Supermarket checkout etiquette.

[TaliZorahVasNormandy]

I work for a major Supermarket at the checkouts.

Is it against etiquette to try and reserve your space at the till with your basket?

Because a woman left her basket at the very end of my empty checkout and walked off, I didnt see the basket because I was dealing with another customer at the time, who was finishing. Another woman comes up and unloads, like me, didnt see the basket. I deal with the woman, she only took like 5 minutes, she apologised to me, I said it was ok. She left, basket woman then comes up muttering about manners and stuff, I remain diplomatic to whole thing.

It is against etiquette isnt it.

She's either in the queue or she's not IMO. If she leaves her basket to go get more stuff then people will go infront of her!

Yes, it is!

Yep. I'd assume it had been abandoned. I've unloaded a trolley before and realised I've forgotten something - mad dash or work out whether your shopping will get to the front of the queue before you get back. But with a basket, well you just take it with you.

If she'd have unloaded then I'd have waited for her to come back.

She was only held up by 5 mins. She was wrong, but for customer service sake, I sympathized with her.

Yanbu, you don't just leave your basket and walk off! You might leave the cashier and the other customers waiting for quite a while.

I have done it, when I've realized I just forgot one thing that is just behind me, one till over, etc. And I have seen lots of people do it..It is a little cheeky if it's busy I think, but not really a problem if you're just a few seconds and don't think it entitles you to hold everyone up or keep a place in the queue. To mutter because you got on with serving someone instead of everyone waiting around wondering when she'd be back is really poor manners on her part. But surely that's something your supermarket has a policy about - doesn't it happen all the time?

Of course its rude and presumptuous. I would be presuming the basket is abandoned and stick my stuff in front too.

Thats my view Gok, I could serve another while I'm waiting for them to come back.

Its right up there with unloading your stuff while the ones infront are still unloading their stuff.

That happened in my 3rd shift in the job, so I stopped the belt and get their stuff through so they had space on the belt, they had a big shop.

No, you did the right thing. You don't just leave a basket.

Boom, I've only been there 3 weeks, so I havent had it before. Tbf to her she wasnt annoyed at me for serving the woman, she annoyed at the woman for, in her eyes, pushing in.

Agree - if you've unloaded and need 1 more thing it's different, but you can't just plonk a basket on!!

You did the right thing. You can't just walk away from a queue and expect everyone to wait for you.

It's very selfish. That woman's time is no more important than the next customer's.

If you're not there, you're not in the queue. How would you know how long she was going to be, or even if she was ever coming back?

She could have received an urgent call and had to dash off somwhere else.

And if you had started scanning her shopping, you would have had hassle cancelling it all, if she hadn't come back and other customers were waiting. But realistically, you should ask your supervisor what they think store policy is, because that would override etiquette and may vary between shops.

She was wrong to be annoyed.
I have popped off to get one thing if the person in front won't be finished by the time I get back, but if I was so long thy did finish I would be mortified to find the person behind me had waited....is expect them to go in front.

Mind you the one time that did happen to me (13 years ago- I don't care grudges, oh no!) j left because 2yo ds did a runner. When I returned the trolley had obviously been given a good shove as it was quite away away. For some reason that really upset me. It was in ikea.

She was being a bit silly.

Can I ask one? Happened to me the other day. I'd been queuing ages. They opened checkout next to me. Couple who just arrived in queue behind me went straight to newly opened one. If it were me, I'd have said to person in front. I hadnt started unloading. Had small trolley and so did they.

It happens all the time, you will get used to it after a while. I worked customer services yesterday. Really busy, should be double manned but too busy so colleague pulled to a checkout.
I had customers queuing for me to scan baskets of shopping when self scan was free.
I told them to go queue at a checkout as I needed to deal with customer queries.
They werent happy but tough cookies. Its a busy time of year, you might have to queue- factor it in and deal with it!
(I am normally really helpful and nice- can you tell I am out of patience?

I had someone behind me start unloading their stuff onto belt while I was still doing mine, the other day - I think they eyeballed what was left in my trolley and estimated how much belt room I'd need. Seems a bit pointless really, it doesn't save any time at all!

I put it all down to xmas stress.

Although people are shopping like society is shutting for a fortnight. We are only shut for a day.

If I forget something I usually don't notice until I've unloaded the basket. I will then assess whether I can make a dash for it whilst the person in front of me is being served. If I think I can't I will pay for my shopping then go back in.

I had a weird one the other day. I was in lidls, and loaded up my shopping on the belt. I left a gap between my shopping and the divider so I could finish loading up and the person behind me could start putting theirs on the belt.
This bloke behind me picks up the divider, taps it on the belt a few times to get my attention, then moves it right up sweeping my shopping along the belt scrunching it up.
When he turned to his trolley I moved it back and finished putting my shopping up as if I was unfazed.
I was a bit wtf, because there was no need for that and thought it was a bit passive aggressive. Christmas must bring the idiot out in people!

Although people are shopping like society is shutting for a fortnight. We are only shut for a day.

That's DHs biggest gripe. We actually had someone ask us if we were going away for Christmas, we had so little in the basket - not even a trolley!

I smiled, he grumped "They're only closed for one day!" and the checkout lady smiled. I have to admit I have had fun chatting to the checkout staff.

The man behind us yesterday seemed to think there was a race on, so he bumped DH a few times, putting his shopping on to the 3 inches of available belt. I asked loudly "Oh! Are you in the way, love?", man behind grumped. So I started a conversation with the lady on the till about how it must be difficult to stay smiley with all the impatient people... she was lovely, said she only had one speed and was expected to chat to customers if they spoke to her, how amusing the 'all the tills are open' message was to people who still complained there weren't enough open etc etc etc.

Pushy man just looked annoyed. But I doubt we took any more time than we would have had we shopped in grumpy silence. And I did find a mean amusement in his obvious pissed offness

you must watch eddie Izzard 'supermarket queues' its hilarious and sums all this up so well 'my aura was in that queue'

It does bemuse me that people shop around Christmas time as if they were expecting a siege. I know some people have to buy extra because they're entertaining, but surely that means the people who are being entertained have to buy less or nothing at all? But it doesn't seem like it with the shops packed and all the trolleys piled high.

At this time of year, when I go into a supermarket I always come out feeling mentally battered and wondering whether it really is the season of goodwill to all men (and women).