First-come, first-served (
FCFS) – sometimes
first-in, first-served and
first-come, first choice – is a service
policy whereby the requests of
customers or
clients are attended to in the order that they arrived, without other
biases or preferences. Those who wait for the event or service in line may stand in a
queue. The policy can be employed when processing
sales orders, in determining
restaurant seating, on a
taxi stand, etc. In Western society it is the standard policy for the processing of most queues in which people wait for a service that was not prearranged or pre-planned.