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 ?

Not something I'd have done but something I wish I had the balls to do.

But they didn't do any of that. You literally just made that up. She was answered in one word and went and joined the queue. And had it been necessary to check I'd assume the cashier would say sorry, you'll have to join the queue and I'll check for you then. Why make up scenarios that are directly contrary to what the op has actually explained happened?

I think if I wanted to do that I would just say ‘would you mind if I just ask a quick question?’ to those queuing. If I was in the queue and someone just walked to the front without saying anything I would think it was rude.

Exactly. The rudeness, in my view, was an apparent disregard for those in the queue and a quick " do you mind if I just ask a quick question" to the next in line would have made all the difference.

That was completely unnecessary.

Queues are important and it is about fairness when someone queue jumps. I think there are circumstances where it is ok/reasonable, like an emergency issue but they are rare.

My story is I queue jumped at the airport in Italy once as we were in a minor accident on the way to the airport , v running late and the rest of our party who came separately were at the front of a very long queue, so we went up to our party in a daze, a bit in shock due to all that had happened. The queue was a mixture of brits and Italians. Some Italian men shouted at us and told us off, I tried to explain and they yelled some more and I burst in to tears. The Brits stayed quiet. A group of Italian women all walloped the yellers with their handbags. The handbagging cheered me up a little.

I feel OP was appropriate in this case though....I wouldn't mind giving up a few seconds of my time to ask a question if it meant she didn't have to waste 30 mins of her time unnecessarily. I wouldn't have felt inconvenienced.....but I guess we all have a different take on things

If you don't mind me saying, it seems to me that you are missing the point. The impression I get (perhaps I've missed something) is that OP simply went to the front and ask the question of the post officer worker. There is no suggestion, that I could see, that OP spoke to anyone in the queue which, IMHO, is the rude bit. It's as though those in the queue just didn't matter. On the other hand, having the grace to speak to the next in line and just asking if they minded OP just asking a quick question would have demonstrated a degree of humility and regard for those queuing and, I can't help thinking, it would not have been a problem.

There is something massively and hilariously British about this thread. 14 pages over an interaction lasting seconds. Heartfelt, lengthy posts about appropriate etiquette and perceived rudeness over if she should have asked the front person. It was literally seconds. I doubt I would even have noticed!

Yes it was only an extremely short & simple, quick question to respond to in a moment 💚Original commenter wasn't being uncompassionate when you consider this & if original commenter was a thoughtless or selfish person she wouldn't have bothered checking here
She's obviously got a good kind caring conscience to be asking 💚

Perhaps you wouldn't have noticed but from the original post, some people did and were clearly unhappy by OP's actions. If OP didn't think she was in the wrong, albeit retrospectively, she wouldn't have posted in the first place asking the question imo.

Yes fine, but the general point I was making is that this is such a genuinely tiny, weeny, infinitesimally small thing to even notice, let alone pull someone up on or write some of the vitriolic criticism of the OP that's been put on here. Clearly queue etiquette is a massive deal.in the UK..we all know this. The OP, I think, is only asking because someone objected at the time, not because she later reflected that she may have been wrong. Anyway, point being, people have extrapolated from what actually happened to all sorts of nonsense scenarios and different situations which have zero bearing on the OP. It's clearly something close to peoples' hearts.

Yes immensely well commented & completely concur with you sincere soul 💚

@Pawparazzi - people like me, who aren't clever enough to use a pun for their by-line...

Currency is a service they provide but any individual kiosk may or may not atcahy given time have the exact one you need o googling wouldn't help. Also amused by the people suggesting the op ring....how often these days can you ring a number and get someone in the actual branch pick up a phone and be able to help you? It's all Central call centres and chat bots now. A few seconds of human interaction can usually sort most problems far more quickly.

I have done what you did OP and when others have done it when I’m in the queue I have sometimes been annoyed and sometimes not. Normally dependent on how long I’ve been waiting, whether I am already late for something else, and how many people have held the line up saying they just want to ask a quick question but actually needing a conversation or trying to get hold of something.

I would have done exactly the same. What a NARK, don't even think about it, petty woman.

But that’s not the point. I don’t mind at all if someone wants to do that but it is not acknowledging the presence of others who are queuing which I find disrespectful. A ‘do you mind I would just like to ask a quick question’ is polite.

Funnily enough there was a piece in the paper today about research that was done into exactly this and how what we say makes a difference to the reaction other people queuing.

I actually think this was fine, there was no point t you wasting your and other people’s time if they didn’t have what you needed, your question wouldn’t have delayed anyone else.

Don't think I've "bought currency" for many years. Just get a fee-free card like Clarity

Just a thought ... While queuing in the branch, could you not have called the branch and checked? That way, if the answer was no, you could leave and if the answer was yes, you'd know that your wait was not going to be in vain.

But would you have done had the boot been on the other foot and you were at the back of the queue when someone went straight to front? I suspect not. Interestingly, having met some (female) friends for coffee this morning, I outlined this particular issue. Funnily enough, the others thought it was out of order but had the person asked if they minded, just for a quick question, they thought that was different. Indeed, one of them said when I described the issue "oh, you mean the "entitled person" who goes to the front of the queue with the misapprehension that queueing is for other people, not them?". Not scientific I know and perhaps it's just an age thing ..........

I wonder who would answer the phone. If they had a spare member of staff hanging around to answer the phone a)I’ll eat my hat and b)they’d be helping to serve the long queue so interrupting them wouldn’t be any different from what OP did, which btw I think was fine.

You do you, too....it's not about being a pushover...I'm not a pushover.....it's about not being uptight about every single bloody second.....as long as they asked me first if I didn't mind them asking a 2 second question that could save them 20 mins then I think it makes sense