So I went to a Hungry Jack’s (known elsewhere in the world as Burger King), in the middle of the night with friends, some time last week. This is how it looked like:
Yep, this is how it looked like at 11.10 p.m. We went there on impulse – I said I wanted to eat something grilled (because I haven’t had dinner), and she wanted some Storm ice-cream.
Being one of the few cheaper 24-hour places (Whopper Jr. stunner deal for only $4.95), I didn’t want to go elsewhere more expensive. I did a rough headcount, and there were about 70 people in line (7 counters, with roughly 10 – 15 customers per line). And I was right at the end.
My inner miser refuse to go over to the nearest pub. Where else can you get a burger, a drink, fries and an ice cream for $4.95? Also, my inner economist recognized this as a random walk. So what do you do when faced with random walks? You diversify your portfolio – to hedge your risk, so to speak.
I got her to line up in what she thought was the shortest line, and I lined up in what I thought was the shortest line. And waited. And we got food.
I was standing in an apparently fast line (about 8 people ahead of my friend), and then they opened the 8th counter, and her line split into 2, and she was ahead. So I skipped into her line and we both ordered food amidst loud complaints. Ah. Random Walk.
Nerdy details
- Total wait time: 38 minutes
- Wait time if we queued together in my line: 45-48 minutes
- Optimal number of hedged queues: 3 people queueing in 3 different lines (out of 7)
- The above optimal portfolio argument was made with rough guesses – i.e. half the market portfolio, and not made with any calculations (some people argue that 30 portfolio diversification is optimal enough)
I bet if I gave you a stone and a grain of sand, you’d come up with some economist view of it.
Leaving me not choice other than to flick the grain of sand into your eye, and when you’re distracted, whack you over the head with the stone.
if you gave me a stone and a grain of sand, I will either:
a) give you a physics lesson, or,
b) philosophize about time, about indefiniteness, about the concept of eternity/forever, about impermanence, or,
c) show you the wonders of silicon, or
d) ponder upon the frailities of the human condition, or,
e) finally wonder about the concept of value!
What about if I gave you a Bluray Disc?
I’ll trade you something less valuable – a HD DVD player.
hmmm…funny the ppl didn’t whack you then
*no, not ‘not’. My God.
I know.
I learnt something new.
Lesson 1:
Hungry Jack’s is Burger King!
Lesson 2:
Better doesn’t mean healthier! Chewxy! EAT PROPERLY!!!!!
Aoshi:
Lesson 1 – correct
Lesson 2 – heh.. it’s a once-in-a-while random out-of-the-spur thing
I don’t get it. Like… statistics for your wait at a fast food restaurant? Come on, bring out the quality posts!
~hashie
Not statistics.. just a random observation of random walk
haha funny
[...] I ran the script a couple of times, and found that (assuming that it’s normally distributed), the Random Walk shopper is pareto optimal even to the Even Smarter shopper, at a 99.9% significance. And I think you’ll find these results to be true in real life too, especially when it comes to ordering food at a fast food place. In fact I blogged about this yonks ago – about when I went to Hungry Jack’s in the middle of the night. [...]
Howdy! Excellent thought, but could this genuinely function?