A queueing one. WIBU?

10 replies

Runningonempty84 · 10/08/2019 13:30

We all love a good queuing one - so here we go.

M&S cafe this morning. Fairly busy . Queue to pay for sandwiches etc, and order/pay for hot drinks. I joined a queue behind an elderly woman. She had cakes on her tray and then ordered tea.

Behind the elderly woman (hereafter referred to as EW) was a tray with nothing on it. I presumed this had been left by accident, so put my tray of sandwiches on top of it.

The EW waited for her tea to be made, then paid (one person on till, making drinks and working the till), and went to leave. I then began ordering my hot drinks.

At this point Angry Woman (AW) - in her 70s, twinset and pearls - barged up. "That's my tray!" she shouted, gesturing to the tray beneath mine with nothing on it
I said "okey dokey" with a smile on my face and let her go first, so as not to cause a row. She was NOT happy. She harrumphed and glared at me while her coffees were made, and then stomped off.

So. WIBU to have presumed the tray had been left there accidentally? It was unattended for at least 4-5 mins while EW gave her order and had her drinks made. Or is leaving a tray in a queue now an acceptable form of place-holding??!

OP posts:

PrayingandHoping · 10/08/2019 13:33

Good grief. No, you were definitely NOT BU

Hilda40 · 10/08/2019 13:35

YWBU for giving way, just hand her the tray but don't let her back in.

littlepaddypaws · 10/08/2019 13:35

if i get like this at that age the dc know to have me put down, why are some people so rude ? personally i would have moved the tray out of the way given the time frame it was left empty and def. not let her in front for being so rude.

Tonnerre · 10/08/2019 13:44

Of course YANBU. See also people who think they can dump their half-filled trolley in the supermarket queue and then go off and do the rest of their shopping. So far as I'm concerned, if people do that I'm going to push in front every time.

littlepaddypaws · 10/08/2019 13:44

the angry woman reads mn she voted yabu

annikin · 10/08/2019 13:50

Yanbu. Maybe she can leave a tray to hold her place if she can't stand up for long enough (disabled/old) but no excuse at all to be stroppy about it!

itswinetime · 10/08/2019 13:56

Ywbu to just give in! Rude people get away with being rude because no one challenges them

MereDintofPandiculation · 10/08/2019 15:00

Even if it is place-holding, place holding etiquette is that if you're not around when it's time to be served, people carry on in front of you until such time as you do turn up.

I'm wondering whether she finds it difficult to stand for a long while, and went to sit down while the woman in front of her was served, intending to nip in when it was her turn - quite a reasonable thing to do in the circumstances, because waiting until there wasn't a queue just wasn't going to happen. But she could have been a bit less confrontational.

Original poster

Runningonempty84 · 10/08/2019 18:48

Glad to hear I wasn't BU and place-holding with a tray hasn't become A Thing. From her reaction, you'd think I'd committed a hideous crime. She was still muttering by the time she sat down with her husband, presumably recounting how rude she thought I was...!?!

OP posts:

TabbyMumz · 10/08/2019 18:48

I think she was unnecessarily rude. She could have said politely "excuse me, I think you have my tray, I was here"

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