Too busy? Too lazy? You need the queue master

Known to people on the social media as @motorcyrubjang (a literal translation of his day job), Jon is a regular blogger on OK Nation and has been a guest on many TV shows. The foreign media have even interviewed him. 

In the wee hours of the morning, many hours before he commences his daily chauffeur duties, Jon queues for people who are having passports issued. It became an obvious source of income when the months-long anti-government protests in and around Immigration offices caused a huge backlog of passport requests. The lines at the Passport Division office at Central Bangna formed at 4am. 

So Jon started getting requests to do the queuing on other people’s behalf. He’d grab and hold a place in line and they’d take over in time to pick up the passport in person, as required by law. Through word of mouth and the big mouth of Twitter, Jon’s service expanded. He charges Bt1,200, more if a customer wants to be in the first queue of the day, Jon tells Thai Rath Online. 

Even when the protests ended (something to do with a coup, we hear), demand for passport-fetching continued. And he’s still queuing up at Central Bangna, though he’s mustered a reliable team to share the workload. He personally can handle six customers a day and calls in the troops if there are more requests. 

At Jon’s prices, you might think it’s easy money, but it’s clear from his tweets that this is tiring work that requires steely discipline. He often tweets his photo when he’s on the job. “Starting work, queuing at Central,” he’ll report around midnight. His customer will come and replace him at 5.45am. At 6 they open the gate to let applicants go up to the fifth floor. 

For Jon it’s then time to join the motorcycle-taxi queue, but he grabs a nap at 9am. 

You’re probably wondering how you too can become a passport-queue technician. Jon says you’ll need a mat and a pillow – and mosquito repellent. “One thing I don’t need is a bottle of water, because there’s no toilet,” he warns. If Jon sounds like a pro, it’s because he gained valuable experience in the surrogate line-up trade by queuing up for hot concert tickets and in-demand condominium units. 

And what makes him really popular online is that he shares tips. While waiting to grab tickets recently for the show by British boy band One Direction, he posted advice for anyone else heading that way: “Use the entrance opposite Horwang School and go directly to the third floor of the car park.” No wonder he has almost 18,000 followers on Twitter and loads of readers following his blog. If you need a passport and help getting it, that’s where you’ll find him. His Twitter profile has his mobile number. The fee varies, but you can count on being the first in line if that’s what you want.