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Original poster

Horrible woman in supermarket

261 replies

AnxiousSM · 30/12/2020 15:21

I’ve just visited our local supermarket, it’s one of the cheaper, rush through at twice the speed of light ones. There was one queue that split into two tills at the end. The woman in front had two items and I had a trolley full. She was waiting to see which would be quicker and holding up the queue. I always join the slowest one as it gives a bit of time to get loaded up. I asked her very politely which till she would be using and she was really horrible, barked at me that it was her choice and I’d have to wait for her as the queue was for both tills.

I have severe anxiety and I almost burst into tears. Is this UR or am I being a wimp? I can’t stop thinking about it?? WTF is wrong with me?

OP posts:
SnuggyBuggy · 30/12/2020 16:47

I've never seen a supermarket where there is one queue for two conveyer belts, don't most have a queue for each belt and those next customer signs? Is this a new covid thing?

Suzi888 · 30/12/2020 16:48

I’ve been this situation and the checkout assistant yelled at the customer to moveGrin made my day. People are rude these days, everyone is in a manic rush.
In your shoes I wouldn’t have asked her to pick, but you shouldn’t let it affect you so much. Put it to the back of your mind if you can Smile

dementedpixie · 30/12/2020 16:48

The silly cow should have chosen a till and gone and stood at the end of it so that you could go and stand at the other one. Its a bloody stupid queuing system and drives me nuts in lidl too. If both were at paying stage then there was no need for her to still be dithering about which to go to

Suzi888 · 30/12/2020 16:48

@SnuggyBuggy in my local Aldi there one queue for 6 checkouts. Chaos!

JazzyGeoff · 30/12/2020 16:49

@SnuggyBuggy

I've never seen a supermarket where there is one queue for two conveyer belts, don't most have a queue for each belt and those next customer signs? Is this a new covid thing?
It's because everyone's standing so far back, mines the same at the moment
dementedpixie · 30/12/2020 16:50

@SnuggyBuggy

I've never seen a supermarket where there is one queue for two conveyer belts, don't most have a queue for each belt and those next customer signs? Is this a new covid thing?
They queue like this in my local lidl so everyone queys down the alcohol aisle and the poor checkout operator has to bark at each person about which till is now free as the queuing people can't see from the where they are standing.
SmileyClare · 30/12/2020 16:50

I saw two women fighting over a reduced turkey in Waitrose Grin

You don't get any of this shit in the M and S foodhall

There it's not just any confrontation, it's an M and S scuffle, designer handbags, luxury coats, topped with exquisite eau de perfume and ripe expletives.

SnuggyBuggy · 30/12/2020 16:51

Don't think I'd like that. My experience is you just go to whatever belt has space and start unloading. If someone just stood there taking their time making a prediction of which was the fastest people would just walk past them and pick a checkout.

Funkypolar · 30/12/2020 16:52

ScreamingBeans - things have got a lot worse due to Covid. I’m limiting interactions with people as the aggression is off the scale.

Arewethereyet21 · 30/12/2020 16:52

YANB. She should have chosen a till as soon as some conveyor belt was available, not wait, holding up the whole queue until she could present her two items directly to the cashier and leave. It’s perfectly normal for a person to start stacking shopping on the belt as soon as it becomes available so she was definitely being unreasonable and rude!

mam0918 · 30/12/2020 16:57

@AnxiousSM

I didn’t pretend to misunderstand. She was holding things up and did hold up the rest of the queue because I ended up taking longer because I was loading up when I could have been packing.
She didnt hold the queue up she was waiting for a till to be availible like you are suppose to do in a single line queue, you dont 'pre-choose' a till.

You held people up by buying a bunch of things, you cant put that on someone else.

Just because you like it a certain way doesnt mean your entitled to it that way, just wait your turn in future.

ravenmum · 30/12/2020 16:57

Both tills were almost the same wait but were both almost at payment stage.
So both shoppers hadn't yet moved round the front to pay yet. In some shops here (not UK) there are signs saying you're not allowed to go past the end of the belt until they have.

In any case, even if she was just daydreaming or slow, she might still have felt rushed by someone apparently being impatient.

ladygracie · 30/12/2020 16:58

Actually the fact that it was (I’m guessing) Aldi or Lidl does make a difference as the whole point of going there is that it is quick. If you are next, you should be loading your stuff as the person in front is packing. And the woman waiting to decide which queue she’d like to use stopped you doing this. I think I’ve got that right. So yes, she was wrong and you were right. Sorry it upset you though.

dementedpixie · 30/12/2020 16:59

The belts are long - plenty of space to be at the end of the belt and still be at least 2 metres away. She was rude OP.

Topseyt · 30/12/2020 16:59

@SnuggyBuggy

I've never seen a supermarket where there is one queue for two conveyer belts, don't most have a queue for each belt and those next customer signs? Is this a new covid thing?
Not A new Covid thing, but an irritating one. At the beginning of the first lockdown in March all of the supermarkets round here had one single queue to get to the checkouts.

In our Tesco you had to queue along the booze aisle and there would be a couple of assistants at the far end telling the next person in the line which checkout had just come free and when you should go to it.

It was a pain in the arse, especially if you just wanted to browse the booze aisle for some very essential wine.

Our local Aldi had much the same system.

They all dropped that one by summer as it caused huge congestion in the stores.

Myheartisbroken91 · 30/12/2020 16:59

I don’t think you are being unfair at all. You said both tills were virtually at the payment point. I don’t think those pp’s saying you shouldn’t have asked her which till she wanted to use, really see how much this woman was holding everyone up. It is okay for her to walk up to the first till available with only 2 items. You, on the other hand, had a full trolley!

If you are able to put things on the conveyor belt as the person in front is loading their trolley, you are then ready to start loading your trolley when the teller is ready. However, if you have to wait until the conveyer belt at the till is empty, you are then unloading your items onto the conveyor belt, while the teller is sitting waiting to put your items through. She can’t start until you have finished this and taken your trolley to the till to start loading! This also leaves you stressed as you are trying to put things up as fast as you can, because you are conscious that you are now holding those behind you up. If everyone did this the queues will be longer and it will take much longer for everyone to be served, leaving everyone grumpier!

Xerochrysum · 30/12/2020 16:59

You said there was one queue that split into two tills. So, that means she would have gone to whichever fastest. So, I think there was no need for you to ask her in the first place.

Original poster
AnxiousSM · 30/12/2020 17:01

@TheSilentStars your comments are actually worse than the supermarket incident.
I hope you’re proud of that achievement.
I am not an idiot and do not need things spelling out to me.

OP posts:
BoxingDayTurkey · 30/12/2020 17:01

@ravenmum I don't think OP was being impatient though but being very sensible to avoid holding the whole queue up. In shops like Lidl and Aldi it's designed for everything to move forwards very quickly and you unload your shopping as speedily as possible. There's no space to pack at end of till either so it would be tricky in unloading while cashier was already putting your shopping through

I think she did the right thing having the gumption to ask the person in front politely to move forwards rather than just standing there themselves with the whole queue watching time being wasted

dementedpixie · 30/12/2020 17:01

But she could have gone to the end of a till and let OP start loading her stuff at the other one. She held up 2 queues for 2 items

MissBaskinIfYoureNasty · 30/12/2020 17:03

OP I struggle with anxiety and panic attacks, especially in shopping situations. I get my shopping delivered as much as possible but if I have to go to a store I avoid Lidl and Aldi type places like the plague. If you're already anxious, the rushed no frills approach can be even more stressful (whereas some people feel the opposite way and prefer it). Home Bargains is another one I can't be doing with.

BoxingDayTurkey · 30/12/2020 17:03

@TheSilentStars have you ever shopped in Lidl/Aldi?

Mamanyt · 30/12/2020 17:04

OK...yes, she was rude. Yes, you reacted more than you might have. Why? One (hyphenated) word: COVID-19. Good grief, we're all just one word away from snapping at any moment, and it's a wonder more of us haven't. And before anyone gets on their white horse and proclaims, "I would never, let me assure you, on the right day, with the right circumstance, you could easily be either Rude Woman OR OP.

OPTIMUMMY · 30/12/2020 17:08

You didn’t do anything wrong. If the shopping was already loaded up on both of those checkouts and she could have started putting hers up then she was holding you and others up. If I have a big shop at somewhere like Aldi because they are so fast I would also choose a slower till to try and get my stuff up. Fortunately in ours if there was space at a till she would have been told which one to go to and it wouldn’t have been an issue. I think it is down to your anxiety that you wanted to burst into tears. I remember when I had a newborn I would have felt just like this too, so know how something like that can affect you. Try to be kind to yourself and don’t let horrible people make you feel bad. You didn’t deserve it. She was out of order but probably hasn’t given it a second thought, so why allow her comment to spoil your afternoon? Put it behind you and try to enjoy your evening!

TheSilentStars · 30/12/2020 17:09

[quote BoxingDayTurkey]@TheSilentStars have you ever shopped in Lidl/Aldi?[/quote]
Yes. Both. Ours are tiny little things with just 2 tills.

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