Saturday 30 July 2011

Would You?

I was in Aldi the other night, ignorantly minding my own business.  That's what I do when I'm grocery shopping.  I do it at the end of the day and I just kind of go into my own brain and, whilst I know other people are around, I tend to ignore the fact that they are there.  Getting the shopping done does me in without crowd-watching or sticky-nosing into other people's trollies.

So I had all my shopping on that conveyer belt thing at the cash register and was waiting my turn behind the person being served when this man comes along behind me saying "excuse me can I get through".  Now people do this in Aldi, if they've nothing to buy.  There is no other way out and if you're not buying anything you don't want to wait.  I get that.  I let them through.  This guy, however, had two items in his hand.  So as I am authomatically moving my trolley thinking he was someone without anything to buy, I noticed he has two things in his hands.  And as I notice he says "Oh, I've only got two things so can I just squeeze in here?".

I was stunned.  What I wanted to say was "NO!  You may not, you rude, arrogant man.  What makes you think your time is more valuable than mine?".  What really happened was that I let him through because by the time I'd noticed he needed to pay for something I'd already let him past me.  And I was cross because I felt like he had put me in a position where I would have appeared to be the rude one if I'd said no.

So I have two questions:
1.  Would you have pushed past two other people because you only had two items to put through, or would you have waited your turn like everyone else was doing?
2.  Would you have let him through.....or not?

9 comments:

Belinda said...

I have often had people at Aldi offer to put me in front of them, and generally, with thanks I accept..but to make the assumption that the other person should let me go in front of them, never. Let alone orchestrate it so they feel they have no choice about the matter.

Once someone was past me in the queue I wouldn't feel that I had a choice in the matter. That said at the point where I was "asked" I probably would feel the need to reply with something expressing how rude I felt his assumption to be.

Kind Regards
Belinda

Joolz said...

Exactly, Belinda!

It is always nice when someone lets you go ahead of them but I would never, ever just barge in and assume they would let me.

My other pet hate in 'stupid-market' is the young check-out staff who painfully glance up at the clock or their watch and say "...only 15 more minutes until I knock off, I've been here for 4 hours!", rolling their eyes.
They should be thankful they have a job! And pretty sure, most people in the store at 5.45pm have had a day at work too! Give's me the willies!

Joolz

Crunchie's Mum said...

Pushing past is rude - no question about it. It rates up there with people who park on footpaths or no parking zones in shopping centres because its quicker than parking right at the back of the car park because the rest is full. What makes them special?!! For those that do it there is a reason those spaces are kept clear, usually to allow pedestrian access. Try pushing a wheelchair around a major shopping centre car park and see how difficult it is when cars are parked across footpaths.What ever happened to manners!

Joolz said...

I also had someone 'steal' a parking spot that I was sitting waiting to occupy (with my indicator on) - they just zoomed into the space right in front of me! My head nearly blew off my shoulders! So rude!

Joolz

Anonymous said...

Joolz, I hate that too!

Tracy, I think he was very rude.

Tracy said...

I would definitely not push in. I probably wouldn't say anything to him either even though his behaviour was rude. I just don't like the possibility of confrontation over something that in the long run is not worth a battle.

Tracy said...

It's nice to know I'm one of the majority on this.

debbie bailey said...

I've been in this situation plenty of times. If someone behind me only as an item or two, I ask them if they'd like to go on through. They're always very grateful.

When I'm that person behind, I'm always hoping they'll see that I only have a few items and ask me to go through. But no, I would never ask to go through unless I had a crying baby or something equally pressing.

Yes, I'd let the rude person through. To be rude to him in return would make me rude like him. Two rudes don't make a right!

Left-Handed Housewife said...

I think Debbie put it pretty much the same way I would have. It's so tempting to be rude back in situations like that, but I never feel very good about it later.

xofrances