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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

About people trying to push in the supermarket Q

41 replies

ModreB · 05/11/2011 18:51

Went to do the shopping today, and it was crazy busy. Fought my way all round the supermarket, and then stood in the Q behind 2 other people, all of us with full trollies.

An elderly(ish) couple, then came and stood behind me. Both of them stunk to high heaven of BO and wee. Both were also filthy dirty, clothes as well as faces, black fingernails etc. They also stunk of beer. Hey ho, whatever. You live your life they way you want to.

But, then as I am stood there (bearing in mind I was not next in the Q) the bloke said to me, "can we go in front of you, we only have a few things." Pointed down into the basket, 2 packs of beer, and a bottle of whisky.

I replied "No, there is a 10 items or less till at the end, or there are about 10 self serve tills next to that." He said "No, I don't want to go down there, I want to use this till. Can I go in front of you"

I said again "No, if you only have a few things then there is a till for that." then turned my back.

Cue much muttering - I caught "Evil bitch" and "Fucking twat" amongst others but ignored them. They eventually moved off and, you guessed it used the 10 or less till. Then came back and stood at the end of the q where I was, still waiting, and continued to point and swear. I just ignored them, did the packing and walked out.

So, AIBU to say, if you have a few items then use the till for a few items, don't expect me to let you q jump in front when I have been waiting for ages and then abuse me when I object to you Q jumping.

OP posts:

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 05/11/2011 20:04

Their hygiene is really irrelevant, OP, and nasty of you to point it out. It didn't need saying.

If I'm in a supermarket and next in line I tend to look at what the person behind me has and if it's a couple of items and I have a lot, I always let them in front, they don't even have to ask.

YABU, not because of the queueing but because your spite.

Esta3GG · 05/11/2011 20:32

Esta, I get round that... I put a basket into a trolley.

I had SqueakyToy but he was one of those uniquely irrational supermarket gobshites - he started thumping the conveyor belt and bellowing about "abuse of the system".

Theala · 05/11/2011 20:55

A little old lady pushed in front of me in the supermarket queue once because I was in the "10 items or less queue" and had 11 items. She counted, she told me. She was totally right, though, I did have 11 items. Mea maxima culpa.

However, in the same supermarket, I once realised that I had left my bank card at home by accident, and the cash i had on me didn't cover the stuff that I had in my basket, so I started putting some of it back. The little old man behind me gathered up all the stuff I had put back and wanted to pay for it himself for me. Unfortunately at the time, my French wasn't good enough to say "whilst extremely lovely and touching, your charity in this instance is slightly misplaced, Lovely Old Man". :(

catinthestripyhat · 05/11/2011 20:56

Personally I don't agree with letting people in front of you because they've "only got 1-2 items".

This is because:

a) What is the point in queues if you let people in front of you?
b) Why should they feel they get priority just because they've only got 1-2 items?
c) How many people with 1-2 items are you supposed to let through before you can unload your trolley??!!

That is all

Theala · 05/11/2011 21:20

Huh. Personally, if someone behind me in the queue only has 1-2 items, and I've got loads and I'm not in any mad rush, I often invite them to go before me.

This is because:

a) It makes me happy to be nice to people.
b) I've only really got an a) to be honest
c) See b) for more information

OldMacEIEIO · 05/11/2011 21:23

there should be four lots of tills

normal
baskets only
stinky people only
old farts, or people who take 3 hours to work out whats going on
Germans

pointythings · 05/11/2011 22:01

I've offered to let people go in front of me if they only have 1-2 items - they are often flabbergasted, but it's a nice thing to do.

I do think some older people are very entitled, though. I was once waiting at the deli counter when a little old lady literally elbowed me (painfully - I was PG at the time) to get in front of me. So I looked down at her (it's soooo nice to be 5'11'') and said "Madam, if you are fit enough to elbow me that hard, then you are fit enough to wait your turn."

People applauded.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 05/11/2011 22:04

I'd have applauded too, pointythings - that was legendary!

eaglewings · 05/11/2011 22:15

I'm more upset at the op not being able to shorten to Q, I can't spell and do this too! :(

Oldmac, do Germans not count, you said there should be 4 lots of tills, but don't have one for them :)

amarone · 05/11/2011 22:29

OP, YABU.

I've felt for some time now that the problem with this country is not politicians, bankers, etc., but people with lack of empathy and general decency towards others.

You come across as quite a nasty person, sorry.

ViviPru · 05/11/2011 22:35

My Mum is an Austrian (so almost German). She pooh-poohes queueing on the whole, but only when the queue is informal (bus stops, etc) but she'll tow the line in situations like supermarkets.

My Austrian gene does get quite a kick from disregarding an informal queue. My English one gets highly uppity when a formal queue is disregarded.

NoOnesGoingToEatYourEyes · 05/11/2011 22:39

If the supermarket was really busy and someone with one or two things asked me politely if they could go ahead of me I would probably agree if they were the only people behind me at the time. I wouldn't let someone go ahead if they walked up after someone else had been waiting behind me.

But once when I was pregnant this man and his wife pushed in front of me without asking and there were other people waiting behind me. They had a basket full of stuff. I tapped his arm and said "Excuse me, this is the middle of the queue, the end is further back." I was very polite but he hit the roof and started ranting at me "Is it? Is it?! Well I'll just fuck off back there shall I? Shall I? Eh! Shall I? Didn't fucking see you!"

I was in that bit of really late pregnancy where you'd happily commit murder but can't because your bump is too big to allow you to get close enough to kill anybody, so I had to settle for ranting back "Then it's not the end of the queue you want, fuck off to Specsavers because it's not like you can miss me at this size is it?"

And then he went right down to the far end of the checkouts, realised nobody was serving on those ones and came all the way back to one about three away from ours and stood in that queue glaring at me and muttering.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 05/11/2011 22:52

Amarone - the OP was called an evil bitch and a fucking twat for not letting these people go in front of her - and you think she is the nasty person? I guess you think the elderly people were justified in hurling that kind of abuse around?

PattySimcox · 05/11/2011 22:59

NoOnes - fantastic response

NoOnesGoingToEatYourEyes · 05/11/2011 23:09

Patty - thanks. I usually only think of things like that about two hours after I needed to say them when the person is long gone, but the first and last bits of pregnancy usually make me feel positively evil and I think it helped with the comeback

amarone · 05/11/2011 23:11

SDTG, I do not condone the elderly people in question calling OP nasty names, but I do condemn OP for being so judgemental and uncharitable towards them in the first place.

The way she described them was just unnecessary and nasty.

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