To think you should not get in a checkout queue if you don't have have your shit together

[PookieDo]

Massive queue in a fairly small but very rammed shop today

Woman queuing at till in front of me gets to the front and cashier calls out 'next!'

Woman realises she doesn't have her husband or small child with her or the basket with the shopping in. So she calls out to them and neither react. Small child is hanging around In the doorway getting in everyone's way. So she gets this basket off child and starts to process this. Husband then takes another 2 mins to stroll over to wife with more shopping. Woman then sends small child over to something else to pick up, which they can't see due to the MASSIVE queue of people patiently waiting so more faffing ensues while she tries to point and give directions, the child can't see it so in the end someone nice in the queue hands it to the child.

Cashier patiently stands and waits while likely dying inside at the needless arseache this is causing

Is this a new thing, joining a queue before you've actually finished the shopping and then continuing to shop while standing at the till?

Grumpy rant over

[Sparklingbrook]

This is why I do serve yourself or Scan and Shop. No need to go anywhere near the cashiers.

[FreeNiki]

The checkout person should have told her to get out the queue.

[PookieDo]

No self serve otherwise I would have been on it like a shot!

I agree cashier should have asked her to get out the queue

[Sparklingbrook]

I am not sure how much cashiers are allowed to get involved in these sort of customer shenanigans TBH. Or whether some would have the confidence.

[Imaginosity]

In some cases people are just disorganised and not thinking of others. In other cases there might be a good reason why someone isn't behaving exactly as expected - like dementia or autism etc. The person might look completely 'normal' but might be having difficulties.

[WatchingFromTheWings]

YAsoNBU. I work in a shop and deal with this several times a shift. Annoying as hell. We wouldn't be allowed to tell them to fuck off get out of the queue and have to deal with the glares from the queue.

[Supersoaryflappypigeon]

Yanbu op. A man once recently shouted "Can't you see my basket?!" At me and my mum in a shop - he'd left it on the floor by the till as he was shopping and apparently we were unreasonable for not assuming it had been abandoned. Prick. I was annoyed with myself really because I just gave him a filthy look and waved him ahead of us. He was pretty intimidating.

[Nquartz]

That is almost as annoying as the person who is totally taken by surprise that they have to pay for their shopping & spend ages digging their purse out, finding the right cash/card out & finally pay.

[NormaSmuff]

that is me, except i am on my own, and remember things, and run madly round the shop getting them while the cashier pushes things through. i normally apologise and ask first.
i mainly do online now

[Muumi3]

Supersoaryflappypigeon, someone tried this with me in a coop. Came back shocked to find the enormous queue had all stepped over it

[userofthiswebsite]

Yes. Very ill-mannered.

[kmc1111]

IME whenever cashiers try and get these people to be decent and head to the back of the queue it just drags the whole thing on longer. The kind of person who thinks it's acceptable to join a queue when they're nowhere near ready to actually check out isn't a person afraid of confrontation.

Better to just get them out of the store as quickly as possible.

[Madwoman5]

Why did the cashier not ask her to "wait to one side until you get yourself organised whilst I serve some other customers."

[brittabot]

But surely if we don't go to cashiers they'll get rid of them and people will lose their jobs?

[CherryChasingDotMuncher]

YANBU!

Can we also have a special Room 101 type set up for people who use self-scan and have no idea how to use it. There was a bloke in Asda today, Sunday at 3pm so ridiculously busy, and the transaction went as follows

• Stupid Man plonks basket on self-scan counter. Peers at the screen. Hovers his finger over the screen for about 20 seconds before pressing 'start'.
  
• picks up first item. Turns it every which way to look for the bar code. When he finds it, he looks at the screen, looks around to see how others are doing it and aggressively 'swipes' it across the scanner it.
  
• Woman in the Machine tells Stupid Man to put his item in the bagging area. He keeps it near the scanny bit and huffs and puffs about not knowing how to scan the next thing. Assistant (who is elderly and uses a walking stick BTW, surely it's not good for her to be standing her whole shift?) pops over and tells him to put in bagging area.
  
• Stupid man takes out bananas. Checks every individual banana for sign of a barcode. Realises there isn't one. Slams bananas on counter and shouts to the assistant "here love how is this meant to work then?". So rude! She takes him through how to select it from the menu. Stupid Man moans about how complicated this is.
  
• proceeds to spend an eternity scanning 3 more things and nearly explodes when the Woman in Machine says "unexpected item in bagging area". Rants at poor assistant.
  
• time to pay. Stupid Man stares at screen before he has the epiphany that the 'pay now' button means he can pay for his shopping.
  
• WIM ask how he's like to pay. SM feels about in his pockets for ages for his wallet. He must be competing in the Slow Olympics in the Money Removing sport, as he stares inside it for a good long while before taking out a £20 note.
  
• looks at machine figuring out where to put he note. Assistant tells him. SM moans it should be more obvious, clearly "NOTES HERE" and a picture of a fiver with arrows isn't clear enough.
  
• transaction complete. Hurrah!
  

I was next in the queue. With a screamingly baby and a toddler crying because the wrapping on her fruitella packet was a tiny bit ripped and I wouldn't let her go to the other side of the shop for a new one. Massive queue at this point. Only 4 self serve tills, SM was occupying one, one was broken and on the other 2 there were people with enough shopping to keep the British Army fed for a good few years. Despite it being baskets only.

Lovely assistant was very apologetic. I joked that I think people should have a license to use those things with free tests in all supermarkets, but actually not sure it was really a joke it is annoying though as they're designed to be quick and easy and numpties just seem to clog them up so they have the opposite effect!

[CherryChasingDotMuncher]

Oh and to answer your question OP, a few months ago there was a woman in Aldi who actually 'bagsied' a till and held the spot while her husband did the shopping she said "he won't be long, this is our spot". I was heavily pregnant and not in the mood for waiting. She soon backed off when i started flinging my stuff on the belt and nearly hit her hand that was 'reserving' the space

[60sname]

Norma write a sodding list!

[jarhead123]

Some people fail to notice others around them :(

[1ofthesedays]

YANBU, these people manage to enrage an entire queue of people, I am sure they do it on purpose.

I am more sympathetic towards the self-serve novice, at least he's learning. We've all been there, some of us just faster than others

[NormaSmuff]

i told you i dont go 60sname.

[Sophiealice95]

This must have been in Wilkos I had the exact same thing this morning! YADNBU OP

[Flisspaps]

I am autistic and this would drive me fucking crackers imaginosoty. It's a social situation with clearly defined steps which everyone follows.

Don't use ASD or dementia as an excuse for this woman clearly piss-farting about.

The rules are clear - collect your shopping, join queue with completed shopping and your various companions, pay.

[NormaSmuff]

Or just chill about it, not everyone is well organised