Queue Etiquette.

Archeron

Just wondering what boardies think of something.
This morning, I went into a cafe to get something to eat, nothing special of a place, just a coffee shop kind of thing.
When I went in, there were 6 people in a group standing at the end of the counter flicking through the menus. Up the counter stood two women serving who had no customers to serve and were just standing there looking bored.
After a minute or so waiting behind the group, I just said, "excuse me", took a tray (I just wanted a coffee and a sambo), passed politely, nodding hello to one of two of the people and went to the order point.
When I got there, the woman behind the counter asked what I want and when I told her, she said "yeah, well those people are ahead of you so back to the end of the line with you". The original six people were still looking through the menu (menu was up on a board near the entrance) and another 4 people had walked in and were now standing behind them meaning there was now 10 people looking at the menu, not waiting to order, but she just wouldnt serve me.
Was I being bad mannered or rude by just going straight to order after waiting a minute, or should I have stood back and waited patiently while these 10 people took 10 minutes to decide what they wanted? Certainly the people in the queue didnt seem to mind as they smiled pleasantly and said hello when I passed by to order.
I'd never skip in a queue, but I dont consider this skipping as these people werent waiting to order.
I think she was just being an arse, but maybe I was being a dirty rotten queue jumper that deserved to be punished with unnessecary delays.

Caveat

In general, Irish people don't know how to queue - and I hate queue jumping with a passion.

But in the case you describe I would have done the same - especially if there was no indication that the other people were on the verge or coming to a decision.

MarkR

I would have just said they are not ready to order, will you take mine now or shall I speak to someone else?

Sam Vimes

you shouldn't have to queue with people who are not trying to avail of the same service as you. they were looking at the menu and you were ordering food so waiting for them is ridiculous


i wonder when this woman comes to traffic lights with multiple lanes, does she always join the longest queue even if she's going a different direction because she doesn't want to have skipped

whiterebel

You did exactly the right thing. I'd have just left her the tray and gone somewhere else, but that would have suited her, by the sounds of it.

Gordon

As a quick aside - old ladies in queues for tickets at a train station; get your feckin money out while waiting in the queue, it stops you fumbling about when being waited on and wasting everybodys time.

Mr Magnolia

The girl on the counter is a numpty. You acted appropriately. I would probably have asked her who the duty manager was and had a word.

tbh

I think you did the right thing. I probably would have said "Sorry - are ye queuing or...?" and waited for them to give me the nod, but if I had been reading the menu, I would not have been annoyed at you.

Latchy

Caveat wrote: »

In general, Irish people don't know how to queue - and I hate queue jumping with a passion.

+1 .The brits are good at queuing and i speak from expierence of standing politley in a queue knowing that my time will come weather in a shop , bank , post office or cafe.

But in the case you describe I would have done the same - especially if there was no indication that the other people were on the verge or coming to a decision.

I agree or maybe just have walked out of the cafe your point made .

Archeron

Thanks all, I thought I wasnt out of order. I did actually leave the place without ordering and got a nice sambo and a coffee in the petrol station up the road and was served by one of the nicest (and sexiest, not that thats important ) girls I've ever seen, so all good in the end. And it only cost half the amount as the cafe, so lets hear it for Numpties working in cafes!

guinnessdrinker

Cool, happy endings are great.

Latchy

I have being that situation myself were you just want a coffee and bun while people in front decide what it is they want and have had no problem overtaking them to pay for my stuff . Common sense has prevailed although you will always get the odd person who gives you daggers as you move ahead and wont see it like that .Tough

Caveat

latchyco wrote: »

+1

I've only seen this on this site.

Excuse my ignorance, and OT for a second, but what exactly does this mean? I assume it means just "I agree to an even further degree" ...or something...?

Mr Magnolia

Yeah:

+ = support/agreement.

Mr_Roger_Bongos

In a situation like this, one should always;

- March up to the top of the queue
- Proceed to bang your fist on the counter and shout in a farmer voice "I DEMAND SERVICE!"*

*Applicable regardless of whether your the only one in the shop/restaurant

Sam Vimes

Caveat wrote: »

I've only seen this on this site.

Excuse my ignorance, and OT for a second, but what exactly does this mean? I assume it means just "I agree to an even further degree" ...or something...?

it means that the poster agrees and there are now two people of the same opinion, ie the original poster +1

seamus

Irish shops often fail to properly organise their shop so as to facilitate the best queuing and Irish people are generally just awful at it.

the_syco

Definition of a queue: the line of people behind me.

I love skipping the queue. The longer the better.

faceman

Id love a cup of tea and sandwich now actually.

You did nothing wrong OP in my books. Id have made you a cheese sandwich anyway

Latchy

If you skip the Q then you obioulsy wont mind sombody else doing it to you either ha ha

Colonel Sanders

I don't think you acted inappropriately, only thing is I might have asked the people flicking thro menus would they mind if I went ahead (and if I'd been in there position I'd have told you to go ahead). Yer one behind the counter sounds like so many people in the Irish services industry, hates her job and takes it out on the customers.

I hate que jumping too but this is a different situation. No matter how bad we are I don't think the word or concept of a queue exists in French/France. God I hate that country.

ztoical

[QUOTE=Archeron;54840271
After a minute or so waiting behind the group, I just said, "excuse me", took a tray (I just wanted a coffee and a sambo), passed politely, nodding hello to one of two of the people and went to the order point. [/QUOTE]

The fact that you acknowledged the others in the queue when you past them makes it not queueing jumping, in my eyes at least. Had you marched past straight to the counter maybe but you said excuse me and anyone who had been ready to order or thought you were out of line should have said something to you. I can understand staff refusing to serve someone if they think they skipped and the next person in the line is going to come up and yell at them [happened to me all the time in Easons] but in this case that clearly wouldn't have happened. You picked up a tray and said excuse me, where did people think you were going? Of course you were going to go order and had any of them been ready they would have said so.

People really don't get queues this country - not one hour ago I was in line to pay for parking at the shopping center - theres two machine but the guy is fixing one so everyone is queueing for the other machine. This woman comes along who looks like shes eating a lemon and goes and stands by the broken machine. The guy fixing it gives her an odd look [the machine is open and he is on his hands and knees with tools so its pretty clear what he is doing] She stands there with her ticket out avoiding eye contact with everyone in the queue. I paid for my ticket but stood back a little to watch this woman, eventually the workman turns and says "its going to take good bit longer" Woman throws a fit, guy ignores her [which was fantastic] and she ends up having to queue for the other machine - had she queued in the first place she'd had been gone already.

i71jskz5xu42pb

Archeron wrote: »

but maybe I was being a dirty rotten queue jumper that deserved to be punished with unnessecary delays.

Your behaviour was rude and inexcusable. You should have waited your turn like everybody else. Who do you think you are, really? Is your time more valuable that everybody else's time?

Ha ha, just said that to prevent this thread from becoming the dreariest thing on the internet since watching-grass-grow.com. If there's something more boring than a load of people righteously agreeing with something that would be obvious to a five year old I've yet to see it. Happy Friday.

Slice

I like the way people in this country don't queue. Queueing is such an English thing. Sometimes queueing can be justified but I hate queueing for busses especially. It's more democratic not to queue in my opinion; those who are really eager to get on the bus push their way to the front and those who don't care so much just hang around from behind - everyone gets what they want.

LuckyStar

To be honest, the first thing I thought when reading your post was that you must have a lot of spare time on your hands to be posting on an internet forum for being told not to skip a queue.

Second, all you had to ask the other people was "are you queueing".

Archeron

LuckyStar wrote: »

To be honest, the first thing I thought when reading your post was that you must have a lot of spare time on your hands to be posting on an internet forum for being told not to skip a queue.

Thats what happens when you're in work with nothing to do I suppose.

majiktripp

Gordon wrote: »

As a quick aside - old ladies in queues for tickets at a train station; get your feckin money out while waiting in the queue, it stops you fumbling about when being waited on and wasting everybodys time.

Bang on! Nothing more f%*!in' irritating than that especially when waiting for a bus in the pissing rain! Thank you aaand good night!

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

Caveat wrote: »

I've only seen this on this site.

Excuse my ignorance, and OT for a second, but what exactly does this mean? I assume it means just "I agree to an even further degree" ...or something...?

think it gained popularity originally on some US discussion website - maybe fark.com?

JohnC.

One evening I was queueing at KFC. There were only 2 on the counter and a lot of people suddenly turned up. I spent about 10 minutes in the queue, which I didn't mind really as I was in no hurry.

But the 2 people in front of me spent most of the 10 minutes complaining about the queue and when they got to the counter, then, and only then, did they decide to look at the menu, when they had 10 minutes to do so. Despite being behind them, I had my food served to me and had left the counter before they had even decided on what to order. The irony probably never crossed their minds.

Corruptedmorals

Yeah that's annoying, she's the one in the wrong. In general though, queues need more barrier things and signs saying 'queue this way'. 3 minutes before closing in Dunnes today, I went back on till to get rid of the 2 people standing there facing the tills, not queuing in any order. Said 'next please', man nearest put trousers on counter, woman further down started screaming at him, then roared 'well it's her fault anyway', I explained that it wasn't because I wasn't there to see the 'queue' form, more ranting and raving at me, telling me I have the height of bad manners, girl next to me served her, asked her if she wanted a bag as we only had big ones left for the socks she bought, woman screamed of course she ****ing does, she's not going to walk out with socks in her hand. Blah blah blah, point of rant, queues need to be more controlled.

Toto Wolfcastle

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

Yeah that's annoying, she's the one in the wrong. In general though, queues need more barrier things and signs saying 'queue this way'. 3 minutes before closing in Dunnes today, I went back on till to get rid of the 2 people standing there facing the tills, not queuing in any order. Said 'next please', man nearest put trousers on counter, woman further down started screaming at him, then roared 'well it's her fault anyway', I explained that it wasn't because I wasn't there to see the 'queue' form, more ranting and raving at me, telling me I have the height of bad manners, girl next to me served her, asked her if she wanted a bag as we only had big ones left for the socks she bought, woman screamed of course she ****ing does, she's not going to walk out with socks in her hand. Blah blah blah, point of rant, queues need to be more controlled.

Yup, people get very angry when it comes to queues. I once had a lady come up to me from the wrong side of the till and when I told her that the queue was going the other way (there were about 5 people queueing) I was told to fcuk off. She then came back about 5 minutes later, queued the right way for about 10 minutes, and tried to return the 300 euro worth of things she had bought half an hour earlier in the day because I had told her (nicely) that the queue was going the other way. Her argument was that she had spent so much earlier so why should I tell her to queue.

Morlar

Mr_Roger_Bongos wrote: »

In a situation like this, one should always;

- March up to the top of the queue
- Proceed to bang your fist on the counter and shout in a farmer voice "I DEMAND SERVICE!"*

*Applicable regardless of whether your the only one in the shop/restaurant

This is always the best way to handle shop assistants

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQaEE3ICL6U

Seriously though - why not walk to the top of the queue and say 'hi are you queuing?' - if they are still faffing about they will say - 'no fire away' or they will decide what they want a bit quicker. Being direct isnt rude - I dont think you were rude but I would have asked them first.

LuckyStar

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

Yeah that's annoying, she's the one in the wrong. In general though, queues need more barrier things and signs saying 'queue this way'. 3 minutes before closing in Dunnes today, I went back on till to get rid of the 2 people standing there facing the tills, not queuing in any order. Said 'next please', man nearest put trousers on counter, woman further down started screaming at him, then roared 'well it's her fault anyway', I explained that it wasn't because I wasn't there to see the 'queue' form, more ranting and raving at me, telling me I have the height of bad manners, girl next to me served her, asked her if she wanted a bag as we only had big ones left for the socks she bought, woman screamed of course she ****ing does, she's not going to walk out with socks in her hand. Blah blah blah, point of rant, queues need to be more controlled.

I hope you told her to watch her language? Or you at least walked away from her? She has no right to shout at you or curse at you.

Corruptedmorals

I'm not actually sure what we're allowed to do under store policy. It's usually best to serve them and get rid of them, refusing to serve..longer rant more shouting basically. I told her it wasn't my fault, that's about it. Wanted to strangle her. Don't think I'm allowed tell her to shut up or lose the attitude? Hmm. Worst ones for rants are menopausal women and rich women laden down with Brown Thomas bags.

Colonel Sanders

janeybabe wrote: »

and tried to return the 300 euro worth of things she had bought half an hour earlier in the day because I had told her (nicely) that the queue was going the other way. Her argument was that she had spent so much earlier so why should I tell her to queue.

this kind of attitude sickens me, over self importance is a shocking thing in Ireland these days.

I remember being in a petrol station years ago buying a newspaper. Long enuf q. A man walks in, picks up a paper saunters up to the front of the q, talks to the lad behind the counter for a minute, is given a few items from behind the counter and walked out without paying. I always wonder was he a gangland figure as it was exactly like something out of goodfellas!

Buceph

He could have been the owner, another member of staff, someone from a business with an account.

I'm surprised 'ol biddies' haven't come up yet. The mad old bats that push their way to the front in every newsagent known to man. And they usually get served as it's not worth the staffs time arguing.

run_Forrest_run

OP, you did nothing wrong in this case and the staff member was acting like a cow.
One thing I HATE about queues in this country, lets say there is one queue with about 5 people in it, suddenly a new til opens up and the cashier calls for Next and some chancer a few places back (usually at the very end) just jumps over to that til. They were not next!! Also the cashier should nicely inform them of that but sure I suppose they couldn't be bothered, not in their job description!