What’s the etiquette in this situation?

Posted by pinpoint321@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 43 comments

I bloody love a good queue.

But I recently encountered a queueing anomaly.

I was waiting in a long queue at the supermarket checkout and hadn’t put my stuff on the conveyor belt yet, though I was next in line to do so. There was a bit of a wait before this could happen though

The supermarket announced they were opening a new checkout and the person behind me nipped straight to the front.

Is this acceptable? Did they push in or was this a new queue?

[-]

HarMonocles@reddit

"we are now opening checkout number 2... shop assistant required at checkout number 2... we are now closing checkout number 2"

You have no priority for the new queue, but you may well be better off where you are.

[-]

az22hctac@reddit

A good teller would make eye contact with you before even reaching the till and announcing it open, and give you the nod to indicate you should move over.

[-]

DeapVally@reddit

First come first served. You just gotta be on the ball, and quick on your feet.

[-]

WeDoingThisAgainRWe@reddit

The established etiquette seems to be that anyone who is a self centred jerk at the back will rush over meaning that people being polite doesn’t make any difference.

[-]

V65Pilot@reddit

Single queue that feeds all the registers. Problem solved. https://www.qminder.com/blog/queue-management/single-line-vs-multiple-line-queues/

[-]

DeadBallDescendant@reddit

I was brilliant at this, before Aldi had self-checkouts. If it was busy you'd keep an eye on all the till operators, see if one of them is glancing around at the queues. As soon as they reach down, you know they're pressing the button to open a new till, but the light on that till will come on slightly ahead of the PA announcement, giving you time to get there first.

[-]

Hatticus24@reddit

If you were just queuing in a line for a bank of tills, and a new one opened, that would be yours to go to, but a supermarket conveyor belt, you're committed to the one you're in, the person behind you is free to dive over to the newly opened lane.

[-]

Outrageous_Shirt_737@reddit

Being in one queue doesn’t give you any priority in a different queue.

[-]

Diligent-Way8231@reddit

Being in a queue doesn’t give you any priority anyway tbh. There is no rule outside of politeness that says you can’t just push in lol

[-]

BanditKing99@reddit

Yeah good luck with that, I imagine you’ll find yourself in some interesting and wildly unnecessary situations

[-]

SwimmingOdd3228@reddit

This!!!

[-]

PaulSpangle@reddit

Obviously, the correct thing to do is for you to be given the chance to go to the new queue first. If you were in front of me and there was nobody behind us, I'd ask how you felt about going to the new queue.

If it's busy enough that they're opening a new checkout though, then there's probably a long queue behind me -as you say was the case in your situation - so, statistically, there's bound to be a least one selfish dickhead who'll try to get to the new queue first - as happened in your situation. At that point, it's every man for himself unfortunately.

[-]

Exact_Setting9562@reddit

Absolutely acceptable.

[-]

moreglumthanplum@reddit

“New queue, screw you”

[-]

MrMonkeyman79@reddit

It's a new queue, places in the previous queue have no bearing.

In this case it's fair game.

[-]

SnooMacarons9618@reddit

Kind of agreed. But… personally I would pretty much no to the other till then indicate for the other person to go first. All queuing is barber / pub queuing ultimately, just some people don’t realise or haven’t kept track. So although they are wrong to nip in, in this situation, I’d give them a pass.

Now I’ve thought about it, I strongly disagree, expect a strongly worded letter, good sir/lady.

[-]

Timely_Atmosphere735@reddit

It’s annoying however when someone with a trolley full runs to the new till, they take an age load the shopping onto the conveyor belt, meanwhile people with a few items are stood waiting. The till operator, just sat there waiting for them to finish.

[-]

loveswimmingpools@reddit

I laughed so much at this. It's funny and so true!

[-]

fussyfella@reddit

If the supermarket do not have a single queue system it's every shopper for themself.

Polite people already near the front of their queue though will not rush to a new one but let those further behind go first.

[-]

CaptH3inzB3anz@reddit

New check-out opens, first come first served.

[-]

Puzzleheaded_Drink76@reddit

I hold back and let the people in front of me go to the new till as a rule. But I'm not outraged when people don't.

[-]

Diligent-Way8231@reddit

Why do you like ques? They are boring and monotonous.

[-]

pinpoint321@reddit (OP)

They are civilised, structured and fair. To be fair I don’t love them but when there’s more than a few people waiting for something I appreciate them.

Except at bars. Even then the queue exists it’s just not in a line.

[-]

vague-eros@reddit

Interestingly I think you're applying the "the queue exists it's just in a line" to multiple checkout queues, i.e. there's some sort of overall queue to pay, then individual queues for each checkout, and your instinct is a new queue should go to the next person in the overall queue. I'm not sure there is that overall queue though, morally or societally.

[-]

justforfun1981@reddit

yeah, new queue.. first to the finish line

[-]

Dismal-Task-4938@reddit

In my book they pushed in. They knew it cos they ran over didn’t they?

[-]

knight-under-stars@reddit

Given the till was empty when they arrived they can't have pushed in.

I would suggest they "ran" because they recognise that the first person at an empty till gets served first.

[-]

tomatohooover@reddit

Why do you love queuing?

[-]

True-Register-9403@reddit

Fair game they haven't jumped the queue, just left and joined another queue.

They've weighed the risk of abandoning their confimed place in a queue against the gamble of a new queue. This time it payed off for them, but next time they might stand and watch the original queue pass them by while a glacially slow member of staff fumbles to set up the till....

[-]

24877943@reddit

That's not an anomaly, that's survival of the fittest.

[-]

AstronautDouble9036@reddit

You snooze, you lose, in that situation.

[-]

EmbalmedCoconut@reddit

Absolutely agree. This usually happens in the discounters. I automatically accept my loss because I'd rather wait an extra 5 minutes then engage myself in the ensuing scrum.

[-]

swapacoinforafish@reddit

Agreed, I think when it comes to this. It's whoever gets to it first.

[-]

Lonely-Job484@reddit

It's a new queue.

The real test to my mind is whether someone not currently in a queue could go there and not have pushed in - which I'd say is met here.

And anyone abandoning their place in an existing queue is certainly able to then join a new one, so long as they join at the end. If the end of that queue happens to also be the head of it, then so be it. Obviously all bets are off if you both moved towards it simultaneously, in that case I'd expect order in original queue to be maintained between you.

[-]

rosstoferwho@reddit

Yeah it's one of those. Ahhh I wish I was that person situations.

And then you realise you're glad you weren't when the shops reversed their decision to open said till and every ody has to scramble back to other queues.

Looking at you Lidl

[-]

ForArsesSake@reddit

If you had fewer items than me I would offer you to go in front of me, but if you had a shit load of shopping I would stamp on your head to get in front of you without so much as a backward glance

[-]

West_Category_4634@reddit

Tbh, im a decent person who was brought up with traditional middle class values.

So if I was the person behind you, I would either offer you to go first or give you 3 seconds to see if you make a move toward it.

If you don't, then I will. But if you do, I'll let you go ahead.

But sadly, in recent years, I've noticed more folks that don't behave with the same courtesy and consideration.

Wonder if it's a generational thing.

[-]

When repling to submission/post please make genuine efforts to answer the question given. Please no jokes, judgements, etc.
Don't be a dick to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on.
This is a strictly no-politics subreddit!

Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.