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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:
Fairylightsongs · 28/01/2022 12:16

It’s annoying but it is permissible, so I’d also not have said anything.

sunnybunnyy · 28/01/2022 12:19

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.

but some busy coffee shops have signs saying not to do this as the person at the front of the queue then has their coffee/tea and then has nowhere to sit

username1293948 · 28/01/2022 12:20

@Pootlepoodle

You must have a lot of time on your hands then
Says the one who has come out of there way too write a Mumsnet post about it Confused
Original poster
Pootlepoodle · 28/01/2022 12:21

*Soubriquet

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*

Exactly this ^^

OP posts:
DropYourSword · 28/01/2022 12:23

@Pootlepoodle

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.

Surely the sensible thing to do in this situation is to go somewhere with table service then?
TheNestedIf · 28/01/2022 12:24

I do agree with people who don't like table bagging in coffee shops. That's different from queueing at checkouts (not that I'd do what the customers the OP confronted did). Time is of the essence when you have a hot drink going cold, so it's infuriating when tables are all taken up by people who don't.

ThePelicansBriefs · 28/01/2022 12:28

I’d have been embarrassed to bring a full trolley into the queue in front of others waiting, so I think yanbu.

Yesyesyesno · 28/01/2022 12:29

@Pootlepoodle

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.

OT but what is the etiquette here when you order ahead? Hardly anyone queues up in my local Starbucks because it’s near a huge block of offices so everyone orders ahead and then sits at tables (coffeeless) until their order is shouted out. Very rare you can get a table in there.
BettyBooper · 28/01/2022 12:30

I read the other day that you should pick the supermarket queue behind the person with the fullest trolly. Apparently its the paying for it part that takes most time. So it probably wouldn't have made all that much difference...

Doomscrolling · 28/01/2022 12:32

YABU

If you’d let her go ahead of you because she only had a few things, yes, you’d be right to be cross. But she queued just like you did. Because there were two of them and they could divide tasks efficiently doesn’t mean they were queue-jumping.

Haven’t you ever gone to queue for the cinema/a table in a restaurant while your partner parked the car?

Original poster
Pootlepoodle · 28/01/2022 12:37

Haven’t you ever gone to queue for the cinema/a table in a restaurant while your partner parked the car?

Totally different scenarios. In fact so ridiculously different that I’m not going to bother explaining.

OP posts:
PrincessNutella · 28/01/2022 12:37

Re table bagging: Can't someone put their stuff on a table when they come in, then order? I think it is completely legitimate to have one partner wait in line while the other shops and grabs more things. They aren't queue jumping, they are waiting in line like anyone else. First come, first served.

NoVaxDjokovic · 28/01/2022 12:39

@Pootlepoodle

Haven’t you ever gone to queue for the cinema/a table in a restaurant while your partner parked the car?

Totally different scenarios. In fact so ridiculously different that I’m not going to bother explaining.

How is that so ridiculously different?
NatashaBedwouldbenice · 28/01/2022 12:39

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

This (only 'have' because I'm a dreadful pedant who can't help herself and then cringes inwardly at herself).

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 28/01/2022 12:39

They are completely unreasonable.

It goes against every principle of queuing and they know it. “We’re together” my arse.

Nsky · 28/01/2022 12:40

Go at quiet time, issue solved

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 28/01/2022 12:40

How is that so ridiculously different?

Because those examples don’t add to the waiting times of others, as an entire shop suddenly jumping the queue does

KaptainKaveman · 28/01/2022 12:43

@Pootlepoodle

You must have a lot of time on your hands then
Actually I was about to say that you must have a lot of time on your hands if you can muster up the energy and inclination to start a thread about such trivia Wink
FangsForTheMemory · 28/01/2022 12:44

This would have pissed me off no end.

TonyThreePies · 28/01/2022 12:45

If they are shopping together then they can queue together.

billyt · 28/01/2022 12:45

My biggest bugbear at the moment...happened yesterday

queuing in Icelands to find out the person in front has a Home delivery so the member of staff has to pack and then move the bags to the delivery boxes. Which takes for .bloody.ever! Then just as it looks like they are finishing off, their OH then join with even more more bloody shopping.

It makes things slow enough as it is.

I don't complain as it is what it is, but I certainly get frustrated by it.

girlmom21 · 28/01/2022 12:46

I don't think it's a massive issue considering there were already so many people in front of you.

diddl · 28/01/2022 12:49

I can see it's annoying, although there's the same amount of shopping between them whether the person with the basket or the person with the trolley was in the queue.

Ideally there would be one queue & you go to the next available checkout.

Obviously not workable though.

ClariceQuiff · 28/01/2022 12:54

I agree with you - annoying. I don't mind if the partner of the person ahead nips off to pick up a couple of items they've forgotten, but a trolley full is taking the piss.

JudgeJ · 28/01/2022 12:54

@YellowLemonz

It's annoying but not the end of the world. I wouldn't of said anything
Happened to me a few years ago, a woman with a trolley full in front of me, a few people behind when she said, Oh let my daughter through, she's with me. The daughter had another trolley full and no way was she getting in front of me, the mother was furious with me, the rest of the queue nodded support to me but kept very quiet!