Checkout capers

Well Bluebelle it depends how you view things. Don't you think it would have been a courtesy for the person behind to "nudge" the person in front?

I have had a queue jumping moment. We were in USA and had been stopped by customs. There was a 3 hour gap between our flights and we arrived at the terminal for our second flight with minutes to spare (minus one suitcase and after a few strongly worded phone calls from the friend we were visiting to customs). The queue was horrendous so I just walked to the front and said to the checkin girl, I will miss my plane if I queue, so she let us through. I ignored the mutterings from the queue. The flight was then delayed by 2 hours and overbooked. Guess who they tried to throw off as they were last to checkin? I stood up and said "I have been travelling for 24 hours and I am not getting off" I won and someone else took $200 to take the next flight. I wasn't offered any money.

With you all the way Jaxie. Had an 'altercation' yesterday in France as I went to the supermarket. My knee (replaced late Spring) was really giving me jip - and there were no parking spaces near the entrance- so drove until I found a space quite a long way away and limped due the entrance- when a chap in his 50s, looking like butter wouldn't melt- rushed in and parked in the disabled bay next to the entrance. As I was picking up the trolley- it was clear there was absolutely nothing wrong with him so I said 'bravo for taking a disabled place- I can hardly walk today but I wouldn't dream of taking a disabled space' he stared and said 'what's your problem! mind your own business' and walked off (fast ...).

ah well ... Must print some of those 'if you take my place, please also take my disability' ...

I hate queuing at the best of times (don't we all) I hear you say.

I get terribly impatient if I have to wait for ages, it's got worse the older I have got.

But, if someone deliberately barges in front of me , or won't wait their turn then I will always say "Excuse" me, and leave it at that. At least they are made aware of their actions.

I'm sure most of us were brought up like that, chrissyh!

In the situation described in the OP, though, people just aren't going to wait for someone at the front of the first queue to make their way to the newly-opened till.

It's not like a nice, orderly line in the Post Office where that may well happen.

I'm with you Jaxie. I can honestly say if I'm in a queue and a new till is opened I say to whoever is in front of me 'you were first'. Just the way I was brought up I suppose.

I can be a bit Peggy Mount when the need arises, but I don't think anyone's pushed in on this occasion.

I was once near the front of a massive M & S queue when I spotted a man bypassing it completely and sidling in towards one of the tills. I pointed out in my best Peggy voice that there was a queue, and his answer was that no one else seemed to be bothered. And true enough, all my fellow shoppers were suddenly busy looking at the floor or checking their trolleys. Then once he'd moved to the till, everyone around me started tutting and saying what a cheek he had

This thread has made me smile. I shop in Waitrose and Lidl so please don't judge me! This morning in Lidl there was only one till open and about 2 or 3 people in front of me. As I was chatting to the lady in front of me, I missed the tannoy announcement that another till was opening and a lady with a trolley-full moved across just as the cashier appeared. I wished I had been quicker off the mark, but then realised that I wasn't in a rush for any reason and a minute or two of extra queuing did't matter that much. I do sympathise with Jaxie though as it is the principle of the matter. It's annoying when a new till opens when you've just unloaded your purchases onto the conveyer belt.

But if we are answering the original poster Tigger there was NO pushing in, the person behind moved to another till which is perfectly normal behaviour it was only noticed by Jaxie as she was going to move into the same new position and missed out. That's not bad or rude behaviour

Ha ha. Very Waitrose. You sound very 'entitled'. Actually, I think it was your comment that was truly offensive.

Actually I don't think life is too short to worry about such things because it's about the way we treat one another. How can we complain about values and principles if we ignore what is happening. If you don't want a confrontation then don't challenge the pusher in, but I do every time. You don't have to be impolite. As a young child with a full time working mother I was always called upon to help with the shopping. Was taught to queue and was told, there's no need to be rude if someone pushes in just say "excuse me but I think I was next".

I live in a relatively small community in the northwest of Scotland. We're all very considerate of each other in the local supermarket and can easily spot the tourists from places where sharp elbows are needed by their pushiness and impatience. People coming to live here for any length of time gradually slow down and become more attuned to the needs of other people.

Sorry , I am the ditherer ! I forget my pin , have to hunt for my phone to get a reminder , drop it , drop my card . Now I am red faced short of breath and the checkout girl phones for another till to open !!I feel like abandoning the shopping ............. then I wake up in a sweat

Try not to worry about things like this, as it doesn't help the situation or me. Far more important things to get excited about - Brexit, the NHS, the plight of Refugees, various conflicts round the world, Child Poverty, Trump...........

The strong-looking middle-aged man just behind me was carrying one item so I offered him the opportunity of going in front of me. As he moved past me, i asked if he would also be able to lift some potatoes out of my trolley and put them on to the belt. ' No , I couldn't' he said.
The woman on the till tutted loudly and later apologised for him to me

I was in Aldi recently to buy one item. As usual all the tills were busy. I knew my bus was due( it stops right outside Aldi) Iasked a woman just unloading a huge trolley full if she would mind my going in front of her with my one item & she replied" yes I would mind!" Fortunately someone else called me over in front of her. I think Iwas on the bus before the woman had paid!

I was in Poundland and accidently jumped the queue. A man gave me quite a dressing down. I was mortified and wished the ground would swallow me up.

My advice? If ever you see me in a queue, don't join it! It's always the slowest and someone ahead has one or all of the following: an item without a bar code/hadn't realised that there was a 3 for 2 offer/packed everything and then decided to hunt in their bag for their purse. Then any/all of those things could happen to me!

I would have stayed where I was if I was next to be served, often when they open a new till you unload your trolley & Cashier is still "faffing around". I will not tolerate any-one pushing in though & would loudly say "excuse me but the queue starts some-where behind me" - usually works as everybody looks at them !!

The one thing that used to annoy me though was when I was working I often went into M & S Foodhall at Lunchtime, very often when I was queuing a "little old lady" (not the same one every time!) would say "excuse me but can I go in front of you I've only got one item?" I used to politely refuse stating I was on my Lunch Break & would be late back to work !!!

Now I'm retired I try to avoid Lunch time shopping after all I've got all day

I was in a cafe the other day and ordered a snack from the lady behind the counter..'please order your drink further down' she said. As I moved down two women pushed in front , ordered their food and drinks in front of me . I was just amazed...however the lady behind the counter was cross , she apologised and said she couldn't really say anything but she did give me a loyalty card full of stamps, so free coffee next time !

Jaxie I wasn't saying you were personally rude what I said was you were doing exactly the same as the person you were complaining about, trying to move to a better position ... so if she was rude and bad mannered, weren't you doing just the same as her ..... I don't understand if you were as you said, next in the queue why did you go to move in the first place

I stand by my first reaction it's normal practice and on that occasion you lost the 'battle' and are annoyed by it bigger things to get worked up about I m sure it happens in every queue every day I seem to lose out in every queue I ever go in I go to the smallest one that gets stuck, I go to the fast moving one and the assistant needs to change the till roll, one before me

I don't see what Paris or Prague have got to do with it at all , there are rude people and kind people in ALL countries

TBH Jaxie, if shopping is an uncomfortable & painful experience for you, why don't you consider home delivery? No queues, no "off the shelf into the trolley; out of the trolley on to the checkout belt, into the bags back into the trolley , into the car, out of the car into the house then finally unpack" . Just a friendly person carrying your shopping into your home for you to unpack at your leisure. Makes sense to me - I hate queuing!

I thought that was the point of opening a new till. To relieve the pressure on existing tills.... That surely involves some people in existing queues changing to the new till. What's the problem?

Bus queues are non existent now ,I politely asked a group of school children to allow a very elderly woman get on the bus first the other day as they were pushing and shoving to get on,and was given a mouthful by one of them . Little did they know that I know the school deputy head ,whom I phoned that evening . I understand a lecture was given to the whole school about politeness. I have to say that I find I am usually offered a seat on a full bus or tube by one of these "awful" migrants that people want to send home .

There's nowt you can do about that unless you want a fight on your hands. Bad manners is bad manners but I do believe as you have done in voicing my objection. I once had a very well muscled gentleman in a big swanky car push ahead of me on a garage forecourt and when I said "It's a pity your manners don't match your bank balance" he got rather upset but I made the point without being clobbered.