# Is this a dickish move at the grocery store? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 17, 2018, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028 "2018-02-17T23:59:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/41 "2018-02-18T12:29:51Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Hmm, I’m starting to reconsider my earlier opinion… Me, too. I voted “not dickish,” but now I see how it can skew decisions by those behind us. I won’t be doing this anymore. Ignorance fought! ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/42 "2018-02-18T12:51:24Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Me, too. I voted “not dickish,” but now I see how it can skew decisions by those behind us. I won’t be doing this anymore. Ignorance fought! think about it for a second. I’m behind you in line, you have nothing or maybe one thing in your hands. I picked the line because maybe it was short, or the people already in line didn’t have much to check out. I’m thinking “ok, this will go quickly.” All of a sudden your wife ambles up next to you with an overflowing cart. now I know I’m going to be standing there forever. And I’m there to pick something up on my lunch break and need to get back to work. or those blazin’ wings from BWW I ate last night are down there telling me they need to leave soon. as far as I’m concerned, that’s a cut in line. total dick move. not dick-ish, total dick move. you get in line with the stuff you’re there to buy. you don’t “hold a spot” only to fuck with the people behind you later. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/43 "2018-02-18T13:03:49Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Surprised by the responses here, and annoyed by sentences that don’t start with a subject. Definitely not dickish, as the only thing they’re doing wrong is existing in public. […] Your sentences don’t start with subjects, do they? Why must they, anyway? * * * Not dickish. The burden on lines is the people getting checked out. These people are only going to do that in one line. It would only be a pleasant surprise for whichever line they abandon. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/44 "2018-02-18T13:06:16Z")
There are frequent mentions of overloaded carts in this thread. To be clear, there were no carts involved. It was a man and a woman, each with an armload of items. > [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Does the OP think it’s something new?.. No. mmm ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/45 "2018-02-18T13:22:23Z")
The dickishness is directly proportional to the number of items being purchased. To my chagrin, my wife is a “let me go get just one more item while you wait in line” shopper. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/46 "2018-02-18T13:31:47Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > It would only be a pleasant surprise for whichever line they abandon. If abandoning a line creates a pleasant surprise, then the line that is cut into is receiving a proportional unpleasant surprise. Delivering an unpleasant surprise to an unsuspecting stranger is a jerk move. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/47 "2018-02-18T14:12:42Z")
> [@Deanna\_D](#): > > I voted dickish. I chose the line I got into based on a quick scan of who’s in line ahead of me. I would avoid getting in line behind someone with a cart brimming with groceries, and instead choose to get in a the line with those who aren’t going to take forever to get checked out. I would be a little annoyed if someone then moved over to my lane with a year’s worth of groceries. > > That kinda gives me the vibe that they’re saving their time in line at the expense of my time in line. That’s exactly it. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/48 "2018-02-18T14:17:40Z")
I voted “Don’t give a rat’s ass” … I’ve found that I spend more time waiting in line at the checkout than actual shopping … someone wants to try to game the system is fine by me … good luck … more annoying is picking what looks like the shortest line and it turns out to be the longest line … but then I’m annoyed at myself … I’m looking forward to RFid technology … one just loads up the cart and simply walks out … all the products send out their UPC code which is registered and the bill is in the next day’s mail service … the store could lay off a half dozen minimum wage workers … or robotics, punch in your grocery list from home and thirty minutes later the self-driving van shows up at your door … another dozen workers laid off … perhaps someday the technology will exist to just produce our food at home, some kind of “plot” where we can bury small high-tech gadgets that erupt and become food in a few months (water not included) … 3D printers that use methane, water and ammonia and we can just print our food out … vats of photoplankton that can be pressed into little green biscuits or something … The future looks tasty … ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/49 "2018-02-18T14:48:21Z")
> [@Not\_a\_Platypus](#): > > Eh. It’s rude to whoever is behind them in the line they decide on, since people frequently pick a line based on how much the people ahead of them are buying and it’s annoying as hell to think you’re behind someone with a couple of things or maybe they’ll just be buying stamps or something and then their partner rolls over with a full cart. Yep, this is why it’s dickish. How dickish it is, is a function of how much extra stuff is brought over from the other line, and how much time that adds to the wait of everybody behind them. A few items, hardly dickish at all. A full shopping cart, majorly dickish. I think this has happened to me maybe once in the past few decades, so it’s not something I’m gonna get worked up about. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/50 "2018-02-18T15:02:42Z")
Dick move because I always shop alone so there’s no way I could possibly take advantage of it. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/51 "2018-02-18T15:30:47Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > No, not a dick move. > You know what is a dick move? Using an order ahead app. > You know, you drop into a Starbucks and it looks like there’s just one person ahead of you, but you get to the pick up, and you wait while the barrista makes fifteen special orders for the assholes that use the order ahead app. Yeah, you heard me, assholes. Wait in line like everyone else. The whole point of ordering on apps and then picking up is to skip the line. The stores heavily promote this feature and there is absolutely nothing wrong with using it. If you’re so upset, then _you_ use the order ahead app. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/52 "2018-02-18T15:52:46Z")
My local supermarket got rid of self-checkout registers, which is the ultimate dick move. ---
**Author:** ![Monocracy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monocracy/32/4493_2.png) [@Monocracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monocracy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/53 "2018-02-18T17:01:40Z")
If someone gets in line with groceries, and they don’t get in the back, they are cutting. It’s plain and simple. It doesn’t matter if someone else is holding a spot. This isn’t the third grade. The rule is: You get in line with the stuff you want to buy. People who cut lines at Disney world get thrown the fuck out of the park, and rightfully so. Waiting in a supermarket line is a zero sum game. If one saves time by gaming the system, they are costing other people time. It is selfish and inconsiderate. I’m surprised that so many people condone this. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/54 "2018-02-18T17:44:26Z")
> [@lorene](#): > > My local supermarket got rid of self-checkout registers, which is the ultimate dick move. Which is the dick move, the self checkout registers, or getting rid of them? I hate those things. I’ve tried about 4 times now, and every time, it’ll start telling me to do something I’m already doing, then start alarming, and a clerk has to come over and fix it. I see people who use them, but I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/55 "2018-02-18T17:58:01Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Dick move because I always shop alone so there’s no way I could possibly take advantage of it. I use the same blow-up doll that I use for… carpool lanes. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/56 "2018-02-18T18:00:59Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > The whole point of ordering on apps and then picking up is to skip the line. The stores heavily promote this feature and there is absolutely nothing wrong with using it. If you’re so upset, then _you_ use the order ahead app. Exactly. Or, at least, rant at the stores for the way that they prioritize orders if you think it’s wrong, not at customers simply using a service that the store offers. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/57 "2018-02-18T18:34:27Z")
There’s nothing wrong with holding a place in line IMO. Two people, each has a right to stand in line like any other person in a store. Many ‘it’s a dick move’ answers treat the couple together as equal to any single customer entitled to do one thing, but they aren’t one customer. The ‘dick move’ side has a better argument on the secondary issue having to do with the cart: if people have to get out of the way of a shifting cart, people sometimes choose lines based on how much is in the carts ahead of them, etc. But OP seemed to come back and throw that out with ‘no cart’. As a stripped down example if there are multiple ‘express’ lines (as in one big super market we often go to) and one member of a couple stands in each and consolidates on the faster one, nothing wrong with that IMO. Each a person in their own right. 🙂 Although as somebody else said, it also suggests how inefficient it is to have multiple lines when a store is busy rather than one line feeding all the registers (as the Trader Joe’s we go to does, at least on weekends when it is _mobbed_). So I said no, but maybe ‘depends’ would have been better. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/58 "2018-02-18T18:39:51Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Which is the dick move, the self checkout registers, or getting rid of them? > > I hate those things. I’ve tried about 4 times now, and every time, it’ll start telling me to do something I’m already doing, then start alarming, and a clerk has to come over and fix it. I see people who use them, but I don’t get it. Removing them. I’m pretty efficient at using these and vastly prefer them. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/59 "2018-02-18T20:51:50Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > There’s nothing wrong with holding a place in line IMO. Two people, each has a right to stand in line like any other person in a store. Many ‘it’s a dick move’ answers treat the couple together as equal to any single customer entitled to do one thing, but they aren’t one customer. But nobody is disputing their right to stand in line. The question is what that place entitles you to do, and I’m with the consensus that it entitles you to pay for the groceries that you have with you when you get in line, with a little flexibility if your friend goes to grab an item that you forgot. If I were in front of someone who tried to pull this stunt in an egregious way, and there were 10 people behind, I would offer to pay for the groceries of those 10 people behind, and deduct the cost from my entertainment budget. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028/60 "2018-02-18T21:04:11Z")
Yes, it’s a dick move. People choose what line to stand in based on how quickly they think they’ll get out of the store, and how many people are in line/how many groceries they have is vital information for making that choice. Standing in line with fewer grocieries than you’re actually planning on paying for means that you’re messing with the decision-making process of every person who chooses a line after you. It’s inherently selfish behavior. If everyone did it, the check-out process would fall apart and need to be changed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dickish-move-at-the-grocery-store/809028.md?page=4)