To ask for an appropriate response/reaction to pass agg queuer?

[JennyWren5]

Klaxon warning - light hearted and unimportant

I was queueing for a coach this afternoon. The guy immediately in front of me was on his phone and fiddling with his suitcase whilst the queue was moving quite quickly. I wanted to go ahead of him, but stopped as soon as I saw him move again. He then resumed playing with his phone and fiddling with his bag, and I just thought, oh stuff it, I’ll just go in front of him.

He then turned around and said, ‘Excuse me? Do we not queue up anymore?’ He then said he’d let me go ahead if it was that important to me.

I wanted the ground to swallow me up. I didn’t say anything in return, as I didn’t think I needed to, I never ever queue-jump, but he was irritating me so I did. Should I have said anything in return?

Yes for sure. If he was just standing there messing about and a big gap had opened up it was his fault if the queue started going past him.

“You didn’t look ready to board.”

Thanks. I wish I’d thought of that in time.

Thank you! That’s really reassuring. I just felt so small when he told me off. I then wanted to post on here anonymously for a second opinion, but was in two minds, because I knew it would be a pile-on 😄

I hate that. If youre busy with something, just step out of the queue and rejoin when you can move with the queue.

Should you have said anything? Yes “Oh, I am sorry-I didn’t mean to push in.” Then just wait in the queue like a civilized human being.

Surely you just ask him to move up if it matters to you. Unless everyone else was going in front of him, him leaving a gap made no difference to when you'd get on or what seat you'd get.

Absolutely not unreasonable! I’d have told him to stop fannying about then.

I would just have said oh sorry I thought you were not getting on the bus as you are more interested in your phone than what’s actually happening and slowing us all down

As I get older I am far less tolerant!

Wow.

That was exactly how I felt!

See, I’m a bolshy cow and would’ve responded “are we so entitled nowadays we expect everyone else to wait whilst we fanny around with our phone? Hurry the fuck up and get on if you don’t want people to go in front of you”.

I have absolutely no qualms about putting complete knobbers in their place.

Thanks all.

This is complete wet lettuce behaviour.

OP - HE was rude, you did nothing wrong.

Me too.

‘Excuse me? Do we not queue up anymore’
how about:
’Some of us do, but you seem to prefer to keep everyone else waiting instead’

Yes
You admitted you were being narky
Just own it instead of all the flexing that he was rude.
You pushed past,he called you out
That's all there is to it
If you thought he hadn't noticed, a lighthearted " queues going with out you "

Yes it's annoying but unreasonable to go in front. Rude

I don’t think I’m ’flexing’ thaf he was rude. He was being rude. I’ve said that I was rude and he was rude - both things are true.

You felt he wasn’t respecting your time? Your strangers in a queue for a coach. A coach that is set to depart at a set time and you were early for. He doesn’t need to respect your time. He hasn’t delayed you at all.

He wasn’t holding the coach up. You’ve said you just wanted to get a good seat. All this doubling back on yourself that he was rude when you just wanted a good seat.

If he was bothering you by being on his phone and genuinely holding up the queue, tap him on the shoulder and tell him it’s moving. You can do this politely or more abruptly depending on if he was genuinely pissing about and holding up the queue. You’ve said fiddling with his phone but that could mean anything. Most tickets are electronic now. He could have been texting whoever he was travelling to (as he has a suitcase) that he was boarding now. Or even that there was this annoying woman behind harassing him when the queue has barely moved.

He wasn’t rude. He just called out your rudeness.

He wasn't rude, but he was annoying at not keeping pace with the queue. But you were rude by British queuing standards because you did barge ahead of him. And I don't think he was particularly PA about it as he did address you directly, rather than commenting to the person behind him for example.

I've done something similar in M&S where the two women ahead of me stepped out of the queue to look at the displays at the side. I simply stepped into the gap and they were shocked and made PA comments to each other. PA remarks are irritating so I didn't budge; if either of them had said directly, "Oh sorry, we haven't left the queue really!" I would have moved back. But they didn't, so I didn't. I cared about this incident a lot more at the time than I do now, I can tell you.

I hope you were going somewhere nice!

I don’t understand how you would have got a better seat if you were in the queue though? Unless everyone behind you stated bypassing the two of you?

Surely it goes (if / are the people in front of you and \ are the people behind you ) / / / faffer, you \ \ . So the / people would have been on the coach anyway, regardless of his faffing. And the \ people will all be held up by the faffing? So the only person who might have got a better seat is the faffer, in which case YABU.

Im.on your side OP. Nothing worse than someone arsing about and holding the queue up. Just put your ruddy phone away!!

Him taking a bit longer doesn't result in you getting a worse seat though, unless other people started overtaking him and you. If he was faffing, you could have just asked if he was still in the queue rather than just going ahead of him.

He was a little thoughtless at worst, you were the passive aggressive one.

How long can a coach queue be? I.e. how big can the gap have been?