Reserving place at supermarket checkout?

[zzzzebra]

Is this a normal thing or AIBU for finding this rude?

Busy Sunday morning in Aldi and all checkouts fairly full. Spot one where there is less of a queue and a little space coming free at the end of the conveyor belt and push my trolley over as you do.

Woman at back of queue turns around and says to me "sorry I'm just waiting" and gestures behind me. I see a man approaching from the isle with a full shopping trolley. He pushes his trolley around mine to the woman and they begin unpacking.

It's the hottest day of the year and I had a screaming baby in a carrier, with a trolley 1/3 of the way full... not that it should matter but I was there with my trolley first.

I didn't say anything but I have wondered since I got home if this is normal and maybe I'm odd for finding it rude.

AIBU?

Putting most of your stuff on the belt, one of you realises you've missed something, one stays, other goes to get it, fair enough.

Not what the OP described.

That's not the same is it. Aldi and Lidl is all about getting everyone through quickly. I think yes you could have said - ok can I unload on this one as my shopping is heavy. Make her shit or get off the pot.

Surely the checkout staff should speak up?

I actually had similar to this at chessington on the gruffalo ride. 2 teenagers in front of me, I’m alone with 3 kids, 2 under 2’s. One comes along and says can I join my friends. I let her go, sure, there was 4 of them. Then 30 children and 2 teachers come along and step in front of me. I said to the teacher, let me go ahead please, you’ve kind of pushed in? She said oh no, the girls were holding our spaces. I said well that’s a bit unfair on the small children waiting patiently and I let one girl go ahead, I hadn’t realised I was letting a whole class of year 9’s and grown adults go ahead of me on a ride for babies. We now had another 20 mins wait thanks to this. She started to huff that I was unfair and being mean to her girls. I said cool, I’ll just say call over the guard and see what he says about place marking.

she let us go ahead. I thanked her for her kind graciousness towards babies on a baby’s ride and teaching her girls the fundamentals of manners.

some people just lack any kind of kindness, thought or grace.

I used to have a rule at Aldi if one person had a couple of items let them in no more now we have self checkouts I am there first so go to self checkout if you want .

I would of started unloading too in your situation

The assistants in our local Aldi and Lidl are quite fierce, I have seen them tackle exactly this situation (and love them for it!). They will tell people who try to save spaces or queue-jump to get out of the way!

@darkmodeon well yeah it is the same... person with shopping ready to be unloaded wants to unload shopping. Person in front not allowing them due to waiting for someone/something else to happen. I know I could have just gone around her which I did say in my post... I'm annoyed I didn't. But I do have a much lower tolerance for other people's shit these days!

Well it should be. But I remember when I was a kid my Mum used to park me in the queue with the trolley while she went off to get the last few bits. However she gradually pushed it further and further until one day I was at the front of the queue, had unloaded the shopping and it had all been rung through and still no sign of her! I had to go running round the shop to find her and there she was just browsing at some stuff on the shelves in no hurry at all.

The worse thing was that she really couldn't see why I was so annoyed. However that was the last time as I flat out refused to stay in the queue again. Even if she genuinely had just forgotten one item she wanted to dash off for I would come out of the queue and deliberately lose our place rather than risk being in that position again.

That works @Andylion! i'm so bloody socially awkward

Aw! 5foot5 that sounds so stressful. I have never heard of the practice of holding a place in a checkout queue except at Primark where it is apparently usual to park a child in the queue at the start of the visit and then catch up with them with the bag later. That said that queue can take 20 minutes so maybe that's a different matter

I don’t know.

I think it may be vaguely ok if you are saving a place, but you are quite far back, no where near the conveyor belt. Once at the conveyor belt you need to let others in front.
I’ve never done this though.

Parents with screaming babies should go first.

I witnessed a similar scenario as described by OP recently in my local Aldi involving 2 couples . The aggrieved couple challenged the pair who’d kept a place in the queue. Words were exchanged and the situation quickly escalated and the aggrieved man swung a punch at the other. His own wife put her arm up to stop him and he almost knocked her over . It was bizarre as the customers in queues either side of them carried on unloading their trollies and ignored the mayhem.

Sorry I should clarify I don't think I should go ahead of anyone because I have a screaming baby. I guess I was a bit flustered at the time so I didn't do or say anything! I suppose it just made me feel extra miffed by what they did.

I'm the kind of person who always lets people ahead if they only have a few items and I have more (within reason- I obviously wouldn't have time to let 20 people go ahead).

The woman was at the conveyer belt, there was space at the end to load shopping and she was waiting, holding the space.

I should have loaded by shopping but I was taken aback. I went and waited at another checkout as I felt too annoyed to go wait behind them after that.

Oh and if people are in the queue with their trolley and someone else runs back to get forgotten items that's totally fine, I think most people have done that.

Have had this a couple of times, bloke stands at the checkout and says 'my friend's in front of you in the queue.' My response varies between 'well your mate's the Invisible Man, then,' or 'if you mate was in front of me he'd be standing there' (pointing in front of me). Both of these while I'm unloading my basket onto the belt.

Sod that. This isn't a school lunch queue where you save a place for your friends (does that still happen?)

Not as bloody annoying as the people who unload their stuff onto the conveyor belt and then wander off to do some more shopping, but getting close.

"If your mate was in front of me he'd be standing there" is the perfect response.

People need to stop being wet lettuces and just ignore the place holder and start unpacking.

I can’t believe people are saying they wouldn’t know what to say 🙄

Some of us like to avoid conflict and confrontation at the Aldi checkout or are taken aback by cheeky people because it's not in our nature...

I'd have said your not finished shopping I am get behind

It is the bagsy school mentality which was not even acceptable then.

It is ill mannered and shows a lack of consideration for others

Just me me me, too important to wait in a queue etc

When shopping with my kids I might be queuing and then either I remember I've forgotten something or the kid has so they run off to get it. But if they aren't back and someone else has joined behind me I tell them to go first - I'm not ready even if I've got 99% of my stuff there, and if I've unloaded and being checked out and they still aren't back then tough my kid will just have to queue up behind, though that hasn't happened.

So rude. The checkout manager should be called to explain to the place holder that they need to step aside for customers.

They don't get paid enough to argue with shitty customers who will just disagree and then take it out on them by calling for their manager, etc.

Absolutely not ok to save a space, can't believe the cheek of her and I'd definitely have said something!