Saving a space in a queue to pay. Who was BU?

[TriggersBroom]

I'm intrigued as to who was being unreasonable (if anyone) here.

There is a queue of about 7 people waiting to pay at a small supermarket attached to a petrol station. Three tills are open.

Woman A is number 6 in the queue and realises that she has forgotten something so leaves her basket at the side of the aisle and nips off to get forgotten items.

Woman B is number 7 in the queue and moves up to take her place.

When woman A gets back to the queue, it has reduced to 2 people. Woman B is now number 2. She doesn't offer to give her place up to woman B.

There is a bit of follow-on too, but interested to see whether MN thinks there is anything unreasonable in this scenario so far.

Woman A would BU to expect her place to be kept in the queue whilst she shopped for forgotten items.

Woman A is U if she expects to get back in front of Woman B, especially if there are only two people left in the queue. If you're in the queue and remember that you've forgot to pick up x then you either do without x or lose your place in the queue.

Oh I like your name DejaVu.

Woman A was unreasonable if she expected others to keep her place.

Woman A was BU. What happened next!?

Woman A was BU if I suspect the follow on is her demanding her place back and ensuing ruckus!

I was one of the women btw. Don't get too excited dammit, it wasn't that dramatic.

In that situation, if I was in a rush, I would turn to the person behind me in the queue, say I had forgotten something and ask politely, if they would mind holding my place to fetch the item (presuming I knew where it was and it could be fetched quickly). On returning to the queue if there were only a couple of people in front I would probably slot in behind the person who had held my place.

If I was not in a rush I would just resign myself to giving up my place in the queue and resolve not to be so forgetful next time.

I would have let woman A back in and have done so in the past. Can't see the problem.

Woman A WB abit U, however if I was woman B I would have let her back in. If an empty till came up before she was back, then that would be different and woman B would be very reasonable up go up to be served.
I'm sure woman A didn't mean to forget something and a bit of tolerance can make life a bit more pleasant for everyone.

I would try that, leave my basket and hope to get my place back. If I didn't though I wouldn't kick up a fuss because I know I was just trying my luck anyway. Also if somebody in front of me did that I would let them back in unless I was in a mad rush.

What would have happened if ALL the people from the original queue had been served but now the queue was 10 people long? Should she still be able to cut in?

it has reduced to 2 people. Woman B is now number 2.

This is key. Even joining the end of the queue woman A is further ahead than she was when she left the queue. Were it a much longer queue, with B still way back, then it might have been courteous for B to offer A back in, but in a queue this short it shouldn't be expected.

Bet you any money you are Woman B, you wouldn't have admitted being one of the women at this stage if not :)

So what happened next.....?

The suspense is killing me

No Wabitty

OK, I was woman B. I only had 4 items in my basket and she had a whole basket load btw.

Were you woman a or woman b??

Woman A can't expect to get the same spot back but I have been woman B and let the person back in. The queue hadn't moved very much though

What was in your basket?

X posts haha

Why, thank you

So what happened next?

Woman A is BU. She would have only been 1 place behind where she was originally and had clearly been away for a while if the queue had gone from 7 to 2 anyway.

If she'd just grabbed 1 thing I might have let her back in but if she'd been away a while and would have only been 1 person behind anyway I wouldn't have.

What happened next was that she put her (full) basket on the floor behind me and then kicked it forwards twice so it hit the back of my ankles fairly sharpish.

When it was my turn to go up to the till, I not so accidentally tripped over her basket. I know - not very mature, but I was riled by the ankle thing.

She then challenged me as to whether I'd kicked her basket. I muttered something conciliatory along the lines of "No, sorry, it kept going into my ankles". (Yes, I know it doesn't really make sense). Paid and left.

"What was in your basket?"

Only on MN! Smoked salmon, a brown roll, a pint of semi-skimmed and some Wotsits. Make what you will of that!