I didn't know we were still in kindergarden.

[dragon_wings]

So today I while I was at work I was covering the register for a co worker while he took his lunch and this interaction occurred:
Lady 1 = nice lady
Guy = nice gentleman that came in with Lady 1 but paid seperate
Lady 2 = horrible woman (bit of an EW)

I'm ringing up Lady 1 and she's making small talk with me about how she had her eyes dilated earlier so her vision was fuzzy.
Guy put his stuff down and walked away for a minute to look at something.
Lady 2 comes up and interrupts but waits (not patiently though).
Lady 1 hands me a $50 thinking it was a $20 and I notice her rummaging in her purse so I think she's getting change (her total was around $27), but she grabs a $10. I mention she gave me a $50 and she takes it back and gives me and $20 and a $10. I cash her out and give her her change.
I then grab Guy's two items and Lady 2 goes "EXCUSE ME! I think I was first!"
I politely say "Actually, no, he was," pointing to Guy.
Lady 2 throws up her hands in a huff makes an aggravated noise, slams down the bottle of hand soap she was going to buy and storms out.
Guy looks at me sympathetically and rolls his eyes, while I mutter "Well she wasn't in a good mood."
I finish the transaction with Guy
Lady 1 and Guy leave satisfied.
A few minutes later one of my managers comes up to give me the change I needed and I tell him the story and he looks at me and deadpans "It was your fault." ^_^

[Whiskey]

needed and I tell him the story and he looks at me and deadpans "It was your fault." ^_^

I am personally surprised and shocked by this outcome. /sarcasm

[dragon_wings]

I am personally surprised and shocked by this outcome. /sarcasm

My managers are great.

[IT Grunt]

I watched something similar in action at a Subway once. This particular Subway was in a gas station next to the convenience store. My wife and I came in, were greeted, told she was still setting up and would be with us in a moment. (This was just after opening). No prob, and I stepped over to look at the rack of goodies next to the ordering area for Subway. Meanwhile, Impatient Lady walks in, stomps right up to the Subway lady and is about to place her order when Subway lady looks over to us and says 'Ok folks, how can I help you?' IL huffs and snaps, "Were they in line!?" Subway lady says yes, in fact we were. IL huffs, stomps, turns and storms out. I just look at Subway lady, she grins, shrugs, and makes our sub goodness. Some people just can't grasp the fact that in the real world, you aren't the special little wall flower you were led to believe you were.

[dragon_wings]

I was like "Are you fricking serious?" *blink blink*

And she slammed that bottle of soap down hard on the counter.

[ralerin]

Something similar happened to me. It was a busy day. The food stamp woman I'm trying to ring out forgot her card in her car, had to run out and get it. Tampon woman comes up, I tell her I'm in the middle of a sale, she steps back. Food stamp woman's card is demagnetized so she has to manually punch it in. Tampon lady is getting more and more agitated and I'm getting more and more agitated for her because food stamp lady is taking ages. Tampon Lady finally puts her pack of tampons into a nearby metal rack and huffs out.

[tropicsgoddess]

Your manager has a good sense of humor! As for the EW, I guess she missed the part about learning that she has to wait for her turn in kindergarten.

[searssoulslave]

I have a problem with people doing that at my job too. My register is on the back wall and has me put my back to my customers when I'm ringing sales. Because of this I have no formal lines and people tend to just sit down on some chairs that are a few feet away from my counter. Problem is though I don't know who's come up while my back is turned. We've actually had people get into fist fights about who was next. Really.

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

Guy put his stuff down and walked away for a minute to look at something.

...and this is where in my opinion he loses his place in the queue... OK, the EW was rude and sucky, but I find this behaviour ALSO rude and sucky... I usually expect people in a queue to be done with their shopping/shop browsing before they queue for checkout... am I wrong?

[dbuzman]

...and this is where in my opinion he loses his place in the queue... OK, the EW was rude and sucky, but I find this behaviour ALSO rude and sucky... I usually expect people in a queue to be done with their shopping/shop browsing before they queue for checkout... am I wrong?

I was gonna say the same thing. If he left the line and she came up while he was gone then he was no longer next and you should have waited on Lady 2.

[jedikuonji]

I was gonna say the same thing. If he left the line and she came up while he was gone then he was no longer next and you should have waited on Lady 2.

The guy already had his stuff down, ready to scan. It doesn't sound like he wandered off out of sight of the register or anything. I've done the same thing before if I'm the last person in line and something catches my eye. Couple steps over, oh isn't that interesting, step back and ring out.

[dbuzman]

The guy already had his stuff down, ready to scan. It doesn't sound like he wandered off out of sight of the register or anything. I've done the same thing before if I'm the last person in line and something catches my eye. Couple steps over, oh isn't that interesting, step back and ring out.

Yeah, that's why I said "if he left the line."

[MoonCat]

I'm kinda on the fence about this one, in line, out of the line, etc. But I see no reason for Lady 2 to get snippy about it and stomp out the door. What did she have to wait, another 10-15 seconds?

This is why I try not to step out of the line when I'm shopping, though. I've seen people put stuff down on the counter even when it's not their turn. If the stuff is heavy, fine, but they actually seem to think they're staking out a spot that makes them next in line, even if people are ahead of them.

You'd think people could do something as mundane as shopping without getting into territorial fistfights.

[dragon_wings]

Your manager has a good sense of humor! As for the EW, I guess she missed the part about learning that she has to wait for her turn in kindergarten.

That's was my thought exactly.

...and this is where in my opinion he loses his place in the queue... OK, the EW was rude and sucky, but I find this behaviour ALSO rude and sucky... I usually expect people in a queue to be done with their shopping/shop browsing before they queue for checkout... am I wrong?

That hadn't even occurred to me. Though we have a lot of stuff up front to tempt the customers into impulse buys, which is what Guy was looking at.

And the register I was on is weird. It's in a little island of sorts up front and people try to form lines in every direction. So it can get confusing and annoying.

[Sapphire Silk]

Well, it would depend on where the customer was, imho.

If I'm in line, and a customer puts his stuff down, and wanders slightly out of line to look at a nearby display, I would not try to cut in front of him. In my opinion, he's still in line.

But if he puts his stuff on the counter, then waltzs to the back of the store, all bets are off, unless he says to me, "I forgot something, do you mind if I run back and get it real quick?" In which case I'm inclined to say, sure no problem.

The other day I went into my local pharmacy to pick up a prescription. There were two people ahead of me, a woman and an old man with a cane. The woman was being served and there was some sort of issue finding her prescriptions, so it was taking a long time.

The old man waited patiently a bit, but after about 5 minutes of this it was obvious he was getting tired. He moved over to the chairs nearby and sat down. There was no question in my mind he was still in line . . . he just needed to sit. Though I'm sure there are some SCs out there who would try to cut in front of him in such an instance.