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 ?

I would have done the same - you did nothing wrong - I guess people in the queue were more irritable than normal because of the wait.

All the grumpy self important gits on here getting angry that someone might have delayed them by a few seconds! I hope next time you're stuck in a long queue the cashier closes the window just as you get there and you have to go back and join the back of the queue at the next window along 😆

If I was in the queue and you asked that wouldn’t bother me at all.

Absolutely agree. How can the staff know off the top of their heads the details required to answer OPs question. Also not fair on the member of staff to have to stop serving a customer to answer another customers question.

This is my favourite thread on MN right now.

How unkind

This is becoming more of an issue now that businesses are becoming more and more short staffed. I don’t think it was rude but likewise I can see why some people would. It was a very quick question but it did still take a moment or two I expect. I went to a cafe last week and they were seriously understaffed, I queued for 10 minutes and got a breakfast sandwich. When I bit into it one of the sausages was stone cold and the only thing I can imagine is that it fell out of the sandwich proper to heating and got chucked in the bread anyway. I wanted to take it back but when I saw the queue was still bad I felt like there’s no way I could be sorted without either queuing again or disrupting / delaying the other people queuing. Anyway, I ate it cold and I wasn’t sick but I understand your dilemma.

YANBU

You needed to know whether the queue can lead to the service you wanted.

No you weren’t unreasonable to ask a question. If they had it then you would join the queue.

I would have done the same. You weren't unreasonable

When I used to work in retail on busy days I preferred customers skipping the queue to check whether a service was available that day, rather than queuing for 20
minutes for a service that might be unavailable and then being annoyed at the huge inconvenience.

Different to those queuing to buy a product or use a service that is obviously available. It’s easy to answer a simple query while still serving another customer.

Only thing OP should have done differently is let the next person in the queue know what she was doing so it was clear she wasn’t pushing in and would queue once she knew the service was available.

I wouldn’t have minded this if I was waiting in the queue.

Just get a monzo or revolut card.

No you weren't ! I've done very similar before now! It was a quick yes or no question! It's like waiting for 20 people to be served just to ask if they had a loo there or not!

This wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. Ridiculous to wait in a 20 person queue for a 2 second question and response.

Similar to when someone is buying a single item and you let them go first as you have a whole trolley full.

I agree OP, and I would have done the same. I’m not suggesting that my time is more valuable than others, but a quick question to staff to save half an hour of pointless queuing seems reasonable. Had you jumped the queue and demanded to be served, that would have been unreasonable.

It's the classic saying: Poor planning on your part, does not constitute an emergency on mine

Why are people so selfish? Of course it's not unreasonable to ask a question, why make someone wait 30 min to be told they don't have it? It's also terribly inefficient.

I would have got my currency from a travel agents. My post office always has a massive queue and 1/2 people serving. Gives me the right rage!!!!

Because they would have had to count it all when they logged on to the till? It’s not like stock in a shop, people working with large amounts of cash very rarely share tills - it’ll be balanced first thing in the morning and then again when the till is covered by someone else for lunch. It also sounds like a less common currency so they’d definitely remember if they’d sold any in the meantime.
I would have been able to tell her exactly how many Euros, Dollars and whatever other currencies were in my till at any moment!

I would have expected them to have a rate board up though, which would be a usual indication of what currencies are stocked.

Not rude at all, sensible asking the question before wasting your time. The other lady was rude not letting you ask a quick question.

This 👆 and explained what it was that I wanted to know. You never know, someone else in the queue might have been waiting for the same thing!

If the clerk could give you a yes / no answer I would have been a little miffed but would be fairly ok. If they had to go and check or stop serving the person that would annoy me as quite a few people just need a couple of seconds of service.

Try Tesco / Sainsbury’s etc as they offer good deals amd usually no one at the counter - and open longer hours.

Anyone that would wait 30 mins of their time to find out they don’t have what you’re looking for, rather than ask quickly first deserves to be jumped in the queue by someone like the OP. What a waste of time.

Yes if more were as compassionate as you, the world would be a kinder place 💚🤗💚