How to organise the queue at your front desk

A noisy waiting room costs more than it looks: your assistant answers the same question all day, people lose their turn, and the wait becomes the thing your business is remembered for. Almost always the problem is not the number of chairs — it is that nobody knows where they stand.

1. Give a number, not a place in somebody's memory

While the order exists only in the head of the person at the desk, every new arrival reopens the argument. A number handed over at the door turns a negotiation into a fact: the visitor knows they are 42, and they can see it.

2. Show the number being called

One screen — a television plugged into the front-desk PC is enough — removes the question "whose turn is it?". Looking replaces asking, and the room settles within days.

3. Decide the late rule before it happens

Someone steps out to take a call and misses their turn: with no rule, the whole queue stops. Mark them late and let the line move on, then pick them up a few places back when they return. The rule is decided once, not improvised each time.

4. Separate arrival order from priority

A child, an elderly person or an emergency goes first — that is normal and everyone accepts it, provided it is visible and consistent. A priority applied case by case looks like favouritism.

5. Measure one thing: the wait

If you do not know how long people actually wait, you cannot know whether anything improved. One number a day is enough to start.

TikiPro does these five things on a single computer, with no internet and no monthly subscription. A month's trial is usually enough to hear the difference in the room.