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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Checkout fuss

165 replies

veritata · 31/08/2014 17:30

I was approaching the checkouts at the supermarkets today, and saw one with two people - one, a man, was loading his trolley having paid, and there was a woman standing there who I assumed was with him. I joined that queue and started getting my stuff out when the woman said "Excuse me, I'm first". I was confused and said "Come on, you haven't got a trolley", whereupon she gestured to a lad who had come up behind me with a trolley and said "There it is". I said "Yes, and it's behind me". She got into a huff and stropped off muttering "Don't panic, it's only a queue" to which I just answered "Precisely". I was perfectly calm throughout - if anything, I was just confused - and in fact was about to move myself rather than get into a stupid stand-off.

WIBU? Has reserving your place in checkout queues become a thing that no-one's told me about?

OP posts:

FreeWee · 02/09/2014 20:17

Soggy1978 My view would be it's your problem you're in a rush. You shouldn't make it everyone else's.

NoodleOodle · 02/09/2014 20:17

That would be unreasonable Soggy as it's against queue etiquette.

FreeWee · 02/09/2014 20:17

Sorry Soggy I've added a year to your name!

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 02/09/2014 20:23

No, Soggy - absolutely not. Not playing fair at all . . .

claireoliver50 · 02/09/2014 20:32

This is why I do scan and shop no queue and just push trolley to pay point pay and leave, no loading or unloading trolley or packing bags. Can't be doing with queues, not with 2 kids who get bored easily!

Finney2 · 02/09/2014 20:36

Soggy have you read the thread?

dustarr73 · 02/09/2014 20:38

When i worked on a till i was quite firm about this.No queue jumpers and certainly nobody in your space if you were putting your pin in.

And if you left your trolley unattended and dint tell me and dint come back for ages,then i would serve people before you.I think i was quite fair.

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 02/09/2014 20:44

Aww quietbatperson they probably didn't see you. No one would leave a pregnant woman standing on her crutches.

hilzilla brilliant.

I have this lovely mental image of a furious French woman running round a shop swearing and muttering. I must try that some time.

Finney2 · 02/09/2014 20:44

While we're at it, if you're going to Greggs and see the queue reaching out of the door, there are two acceptable ways to queue.

Go into shop, get sandwich from chiller, walk to back of queue and wait your turn.
Join queue at back, grab sandwich as queue goes past chiller. Remain in queue in same place. Wait your turn.

The unacceptable way to queue is to go in, grab your sandwich and try and sidle into the queue about half way up, as though there is some kind of filter lane. THERE ISN'T. There is only one queue. Get in it.

greathat · 02/09/2014 20:44

I don't like people in supermarkets. I was going round the end of the on aisle once with a wonky trolley and had to take a slightly wider arch than I would normally. I had the kids with me and someone told me to "get the fuck out of the way. People with kids shouldn't be allowed!" I was not best pleased

quietbatperson · 02/09/2014 21:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

littledrummergirl · 02/09/2014 21:04

Having been responsible for 17 manned tills plus self scans I can honestly say that queing in a supermarket brings out the worst in people.

I was once called to a c/o by the cashier, the customer had forgotten something could I get it.
On returning they had remembered another item. This happened five times! On returning with the last item I was told"thats not the right thing. Dont bother next time."

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 02/09/2014 22:24

Not queue jumping but inwhat fecking universe is it okay to leave your basket in the middle of the aisle on the floor and wander off to look at wine/cordial/sticky plasters.

Bloody Waitrose. I nearly fell my length over one (stupid woman should be grateful I didn't just kick her basket across the aisle)
I'm middle aged so a fall would injury me and not improve my temper, but someone who is infirm or partially sighted..well it doesn't bear thinking about.

WireCat · 02/09/2014 23:32

Aldi pisses me off for people wanting to queue jump.
Last time I went, I let 3 people in front of me as I had a trolley load and each of them only had 1-2 items. Another person joined the queue, by which time I had nearly loaded my trolley. She huffed and puffed. She loudly whispered to he person behind her hat Aldi etiquette was to let people with a few items go before people with a trolley load. She had a basket full!

Cashier was a star. Good morning she said brighly to me, most people only let 1 person ahead of gem, you let 3.

So I said, well yes, they were lovely polite people.

A lady once started loading her trolley when she could clearly see my full trolley. I stopped dead and stared at her. She said she was in a hurry. A bloody supervisor overheard and took her to a new opening till. It annoyed me, only cos she was so rude.

Pixel · 02/09/2014 23:43

I haven't seen too much queue jumping in our Aldi, but I have seen it increase in the car park just recently. There is a one-way system and people usually queue patiently so they can have the next space that becomes free. This doesn't usually take long anyway as there is a fast turnover of people coming out of the shop due to not having to wait for all the very slow packers at the till. Just lately men people have been nipping in the entrance and up the wrong side against the painted arrows to nab spaces before the person at the front of the queue can get round there. Makes my blood boil.

Ariela · 03/09/2014 00:39

This is why I like the hand held scanners in Waitrose! So quick! Only problem is if you buy alcohol they hold you up to be authorised.

OldBagWantsNewBag · 03/09/2014 01:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BehindHerSmile · 03/09/2014 02:39

She loudly whispered to he person behind her hat Aldi etiquette was to let people with a few items go before people with a trolley load. She had a basket full!

See this is one of those MN stories that I just don't believe happen in the real world (like changing your childs nappy on a restaurant table, saying pardon me and getting judged as being middle classed)

The woman actually said Aldi etiquette ???

I have never in any supermarket heard anyone utter the words "Sainsburys/Waitrose/Asda etiquette"

RahRahRasputin · 03/09/2014 03:01

I was truly shocked in the supermarket this afternoon. I came out of the aisle and turned the corner into the till area. There's usually space for three trolleys to pass. I had to stop dead in my tracks as two children were sitting on the floor playing with toy cars or similar they had managed to take up most of the space so it was a squish to get my trolley through between them and the end of aisle display. Their mother was just gazing adoringly at them as she stood in the queue they were quite old, perhaps 6 and 8, of course they could have had additional needs but it was so dangerous, as they could easily have been squashed, not to mention massively inconvenient for all the other shoppers. Thankfully they noticed everyone's looks of shock/confusion and moved out of the way, as I was struggling to think of what on earth to say!

I joined a queue with two others waiting and one checking out. The man in front finished unloading his items and then just left his trolley as he walked forwards beside the conveyor belt. I was about to move it myself, as by this time he was standing a foot or two in front of it, when he turned round and looked at me like I was insane and huffily moved it himself. I don't know if he had planned to just leave it there and carry his items, or whether he was planning to come back for it when he got to the checkout but it meant that there was no space for anyone to unload behind me, and I wouldn't easily have been able to get past with my trolley as people were queuing beside us for the next till.

Apart from the one incident I posted about upthread I've never really had any queue issues until today, and these were more confusing than annoying

RahRahRasputin · 03/09/2014 03:08

BehindHerSmile I would imagine it is because the Aldi etiquette is different to the more mainstream supermarkets.

JessieMcJessie · 03/09/2014 03:50

Re the poster who had 2 full trolleys, the one behind looking as if it was unattended as her husband had gone to get another item.

Expecting to be allowed to scan through items before the next person in the q: not U. Why? Because poster was there to do the unloading, the trolley was not unattended and, most crucially, a new person joining the q could see two full trolleys of shopping in front of them and make their queue choice accordingly. That is where this differs from the OP scenario where a person with few or no items holds a place for a companion with a full trolley; we make our decisions based on amount of shopping in q, not the number of people.

That said, it's unusual for someone to have 2 trolleys and perhaps not that surprising the woman behind thought the second trolley had been abandoned, partic if the poster's DH had been gone for some time (he prob didn't rush, knowing his DW was there to deal with the trolley). Other woman should have asked though.

BitchyTakesOnManagement · 03/09/2014 04:53

It is not that unusual for one person to have two trolleys. I used to serve a lot of people doing large christmas shops who did this. And most of them paid cash which meant it took an age for them to go through the till.

I wouldn't mind the staff reduction if the sodding self serve worked properly. "please put item in bagging area" "please put item in bagging area" "PLEASE PUT ITEM IN BAGGING AREA" It is in the fecking bagging area, please stop being tempermental. Oh and gotta love the item is not recognised... I like self serve when it works, but would much rather have a person any day but then again i refuse to do internet banking because i would rather speak to a person. even if it is only hello can I thanks good bye.

WireCat · 03/09/2014 09:26

Yes it happened, Aldi Wickford a few weeks ago.

dustarr73 · 03/09/2014 10:23

jessieMcjessie that was me with the 2 trolleys.Its the way she done it,she pushed the trolley out of the way.Didnt even ask me if the person who had the trolley had gone back for something.She just wanted to get in first and not wait her turn

JessieMcJessie · 03/09/2014 10:52

durrstar I was agreeing with you that it was cheeky for her to move it without asking!

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