# "Because I'm busy waiting on the customers who are in line, Sir" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 13, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969 "2009-09-13T23:02:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/61 "2009-09-14T13:49:38Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Just to nitpick- a debit card is not debt. A bounced check can also get you overdraft fees, and no one would argue that writing a check was incurring debt. The difference is that using a debit card is an electronic transaction. It’s no great shakes for the computer to check your balance before it debits your account. If you can’t cover it, the Electronic Teller can just tell you so, allowing you to adjust your withdrawl. Unless someone more in the know than me can explain otherwise, when a bank allows you to debit more than your account, it’s because of the lucrative overdraft fees it receives. ETA: Oops, sorry, it looks like I missed the point of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/62 "2009-09-14T13:52:39Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > The difference is that using a debit card is an electronic transaction. It’s no great shakes for the computer to check your balance before it debits your account. If you can’t cover it, the Electronic Teller can just tell you so, allowing you to adjust your withdrawl. Unless someone more in the know than me can explain otherwise, when a bank allows you to debit more than your account, it’s because of the lucrative overdraft fees it receives. > > ETA: Oops, sorry, it looks like I missed the point of the OP. All that is true- I was just nitpicking lumping debit cards with credit cards as pushing “debt” on people. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/63 "2009-09-14T14:05:39Z")
I think he just can’t spell two gud. :: applauds the cashier :: ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/64 "2009-09-14T14:15:02Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > I assume since my bank account is usually emptied by the end of the month, and since using debt is so casual, you’ll personally pay the huge fees if I miscalculate and over draw. Well, if you need to manage your budget that tightly, you will have to put up with a few inconveniences. That’s life. Sorry. > [@PoorYorick](#): > > Unless someone more in the know than me can explain otherwise, when a bank allows you to debit more than your account, it’s because of the lucrative overdraft fees it receives. At my bank, I have the option of whether I want to allow overdrafts on debit card transactions. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/65 "2009-09-14T14:20:11Z")
Slightly off-topic, but Consumerist just had a recent article on how a lot of banks would go out of business if they could no longer charge overdraft fees. It is a hugely profitable enterprise for most banks. On-topic: OP, good on ya. I can’t stand line-cutters, either as a customer or as an employee. I have been filled with blissful schadenfreude on the very rare occasions that I’ve seen someone booted from an amusement park for violating the line-cutting policy. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/66 "2009-09-14T14:23:41Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > I think he just can’t spell two gud. ahhh… I see… > [@](#): > > :: applauds the cashier :: Ditto ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/67 "2009-09-14T14:42:45Z")
To continue the budgetting hijack, Mrs Piper and I buy a month’s worth of pre-paid gas cards from the gas station that we normally use. You can’t overdraw them - as soon as you hit their limit, the pump stops. That way, we’re spending no more than what we budgetted for our monthly gas. And, you don’t have to go into the store and stand in line - it’s a win-win! ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/68 "2009-09-14T14:43:18Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I’m not with the OP on this one. It’s like people who buy the newspaper when there’s a line, it’s reasonably common for them to put a quarter on the counter, say “just the paper” and walk out. What is the purpose of making someone wait 5 minutes to conduct a 5 second transaction? You don’t significantly inconvenience the people in line, and get a paying customer out the door post haste. So **Cheeseteak** if you waited say five minutes in line, got the register, had you order rung up and somebody cut to the front of you to get gas you wouldn’t mind if I voided your transaction, rang the line cutter up, then rerang your order? :rolleyes: We can’t turn the pumps on without putting money on them and we have to either swipe a credit/debit card or put money in the till to that. I can’t just press a button while waiting on someone else and turn the pump. I can multi-task (to a degree) the register cannot. The newspaper thing is another pet peeve of mine. We sell almost a dozen different newspapers, with several different prices (Sunday being more expensive), and published by several different publishers. Each one has it’s own barcode that needs to be scanned. We can’t just press a newspaper button on the POS and enter _$1.75_; we need to actually keep track of how many of X paper we sell. So when assholes just throw money on the counter and walk out I need to figure out what paper they got, go over the rack, get a paper, scan it, and often find out they didn’t leave enough money so I get to choose between shorting our inventory (buy not ringing the paper up) or shorting my register. My third major pet peeve is people who are short (sometimes a few cents, sometimes a dollar or two) and just expect me to cover it. Especially when they get indignent and say crap like “Well I’m always leaving money” or “I’ll be back later”. Saturday morning some guy did that with a roll of _toilet paper_. It was $1.49 and wanted to pay with his cash benefits on his EBT card. We only take the Foodstamp part, not the cash part. He only had a dollar bill on him. He told he’d be back with the 49¢. I told him he needed to leave the toilet paper. I was being “an asshole” it was just a “fucking roll of toilet paper” and he “always pays back”. He walked out with the TP. Should I have followed him and tried to physically wrest the TP from his hands? Technically I should’ve called the police and filled a report _over a third of a roll of toilet paper_ when they won’t even show up to remove trespassers in a timely fashion. BTW that piece of shit never did come back with the 49¢. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/69 "2009-09-14T14:47:07Z")
Am I the only one who would have, if confronted with a cashier who let me stand in line while taking the time to start up the geezer’s pump, would’ve made a mental note to avoid this gas station in future? There is a Sheetz and two Sunocos where I just don’t stop now, for this very reason. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/70 "2009-09-14T14:55:56Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Since we’re all Canadian, we didn’t actually applaud, but the appreciation in the air was palpable. I was once a hero to a bunch of tired and stressed out air travellers. The airline we were on had had a major disaster on another flight, so when we landed, late at night, the airline staff were valiantly trying to get a 747 worth of passengers all re-booked in spite of the delays, get us hotel vouchers for the night, arrange ground transport, and so on. There were about five lines of tired air travellers, being served by frazzled airline staff working overtime. I was about half way up the line towards the counter when I noticed a young woman, sort of hanging about near the counter, obviously tying to figure out which line to cut into. Others passengers noticed this as well, and tension grew. The airline staff were huddled over their terminals, busy serving their clients of the moment, and didn’t notice. Finally, in my tiredness, I broke through my Canadian politeness and said, “The lines start over there, miss,” and pointed back to where we had all started the weary wait. She said, brightly, “I just have a couple of questions to ask.” I said, “We all just have a couple of questions to ask.” Enough of the stressed-out travellers and a few of the frazzelled airline staff were now staring at her that she gave up and went to the back of the line. I felt the glow of a task well-done. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/71 "2009-09-14T14:57:13Z")
No, you’re not. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/72 "2009-09-14T15:01:23Z")
I hate to wade into a Pit thread with a suggestion that not everyone is an asshole, but . . . . It’s very possible the guy didn’t know (as I didn’t) that pre-paying for the gas is a full register transaction, as opposed to just a matter of switching the pump on. In many stations, it really is just a matter of setting the money aside and turning the pump on. So, yeah, I can see the guy’s point that he might not want to wait in line through six transactions just to get the cashier to turn the pump on – if that’s all that he thought was involved. In the situation in the OP, obviously the guy _did_ think the cashier could just turn the pump on – he said so – and I didn’t read where the OP’er told him that was wrong. Just “you’ll have to wait in line.” So to me it reads like a misunderstanding that could have been cut short by a little better communication by both parties. To me, it’s akin to needing the restroom key. A person might cut the line to approach from the side to say to the cashier, “Hey, can I get the restroom key?” under the assumption that all the guy has to do is hand over the key – two seconds, tops. No one else in line is really inconvenienced. What, exactly, is wrong with that? Nothing – so long as the underlying assumption of not inconveniencing anyone else, is correct. In the case of the gas, I guess it _wasn’t_ correct. But I didn’t see anyone explaining that to the customer. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/73 "2009-09-14T15:13:15Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > So **Cheeseteak** if you waited say five minutes in line, got the register, had you order rung up and somebody cut to the front of you to get gas you wouldn’t mind if I voided your transaction, rang the line cutter up, then rerang your order? :rolleyes: Well, I would expect you to at least finish the transaction you’re in the middle of, then spend the necessary 5 seconds putting $20 on pump #3 before ringing up the next product transaction. Which… is exactly the situation described in the OP. Maybe you should have read it :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/74 "2009-09-14T15:13:27Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > So to me it reads like a misunderstanding that could have been cut short by a little better communication by both parties. I doubt it. People such as the OP describes don’t want to know WHY they can’t have what they want. They just want you to do it. NOW. It’s like trying to explain to a five year old why they can’t have eleventy-six cookies before dinner. Sometimes people just need a “because I said so, that’s why!”. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/75 "2009-09-14T15:21:08Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Well, I would expect you to at least finish the transaction you’re in the middle of, then spend the necessary 5 seconds putting $20 on pump #3 before ringing up the next product transaction. Which… is exactly the situation described in the OP. Maybe you should have read it :rolleyes: And I’m the person behind you wondering why I just waited a couple of minutes in line to put $20 on pump #4. I know it’s just 5 seconds and all, but other people were here ahead of me, and I figure they have the right to conduct their transactions first. So why does someone else get to come in and go right to the front of the line, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/76 "2009-09-14T15:22:26Z")
> [@Dante](#): > > I doubt it. People such as the OP describes don’t want to know WHY they can’t have what they want. They just want you to do it. NOW. It’s like trying to explain to a five year old why they can’t have eleventy-six cookies before dinner. Sometimes people just need a “because I said so, that’s why!”. _:: Shrug ::_ I rarely assume trying to communicate better is a lost cause, excusing me from even making the attempt. Maybe the OP’er knows this particular guy well enough to know he would have been wasting his breath, but that’s not what the OP says. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/77 "2009-09-14T15:25:45Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Well, I would expect you to at least finish the transaction you’re in the middle of, then spend the necessary 5 seconds putting $20 on pump #3 before ringing up the next product transaction. Which… is exactly the situation described in the OP. Maybe you should have read it :rolleyes: And why the fuck should I have spent the necessary 5 seconds ringing the linecutter as opposed to ringing next person in line or the person after that? What about him was so special that made his time more important than everyone elses? Supermarkets have express checkouts (increasingly self-checks), but that set-up is not practicle in a small store with 2 registers and nearly everyone has a small order. Making people wait in line in order of when they got to the line is the fairest solution. Keep in mind he didn’t just cut to front of the line, he stood off to the side and reached over a partition (I wish we had the ones that went up higher that shoulder height) and stood there expecting to be noticed and served. He’s done this before, he knows damn well (or at least he’s been told over and over again) he needs to wait in line. I have enough of a backbone not to cave and continue waiting on customers who understoon the concept of having to wait to get things they want because other people also want things. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/78 "2009-09-14T15:31:09Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > _:: Shrug ::_ I rarely assume trying to communicate better is a lost cause, excusing me from even making the attempt. Maybe the OP’er knows this particular guy well enough to know he would have been wasting his breath, but that’s not what the OP says. > [@alphaboi867](#): > > …He’s a regular and pulled this before (most of my coworkers just cave)… What did the OP say again? ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/79 "2009-09-14T15:33:28Z")
EDIT: I have to stop getting distracted by work when I’m trying to post… ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/80 "2009-09-14T16:25:58Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > To continue the budgetting hijack, Mrs Piper and I buy a month’s worth of pre-paid gas cards from the gas station that we normally use. You can’t overdraw them - as soon as you hit their limit, the pump stops. That way, we’re spending no more than what we budgetted for our monthly gas. > > And, you don’t have to go into the store and stand in line - it’s a win-win! Win-win? I guess that would depend on who pushes the car if your cards run out before day 31? 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969.md?page=5)