Page 2 | Queue-jumpery at it's finest

FluentRubyDog · 2024-05-15T10:46:03+00:00

So I'm in the hospital cafe for a desperately needed cup of coffee. Long queue, c section scar a murder (been here a while due to a NICU stay). This woman I have never met before comes up to me, so down ⅔ of a queue and asks me if I could shout her across a busy, large cafe when I'm next to be served, because SHE DOESN'T WANT TO STAND IN A QUEUE?!?! She didn't look ill or disabled at all (of course you can't always tell) but there were people in wheelchairs and visibly unwell who still didn't think it beneath them to queue. I just said: "Sorry, I just don't feel comfortable with that" but seriously...

NannaKaren · 20/05/2024 22:51

RubberyChicken · 20/05/2024 14:50

I'd just shout 'Oy Holly, get to the back of the queue'

Good one 👍😂

LadyMarguerite · 21/05/2024 07:35

I regularly receive treatment for an eye condition at hospital,it is uncomfortable and I can't see well between the stages of the treatment.I have to go alone ,I am 82.When I leave the treatment room it is hard to find a seat,they are mostly taken by people accompanying patients.Rarely do the meeters and greeters give up their seat to an actual patient.Last time I decided to ask someone to move the coats on the seat next to them so I could sit down to recover.This was done with bad grace.What was I supposed to do ?

T1Dmama · 21/05/2024 08:29

StormingNorman · 19/05/2024 15:19

I have a condition that makes standing still very uncomfortable due to muscle weakness so queues are torture. I normally end up leaning against the counter or whatever to take the pressure off. I don’t look like there’s anything wrong with me…well until I start swaying and slumping like a loon.

So surely you’d grab a chair and join the queue at the back…. Or ask the person at the back of the queue to call you when they get near the front? Not just expect some one who has already been stood in the queue with several behind them to just call you when they’re at the front?!

Gardengirl108 · 21/05/2024 08:29

Was once in H&M in a long queue, with my son in his buggy, a woman brazingly jumped the queue in front of me. When I politely told her there was a queue and it’s behind me, she looked at the buggy and said ‘but you’ve got all day’. Err, no I haven’t - get to the back of queue!

mondaytosunday · 21/05/2024 08:58

@Lochroy if someone came up to me and said that I'd think they were in trouble and needed support. But I suppose there'd be better people to approach at a race meet if that was the case.

Stormyweathr · 21/05/2024 09:15

StormingNorman · 19/05/2024 15:19

I have a condition that makes standing still very uncomfortable due to muscle weakness so queues are torture. I normally end up leaning against the counter or whatever to take the pressure off. I don’t look like there’s anything wrong with me…well until I start swaying and slumping like a loon.

i am the same I once had a lady behind me huffing and puffing and loudly shouting about how impatient I was. she would of soon changed her tune when I fainted

Billben · 21/05/2024 09:36

All the people on this thread talking about their condition that affects them being able to stand and queue. So what? 🙄
You can still wait your turns by asking the person in front of you to give you a shout. Not somebody else halfway down the line.

Ereyraa · 21/05/2024 09:50

Billben · 21/05/2024 09:36

All the people on this thread talking about their condition that affects them being able to stand and queue. So what? 🙄
You can still wait your turns by asking the person in front of you to give you a shout. Not somebody else halfway down the line.

And expecting people to be clairvoyant at the same time

MermaidMummy06 · 21/05/2024 10:14

It happens to me all the time. I'm petite and look like an easy mark. I'm not.

Last year at a carnival DD (was 7) really wanted go on a bungee trampoline. The queue was long but I'd promised she could pick a ride. Right near the front, the family in front of me had friends stop to chat. I watched as the father slowly edged his DD towards the family in the queue. I locked eyes with him and said cheerily 'it's ok DD, nearly there! Only THREE kids in front of you' (not including cf's kid). Suddenly they were all fussing & telling us all to go first. It was so sneaky!!

It's constant, though. It's like people think I won't cause a fuss. I'm well versed at saying 'oh, the end of the queue is back there' and stepping forward.

aodirjjd · 21/05/2024 10:14

Given you were at a hospital I think saying she looked well is a bit silly. She could have been really poorly or just a visitor. No way to tell.

I would have said the same as you but equally I wouldn’t have dwelled on it given you were in a hospital. People aren’t behaving or thinking normally when they’re in hospital. She could be a cheeky fucker or she could be under immense stress /shock/pain and not thinking straight.

StormingNorman · 21/05/2024 11:44

T1Dmama · 21/05/2024 08:29

So surely you’d grab a chair and join the queue at the back…. Or ask the person at the back of the queue to call you when they get near the front? Not just expect some one who has already been stood in the queue with several behind them to just call you when they’re at the front?!

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I wouldn’t sit in a chair in a queue 😂 And what, drag it along every time to queue moves. I would join the queue like anyone else would. If it was particularly bad, I’d mention to the person behind me that I’m still in the queue just watching from my table.

pinkstripeycat · 21/05/2024 15:42

We were in a huge water park in France. We had been queuing for one slide for about 20mins.

Woman with 3 kids tried to join the queue by talking to her friend who was in front of us. Life guard manning the queue waited until she got to the front and told her to go to the back as she’d pushed in. Queue as even longer by this time. She tried to say she’d hadn’t pushed in, then she tried to get him to let her kids in without her and then she said they didn’t want the slide anyway and marched off with the kids saying “we do want to go on mummy, we do.”

She was so mad.

FlipFlop1987 · 21/05/2024 17:08

Stormyweathr · 18/05/2024 22:31

i have a illness were I faint when I stand up
I look like a normal healthy person so you can’t really judge that

saying that if I felt too ill to stand in a queue I would sit down and wait till the queue went or leave, so I suppose this is not about the lady having a disability or illness more the fact that the lady simply wanted to queue jump (illness or no illness)

Fellow POTS sufferer (and EDS), I despise queues. People must think I’m so impatient but I genuinely feel ill!😷

FlipFlop1987 · 21/05/2024 17:08

100% YANBU never seen one before! 👍🏻

Stormyweathr · 21/05/2024 21:49

FlipFlop1987 · 21/05/2024 17:08

Fellow POTS sufferer (and EDS), I despise queues. People must think I’m so impatient but I genuinely feel ill!😷

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Exactly what I have I have been called impatient before now when I am dancing about in a queue hoping from leg to leg before I sit on the floor 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ i feel your pain

MissingMoominMamma · 22/05/2024 08:50

MermaidMummy06 · 21/05/2024 10:14

It happens to me all the time. I'm petite and look like an easy mark. I'm not.

Last year at a carnival DD (was 7) really wanted go on a bungee trampoline. The queue was long but I'd promised she could pick a ride. Right near the front, the family in front of me had friends stop to chat. I watched as the father slowly edged his DD towards the family in the queue. I locked eyes with him and said cheerily 'it's ok DD, nearly there! Only THREE kids in front of you' (not including cf's kid). Suddenly they were all fussing & telling us all to go first. It was so sneaky!!

It's constant, though. It's like people think I won't cause a fuss. I'm well versed at saying 'oh, the end of the queue is back there' and stepping forward.

I think that’s probably because the friends wanted to go on together, rather than him just wanting to jump the queue.

Hoppinggreen · 22/05/2024 08:59

If you were at the end of the Q I think it would be fair enough but not in the middle of it.
I did similar once in M&S Cafe when I was very pg, poorly and couldn't stand for long . I asked the person behind me If they would mind if I sat nearby and then came up when they were near the front, which I think is reasonable

Coaltodiamonds · 22/05/2024 09:05

I used to work in a bank years ago when it was full 6 counter positions open at all times. Saturday mornings were particularly hectic and the queue was often say 20 people long. We had one woman who used to walk in, hover near the start of the queue closest to the counters, and then as soon as a cashier became free dart in front of the person whose actual turn it was and head to the counter.

We were all wise to her and refused to serve her and told her to go to the back of the queue and wait her turn. She used to get all outraged and say in a posh voice 'but I don't like queueing'. She was never successful but still did it every week, we used to make a game out of it (look sharp there's Mrs T again, keep an eye on her).

MermaidMummy06 · 22/05/2024 09:20

MissingMoominMamma · 22/05/2024 08:50

I think that’s probably because the friends wanted to go on together, rather than him just wanting to jump the queue.

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That's a kind thought. But nope. It was a bungee trampoline thing, no chance of interacting with the other jumpers. The kids were little and didn't even speak to each other so not really excited friends.

The dad kept side-eyeing me to see if I'd noticed as he maneuvered his child by her shoulders, slowly, while 'chatting'. It was only when the family in front actually accepted the child into the line with theirs and the pushy parents made to slink off quietly that I called them out on it by commenting on how many kids were in front of DD, that they realised they were busted & were all suddenly embarrassed.

Either way, it's moot. I don't care their reasoning. We'd been waiting 45 minutes. Zero chance we were waiting any longer for CF's who wanted to push in. The family in front were more than welcome to go to the back of the line with their friends if they wanted to stay with them.

TheTartfulLodger · 22/05/2024 09:26

'press the hash key for a call back when it's your turn in the queue '...

GerbilsForever24 · 22/05/2024 09:32

On a lighter note, DH and I were in the immigration queue at JFK many years ago. One of those long snakey queues with barriers to keep everyone in. The turns were pretty regular ie if there wasn't a queue and you were just walking you'd probably walk for about 10m, then do the 180 turn and repeat.

We were completely dazzled by the woman who used each turn to jump ahead by a few people. She was tiny and basically, as she got to the corner, she'd just slip past and ahead by cutting the corner off, skipping 1 or 2 people/couples at a time. She started near us but finished a good 10 turns ahead. It got to the point that the two of us were actually cheering her on as she sidled her way to the front. We still laugh about it today and refer to her "active queuing" whenever we want a laugh.