Stepping briefly out of a queue is ok, provided you didn't intend to. You should ideally ask someone next to you to keep your place so they know. If you're not back they should skip ahead. This on average makes things more efficient for everyone.
Dropping a basket at the end of a queue and immediately departing messes things up. Why wouldn't everyone do that if they could? Conversely, for short queues of people with lots of things the waiting at the end could be a significant amount of time, so I would be ok with someone who'd been waiting a few minutes to leave their basket, again prefering to ask someone to remember their place.
* Proportionate response to people who break best practice
The aim should be to adopt practices which converge to best, not converge to fisticuffs. Eg. if someone legitimately steps out of the middle and you didn't notice, you should ideally imply "It's ok, come back, but be quicker next time". If someone pushes in you should definitely firmly but politely tell them to go to the back, otherwise society will collapse and we'll turn into spain! You shouldn't hit them, that'd be worse. However, you could politely ask the cashier not to serve them first.
If someone leaves the end of the queue, what's reasonable? It breaks down here, because I'm not sure. I'd be inclined to stand abreast of the basket, and say "Oh, were you here?" when they return, and if they say "I'm sorry, I was just a moment, I forgot the whipped cream" let them on, and if they say "Hah, I'm entitled! Mwahahha, serve me, proles" say "Sorry, I didn't realise. Well, too late now" :)
The mischievous course of action if the person's a completely annoying arsewit, of course, is to report their abandoned basket as a bomb threat.
Generally, I agree with the principle that you need a person to hold a place in the supermarket queue, not a basket. People violating that principle annoy me less than (a) those who faff about packing, paying or using a self-service checkout, and (b) those who try taking a trolley through a basket-only queue.
A notable exception is if you notice a damaged item in one's shopping, by the way. The supermarket will try and send someone to get you a replacement, but you can find it much more quickly yourself. Even then, I'd explain to people what I was doing rather than vanishing without warning.
Indeed, that's maybe the most satisfying, though, in both short and long terms, make it harder for everyone to shop...
Generally, I agree with the principle that you need a person to hold a place in the supermarket queue, not a basket.
Hmmm. I don't know. If someone leaves a basket mid-queue it's generally pretty clear, and if they don't come back it's no skin off your nose. I admit it's politer to say something, but I know so many geeks including me who don't like talking to strangers I'm happy not to.
It would be a problem if people did this a lot, because you could never see where a queue was, and they'd gain a march on you, but it doesn't seem a problem yet. Personally, I never *want* to, but am happy to if I forget something close by.
People violating that principle annoy me less than (a) those who faff about packing, paying or using a self-service checkout, and (b) those who try taking a trolley through a basket-only queue.
I know what you mean. Though always fele horribly guilty because I do, a bit. The self service are never perfect, so I always end up getting stuck on something, and not knowing what circumstance causes it to lock up and call for help, and if everyone only used the thing if they were certain it would work perfectly no-one ever would. And similar things for right queues. Of course, you're certainly thinking of people who are deliberately unhelpful and hold everyone up for ten minutes, but I feel guilt by association :(
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-26 12:00 pm (UTC)* Best queuing practice
Stepping briefly out of a queue is ok, provided you didn't intend to. You should ideally ask someone next to you to keep your place so they know. If you're not back they should skip ahead. This on average makes things more efficient for everyone.
Dropping a basket at the end of a queue and immediately departing messes things up. Why wouldn't everyone do that if they could? Conversely, for short queues of people with lots of things the waiting at the end could be a significant amount of time, so I would be ok with someone who'd been waiting a few minutes to leave their basket, again prefering to ask someone to remember their place.
* Proportionate response to people who break best practice
The aim should be to adopt practices which converge to best, not converge to fisticuffs. Eg. if someone legitimately steps out of the middle and you didn't notice, you should ideally imply "It's ok, come back, but be quicker next time". If someone pushes in you should definitely firmly but politely tell them to go to the back, otherwise society will collapse and we'll turn into spain! You shouldn't hit them, that'd be worse. However, you could politely ask the cashier not to serve them first.
If someone leaves the end of the queue, what's reasonable? It breaks down here, because I'm not sure. I'd be inclined to stand abreast of the basket, and say "Oh, were you here?" when they return, and if they say "I'm sorry, I was just a moment, I forgot the whipped cream" let them on, and if they say "Hah, I'm entitled! Mwahahha, serve me, proles" say "Sorry, I didn't realise. Well, too late now" :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 12:54 am (UTC)Generally, I agree with the principle that you need a person to hold a place in the supermarket queue, not a basket. People violating that principle annoy me less than (a) those who faff about packing, paying or using a self-service checkout, and (b) those who try taking a trolley through a basket-only queue.
A notable exception is if you notice a damaged item in one's shopping, by the way. The supermarket will try and send someone to get you a replacement, but you can find it much more quickly yourself. Even then, I'd explain to people what I was doing rather than vanishing without warning.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-28 11:15 am (UTC)Generally, I agree with the principle that you need a person to hold a place in the supermarket queue, not a basket.
Hmmm. I don't know. If someone leaves a basket mid-queue it's generally pretty clear, and if they don't come back it's no skin off your nose. I admit it's politer to say something, but I know so many geeks including me who don't like talking to strangers I'm happy not to.
It would be a problem if people did this a lot, because you could never see where a queue was, and they'd gain a march on you, but it doesn't seem a problem yet. Personally, I never *want* to, but am happy to if I forget something close by.
People violating that principle annoy me less than (a) those who faff about packing, paying or using a self-service checkout, and (b) those who try taking a trolley through a basket-only queue.
I know what you mean. Though always fele horribly guilty because I do, a bit. The self service are never perfect, so I always end up getting stuck on something, and not knowing what circumstance causes it to lock up and call for help, and if everyone only used the thing if they were certain it would work perfectly no-one ever would. And similar things for right queues. Of course, you're certainly thinking of people who are deliberately unhelpful and hold everyone up for ten minutes, but I feel guilt by association :(