What does this school mum actually think the rest of us are queuing for??

[aperolspritzbasicbitch]

In general I arrive at my child’s school for pick up about 5 minutes before the playground gate is opened. Not on purpose, it just happens that sometimes the walk is quicker than others. Sometimes I’m the first one there, sometimes there are a few people in front, and others join the queue behind me.

One particular mum will turn up bang on collection time (fine) and just walk past the queue of people patiently waiting and stand right in front of the gate.
As if we aren’t all there for the same reason.

It actually baffles me that she seems to think that her need to collect her child is any greater than the rest of us, but so far haven’t said anything because I can’t be arsed with any playground drama, although yesterday I was tempted to side step in front of her just as the gate was open.

is this not just straight up rude behaviour?

Why are you even queuing in this situation? This is so daft. What purpose does the queue serve? Without a queue you’d all still go in one at a time politely, and all be outside the doors in enough time for pick-up. I hope you take this as a learning experience in letting go.

I know, it’s so silly, what’s worse though is they are not just queuing but the op actually is taking issue because this woman isn’t queuing. It’s the most pointless queue ever. I suspect a couple of people did it, now they all do it like sheep, with no one using their brain to think how ridiculous it is, except this woman.

It’s the norm to queue when there’s something to queue for. There is no purpose for this queue so it’s fine to ‘queue jump’. It’s not ok to jump to queue at the tills in Tesco but if you’re literally only queuing to get through a gate to get to another holding area then anything goes.

I was once at a dancing school show. Seats weren’t allocated so obviously all of the parents wanted to be first in to get the good seats, and there was a nice orderly queue forming at the door.

Then a couple of women came along who wanted to bypass the queue.
”Excuse me!” said someone in line. “This is the queue here.”
One of the women glared at her and said “we’re forming a second queue.”

So there you have it. Let’s just make multiple queues.

At the school gates, it probably doesn’t matter as much because just because you’re at the front of the queue doesn’t mean your child will be out of school first. But I’d probably still be thinking “how rude!”

Why on earth are they queuing to go through the gates, it makes utterly no difference to when they get their kid.

op, stop queuing, go and join the smart woman who doesn’t. You don’t need to do something simply as other people do. And you certainly don’t need to join a pretend queue.

The dance show is completely different though isn’t it? The school queue serves no purpose at all. Why would it be rude for someone to jump a queue that does not give them any benefit and does not negatively affect anyone else?

Here’s a real life “fake queue” experience I had. I was going to the supermarket, where there are two very wide automatic doors letting people in and out. Really wide
doors! There were about three couples with trolleys who for some reason decided that, as people with trolleys were coming out, there wasn’t enough room for them to walk in so had formed a little queue to enter. Except, there was enough room and they’d just decided to wait off their own backs. Who knows why. So I, being on my own and without a trolley, nip through the middle where there is plenty of space because, I repeat, this is a REALLY WIDE entryway. And got audible tuts and someone saying in a shocked tone “she jumped the queue and just swanned in.”

Yes! Because queueing to get into the supermarket ISN’T A THING in 2025 in the middle of a normal afternoon. You personally can’t drive a trolley through a normal
sized gap but it doesn’t mean everyone else wanting to enter has to dutifully wait behind you!

I see it all the time at work where there are double swing doors. People form a queue on both sides and take turns going through one half when you can just walk past them and go through the other side of the door. Madness.

But it's off their own bats not backs and I will die both on that hill and the hill of not unnecessarily queueing.

Oh yes, it is bats, but I never write it down! We have the same double door thing at work where students pile up behind one side. Argh!

We have this problem but its actually at the classroom door and they let kids out in order of who is at the front. So it kinda matters!
They do it every single time.
About 20 of us and she goes to the front.
I would love to side step into her path but shes got a pram so would be a bit dangerous.
It really irritates me though, especially as she then blocks the doorway so other kids cant get out - yes she gets told Every day to move!
Others have prams / multiple kids and dont do it 🙄

If it makes no difference I would not worry. Some people like queues others don’t. Sure thing is she is likely to be a bad enemy. Let it go

EDIT: Sorry, I answered the completely wrong thread.

I bet the school staff look out at them all queuing and think wtf are they doing. 😂

as opposed to.. what? Climb the gates and barge in? 😂

Seriously? 😂 you just mill around, in no particular order waiting for fnem to open, and then you go through, there is no need to queue to go in, it makes no difference.

I agree this is a queue and she is rude to bypass everyone and go to the front. If you and others don’t like it just say something. If you don’t then you can’t really blame her for continuing to do it!
Also just leave later so that you arrive when the gate is already open and walk straight through it, that way you won’t even care.

YOU might mill around because you have nothing better to do, but people who do have a life and are at the start of the queue, as informal as it might look to you, are reasonable to walk in first and grab their child first, not be stuck being you milling around and taking the sights 😂

In this situation walking in first doesn’t mean you’ll get your child first. It depends when the individual teachers bring their class out and what order they choose to release the kids. First in doesn’t mean first to collect- the OP has already said this. That is why this queue is pointless.

But the point is being at the front of this milling about non-queue is that it doesn't get you to your child any earlier. It's people waiting for the gat to be opened so they can get onto the playground where they get their child in the order the children exit the building. The position of the parent makes no odds.

Witherspoons pubs, now school gates....

even if you have to wait on the actual playground, it's stil a queue and it does make perfect sense to respect it?

No one want the people at the front to keep "milling around" and not go in as soon as the gate open blocking everybody else?

If you are at the front - or in the middle - you go and get out of the way.

If you arrive late, you don't bypass the queue because you think you are more important.

If the queue really is pointless, why does Rude Rita have to push her way through anyway 😂

The madness of this is the queue 😆 What on earth are you queuing for?

There are loads of people here saying the opposite though. Why do you think you have the authority to say whether someone should queue or not?

I honestly don’t know how to answer questions like this - the queue is to go through the currently locked single width gate.