Checkout capers

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

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 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.

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!

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

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...........

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

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.

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".

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

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

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.

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

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'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 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.

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 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.

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?

And at the risk of being called racist grangura that is typical behaviour in France - don't get me started.

There are some really confrontational people on here. I wouldn't dream of challenging somebody who parked in a disabled space just because they didn't look disabled.

I also wouldn't be rude to somebody who jumped a queue in a supermarket although I might mutter a couple of oaths under my breath.

Live and Let Live. Life's too short.

People on here obviously have differing views as to whether this person was rude or not, so it seems it's not an open and shut case. I think it was perhaps a little thoughtless of her. However, I personally don't think your "lecture" was warranted, and certainly not the "in England we ..." remark. The implication is that all English people behave nicely and that only foreign people are impolite - which is obviously ridiculous.

Quite agree BlueBelle.

Not quite on topic but, my mother was once in the queue at the local butcher. It was a very busy Friday morning and the shop was packed. All of a sudden a woman in a headscarf ( remember those? ) pushed her way to the front and demanded to be served. When the lady who was next in the queue expressed her annoyance, the woman in the headscarf said, "I'm Lady Carlisle", the lady in the front of the queue replied, "well, I'm Mrs Brown, and I was first". ??

Well in this instance I wouldn't have said because if I was next in the queue I would already have my stuff on conveyor belt!
But I have said " there is a queue" in a firm voice. I dislike q jumpers ! But I often tell the person behind me to go ahead if they only have one item and I ve a lot. Politeness goes a long way.