I like my friend’s approach. Once we were in a supermarket, in the 6 items or less line and someone joined behind us with helluva items. So after we had paid he waited and counted her items: “1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6” and then he slammed his arm down on the conveyor belt and said, “That’s all, now you have to go to the back of the queue”. The woman went ballistic, the people in the queue cheered and the cashier was forced to back my friend up.
I’ve worked in a grocery store and what the woman did with the 20 or so items was wrong. A six-pack of soda is intended to be sold as a single item, as is a dozen eggs, a case of beer, a package of toilet paper, etc. Individual cans of cat food and two liter soda bottles are intended to be purchased seperately. It would have been a different matter if the 12 cans of cat food were in two units of six instead of being seperate.
BTW: there’s a detergent commercial (Gain?) that features some guy trying to prove three bottles of detergent are a single item so he can go through the express line. He also has a dozen eggs and argues that because the eggs are a single item, so are the detergent bottles. I hate that commercial but at least the guy is forced to take his detergent to a different line.
One time when I was buying 18 cans of cat food at the local Jewel (I was not in the express lane BTW, as this was only part of a cartload) the checker mentioned as she was scanning each one individually that if I had gotten at least 24 she would have been able to just scan one and use the quantity purchase button. It seems kind of silly to me that there would be a minimum number of items required to avoid individual scanning.
Zenster, first of all, locate your zen. Take a breath. Chill out.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Zenster *
I did not criticize you letting people in front of you; I think that’s marvelous.
Uh. Where the hell did that come from? I have no problem with you asking to be let in front if you only have one item. It shows assertiveness, which is good. My question related to this comment
Are you talking about the person asking to cut in? Or are you talking about when you break queue and ask someone to let you in, and they say no, you then ask them if they’re paying with cash or not. If they say no, you break line anyway. That’s how it read to me. Tell me if I’m wrong; just don’t lose your mind again. The term “cut in” isn’t one we use here (in Georgia or London), so I may have misread you.
I always let the clerks go first; to me that’s an unwritten rule.
Yes, or the person I’m about to let cut in line. If they have cash, I have no problem. If they don’t, tough noogies.
CAVEAT: I always ask if the person I’m about to cut in is paying with cash. If not, they are out of luck. I refuse to have the line held up any more than necessary.
NOT “CUT IN FRONT OF,” FUCKING “CUT IN” AS IN ‘CUT INTO THE LINE I’M ALREADY STANDING IN.’ WHY DID YOU NOT PERCEIVE THIS? How does making sure that a person I’m about to admit into line before me is paying with cash constitute thinking my “time is more important than others?”
I’m not sure if any of you have noticed, but I’ll state it here. There seems to be a few (or more) people at these boards that automatically assume my assertive demeanor means I also routinely impose myself upon people.
While such posters are completely entitled to their own opinion, I’m entitled to take umbrage and tell them to fuck off. In my open mic night thread, people automatically assumed that I walked up and horned in on other acts that were performing on stage. Look at the “Vaginal Cavity of a Neighbor” thread. Because my animal barks at someone who is hostile to me, a poster automatically assumes that my pet is dangerous. It’s that sort of shit which really frosts my dick!
Probably because you didn’t phrase it very well in the first place.
If by assertive demeanor, you mean you jump all over people who ask you an innocent question, then yes, you have an assertive demeanor. Take a chill-pill daddy-o.
Maybe because people exist outside of Silicon Valley and local colloquialisms differ around the world. You have used the term “cut in” interchangably, meaning both to break line and to allow someone to break line in front of you. How was someone outside of your head to know which you meant?
No, we probably haven’t noticed. Again, maybe it’s because we don’t exist in your head. Take a step back and look around, Narcissus.
And you thought I was one of those posters? You really need to pay closer attention to tone.
What’s that shit got to do with me? Don’t transfer your anger with them onto me. I asked an innocent question and you retaliated with great hostility. Chill out.
Several years ago M and I went to Tar-jay to see “WishBone” - for all of you without kids around 10 - it was a PBS show that featured a dog that would be the main character for classic books. M was soooo excited about seeing that dog - I decided that I didn’t want to be stuck at the end of the line, and since it was a beautiful day, we went to stand in line an hour and a half before the event was supposed to begin. There were a few people ahead of us, but not many, and we all had a great time talking while the kids played. SOO, finally it’s five minutes until it’s start time and the line is HUGE - like 100 parents with kids. When this white trash ho and her boyfriend lift up the rope barrier and step in line in front of us!! I polietly told her that the line was wayyy over there and that she could not cut in front of us. Her response was - well , I just want a quick picture for my kid. Honey, We all did - that’s the whole reason we were there!! So I told her that she still couldn’t cut in front of me - and she had the balls to ask if she could cut behind me! I told her No - but to go ahead and ask the people behind us. At this point about fifty people realized what was happening and they were all pretty mad - so when she asked the people behind her if she could cut in line - about 10 people shouted NO!!! It was wonderful! I love it when we can all stick together and kick people like that in the pants!!!
Excellent idea. It does get a little embarassing though when the holder line moves faster than the buyer line. You sometimes end up with a group of people at the front of the line waving people behind them on through. No biggie though.