I was shopping at one of the three major pharmacies in this country and having finished I went to check out. There were two registers open and one line (which seemed to be forming behind one of the registers) which I joined as the approximately sixth person waiting. The fourth person in line then went and stood behind the one person at the other checkout. No one reacted. The checkout my line formed behind moved quickly and when it became my turn the lady who had moved was still waiting. The cashier for my line then asked me if I minded if the lady in the other line went ahead of me since she had been waiting longer than I had. Neither of us had been waiting more than 5 minutes but I reacted badly and said that indeed I did mind and why would he even ask me that. He explained that there was really only supposed to be one line and I responded by asking him why he was saying that now instead of when she moved and created the second line. He said he had been busy and did not see that happen, which I do not believe.
In any case, aside from the vehemence with which I declined to let the other person (who made no request to go ahead of me) go first, how wrong was I? What should I have said? If the other party had asked me, explaining her urgency I would have said yes, go ahead, but this cashier bothered me. Should I have been bothered?
I would not have been bothered and would happily have let the person go ahead of me. How wrong were you? I don’t know that there’s some sort of rule about it, but if it really bothered you, that just seems like it’s bad for your blood pressure, if nothing else.
Yes, you had a right to be bothered though it’s possible the clerk knew the woman as a past customer who would soon become troublesome if left waiting much longer .Gut even then it really wasn’t right to ask someone else to move over for her if she hasn’t asked.
The cashier shouldn’t have tried to inconvenience you in favor of the other woman. That being said, had it been me, the cashier wouldn’t have had to ask, because I would have asked the woman who was waiting longer if she’d like to go first. Even if she did change lines.
I’m never in such a hurry that I can’t let someone go ahead.
The woman made her choice when she moved out of your line and tried to get ahead in the other line. We’ve all played the “choose your line” game and lost. It’s just the way it is. I definitely don’t think the cashier should have asked you to let the woman go ahead of you.
If the woman asked me because she was in a particular hurry, I’d likely have let her go unless I was running late for something important maybe, but I wouldn’t have felt it was an expectation. It really wasn’t up to the cashier at that point. The woman broke the single line and it sounds like she was taking her lumps waiting longer than if she’d stay where she was.
The cashier probably had good, but misplaced, intentions.
I wouldn’t have been upset. She had been ahead of me, anyway, and I’ve constructed my life so that I’m never in such a huge hurry that an extra 2 minutes is any kind of deal besides “no big.”
If this was anything like the Walgreens or CVS stores where I live, they all use a queue, so there isn’t any second line, and I would have figured that woman felt stupid enough by the time it was my turn, and let her check out.
Definitely. You make a bad queue choice, then you live by it. However, I think there is a general rule of etiquette that one shouldn’t make a fuss. If the cashier offers to serve someone first, etiquette would demand that you smile politely and gesture for her to go in front of you.
I get what you’re saying that you probably overreacted, but in theory, I think you’re right. When you gamble on the line, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I would be the most annoyed at the cashier. I’m wondering if his concern was that a manager would stroll by and notice that there were two lines when there was supposed to be one, and blame the cashiers.
It’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine when stores feel very strongly about a single line v. individual lines, but fail to make that clear to the customers. I’ve seen cashiers (at different locations of the same chain) snap at customers for failing to be in a single line, and for failing to take advantage of individual lines.
Was she going to be late for a bus or dialysis? If there’s an actual good reasons let her cut in otherwise the cashier is causing more problems then he’s solving.
A store clerk is not a Supreme Court justice or an all seeing eye. Their job is to make sure the line moves reasonably fast and that things are not totally ridiculous. They can try to be fair, but they aren’t in a position to make life 100% fair.
The dual-line business had to stop, or else it’d just keep going on forever. Whatever way it was ended, somebody was going to end up oh-so-slightly inconvenienced.
You should feel bad for giving the clerk a hard time for making a good-faith effort, and you should look into meditation or something to gain some perspective. If you let this sort of thing bother you, life is going to be quite an ordeal.
I just wonder what kind of meds she was getting… I mean,was she a regular and out of her nitro?
People always ask me if I want to go ahead of them. I turn them down,as I’m in a chair and nothing hurts… Always smile and say thank you People will help get the stuff out of my basket and get tthings down off the top shelf too. There are some really good things about living in Texas…
People will help get the stuff out of my basket and get tthings down off the top shelf too. There are some really good things about living in Texas…