Was I in the wrong to push in the queue ?

[crisikrinkles]

Went into the post office in our town.
It’s always packed and they had two serving.
I needed currency and places never normally have it without ordering.
I needed it that day as we were travelling at night (last minute I know )
There was probably 20 people in front of me.
I didn’t want to wait in the queue incase I stood there and they didn’t have it anyway.
So I went to a counter and just said “before I queue can I just check you have this currency “
A woman barked “there’s a queue !”
I explained I wasn’t pushing in,I was just checking they had something before I got to the back of the queue.
She shouted “ no you wait to ask questions “

was i in the wrong ?

Yes, you were unreasonable. Everyone in the queue was waiting to ask their question. Your problem was not more important than theirs.

That’s nonsense. Probably most people were waiting to do some transaction, buying stamps, posting parcels etc. OP had a quick question which would not affect these people.

You should of just waited. You was rude.

It's the type of thing I would have done OP.
But I must say I'm autistic and my judgement on how to behave in such situations is not necessarily the socially acceptable one.

If I was at the front I would not have minded you asking this question. Some folk have little kindness these days. It’s all about me me me!

If the counter staff had gone off to check on this question then everyone in the queue would have started shouting out their quick questions. Why wait when it's pushiest person first?

If I was waiting in the queue and someone asked that question I'd have been happy. They should be able to let you know without breaking from what they're doing.

If they couldn't they could ask you to join the queue politely by saying 'really sorry I don't know off the top of my head, if you can join the queue I can look into it for you'.

It wouldn’t have bothered me but I’d just get the money at the airport

I wouldn't have told you off, but I would have thought you were OOO.

I use the cash machines where were going to get currency, although my last few trips haven't bothered, as most places you don't need cash now.

You should have waited like everyone else why is your time more valuable than theirs? 🙁 I don't care if it was a quick question you still made others wait longer because apparently your more important than they are

Then you're paying too much.

I would have done the same. Ignore her.

I would not expect someone to wait in the queue to ask a question that would have taken seconds to answer.

Yes, you were in the wrong. You would have made everyone else wait longer by jumping the queue. It's not their problem that you were in a hurry and so disorganised you left it so late before going to sort out your currency! Plan ahead better next time and you won't need to inconvenience others!

How did she jump the queue? She asked a very quick question. She was going to join the queue afterwards if they did have the currency that she needed. She wasn’t expecting to get her money immediately.

I would’ve asked the person at the front of the queue whether I could ask a quick question before I joined the queue.

Rude, but i can understand why.

Well, did they have the currency?

If it's a currency that places often don't have then I would guess the staff didn't know off the top of their heads if they had it - in which case it's not a quick question. Even if they did, I still think this is pushing in. One of the shit things about the post office is that quite often you queue up to be told that they then don't do/ don't have what you want, but if everyone 'quickly checked' before joining the queue the place would be chaos.

Would it have taken "seconds" to answer? Would the counter clerk have known exactly what currencies they had in their safe and how much of each currency? NO! They'd have had to consult their computer and/or check the safe to see how much of your chosen currency they had. That may have meant the counter clerk clearing whatever he was doing on the till/screen to go into a different screen to check. I can't believe that a counter clerk would have it in their memory, whether they had a specific currency in stock and how much of it they had! Especially these days when fewer and fewer people bother getting foreign currencies for holidays - they'd probably not even looked at the foreign currency in the safe that day (or even the day before) and not known whether the other clerk had used whatever Euros or Dollars or whatever were in the safe last time they looked.

I think this is unfortunately an example of your disorganisation is not someone else's priority.

I wouldn't have minded if it was a very quick question but would have if the counter staff had to break stride.

There was a queue because everyone has a question and was waiting.

And please don't drip feed ADHD, plenty of us struggle with it but accept that queues and stress are part of the territory. The world doesn't bend for us.

I don't think it was rude at all and I wouldn't have been offended if you'd done this while I was in the queue.

I think this, but I also think it depends whether the person serving would have known the answer off hand, or would have had to go and check.

If the latter, you should just have got in the queue.

Was the clerk able to answer quickly off the top of their head?

I think id have tried phoning first to check
But of course it's possible the PO doesn't have a phone
I think I'd have waited in line or gone to another PO or bureau de change eg Asda