Hail Satan, then!
This. Same as at the train station or post office here. When your number is called, if you’re there, you’ll be served. If you’re not there, you miss out. At least at the train station, they provide an estimate of your expected waiting time.
Where’s the poll option for picking up a number off the floor and when they say “Number 35!” just say, “Hey! I have number 29! You skipped me!”?
I sometimes shop instead of just waiting, but only in the area of the deli and I check back frequently.
I’d like to point out though that how soon your number gets called is partially dependent on how many slicing machines they have and how many people are working behind the deli counter.
I answered the poll question as if it were a hypothetical “you,” but personally, I’ve never done this (pulled a number at the supermarket deli counter). I can’t remember when, or if, I’ve patronized a deli counter in such a way as to require service from the person working there, but if I have, there were never enough customers that I had to take a number and wait for service.
…Or for hip-checking the person whose number is called after waiting a few minutes and getting up to the counter and saying “Hmmm…let’s see now…I’m not sure what I want. Hold-on a sec, please…”
If their phone then rings and they answer it, then all charges up to and including mayhem and justifiable homicide will be waived by the DA and instead you will receive a ticker tape parade for your instant and heroic response to that karenic jerkwad’s behaviors.
I was at the post office during the Xmas season rush once and took a number and then stepped out of line to lean against the wall because my hip hurts if I’m just standing. After almost half an hour, my number got called and I responded.
The woman who was “next” in line had a serious meltdown over it. Red faced screaming and stomping of feet happened so I just let her go to the first counter who had called and then went to the counter right next to her less than 10 seconds later. For some reason that offended her and another meltdown happened.
Some people take line gatekeeping much too seriously.
The poll needs an option for “Number? What the hell are you talking about?”, because I’ve never been to a supermarket or a deli where I had to take a number instead of just getting in line, ordering at the counter, and then having my order promptly handed to me. The only time I’ve ever had to wait is if I want custom ground beef or if I want a ribeye sliced paper-thin for making cheesesteaks, and that’s just a “come back in about 15 minutes and we’ll have it out on the counter for you”.
Must be an east coast thing.
Much like how “no added MSG” basically just means “we pumped this full of yeast extract and soy sauce and other naturally occuring sources of MSG”.
But I Told Her
While waiting for
My number to be called
A woman asked me
What number I had
I thought that was a
Weird opening line
But I told her
(I was due up any second)
Then she told me
(She was in a huge hurry)
And asked if I’d trade numbers
I told her no and turned away
Once I went to the motor registry to, I think, renew my license. The queues were famously long and tedious and could take hours to negotiate, the ticketed queuing system did little to help. I grabbed a ticket and went to a counter to fill out the form that I would require when eventually I got to the window. When I finished I picked up the discarded ticket on the counter and checked the number. It was many less than mine but I assumed that it was useless. I looked up at the screen above the licensing clerks and, bingo, the number popped up. How considerate of the original ticket holder to leave it when his or her patience ran out.
Yes. And my deli explicitly states on the signage that if you miss your number, too bad, so sad, get a new one.
The woman in the story is a nutjob. Most people wait at the counter, but there is no requirement to do so. You’re just taking your chances if you do if you miss your number being called. I would have done (and often do) the same this if the number being served is, say, six or more off. And I’ve sometimes missed my number, so I just get another one or get the deli some other day.
Pretty much every cold cut or sausage or whatnot that claims to be “uncured” and “nitrate-free” has a big ol’ asterisk next to the claim. Like here:
**Except those naturally occurring in sea salt and cultured celery juice
Same verbiage appears on cold cuts.
Now you know how many “holes”
It takes to fill a deli queue
I love to make… them… wait
I’ve never lived in California, but in some movies I’ve seen where apparently you can make an appointment and they assign a time. In the scene the character arrives and goes up and down the line asking folks “10:15, 10:15” as soon as he gets a yes response he jumps in right behind the person with the same time, and ahead of the guy with 10:20 or whatever the next increment is.
Is that true to life? if I’ve been in line for an hour and you arrive late, too bad, end of the line for you.
They must staff the supermarkets more heavily, or you just shop at off-peak times. At my supermarket, it’s not uncommon to be 20 back in the queue, and that’s with 4 slicers going & 4 workers behind the counter.
I’m surprised this is new to you. This is the take-a-number dispenser I typically see. It’s also used at Costco when you want to get prescription eyeglasses.
Yep, that’s exactly how it is at two of my supermarkets. Another one uses an electronic machine where you push the button and a printed number slip comes out, like in a parking machine.
It’s similar to this:
This was a plot feature in one of the James Bond movies. He gets into a tiff with Spectre operatives over a pound of pastrami and mayhem ensues.
Our Safeway has a normal deli, with meats, cheeses, and slicers. However, I don’t think I have ever seen anyone order something that required the clerk to actually slice deli meat or cheese. There have pre-sliced packages, and they have the normal factory sliced stuff. The people at the deli counter are almost always ordering tubs of something, (“Chinese” “food” or potato salad) or chicken strips. There is no number system, nor anything resembling a line. It’s a mob. An ugly hungry, disorganized mob.