To challenge a queue jumper?

[Greatcheeser]

I was queuing outside a shop for a carton of milk and a few beers, I was second in the queue. A woman slid up to the 2 guys at the head of the queue and began to smarm them, asking if they were in a good mood and would they mind letting her go first as she wanted just one tiny thing from the till area. They looked a bit nonplussed so I saved them the bother of having to think about it by pointing out to her that I was waiting too, as was everyone else in the queue and I did mind if she jumped the queue. So she slunk off to the end of the queue but not before asking me if I was feeling grumpy. I was actually quite enjoying standing in the evening sunshine listening to the birdsong just not enough to let her assume that queuing up didn’t apply to her.

Good for you!

I was in a longish queue in a shop recently (well not that recently it was in the "Before" times) and a man went up to the elderly lady who was next to be served and asked if her if she minded him going ahead of her as he was in a rush. Nice old lady was saying "Oh yes of course you can dear" but then someone else piped up to say "We are all waiting and I mind if you push in", to which the rest of us muttered in assent. The old lady looked a bit flustered and didn't seem to understand that if she let him in in front of her she was letting him in in front of everyone else. Anyway the man tried to reason with the rest of the queue by saying he was in a rush because he had left his car on a double yellow line and didn't want to get a ticket. Unsurprisingly this did not win anybody round - the mood of the queue was clear. He made many dark mutterings and left the shop!

I still smile at the memory of being in a queue years ago in a newsagent and a woman dashed in, Can I just pay for this, my train's due? One old chap looked at her, Tha's missed it, yon station closed ten year back. Never try it on with a Yorkshire man!

I was stood on my spot (literally they have spots on the ground outside 2m apart) Tesco a few days back waiting for someone to come out (one in, one out) and a guy walked up and grabbed a basket and went to go in, ignoring me and the Tesco employee who stands outside reminding everyone of social distancing etc. So she says ‘I’m Sorry we’re at capacity so you’ll have to wait’ he stops and goes ‘oh ok’ and just stands there. I point to the spot behind me.. ‘the first space is there’ luckily he just went and stood there but I swear I must have been completely invisible as there was no acknowledgement I was there queuing until I spoke to him.

Since lockdown I've watched two people try and queue jump in the local marks and spencers, one unsuccessfully (turfed out by other queue members) and one successfully, she jumped the outdoor queue, went straight through the main doors. Spotted the inside queue. Due to a minor commotion the member of staff on queue wrangling detail was momentarily side tracked. She clocked this and swerved directly into the shop. She must have been late 20s, early 30s. Most of those queuing were elderly. Some people have no shame and are just very entitled.

This morning, I reached the head of the queue waiting to get into Waitrose. There were at least 50 people behind me. A woman (late 20s/early 30s) came up beside the barrier and pleaded with the security guard to be let in because she had "left her newborn twins at home with her partner and she was desperate for a few things". She was so pleased that she didn't need to queue that she climbed/jumped very nimbly over the waist high barrier.

I’m plagued at the moment by innocent queue jumpers. Mainly young men. They just seem to be distracted and oblivious to social distancing and the ‘one in a shop’ rules. Also, you know, that built-in programming of male entitlement and force of habit, I suppose.

They see the shop door and go straight to open it. I say ‘ahem, there’s actually a few of us waiting to go in!’. They leap back, so shocked! We really are all (perhaps excepting the ones they might want to bonk) completely invisible. No part of their brains says to them ‘pssssst, why are all these folk standing around a shopfront in a wide-spaced line?’

Makes me wonder if they are living the rest of their day oblivious to CV-19 too?

I have been known to exclaim "Harry! The invisibility cloak! It works!"

But usually I'm a grumpy "ere there's a queue." Type

I was let in with a group of families with disabilities for a show at Disneyland. We were put up at the front and everyone else was meant to queue behind. I watched one couple slink in front of everyone and then start playing and chatting with a child in a wheelchair at the front.

I thought they must have known them but it transpired that they didn’t, they pushed in front of a group of children with disabilities to see a show. Nice couple in their thirties.