WESTBY AVENUE: shame on queue jumpers

I was the victim of a double blow on Wednesday while shopping for home furnishings at a large supermarket chain.

There were two tills and due to the lay out of the store, one queue was clearly being formed and by the time I got in I was about number three.

Suddenly with no regard for their conduct, a couple who I would describe as in their late 60s, charged straight to the front of the queue and plonked their items at the till.

The nice ladies in front of me laughed and said ’some people don’t know how to queue’ and carried on chatting.

I, on the other hand, could feel the steam coming out of my ears and the colour of my face going its usual shade of fiery crimson.

My instinct was to step in and say ‘excuse me this is the queue’ but I was distracted by a lady opening a third till.  

Now, front of the line, my anger started to fade until the lady shouted ‘who’s next please?’ and out of nowhere, another couple ploughed their way to the front leaving me and customers, two, three and four, flabbergasted.

I probably ended up getting served last in the end which is not at all fair especially when I’ve got such a pleasant face.

So, if you are out there and jumped a queue this week, SHAME ON YOU.

Now I’m sure there have been times when we’ve done it by mistake, OK I can forgive that and I’m sure I’ve done it (although probably not).

Granted it’s not always clear where the queue is, especially at the self service tills where it can be a free for all.

In cases like this, I always ask just in case because till rage is one of the worst varieties of rage.

There are blatant queue jumpers who see a gap and go for it, those are the ones that j’deplore.

In the words of the Backstreet Boys, I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, or what you do as long as you QUEUE in a fair and orderly manner.

That way we can all get along nicely and avoid retail rage.