To think they should have kept serving me?

Doesn't matter if she was picking up 100 parcels, if the shop offers parcel collection then a person should be able to collect their parcels at a time that suits them otherwise the shop should make it clear "collections between these hours only"

I've been stuck behind people paying with coins/vouchers and it takes forever to get served but they were there first so they get to take as long as necessary.

I use my local vape shop as a collection point because that's the service they offer and I know that I can collect my parcel at a time that suits me rather than risk it being sent back to the delivery place which could be miles away and open at awkward times.

If a service is offered is should be given and seen right to the end instead of a half arsed mish mash of a job. I wouldn't start taking someone's order at work then decide halfway through to stop and serve someone else because they were spending more money.

Likewise if you know that the shop you are going to offers a parcel collection service you need to realise there is a chance you might get stuck behind someone collecting a zillion parcels and if that's a problem then go elsewhere but it doesn't mean you won't have to wait for a totally different reason.

OP, you're not a faffer by picking up 4 parcels. But for all that is holy tell everyone whether you got all your parcels!!!

This is down to poor communication from the staff. If the staff would have said something along the lines of "This might take some time to find, let me just serve these two customers that are just buying a mars bar and tea bags, and I'll have a good hunt out the back" I reckon you'd be ok with it.

@cinnamongirl123 I just find it baffling that so many people would be happy to step aside and basically be ignored while the staff serve other people - when the OP was there first and already being served.
I used to work in retail so I have experience from the other side of the counter.
I preferred to focus on the customer I was serving. To me that's the best customer service.
I used to get other customers constantly leaning over the counter saying stuff like "where do you keep the pritt stick?" or "how much are those kettles over there".
I'd say "I can tell you but you need to wait your turn because I am serving THIS customer at the moment".
It was worse if I was on the sales floor...."can I just quickly ask....." as I am literally in the middle of a sentence with a customer already.
No. Wait. Your. Turn.
The OP was halfway through her transaction.
Why should she have to stand aside?

@Needmorelego yes, annoying things happening at shops is very normal!

You seem weirdly invested in this thread

Did you get your 4 parcels @itsotoy ?

YABU. They're running a business and need to prioritise paying customers.

At our local collection points they don’t even look themselves; they just point you to massive boxes full of parcels and get you to rummage. You could steal anything if so inclined.

It's difficult not to choose somewhere inefficient as a pick up point, as the places are dictated by the carrier, not you - and I always choose the nearest (my local sub-post-office or the newsagent down the road, whichever is offered by the carrier).
I get more annoyed by shop assistants continuing to chat on their mobiles whilst they serve me than by being asked to wait - indeed, if a queue had formed behing me I'd suggest I wait (and local sub-post-office does this quite politely). Also, I am unnerved by check-out people who are obviously having conversations with other workers about staffing/need for change/whatever when they are scanning my goods. Where is the chat and greeting for an old person whose visit to the local supermarket may be the only human contact they experience in a week?

Because, 10 pages in to the thread, you still haven't told us if you got all 4 parcels in the end or not...

People who are saying they’d be happy for their service to be suspended indefinitely are talking 💩

Bollocks it is!

Yeah, that’s not very nice of them. I’m not very tall so that would annoy me.

I guess I’m going by local shop, which can get busy but you never wait more than a few minutes to be served even at busy times.

The staff seem to judge it quite well, getting my parcel for me between customers buying things.

@nomas as I said upthread my local corner shop - which offers all sorts of services - does have a constant flow of customers. It's never quiet in there 😂
I said at the beginning of the thread they often serve more than one person at a time. Often literally over my head as I am only 5ft. I hate that. They often say "next please" before you've even paid.
I'm always thinking "ffs just do one at a time".

I already said that if it was someone else waiting for a parcel, then I would expect to be served first.

I really can't believe that you'd be happy to be halfway through your transaction and then told "sorry but we are going to stop serving you and make you stand here for an hour".

Again, it’s unlikely to be an hour. It’s a small shop, not a supermarket, and unlikely to be a constant flow of customers.

And yes, if they gave me one of my parcels, and wanted to serve someone buying something behind me, I would be totally fine with that.

Yes? Your point? We are talking about the person serving. We still don’t even know if they got all 4 parcels in the end, don’t think we will find out what the other staff member was actually doing 🤦🏻‍♀️

@nomas but seriously - how long would you be happy to stand there and wait?
What if it's a constant flow of customers that keep coming and coming.
I really can't believe that you'd be happy to be halfway through your transaction and then told "sorry but we are going to stop serving you and make you stand here for an hour".
What if those in the queue were also there for parcels? Or stuff that I imagine the shop makes little money on (topping up their gas card or whatever)?
The OP was halfway through her transaction. The staff should have finished serving her.
She's just as important as everyone else in that shop.

The 4 parcels may be from 4 different companies / delivery services.

They’re getting pennies per parcel, they’re not going to sit there matching names on all the parcels and stacking them on shelves in alphabetical order.

You want DHL service, pay for DHL service.

You seem oblivious to the fact that I never said the others were paying customers and I’m not. I said ‘I always wait for the owner to serve customers buying goods.’, not ‘I always wait for the owner to serve paying customers’.

So yes, I do know I’m a paying customer, but I also know they get pennies from my custom so I’m not going to force them to serve me first and look for 4 parcels.

hope you never get your parcels

what a ridiculous post

Oh of course she did, she just wants to share the outrage that she was made to wait for them to serve a couple of actual
paying customers before she got her four parcels.

The nerve of those minimum wage shop workers who couldn't IMMEDIATELY find her multiple parcels and thought it better to serve customers in a queue and then return to her….How dare they!

But this wasn't normal.
She was being served but then they decided to not finish serving her.
They confirmed on paperwork she had received 4 parcels. She hadn't. They gave her 1.
They had not finished the transaction.
You think that's a normal way to be treated in a shop?

This thread is unreal. OP do you find all normal interactions in life very stressful?

Sometimes it’s the company who says they’re delivering there. Why shouldn’t she pick up 4 at once. The shop should be able to manage that , if they can’t they shouldn’t be a delivery hub or they should get more staff and be more efficient.
Would it kill people to queue ?

@itsotoy please put us out of our misery and tell us you did get all 4 !!!
No one will sleep tonight if we don't know.
😴

Do we not know yet? Ffs.

I'm assuming that the OP did and just wants to vent.