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 wouldn't have dared. But then I am a nervous wreck when I go in shops or Post Office. Terrified of upsetting other customers by stepping out of line.
I think it comes from when I was a teenager buying sweets in a newsagents.
The man in front of me was still deciding what he wanted and said to me, "You can go first. I'm still choosing".
I thanked him and put my items on the check out.
The woman working there shouted "He was before you! How rude to push in like that!".
The customer said "It's fine. I offered to let her go first", but by that time I had left my sweets on the desk and was out the door.
It sounds so small and insignificant but it's stayed with me and made me anxious about shop etiquette.
Should add that I also have autism.

I’ve worked in retail. It didn’t bother me at all so long as they were polite about it. There’s no benefit to people waiting in the queue, taking up space and making it look even longer than it actually is if their question can be answered in seconds.

I used to work in retail as well. Wouldn't have bothered me either. Its a no brainer

Well I’d say that having people unnecessarily taking up space and blocking aisles is rather foolish.

Excellent trolling but no one took the bait!

Anyway who the hell takes currency with them? I’m Just back from 5 countries across four continents and never needed a single bit of cash.

assume there are 20 people in the queue. OP comes waltzing up to the front to ask her question. And everyone is "aw, poor OP not organised enough and doesn't want to wait, fairy nuff"

Then 10 other people in the queue think "but i only have a quick question too" so they, one after the other barge to the front to ask their question.

Are they all right too?

It can be helpful to have both and some countries cash is still more common than card. Germany for one.

nope, i'm in Germany and i nearly never (as in - only to go to the loo or to give to the homeless guy in our town) use cash.

Have to agree. I don’t think there’s a great deal between a currency availability question, and a query about Christmas arrangements re posting to the USA, Russia, and Ireland.
It’s still a lack of basic manners in my book.
That queue may be ten pensioners each with a question like OP’s rather than a stamp purchase in mind, but elbowing ahead on the basis that their enquiry was to save them wasting their time in a queue would, I hope, not be the common attitude.
It’s not a question of this specific enquiry’s being a quickie anyway, it’s about whether or not one exists in a solipsistic bubble, and regards one’s own priorities as automatically acceptable to everyone else.

Don't you give tips?

@crisikrinkleswhy not get cash from a cash machine on arrival if you need cash in the country you're going to?

It might depend where you are in Germany but it’s stlll very common there and preferred and it was last time that I was there(Summer 2023). It might be changing now but they’ve been slower to switch cash than many other countries like Sweden.

I like the system you get in most banks where you join a single queue, but a member of staff checks what you need while you are queuing. The post office could do with something like this

i take cash to usa for tips

What you should have done is phone the local PO and asked the question - ours at least usually DO answer the phone - then travelled there only if they had it.

but you'd be mad to wait 30 minutes in a post office queue for euros instead of getting them from a cadh machine in Germany.The only reason to do that is if you don't have a credit or visa/ MasterCard debit card, which applies to very few adults capable of independent travel.

Isn’t that going to take up as much time from other customers in the queue as someone is going to have to answer her regardless of whether she calls or asks in person?

banks???????? you still have banks??????

No totally fine and logical thing to do.

How could "yes be the answer" when the question was "Do you stock this currency or does it need to be ordered"

This was what I was going to say too. The people in the queue don’t know how quick your question is going to be so will just get rattled. POs almost always have massive queues so you should really have anticipated and called ahead. I would have been annoyed at the back and would assume the teller had told you to piss off rather than given you a quick yes 😆

Same equivalent, but anonymous.

You were borderline rude, but the woman who shouted at you was very rude.

Very British problems.

They probably wouldn't know without checking, which will stop them serving and who knows how many other people in the queue needed currency, it might still be all gone when they got to the front of the queue. If everyone has a quick question there will need to be a queue for quick questions too and one question often leads to another, when will you be getting more? Do they have it down the road? What's the exchange rate?