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 ?

its fine OP, there was a possibility you queued to be told “no currency” . No one was going to queue and be told “ no you can’t send your parcel”. it’s just not the same .

I get that, but on the other side of the coin as a customer it’s quite annoying when the only member of staff around is the one serving a massive queue. If you have a question along the lines of ‘am I in the right place for…?’ it creates a dilemma.

I said possibly go look. "Laughable" is a bit much.

I would have done exactly the same op. Really can't see the problem.

I would do the same. Ive been in post office queues before that involve an hour of waiting - to find they don't have the currency anyway ! Besides which it was a simple yes or no question that would have taken no more than 5 seconds. Although you may have been able to look up the answer online and saved the hassle.

I don't think this was rude and it wouldn't have bothered me at all. You didn't jump the queue, you just checked you were queueing for the thing you needed! Can't understand how logic would not prevail for most people on this. Nobody queued any longer, nobody jumped ahead, and the OP didn't queue unnecessarily.

I have done something similar myself and have seen other people do it. You were not carrying out a trans1action. Just a simple question and answer which likely took less than 20 seconds

What ever has happened to our society. I wouldn't have been put out by this. Of course the staff know what currency they have. It's their job to know. They would also know roughly how much they could exchange. Stop being so mean spirited. It was a quick enquiry, not a queue jump at all.

I voted ynbu but actually other people have pointed out that staff probably wouldn’t have known the answer to your question anyway, or would had taken time to check which would delay others getting served.
i think what you did was reasonable in itself, but not with that question.

Absolutely not unreasonable. Stood there for ages and they might not even have what you need! It’s not like you wanted serving, you’re asking a question in case you might not need to clog up the queue! The woman was a twat, I’d have told her shut her mouth!

You were just checking for heavens sake what is peoples problem? Yes it is perfectly fine to check that they have what you intend to queue for.

have were.
No, OP, you weren't rude.

Not sure if this is a real post or just scam one to infuriate to get people's attention and traffic on to this site

Anyway, you sound rude, pushy, ignorant and a very entitled person.

The only people l would let in front of me at a Post Office would be people with special needs or their children

And people in pain with obvious walking/joint or health,issues on crutches.

You need to get a crash course in courtesy and manners.

The world does not just revolve around you and only you.

Id say maybe you were rude pushing in but some days you just have to do you.
I totally understand what you were doing and why not.... some people love queuing!!

But they did know, so it was fine. And if it was a q they didn't know and would need to check, that's when they say, would need to check so best queue.

Bloody hell, you must go through life with a permanent cats bum face. She asked a question with a one second answer rather than waiting, possibly pointlessly, for thirty minutes. Do you honestly, really, hand on heart, think that is rude, entitled, pushy and ignorant? Do you ever let someone with a single item go ahead in a supermarket? Or through a door first? I hate the idea that giving anyone an inch is completely unacceptable. No wonder the world feels like such a hostile place 🙁

What an exaggerated response!

I would have done the same. You’d get to the front and guaranteed they wouldn’t have it.

Our post office has a completely separate desk for currency… if it’s not busy she’ll move across & call people one at a time from the pos office queue.. but it seems people wanting currency take priority as the second someone goes to that desk she finishes the customer she’s serving and pops back over to the currency kiosk.
My bank doesn’t charge for cash withdrawals abroad so I never take money abroad and draw it out there though !

I couldn’t give this a second thought & would just ignore the shouty woman and enjoy your holiday!

OP MIGHT have been rude in asking the question - it is hard to tell really as it depends how it was done. However, the person behind the counter was DEFINITELY rude in their response.
I have "jumped" a queue to ask something like this a couple of times, usually wait for the current person to finish being served and then apologise etc. to show that I know it might be a bit "cheeky". If someone "barked" at me in response I would find that unnecessarily rude, but if someone firmly told me they couldn't answer my question and I needed to join the back of the queue I would accept that.

It wouldn't have bothered me but we use cards, Revolut and HSBC global money. It makes short notice money transfer so much easier and you can use the cards to withdraw abroad, commission free if you need actual cash. The biggest advantage is being able to transfer money onto them quickly from anywhere with online banking, even in the car or a foreign supermarket.

I don’t think you was necessarily wrong but I would have been cheesed off if you just went and asked without saying anything to the next in line person

What I do is ask the person next in the queue very politely if it’s ok to just quickly ask before joining the main queue and so far so good no one has said no. On occasion there will be someone sitting at the till but closed or a staff member floating around in the back not serving customers so I will call their attention and ask them.. again very politely and it’s not been a problem so far so good.

I did something similar the other day. I had a parcel that I literally just needed to drop off. It was all paid for etc., I just couldn't fit it in a post box. I only had ten minutes, the queue was massive and it seemed ridiculous to wait. So I just hovered by the counter and gave it to them between customers. I felt a bit cheeky, but honestly, why should I queue when I've gone to the effort or sorting out the payment etc online anyway?Defeats the object somewhat! And why are the queues always so long anyway?

You were totally reasonable to ask the question beforehand, I feel.

Just imagine how irate the OP would be if the cashier had said, yes, we have Euros, so she waited and when she got to the front of the queue, the cashier checked and found they had none left as the other cashier had sold them, or they'd been allocated to an online order, or a customer in front had taken what they had left!!

So you didn't want a receipt, didn't wait for them to check the weight etc?? You just left it on the counter in the expectation that the cashier would get around to processing it, scanning it, etc., when there was no queue??