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?

Woaaaaahhh - steady on there, I dont think things have got THAT bad yet have they??

Tutting?
A hard stare?

Wind it in @aperolspritzbasicbitch and @pppppep !!

🤣Says the person who has been on the thread for the longest.

😂👌🏻

Yeah. Because I started it 😂

“I wouldn’t give a shiny shite if there was no queue,” says the person who has created a thread about the importance of respecting a queue and who is clearly not so much “baffled” by the woman’s behaviour as hugely judgemental, given the fact she has stated that she thinks this is because the woman feels the need to be “first,” and has refused to accept any alternative viewpoint.

Ah, idiot, bitchy…why do you feel the need to name call over such a non issue?
equally as baffled by how emotive you are finding this thread.

edited to add - bit too slow on the old edit yourself there.

Aww. Still “baffled”? 🤣

I think if you are going to be phenomenally judgemental of someone you have never deigned to speak to, but are happy to draw negative conclusions about, that you should own it, rather than feigning bafflement and not caring a shit.

Is that why you edited your comment calling me ‘bitchy’?
were you not ready to own it?

Oh no, I was perfectly ready to own it, which is precisely why I deleted it, so that my post would not be deleted in its entirety (like the last time I used the word on this thread), given that I had already called you out on your behaviour without having to use the word. I do very much believe it is bitchy for someone to pretend they are baffled when they clearly are not while they effectively talk about someone behind their back.

Strange, I’ve not seen a post deleted due to that word before. Mine are still up.

anyway, we’ve exhausted all conversation between us about this.

you can have your thoughts, I’ll have mine, and both our lives remain unchanged.

That is kind of the territory when she’s the OP

Walkaround · Today 19:31
🤣Says the person who has been on the thread for the longest.

@Walkaround 😂😂you should must feel a right eejit saying this about the OP 😂

No, I don’t. Or is this another one of those unspoken rules, like respecting a”you must notice and respect a pointless queue,” that an OP must continue to comment on a thread they started, regardless, but nobody else should?

I’m sorry but this is epically British!! It seems everyone is making a queue for no actual reason! I’m all for a queue at the supermarket or to get seats a school play, but queuing to simply enter the school when the order of the queue has no bearing on getting your child first, second, etc is weird. If she’s able to walk up to the front there is obviously plenty of space and standing in a single file line is unnecessary.

OP have you thought about just saying hello to that parent, not judgement, tutting or anything else. Or do you know other parents and could just stand near them and have a chat (but I suppose that might be pushing into the queue.) it’ll only be a minutes and take your mind off the queue issue.

I genuinely can't believe all the grief @aperolspritzbasicbitch is getting from people who don't believe that parents queue to get through the gates for pick up.

I have had experience of 4 different primary schools and we had to queue for all of them at pick up. There was always the odd prat who would just queue jump - usually a man - they didn't care about the passive aggressive stares.
On occasion I would queue jump but I did explain I was in a rush and everyone was fine about y

But you can't pick your child up any quicker by "jumping" this "queue". It's just a crowd of people waiting to get into a playground, and the children then come out in a random order.

Or so you think… They were probably talking behind your back about “the lady who thinks she is more important than everyone else and self-importantly pushes in.” 😉

@moderate nope, my current primary school is a fenced in queue that snakes around the building, it's about 1to2m wide. The school gate is a bottle neck. There could be about 5+ mins difference from getting in at the front of the queue to the back of the queue - as the people at the front of the queue are trying to exit through the same gate.
Plus the shite roads make a huge difference if you need a quick get away at the end of school

@Walkaround you're probably right. I only do this about twice a year and I always explain so I am hardly a serial queue jumper

I was using "you" in the colloquial sense of "one".

One cannot pick up one's child any quicker by by "jumping" this [i.e. the queue being discussed, not the one at your current primary school] "queue".

@moderate
Well at my other 3 primary schools there were also queues to get in the primary school for pick up, usually formed due to a school fence on one side and a road on the other.
Again a small school gate was the bottle neck for entry / exit, meaning the people at the back of the queue were several minutes later than the ones at the front.
It sounds like OP has to go through something similar. Everyone queues, because, let's face it, that's what the British are good at, apart from this 1 CF who @aperolspritzbasicbitch has described.

Some posters are insinuating that queues don't exist at primary school pick up. I am just pointing out that the 4 schools I have experience of, we all queued to get access to them.

It seems to me this thread is really about whether it is possible to know a person’s internal perception and motivation without ever speaking to them. Can we categorically say that this woman is being deliberately rude and self-important and that her motivation in walking to a space right in front of the gate is to ensure she is always the first person in the playground when we have never spoken to her? When there are unspoken societal expectations that do not exist in all societies, so they are clearly not automatic common sense and the only acceptable way to do things, how much should we impute bad intentions on the people who do not follow them? When it is no skin of our nose if they are not following unnecessary, unspoken rules, is it better either to give them the benefit of the doubt or talk to them, or to silently judge them unkindly?

My grankids schools dont have locked gates. Parents just gather in the playground 5 mins or so before school ends, so much easier.