WIBU to ask this lady to move?

[Fahhgedaboutit]

I needed petrol yesterday so after work, just before picking up DS from nursery, I stopped at the Morrisons petrol station near his nursery and had about 20 minutes before I was due to pick him up. I didn’t pay at pump as I rarely carry a bank card around, I use Apple Pay for most things. I went to pay and there was a lady in front of me talking to the cashier about the Morrisons more card- she was looking through her purse but couldn’t find it. Anyway, she asked the cashier how to download it off her phone but clearly wasn’t very technically able; first she was trying to figure out if she had a smart phone, then she didn’t know her password for the google play store etc. anyway about 10 minutes had passed of waiting and there was a queue of about 6 people behind me at this point and I was starting to panic i’d be late for DS so I asked (politely!), if she could step to the side to sort her app out and the people behind could pay until she was ready.

She called me rude, ranted about young peoples manners (I’m 34!). I said I didn’t think I was being rude, but I had to pick up DS from nursery in less than 10 minutes and then my elder DS from school and I was going to be late. She got angry at me for replying and just paid and left without finishing her more card downloading, huffing away the whole time about manners.

WIBU? I felt a bit shitty but I also wouldn’t have stood there trying to sort my phone out whilst there was a queue of people waiting to pay at a clearly busy time!

But then she’d be anxious about not having enough petrol in the car to pick up the dc’s. I know I would.

@Ramalangadingdong I meant that OP was not wrong to ask the woman to move, she'd already put the petrol in. I was responding to PP saying it's OP a fault because she was short on time, she wasn't and no matter how much time you have you don't want that long paying for petrol,

You weren't rude, she was and also incredibly self centered.
I agree that the cashier should have asked her to move aside so the queue could be served, but, you say that she'd already been asked by the cashier and clearly hadn't, before you went in. She got a move on when you asked, so clearly she ignored the cashier anyway, but although huffing and puffing did move when asked to by another customer.

I've been in similar situations with people like this and then they end up holding the queue up even longer while they give you a lecture on customer service and being rude before returning to faffing. You're already on the back foot as the cashier and some people, like this woman, use that and 'The customer is always right' as a weapon against the staff.

Sadly there is a lot of it about and there's days I feel more like a referee between customers with opposing pov or needs rather than just being able to do my job of serving them.

Downside to 'The customer is always right' unfortunately, because it applies to every customer, in every situation, and boy do some people use it!

It seems you've refrained from saying old lady which is telling of you knowing YWBU.

I'm gonna assume it was an old lady from the comment on young people manners!

It was the cashiers responsibility to step up and get the queue down. I doubt you actually waited 10 minutes.

It's one of those situations we all hate to be in (happens in post offices all the time), but I think you were rude nonetheless, because frankly speaking, lady was using a service as a customer, and your school run and kids are not more important to a stranger than their own matters. And I presume she'd also waited her turn, and presuming shes old, why would she even remotely care or even be aware of 'school times'?!

I'd have hated if that was my grandma and someone rushed her. She's the most adorable slow person, but would get upset in this situation.

And I detest people thinking the are more entitled. Maybe next time, leave yourself enough time to run pre school pick up errands, instead of expecting strangers to be telepathically conscious of and catering to your 'short on time'. I mean, it's not like it was an emergency, in which case, I think even the old lady would understand. It was a school run, which you do everyday.

I guess you're gonna lean more towards all the validating comments from other selfish members of the public.

Please repeat after me 'I and my life and my children are not more important to a stranger than their own needs'.

I don't get this comment by your own logic surely the women holding up the queue should repeat after you.

"'I and my life and my desire to download this app and get some points are not more important to a stranger than their own needs".

Exactly how long in your opinion should the rest of the queue wait whilst this women holds everyone up. It's not like any of them could leave or use another till so should they lol just stand there indefinitely?

But why did this woman "need" to download the app and get the points, and, more importantly, why couldn't she do that just as well by stepping out of the queue whilst it downloaded?

@Beinpeace the woman was holding at least 6 other people up because she was faffing. So no, OP wasn't rude.

@Beinpeace I hope when I'm older I'm going to remember what it was like for Mothers and be aware people have busier lives than me.

I'm not s selfish person but I can remember the panic of being in a queue and time was ticking by when I had my little one to pick up.

This is what supermarket customer services are for, not the cashier for petrol! What a ridiculous queue to hold up.

People are being hard on the cashier. It's not a well paid job and it sounds like the lady at the front was impervious to social norms or being asked politely to step aside.

As an aside it must be difficult for those less computer literate to download apps etc, so the customer service till should be trained up to help on that as generally I expect to wait for a long time in the customer services queue.

If it's Aldi (personal best/shit off a shovel) (I love it!) then you are excused. If it's Sainsbo's where they seem compelled to ask you what you're doing with the rest of your day/take half an hour to find the code for the mango then there is no excuse and please accept my evil stare.

No one "needs" to collect loyalty points and collecting children on time trumps that.

the only people who were rude here was a) the lady who was taking up WAY more time than appropriate for paying for petrol AND either not realising or not caring that she was holding others up as a result and B) marginally the cashier who should have either asked another member of staff to help the customer or take another till while they helped her OR directed her to customer services in the store to help if no-one else was available. But by no means were the people waiting rude, and I bet ALL of them were very glad you broke 'British queue waiting etiquette' by saying something to the lady!

@Fahhgedaboutit

Please please please tell me you won’t be doing the below 🤣🤣🤣

Please repeat after me 'I and my life and my children are not more important to a stranger than their own needs'**

Sorry. My misunderstanding.

Tbf the woman didn’t know op was having to do the school run - probably had no idea about who was waiting behind her.

This is just one of those things that happens every single day of our lives. Neither is “wrong” and op has probably moved on - until the next time.

Jesus you sound like an absolute ball to be around 🙄

In this case the strangers “needs” were to pay for the fuel they’d filled up - they did not “need” to hold everyone else when they Fanny’s around trying to download an app to collect loyalty points 🙄 let’s not get want mixed up with need here

this was in response to @Beinpeace not sure why it didn’t quote the post first time around 🙄

Must be nice to think so perfectly of yourself. I still think it's selfish and unreasonable to expect complete strangers to telepathically understand your urgency with your kids!

No you were not BU. Also I thought you weren't allowed to use a mobile phone in the vicinity of a petrol station.

People are being hard on the cashier. It's not a well paid job and it sounds like the lady at the front was impervious to social norms or being asked politely to step aside.

This. The cashier did ask her to step aside and do it on her own time and the lady 'insisted' - aka refused to shift . Some people won't shift unless you're sharp with them and then they'll argue telling you they're a paying customer! And hold everything up longer and then likely lodge a complaint against you for being rude. Or ignore them and they'll make a scene, hold everything up a bit more and complain.

They simply don't care about other people in these situations , even if they're also a paying customer, it's a bit shit to hold the cashier responsible for the actions of someone else who when asked by the cashier, refused to move anyway. The woman is responsible for her own behaviour, not the cashier.

Sorry, you’re bonkers. How long is it acceptable to wait for someone to complete their transaction? Op waited 10 mins- is 20 mins acceptable, 30mins? Step aside while you work the technology out- that’s the polite & considerate thing to do!

Miserable old bat; don’t worry about it; I doubt she thought that much about it after she climbed aboard her broomstick & flew off home x

Op wasnt rude. To ask someone after 10 minutes, if she could step aside was perfectly reasonable! Anyone with an ounce of awareness wouldn't have held up the queue, she was being absolutely selfish!