Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

was it unreasonable to ask a mum with 3 children to...

66 replies

whiskeyandbeer · 10/08/2007 15:17

get out of the self checkout lane in superquinn (10 items or less) when she had a full trolley of shopping?
and then be wholly unmoved when she made some sort of defence along the lines of "for gods sake i'm trying to do a shop with three children with me".

OP posts:
dissle · 10/08/2007 15:19

Why would you ask her to get out ofthe lane?

Kathyis6incheshigh · 10/08/2007 15:19

She was unreasonable, but she was reasonably unreasonable if that makes any sense.

bohemianbint · 10/08/2007 15:20

Nope. Not unless she couldn't count, and as she knew she had 3 kids, I'm guessing she could!

Dinosaur · 10/08/2007 15:20

Not really unreasonable, but I feel her pain, all the same .

Original poster
whiskeyandbeer · 10/08/2007 15:21

oh i only asked her to get out of the lanes because she was in front of me and i had 4 items. i wasn't just doing it to piss her off or for some sort of moral quest.

OP posts:
MrsSpoon · 10/08/2007 15:22

ROFL, some people think having kids is an excuse for anything! Next time I go to the supermarket with DSs in tow I'm going to announce that I need to move to the front of the queue as I have two children.

Nemo2007 · 10/08/2007 15:23

I go shopping with the 3littlefishes alone and would never go through the self checkout 10 items or less thing even if the baby is screaming[which she usually is as she wants to be held]

dissle · 10/08/2007 15:24

oh ok,

dissle · 10/08/2007 15:24

sorry, meant to say, fair enough

suzywong · 10/08/2007 15:26

YABU
give her a break fgs

Original poster
whiskeyandbeer · 10/08/2007 15:27

yeah she looked at me like i was being the most unreasonable person on the planet.if it was some emergency item i wouldn't have a problem letting someone ahead of me, but it was just a regular shop.her kid was scanning through cans of guinness when i interrupted her.
i just said something along the lines of "well they're not mine so it's hardly my fault."

OP posts:
ledodgy · 10/08/2007 15:28

Surely it's harder to self scan a full trolley of shopping with 3 kids than it would be to go to a cashier run checkout?

Kathyis6incheshigh · 10/08/2007 15:28

The question is, was "for gods sake i'm trying to do a shop with three children with me" said irritably, or imploringly, with tears in the eyes?
The former is a bit much (like you have a right to break the rules just because you have kids) but the latter would have melted even my ice-cold heart.

suzywong · 10/08/2007 15:31

over here the supermarkets are only open 9-6 five days a week, not at all on sundays and only to 9 on thrusdays so anyone with smallkids gets all the breaks they need. Maybe it's a cultural thing

stleger · 10/08/2007 15:32

Superquinn, were you buying sausages?

becklespeckle · 10/08/2007 15:35

I don't think anyone with a full trolley of shopping should be in the 10 items or less queue - regardless of how many children they do or don't have! The '10 items' checkouts are so people who only need a couple of bits don't have to queue behind big trollies of stuff!

Carmenere · 10/08/2007 15:36

You should have asked her would she mind if you nipped ahead of her as you only had four things.

Original poster
whiskeyandbeer · 10/08/2007 15:38

i ost certainly did get some sausages.superquinn blackrock = best sausages ever.
no it was not said in an imploring please can you just do me a favour kind of way.which i may have been slightly more sympathetic to,as i said if it was an obvious emergency situation no problem.it was said in an irritated who the hell are you to tell me i have to follow the rules, i have three children with me so i can do what i want kind of way.
oh and while it might be easier the qeue's (sp) for full trolley check outs where huge so it would have meant a long enough wait so she decided to be a cheeky mare. i mean why should she be forced to wait in line just because everyone else has to?imagine that.

OP posts:
suzywong · 10/08/2007 15:40

just slash her tyres and be done with it

casbie · 10/08/2007 15:57

honestly - some people have no compassion.

yes your being unreasonable.

why not use the self-service/fags counter if your in a hurry?

purpleturtle · 10/08/2007 16:00

Casbie, she was trying to use the express, self-service checkout, but was held up by someone taking too much shopping through.

forsale · 10/08/2007 16:01

yanbu - presumably 10 items or less means just that - and its deisgned for speed.

It does miff me though when at Sainsburys during the late evening and there are several "fast track" lanes empty and they wont open for "non fast track" customers.

alipiggie · 10/08/2007 16:03

Well have to say would never use the self-checkout with a fully trolley - you get bumped off automatically here if you exceed your number of items anyway . But the thought of self-scanning with my two. The mind boggles. Anyway, YANBU as far as I'm concerned.

belgo · 10/08/2007 16:04

YANBU.

PrettyCandles · 10/08/2007 16:07

As someone who has done the shopping with 3 children - not something I would recommend - I don't think the OP was being unreasonable. I think the other shopper was being unreasonable. Yes, it's a big strain to do the shopping with your hordes, but think how peed off you would be when you nip in for an urgent packet of nappies, or some biscuits becasue the baby is screaming, and you find someone with a full trolleyload in the express queue? It works both ways.

That said, when I have a baby in the trolleyseat, but have only a smallish number of items in the trolley, I have no hesitation in using the 'baskets only' tills. But only if I have no more than would fit in a basket. Then I think it's reasonable.

Swipe left for the next trending thread