The Line Cutters

[AccountingDrone]

One reason I prefer doing my shopping at the commissary on the sub base - they do the line up and wait for the next checker, and they have a person who tells you which line you get to go to. And if you misbehave you can lose your exchange privileges. I have been there pre-holiday where the line wrapped around almost every single aisle there, there must have been pushing a thousand customers waiting to check out. I think it was a 2 hour wait that Christmas. [I really REALLY prefer to get my shopping done starting a month in advance. I can't think of anything I make that we can't buy at a minimum of a week in advance. Maybe half and half for coffee, or whole cream for whipping - though that tends to last at least a week minimum. ]

[Cat Herder]

Velvet rope and club bouncers (big, grumpy ones).

You're welcome.

[Cat Herder]

Oh, and welcome, coffee_drinker247, and congratulations on your engagement

[Lace Neil Singer]

Line cutters really annoy me, both in and out of work. Seriously, everyone is waiting. Everyone has to wait in line, so just be bloody patient and wait your turn.

Once at the petrol station, there was this giant queue going up to the door, and this girl ran up to my till, threw down her money, said, "Pump four" and turned to run out the door. Sadly for her, I was on the till next to the door mechanism, so I locked the door and she couldn't get out. I told her that I wasn't going to take her money cuz she queue jumped so could she please collect her money and stand in line. She meekly collected the tenner and went to the back of the line. Everyone in the queue cheered. XD

[Gizmo]

We have the 'zig zag' method at the self scans in one of the local stores where I used to live. However because they were more 'open area' policy you had one guy standing no where near the 'line' and then getting huffy and rude when someone went to a till before him. Despite that he seemed to have nothing in his hands to pay for or a basket or cart....

[MelindaJoy77]

There's a mysterious customer we have on a somewhat regular basis that my co-workers call "The Russian Lady" who always cuts in line and haggles over everything and thinks we're always trying to scam her. Everyone at this point pretty much lets her cut in line because she will start a fight if anyone calls her out on it. One of my managers explained to me how since this lady is from Russia, she's used to oppression and being duped and whatnot. Amazingly, after almost two years of working there, I've never had the misfortune of having her in my line. Most of the time we are so ridiculously busy that I don't pay attention to the line.

[Dreamstalker]

This SC must have numerous twins/siblings, because I can count at least two customers at my store fitting that description.

[JustShootMe]

We have a Chronic Line Cutter who is a regular. Recently she tried to cut the line in our deli & when she didn't succeed, made racist comments until the deli worker got so mad he said "Fuck You" to her. Then she complained & got the deli worker fired. I heard her telling the managers that she was "going to give it to Jesus."

A few weeks after that, she tried it again & the other customer stood up to her. I saw her & told her the other customer was ahead of her. THANK GOD the deli manager saw & backed me up. She knew she was wrong and kept apologizing to the other customer. I sent up a silent cheer when the customer told her to shit the fuck up.

[XCashier]

Amazingly, after almost two years of working there, I've never had the misfortune of having her in my line.

Be careful, you may have just jinxed yourself...

We have a Chronic Line Cutter who is a regular. Recently she tried to cut the line in our deli & when she didn't succeed, made racist comments until the deli worker got so mad he said "Fuck You" to her. Then she complained & got the deli worker fired. I heard her telling the managers that she was "going to give it to Jesus."

Um, Jesus was also a minority, and didn't approve of bullying people, what makes her think He'll be on her side?!

[wolfie]

"It's okay if you cut someone, just say you're sorry."
"You must also accept the consequences. You're now banned from the store, we won't be serving you at all. Good bye."

No, it's not OK, and being banned from the store is the least of the consequences they could face. Sorry about using stereotypes, but there COULD have been a bunch of Bikers in the line the SC bypassed - and there's also a line at the ER. Of course, that line isn't FCFS - it's sorted by urgency, so I'm sure the SC would be served first.

Have you guys noticed how much SCs will exaggerate how long they've been waiting? Two minutes is ten, ten is a half an hour, etc.

It's probably the same rule as "estimate to actual time" in the computer field - double it and go to the next larger unit. Customer has to wait 5 seconds? They complain they've been waiting 10 minutes.

Our store was always a zoo

Let me guess - your customers were escapees from the monkey house.

[AccountingDrone]

There's a mysterious customer we have on a somewhat regular basis that my co-workers call "The Russian Lady" who always cuts in line and haggles over everything and thinks we're always trying to scam her. Everyone at this point pretty much lets her cut in line because she will start a fight if anyone calls her out on it. One of my managers explained to me how since this lady is from Russia, she's used to oppression and being duped and whatnot. Amazingly, after almost two years of working there, I've never had the misfortune of having her in my line. Most of the time we are so ridiculously busy that I don't pay attention to the line.

If you do get her, and she starts trying to haggle over something, tell her 'nye culturnye' [uncultured.] A fairly serious dis to many Russians who were considered barbarians by the very western europeans they were trying to emulate back in the pre-revolution days. If she gets offended, then inform her that in the US we do not need to haggle, prices are set for products by corporate so you can not cheat her by screwing with the prices. *Everybody* pays the same for the same product. You also inform her that cutting in line is also uncultured, and to be fair to everybody, everybody stands in line and waits their turn - we do not have any special stores and special restaurants for party members, we are all equal in the US.

[manybellsdown]

I hate line cutters because 9 times out of 10 they simply cannot see how rude they're being, and somehow everyone else is being rude. And then you get the ones who know it's wrong but think they can still do it and get away with it. I have dealt with many a line jumper, both as a cashier and a customer. The last time it happened, I was the customer. Some elderly couple cut in front of me, I said "Excuse me I was first!" but I was seen as the rude one...

Hah! I know, how am I rude for politely standing up for myself? I was waiting at the front of the queue area in a craft store when a little old lady went straight up to the register just as the cashier finished with a customer. Before I could even say anything the cashier pointed out that I'd been waiting and the line was over there.

The lady throws her stuff down on the counter and says "Well I don't want it if I have to wait in all that LINE!!!"

I was the only person waiting. I had 3 items. Okay, lady.

[SixFortyK]

It would be amazing if upper management in any company would actually spend some time IN the stores, waiting on people on a daily basis. In all my years of working in retail, I've only ONCE had a district manager who spent as much time in the stores as he did in his office.

Yeah, I've always thought that type of upper management involvement could only be beneficial to a business. But, I've often wondered if the store level employees would behave normally if they knew upper management was working at their location.

When I worked overnight, we had a district manager, whom I'd never seen before, that would occasionally make his rounds of the stores at night. At 4AM, as I was working frozen food dept, I saw this well dressed guy facing and straightening a section of the frozen. I assumed he was the product rep, and was filling his companies product. I went up to him and told him he needed to fill this, fill that, straighten that, fix that, etc. And, without a word, he did it. Later, I was told that he was my district manager, and he had just dropped in to check on the store. If I had known who he was, I wouldn't have said anything beyond 'hello' to him.

These days, the store always knows ahead of time if upper management is going to visit. Lots of extra labor is scheduled ahead of time, extra cleaning takes place, and the store is spiffied up. Visiting management ends up seeing a facade.

[coffee_drinker247]

Cat Herder - thank you!!! I am excited...June 21st is the wedding, eee!!!

So many replies here, it's awesome! I'm so happy that the self entitled line cutters are equally reviled by all. There is no excuse. I had another incident today when a lady just came blasting up to the register while I'm trying to count back someone else's change (and there is a line behind my customer) and goes, "Do you know where ______ is?" Now mind you. I am not the only one working, but I am the only one at the register obviously helping someone else and there are at least two other employees on the sales floor available to answer the question. Why did she feel it was necessary to come barging all the way up to the register and cut ahead of people and stand on the side asking me questions while I'm finishing a transaction? It's called interrupting. Didn't her parents ever teach her that interrupting is bad manners?

Like in their mind, they think they are the only person on the planet who deserves to be served NOW, and they just have a "quick question" (hint: NEVER quick) that in their mind is a simple so they want instant gratification and don't want to hunt down another employee or wait in line because they are too impatient. But they don't realize that I'm mentally elsewhere and trying to help someone else and it's rude to that customer as well, moreso than me.

SixFortyK, I completely agree with you. So funny that you gave your DM instructions and he actually did it and didn't say something like, "Oh, no, I'm your district manager." That's actually kind of awesome that he did that and didn't toot his own horn. Lol! I know, the "facade" spiel is something that I have been used to for years, but now we are going to have a new DM that is actually based in OUR area rather than another city, so we will be her home store and that means she will be here a lot...love that stress, right! I hope she is nice because I don't want to deal with someone who is sh*tty on a regular basis like that. Luckily she doesn't start for a few more months so we have some time until then (better enjoy it now) but yeah this means doing everything BY THE BOOK and making sure everything is perfect all of the time...sigh.

[Mytical]

Let me guess - your customers were escapees from the monkey house.

You had to go and insult the monkeys didn't you? Get them tearing around the place, flinging various things at everybody. Heck, most of the things they are flinging would be insulted by comparison to SC's and EW's.

As to the line cutters. I am telling you, I need to start Mytical's Guardian Gargoyle service. Maybe I should recruit some Hell's Angels (biker group), and offer services to any store who is tired of the BS of SC's.