To be enraged by terrible queue etiquette?

[Downdoneandout]

Out at an animal park type thing today, obviously crazy busy as the summer holidays. Way too many people and feeling a bit frazzled and in dire need of a tea.

We stop at a playground bit with a kiosk nearby, so I leave DH with DD and join the ridiculously long and slow moving queue. 2 women in front of me chatting away. After a couple of minutes 4(!) other adults plus 2 kids, a buggy and a wheeled pull along trolley all appear and push in from the side to join them. One man from the group tries to join behind me but one of the original women says no, I was holding your space for you and he goes up with the others.

Throughout this I am still the absolute LAST PERSON in the queue - no one behind me.

At this point my general frazzledness and raising temper mean I know I’m going to end up saying something pissy. I’m fed up and the only movement in queue is to absorb the masses of people in their group. So I abandon mission tea and leave the queue.

I got me a tea later - but the annoyance lasted on!

YABU - it’s fine for a bunch of people to join the queue in that way.
YANBU - what CFs!!

Neither option for me

I wouldn't be queuing for an overpriced hot drink in the first place!

CFs! 100%

but it doesn't really matter does it, because if those people had not joined when they did, the 2 in front of you would have just ordered however many teas for all of them anyway.
try to keep calm.
if you are flagging, you could ask nicely if you could go in front as ordering only one tea and on the point of collapse. they might let you.
why didn't you sit down somewhere in the shade and send your husband to fetch it for you.
that's what they're for, mutual aid and support.
take care OP.

In two minds - if they hadn't joined her but she'd ordered six additional drinks for them, it wouldn't have been any quicker.

They are CFs - they should let you as a sole person go before their whole massive group if anything. If not, just let everyone queue as they came

Total CFs

Reasonable to be irritated at the length of queues in these places. Unreasonable about the people in front - wouldn't they just have ordered the same amount of things anyway. When we go for a day out there's 8 of us (more if older two have managed to convince us to take gfs). Invariably one of stands in the queue while the other will do toilet run etc then join the queue to help carry. What is ordered is the same though.

So, there you are OP.
You have been told, you were incredibly stupid queuing to buy an overpriced tea.

Perfect! I had packed the cheese rolls and multipack crisps already, but will henceforth carry around a thermos and avoid the whole situation. Phew 😅

@FrivolousTreeDuck and @HappyJoyousFree

I totally see the logic of this and agree in theory.

However somehow the reality of seeing the mini football team and their cargo bulging into the queue in front of me smacks you in the face a bit differently 🤷‍♀️

I'm with you OP. As a rule I'm not particularly confrontational and would just stand in the queue and quietly rage about these things. However in the days leading up to the first lockdown when the shops were absolutely mental with panic buying I absolutely lost my shit in Aldi. The woman in front of me started to usher a team of people in front of her and when I pointed out the queue told me oh we're all together, feeling particularly frazzled and in the most patronising way possible I proceed to explain that was not how queues worked. She wasn't for backing down and neither was I, my boyfriend started trying to usher me over to the just opened till as I was loudly declaring they better be paying for it all together or I'm not having (not sure what I was planning to abouti t, but I'd decided this was the hill I was dying on). Anyway as he gets me in the next queue he points out its a group teenagers out in the community and its their carer I'm shouting.

Not my finest moment.