To think some people live entirely in their own world

[kennyphillipswrongnumber]

I was at the supermarket today, and the woman in front (early 30s at a guess, pregnant with two children) held up the entire queue for over 10 minutes as one card was rejected, then another, and then she took a phone call (?! but I guess maybe to the bank to confirm it was her) then had to download an app and eventually paid. I felt sorry for her, and if her shopping had been under £20 I'd have offered to pay for her, but she was doing a big shop.

Twenty minutes later, we're both in the shop next door, and - yay - I'm behind the same woman in the queue again. EXACTLY the same thing happened (minus the phone call) - one card was rejected, then another, then she needed to do something on her phone to get it to work. At least in this store, eventually the cashier asked her to step to one side while he dealt with the backlog of 5-6 customers who'd built up behind her in that time.

What on earth was she thinking? I totally understand how some people have cards that are maxed out, but surely she should understand that if it was maxed out in one shop, it would be in the next. (Unless it's some sort of fraud that I don't understand.) I was hot, sweaty and bothered - mostly because my parking was about to expire - but also felt really sorry for her kids, as everyone was staring at her.

Poor woman
Not only did she have the humiliation of everybody staring at her and her children whilst pregnant and clearly struggling with money - somebody like you feels the need to start a thread about it. So everybody else can read about her misfortune.

You're clearly in your own world, as all you cared about is your parking.

Bravo!

Well, there's an element of truth in there - I was absolutely less patient than I would normally have been as I didn't fancy adding a £100 fine to the delightful shopping trip.

And I had a lot of sympathy for her in the first shop - but couldn't work out (and perhaps there's a genuine reason) why you would go through the exact same process hoping for a different outcome second time around.

Her children were beautifully behaved throughout - not that that's relevant particularly, but they were nice kids.

I'm not sure she's the person living entirely in their own world here! 🤔

Maybe she was on fantasy island it's quite common on Mn too,. Nevertheless why start a thread about someone who is obviously having great difficulties.

I also don't understand the expression you live entirely in your own world.

Of course, I do, who else this world am I living in. I can only live in my world.

Fair enough - though the chances of her recognising herself are teeny tiny as I have altered a few details.

I suppose I was interested from a banking perspective if there was something she could be doing from a fraud perspective (e.g. is there some way cards could be cancelled on one system, but not on another?), because it seemed batshit behaviour to me to expect a different result from the same repeated action. She didn't seem at all flustered or bothered when asked to step aside. And as I said, if her first shop had been under £20 I'd have offered to sub her.

In a way, trying her luck with fraud is less batshit than trying the same dead card over and over!

See i’d see this and be grateful it wasn’t me then get on with my day.

Imagine she’s on mumsnet and sees this :(

Was it also a Big Shop at the second shop?

…you know my exh used to rush me at desks etc when there was a queue, even when I was trying to sort something or get more information, it really used to piss me off! It was my turn ffs ! They can wait for their turn like I did for mine! Sorry but I think YABU! You don’t have to stay in the queue if you’re parking is up then you leave!

No - she was buying (not exactly but similar) 12 tins of evaporated milk. I was also a couple of people behind her at this till, so not in a position to offer to help. Also, admittedly by this point my sympathy had run thin.

OP I get you. I try and put myself in the same position and I would imagine I would glance up and apologise to the people in holding up but some people just don’t seem bothered…

Its not about picking on someone just a general observation that some people really are not that all bothered about the people around them.

• Maybe she forgot her PIN
• Maybe it was a new card and she hadn't activated it
• Maybe she got a new PIN but hadn't activated it
• Maybe she reached her contactless limit and hadn't reset it
• Maybe she froze her card and forgot to unfreeze it on the app
• Maybe she was waiting on an overdraft increase or a loan transfer but they hadn't been activated

Fraudsters don't typically hang around when their fraud attempts fail and try again repeatedly...they are far more likely to operate on a quick and easy wins basis.