AIBU to think it is rude to start putting stuff on the conveyor belt......

[JobStresserxo]

at the supermarket before the customer in front has finished loading their shopping?
Happened several times to me just recently. This morning, I had to ask the customer behind me to allow me more room on the conveyor belt as she hadn't left enough space for me to get my shopping on.

Yes it's rude if you haven't finished or are nearly finished. I too love the checkout at Aldi and Lidl and take it as a challenge, with strategic planning of how I put items on the belt, in packing order.

Same here! I was in Sainsbury's with my dd a few weeks ago. She was behind me in her wheelchair at the till whilst I was putting things on and there was a woman behind us with one of those box shaped shopping trolleys. Anyway, she was putting her shopping on the conveyor and kept bumping my dd in her chair. I didn't know this until afterwards, but I did see she was being a bit pushy, but after I had packed my shopping and went to pay she was right there where the card reader was. I looked at her and told her I haven't finished yet. She moved back quite quickly. I think I may have had my angry face on. Had I known she was bumping into my dd, words would have been said earlier.

This has reminded me of shopping in Lidl recently, only I had it the other way round. Nice couple in front of me had loaded a few bits onto the belt and then watched them sail all the way down to the front whilst remaining standing exactly where they were. So most of the belt was now empty but they were standing in the way and I couldn’t reach it.

I took the pack of loo rolls out of my trolley and sort of lightly threw them onto the belt. Only they went absolutely flying down the belt and bumped into the divider the other end. I just had to stand there and say whoops, that went a bit faster than I thought it would!

They did move though and then I could load the rest of my shopping.

I am not so sure.

I work in a supermarket in the Uk....it very much DOES happen. Worse at Xmas when one will "bagsy" a place in the queue and the other one will carry on shopping, woefully underestimating how long they are taking to "just grab a few bits" so the OH, me and the rest of the queue are all getting more and more pissed off until they finally return in blissful ignorance of the amount of people are ready for their blood. Never seen a full on row about it, but it wouldnt be a surprise to see it.

I never do a big shop as I am always going home by bus and need to carefully assess how much I have to carry, but this thing of the twit behind unloading before I have finished has happened a few times and it puzzled me. It feels aggressive.

I did recently have a man come and stand alongside me at a self-pay checkout, very much in my space. I ignored him. But next time I shall ask 'can I help you?' And go very slowly.

Strategy seems to be the answer. As others have said, the positioning of the trolley at the space invader's end seems to be key, with yourself near the cashier and use the non-moving metal bit yourself so the space invaders can't. If the next person only has a basket, maybe risk leaving it unoccupied as a courtesy, though. Baskets can be heavy. And police those 'next customer' dividers - keep them beyond the space invaders' reach until you are ready.

This.

I've never had this issue. Why would anyone not shop this way?

I'm tired and read that as putting staff on the conveyor belt. 😂😂😂 I can say both are rude!

that happened to me, once, unbelievable, stupid man, putting his shopping down before i had even finished

'I've not even paid yet.....unless you're offering to pay for me of course' might just do the trick? People too close to the card machine/till are even more obnoxious than pushy loaders IMHO.

I love it too 😂
I open up all my Bags For Life, have my card ready to pay & then it's a one on one battle between me and the checkout operator over who can go fastest.
They always assume I will have to defer to shoving items willy nilly in the trolley and go even faster to cause a flustering build up.
They don't know me 😎

Why do people not realise that the belt moves so the divider moves, which is when the person behind pounces?

But that only works if you do need more room. Not if they have left enough space.

So as I would have left you enough room, I would reply "Certainly, lets see how you get on and if you need more room I will move my stuff then".

And if you then loaded the belt inefficiently, spreading your stuff far and wide to make your petulant point, I would also enjoy giving you a very polite lesson in how to pack a conveyor belt - see if you move your lettuce so it is next to your cucumber then you will have plenty of room. And try not to have the cucumber on the diagonal, and why not place your bag of popcorn on your large bag of crisps, and those cans of tomatoes could be stood up neatly and loo at the space that saves.

So you see, both of us can use our words and be strong.

Luckily I've never had to be assert myself and be strong, because I've managed to get through life without ever falling out with someone at the supermarket. But then I'm not a wannabe Alpha female who likes to go around picking unnecessary fights and causing unnecessary arguments.

I always stand at the very end of the conveyor belt to offload my shopping, with the trolley behind me lengthways so the customer behind can't get near it until I've finished unloading.
Give that a try. It works for me.

Witnessed a right old ding dong in Aldi once. Couple A were unloading a mountain of shopping onto the belt. Couple B behind started adding their Ben Nevis worth of shopping on, leaving A no space, with enough to feed an army still in the trolley.. When husband A remonstrated, husband B was kind of shruggy and "well it's done, so tough." Husband A just swept the shopping off of the belt back into B's trolley. Husband B wanted to argue but Husband A was bigger and looked monumentally pissed. Wife A look ed like she was ready to weaponise the fish fingers and wife B looked like she just wanted to hide in the freezers.

I almost opened a bag of popcorn while watching this unfold.

Very annoying and I stopped going to Aldi as found the shop far too stressful and everyone always in a mad panic. Why they do not have self check-outs where ours is is ridiculous or a special counter for say 10 items or less. They rush you through and feel pressurized to be on superfast mode and hard at moment as have thyroid issue so not at my fastest. Always the unreal bright lights in there blind me so started going to lidl and it is far nicer, cleaner, cheaper and the checkout staff so friendly and nice compared to Aldi. Fruit always fresher also. People are rude who push up behind you anyway. I will always let someone go in front of me if they only have a few items. If someone is looking like they want me to hurry up faster I kill them with kindness and then they are kind of shocked so shuts them up.

I usually just put the separator as far back as I can then put everything on quickly

Giggling now at the idea of idea of one of these 'my time is more important than your time' types not only starting to unload their trolley early, but also taking it on themself to decide how much space I'm going to need, and critiquing the way I place my stuff!

Hilarious.

Kittensat33 that is so funny... wrestling in the aisles.. I was once at the checkout and a whole 2 lt of milk exploded all over the place, ended up all over the walls etc, was crazy..

I just stay at the end of conveyor when putting my shopping on it so there's no room for the person behind me to start loading up. Yes, it leaves maybe a foot or two of empty conveyor space closest to the cashier, but that just takes a couple of seconds to move when they're ready. No need at all to put the divider right behind the shopping of the person in front. By staying at the end of the conveyor, the person behind can't reach past you to start putting stuff on the conveyor. If what the OP describes is happening too often, then the OP is going too far forward themselves, and probably annoying the person in front of them by being too close. There's plenty of time to unload whilst the person in front is packing/paying, etc., and crowding each other won't make the cashier go faster.

Yes, put the divider right on the end of the conveyor and start loading it from the back forward, rather than starting closest to the cashier and working backwards.

That would only work if you waited until the entire length of the belt (or a substantial length of it) was clear before you started to load. I begin to load as soon as space is clear, starting with heavy things that will go back in the basket without bags, then raw meat, then items not at risk if the meat leaks, then stuff that needs refrigeration, and eventually ending with crushable fruit and veg.

None of which I'm going to squeeze in order to facilitate an entitled oaf. Stand in front to the trolley, use it to block the oafs. It works for me.

I have my bags ready and open and my card to hand, always pay as soon as the cashier has scanned everything, and usually manage to have all my stuff packed and back in the trolley before the receipt prints out.

As I've said, I enjoy the faff-free efficiency of Lidl and Aldi.

But woe betide encroaching oafs.

When that happens you have to utilise the metal non moving end bit of the conveyor to put crushable things on while you load the heavier things onto the conveyor - that way you're taking up the entire conveyor space and signalling that you need more room by using your crushable items as a "placeholder" on the end so anybody trying to add their stuff would have to start putting theirs down in the middle of your shopping (between the stuff on the belt and the stuff on the end) which you can easily stop by saying "excuse me, why are you unpacking into the middle of my shopping?"

I was doing a big shop in Morrisons once and the person behind me decided they were in a massive hurry (also a big shop). So they put the divider down and started unloading, but I’d only put down about half my stuff.
So when the cashier was putting my stuff through it through I handed her every item in my trolley very slowly. Cashier and I were having a giggle whilst person behind was having a haemorrhage. Idiot.