your change and receipt. You take your tray away and find a nice cozy spot where you could eat your meal in peace. In the middle of your transitory avarice with your two-piece chicken, you have the need for extra rice. You raise your head up to scout the cashier, only to find that the line to the order counter had grown almost beyond the store’s entrance!

Then what do you do?

It is often a puzzle to an inquisitive mind like mine when phenomenon like the above described happen. I myself have been in the situation several times. In fact, I have encountered such dilemma that I started wondering what to call such an event. Hungry for something to name it with (and to perhaps douse a little the flame of my eagerness and curiosity) I asked my friends if they know, in any language, what such event is called. From the Ilocanos of the north, to the Bisayas of the Central Philippines, to the people of Sulu, no one can provide the answer. So, I felt it is my moral and even divine responsibility to christen such event with a name.

In such case, what I would have done is to just sit back, return to devouring my chicken, wear a grin on my face and say, “it’s the Jet effect”.