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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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:

BorderlineHappy · 28/01/2022 12:55

If they where there before you,it's not queue jumping.

WindyState · 28/01/2022 12:55

Queueing up with a full trolley and rushing off to get something you've forgotten-> Totally fine.

Having a partner queue while you do a full shop-> fuck right off.

Hightemp · 28/01/2022 12:56

@ClariceQuiff

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.

This

Palava57 · 28/01/2022 13:02

In this situation I ask the supermarket to open more tills - some (don’t recall which) have a sign saying if the queue gets past here to ask 😊

Jojibear · 28/01/2022 13:02

I had something similar recently. Man in front of me at the till was paying but there was an issue as cashier had somehow charged him twice. I was patiently waiting with all my items on the conveyor belt when a lady with a full basket came and walked ahead of me and starting moving all my items back to make room for hers while muttering sorry under her breath.
I asked her if she was pushing in and she replied, no this is my husband, I'm adding a few items! I pointed out to her that he had already paid and I had been waiting a while and she said, 'Well we're doing a big shop'

I told her she was taking the mick and being very rude and moved my things to the adjacent check out. She had gone very quiet and wouldn't look at me (I was being very polite but firm) When I had paid I walked out past her and her husband still waiting to have their issue resolved.

Some people are unbelievably entitled and cheeky and you absolutely did the right thing to say something.

TheAverageUser · 28/01/2022 13:02

The scenario for them was that they either queued up together or she queued up whilst he finished shopping. Either way he's in front of you.

MenopauseSucks · 28/01/2022 13:03

I would piss me off but I wouldn't have the guts say anything any more.
I said something to a bloke that pushed in front of me in a queue (in Waitrose!) & he went nuts. Members of staff came over as he was yelling at me. They offered to walk me to my car but I was walking home so was crapping it when I left the shop but he'd huffed off.

Hshuznw · 28/01/2022 13:04

It’s annoying but it’s not queue jumping.

JudgeJ · 28/01/2022 13:05

@WindyState

Queueing up with a full trolley and rushing off to get something you've forgotten-> Totally fine.

Having a partner queue while you do a full shop-> fuck right off.

But 'dashing off' when your shopping has gone through the till and expecting everyone to wait until you return with a stupid smile on your face isn't OK! Pay for what you've put through, go and get the rest of your shopping then queue again. One of the funniest things I ever saw was a couple, their shopping was going through and she dashed off to get what they'd forgotten, he was packing. She returned, with an armful of things she had forgotten, and started to berate him because he'd not packed it 'properly', she unpacked it all, repacked it 'properly' then paid, giving someone who tutted a mouthful.

Pontypandytaxpayer · 28/01/2022 13:07

If the supermarket only had two tills open with around 10 people queuing in each then they're the ones at fault. They should have opened another till.

Sittingonabench · 28/01/2022 13:07

Or what could have happened was they did the shop together and she wanted a few items so took a basket. Once nearly finished she went to the queue and he followed behind. This doesn’t strike me as cheeky or anywhere near as organised as suggested. Also the coffee shop one - if everyone stood in the queue with each party then then it would be huge - more in the queue than sat down quite often. Apart from being untidy, a potential fire hazard and causing obstruction to staff it would reduce custom.

JillyC2022 · 28/01/2022 13:07

I saw a woman holding a place in the basket queue one day in M&S. Her daughter arrived then, and asked if she could join her mother. So we let her go by. It wasn't even particularly busy. As I was leaving the two of them were still at the till. I'm not sure what they achieved really.

On the other hand, a young teen tried to tell me one day that she could go ahead of me, on the basis that she had concealed items under a stand near the till, in Lidl - she came along and started to retrieve them, as I was unloading my shopping.

I said no, it's a queue. She was nowhere to be seen when I came along to the till btw. She was not one bit impressed with me.

WonderfulYou · 28/01/2022 13:08

I’d find it annoying if it happened the way you said it did but I find it hard to believe the queue was so long that he was able to fill an entire trolley and his partner still wasn’t at the front - more likely he went back to get another one or two things which many of us have done when we forget something.

BoredZelda · 28/01/2022 13:09

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

The other way around is pure cheek

It's exactly the same thing, you are still there behind a trolley and a basket.

LadyGoddiva · 28/01/2022 13:11

I think you have a point BUT it sounds slightly odd because....

if she only had 3 items, there was a risk that she could have been served long before he appeared with his trolley.

She had no idea how quickly the queue in front of her would move.

It reminds me of how some drivers behave when one lane of the motorway is closed. The tootle along as far as they can in the lane that's going to be closed, then try to jump into the front of the queue. If everyone did that, those at the back of the queue would never reach their destination.

TangoWhiskyAlphaTango · 28/01/2022 13:11

Would piss me off massively it's rude!

LadyGoddiva · 28/01/2022 13:13

@BoredZelda

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

The other way around is pure cheek

It's exactly the same thing, you are still there behind a trolley and a basket.

It's not the same thing at all.

The person with the full trolley was visible to anyone behind them in the queue, so they could estimate how long it would be before their turn. A couple of extra items brought along wouldn't make much difference.

It does make a difference if you expect the people in front of you to move at X speed through the check out, and then their partner appears with £100 of items.

oakleaffy · 28/01/2022 13:13

@Pootlepoodle
I’d be really annoyed by that,too.
It is definitely queue jumping.
Once, at Victoria Coach Station I was queuing for over an hour and a bloke cut in.
I said “Oi! There’s a queue!”
He replied that the person was letting him in.

I said “ But you are cutting in front of all of us who have been here an hour!.
Luckily others agreed and the bloke went to back of line.
Victoria Coach station was hell back then.

BoredZelda · 28/01/2022 13:14

Also the coffee shop one - if everyone stood in the queue with each party then then it would be huge - more in the queue than sat down quite often. Apart from being untidy, a potential fire hazard and causing obstruction to staff it would reduce custom.

Except what happens is someone joins the back of the queue, their family takes the last free table and the first person has nowhere to sit. This is equally bad for custom. I would happily join a longer queue if I can see there are tables free. I won't even look at the queue if all the tables are taken.

As for a fire hazard, laughable to suggest people standing in a queue who can easily turn towards an exit, are more of a hazard than a room full of people at tables who will take far longer to leave. People standing about are not a fire hazard.

NotQuiteHere · 28/01/2022 13:14

What if the woman in front of you already had a full trolley?

You see, you are annoyed because your expectations were not met, and you think you can point at the person whose fault it is.
But you could have waited longer than expected for many other different reasons (broken scanner, an old lady tries to find her purse, etc), some of them without the obvious "culprit". Would you be annoyed enough to start ranting here?

BoredZelda · 28/01/2022 13:15

At somewhere like Aldi, a trolley vs a basket is less than half a minute.

LadyGoddiva · 28/01/2022 13:15

I suppose I still can't quite see how someone could fill a trolley while the other person was queuing up. Even in a slow queue, they took the risk that she'd be through the till before he finished the shopping.

Deadringer · 28/01/2022 13:15

I would find it annoying but i wouldn't have the guts to say anything.

C152 · 28/01/2022 13:16

That's annoying, but YABU. If they're shopping together, they're shopping together; I don't consider this queue jumping.

user1471554720 · 28/01/2022 13:16

I would say, you can go ahead of us as you have a trolley, then start laughing. Let them take the comment whatever way they like. Show them you spotted it but are laughing at them being cfs

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