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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Was I wrong to complain about queue jumping

167 replies

Pootlepoodle · 28/01/2022 11:50

I am in a supermarket queue. There are only 2 people on the til and no self service. Long queue, about 10 people in front of me. The woman immediately in front of me has a basket of about 3 items but is then joined by her partner who has a trolley full of items.

It’s obvious that she joined the queue in order to placemark whist her partner does a proper shop.

I was annoyed by this and so I complained to them that it was not acceptable. They countered with “we’re shopping together”. I replied that if everyone did that no one would ever get to the front of the queue before closing time.

Who was being unreasonable?

OP posts:
EishetChayil · 28/01/2022 11:53

I can't say I would get worked up about it, TBH.

Original poster
Pootlepoodle · 28/01/2022 11:54

You must have a lot of time on your hands then

OP posts:
Cstring · 28/01/2022 11:54

I think you were brave to do that! In my local supermarket you’d have been told to f-off. It’s annoying and probably poor form but there’s CF everywhere. Pick your battles - and you did

DropYourSword · 28/01/2022 11:55

I wouldn't have a problem with them doing that to be honest!

RedCandyApple · 28/01/2022 11:56

Non issue, it’s annoying when this happens but I wouldn’t comment

YellowLemonz · 28/01/2022 11:57

It's annoying but not the end of the world.
I wouldn't of said anything

RoomOfRequirement · 28/01/2022 11:58

I'd be a little annoyed internally but I never would have said anything.

WeAreTheHeroes · 28/01/2022 11:58

That would piss me off too. If the partner was anything like mine, he probably told her he was just nipping to get one thing and came back with that plus 5 special offers he'd passed on the way.

WhenISnappedAndFarted · 28/01/2022 11:59

It's annoying but I wouldn't have said anything either

RoomOfRequirement · 28/01/2022 11:59

@Pootlepoodle

You must have a lot of time on your hands then
Says the person who tried to argue in a store then made a MN thread about it? We clearly all have a lot of time on our hands Grin
Marianne1234 · 28/01/2022 12:00

Argh this would annoy me.

Also the people behind you who then run to beat you to join a just-opening till. Fuck you.

BogRollBOGOF · 28/01/2022 12:01

It's good form in the likes of Aldi/ Lidl to let a basket go first.

I was peeved when I had a lightly filled trolley with a basket worth of items was pipped not just by basket-woman but rapidly accomanied by a second person joining her with a second overflowing basket making over double the items they had.

It is cheeky to make it look like one basket to utilise goodwill then jump in with the hidden half.

MsSquiz · 28/01/2022 12:03

Unless you let the woman go in front of you on the basis that she only had 3 items, YABU.

Original poster
Pootlepoodle · 28/01/2022 12:04

Says the person who tried to argue in a store then made a MN thread about it? We clearly all have a lot of time on our hands grin

That’s completely illogical. I can make a thread and come back to it as and when I have time.

OP posts:
daimbarsatemydogsbone · 28/01/2022 12:05

YANBU they were entitled cunts

Original poster
Pootlepoodle · 28/01/2022 12:05

Also the people behind you who then run to beat you to join a just-opening till. Fuck you.

Yes! Also the people who go to a 5 items till with a blatantly full basket knowing that they won’t be challenged.

OP posts:
ineedsun · 28/01/2022 12:06

Mildly irritating but nothing more than that. I certainly wouldn’t say anything

Soubriquet · 28/01/2022 12:07

It’s different if someone was stood there with a trolley full, and their partner appears with a basket and few more items b

The other way around is pure cheek

SleepingStandingUp · 28/01/2022 12:09

It's annoying because you pick a queue based on how many people and how much they have. So someone walking over with a few extra items makes no difference but choosing the shorter queue because it has a couple of people with baskets oy for them to become trolley loads is a buy shit and bad form. At most she should have said when you got behind that DH was catching her up with the trolley load

SleepingStandingUp · 28/01/2022 12:10

@Marianne1234

Argh this would annoy me.

Also the people behind you who then run to beat you to join a just-opening till. Fuck you.

Thing is if there's three queues open and another opens, no one knows who's been there the longest from all those queues, who can be bothered to move etc.
44PumpLane · 28/01/2022 12:12

I think YABU, unless you actively let the person ahead of you on the basis they only had a few items.

They didn't jump the queue, they were in the queue, they were simply using their time efficiently if it was as busy as you suggest.

Have you never sat down in a coffee shop while your companion went to order and collect the drinks? Who knows maybe you haven't, but I think it's comparable.

Marianne1234 · 28/01/2022 12:13

It depends on the situation. I remember once being in a queue and there was some kind of hold up at the till. A cashier came over and said to me “I’m about to open up the next till so bring your basket across” and the guy behind me ran across to beat me to it. Cheeky fucker. The cashier told him I was first though, which was quite funny.

Cryalot2 · 28/01/2022 12:13

It is most annoying, in the main supermarket we use there tends to be a floor walker directing customers to checkouts. No way would this have happened as the floor walker would have presented it.
You would have been directed to till with x items .

TheNestedIf · 28/01/2022 12:14

Ultimately, queueing is all about waiting for a turn, so whilst I would internally sigh, I wouldn't have said anything, because someone was waiting. I get that you probably calculated which queue to use based on the small size of the basket, but then I've done that and got stuck behind faffers, or worse, faffers with vouchers, whilst big trolley person in another queue has long packed and left.

Save that ire for when people push in out of nowhere and pretend not to have seen the queue.

Original poster
Pootlepoodle · 28/01/2022 12:16

Have you never sat down in a coffee shop while your companion went to order and collect the drinks? Who knows maybe you haven't, but I think it's comparable.

Urgh. I hate this too and totally unfair on people who are on their own so have no option but to queue for their order meanwhile some CFs swan in and grab the last table because they can.

OP posts: