Unwritten etiquette--a slight rant

[Taza Tikha]

I just came from a very ill-timed trip to Trader Joes. Every lane that was open had lines reaching back into the aisles. All I had was ice cream, so I picked what I thought would be the fastest-moving line--three people in front of me, each with full carts.

I waited while my carton got smushier and my hands wetter and colder (since I thought I was going to be in and out, I didn't bother with a basket). Finally the woman in front of me was up. She looked at me, looked at my melting ice cream, smiled, and proceeded to unload her cart. I waited not-so-patiently while she sent her daughter back to get something she forgot. Finally it was my turn, and I must have had death-look on my face because the checkout guy didn't even bother with pleasantries, just rang my ice cream up as fast as he could.

I like to think I'm not a prima donna, but isn't it common courtesy to let someone ahead of you if that person has just one or two items and you have a cart-full? I'm sure it's not written in any etiquette book anywhere, but it's something I've always done and it's something I've often been the recipient of.

I'm in a bad mood because after a lovely half-day of doing nothing at work, I almost got into two accidents coming home. First one was a guy yapping on the phone who kept trying to switch lines while my car was where he wanted to be. Second one was a guy who was doing a U-turn while traffic (and my car leading the way) was barreling down at him. I leaned on the horn, slammed on my brakes, and prayed that the people behind me could stop as quickly. And the guy just STOPPED in the road, like a deer caught in headlights. I mean, I have no problem if you want to get t-boned at 50mph--I'd just prefer that my car not have the honor of doing it.

As long as I'm talking about traffic, WHY can't people around here use the on-ramp to accelerate to highway speed? Not that I don't love trying to merge into traffic moving at twice my speed, and not that I don't mind that I don't have a zippy little sports car that can go from 0 to 60 in 2 seconds...it keeps me on my toes. Um, yeah.

I guess this was more than a little rant. Oh well, now that I've cartharsiated, I can enjoy the holiday weekend.

[Cole]

As long as I'm talking about traffic, WHY can't people around here use the on-ramp to accelerate to highway speed?

Dude, I HATE that!

I titally would've let you cut in line. But I think that's more a random act of kindness than unwritten etiquette.

What kind of ice cream was it?

[paiger81]

But I think that's more a random act of kindness than unwritten etiquette.

I agree. If the person(s) behind me have a few items I always let them jump ahead. The only time I ignore people is when they have like a few items & keep sighing and making noises as the line gets closer to cashier. Sorry, if you are gonna be obnoxious I'm not gonna let you cut.

[jrwilheim]

I just came from a very ill-timed trip to Trader Joes. Every lane that was open had lines reaching back into the aisles. All I had was ice cream, so I picked what I thought would be the fastest-moving line--three people in front of me, each with full carts.

I waited while my carton got smushier and my hands wetter and colder (since I thought I was going to be in and out, I didn't bother with a basket). Finally the woman in front of me was up. She looked at me, looked at my melting ice cream, smiled, and proceeded to unload her cart. I waited not-so-patiently while she sent her daughter back to get something she forgot. Finally it was my turn, and I must have had death-look on my face because the checkout guy didn't even bother with pleasantries, just rang my ice cream up as fast as he could.

I like to think I'm not a prima donna, but isn't it common courtesy to let someone ahead of you if that person has just one or two items and you have a cart-full? I'm sure it's not written in any etiquette book anywhere, but it's something I've always done and it's something I've often been the recipient of.

I'm in a bad mood because after a lovely half-day of doing nothing at work, I almost got into two accidents coming home. First one was a guy yapping on the phone who kept trying to switch lines while my car was where he wanted to be. Second one was a guy who was doing a U-turn while traffic (and my car leading the way) was barreling down at him. I leaned on the horn, slammed on my brakes, and prayed that the people behind me could stop as quickly. And the guy just STOPPED in the road, like a deer caught in headlights. I mean, I have no problem if you want to get t-boned at 50mph--I'd just prefer that my car not have the honor of doing it.

As long as I'm talking about traffic, WHY can't people around here use the on-ramp to accelerate to highway speed? Not that I don't love trying to merge into traffic moving at twice my speed, and not that I don't mind that I don't have a zippy little sports car that can go from 0 to 60 in 2 seconds...it keeps me on my toes. Um, yeah.

I guess this was more than a little rant. Oh well, now that I've cartharsiated, I can enjoy the holiday weekend.


I'm not sure that what you're describing qualifies as a hard-and-fast rule of etiquette, but I think it is the nice thing to do. I really hate it when I'm on line at the grocery store to buy like one item (for me, almost invariably a carton of milk), and there's a person in front of me with like 50 items and they keep sending their kid back for things they forgot. Come on, people--it's just plain rude to keep the rest of the line waiting while you get things you forgot. Come back for them another time.

[mishl982]

I agree with the others. I see it as more of being nice to let someone with a few items go ahead of me rather than etiquette.

I went to Trader Joe's today too and was so excited when they finally had their salsa chips in stock!

[aprilangel]

I dont think thats am etiquette issue rather a people arent as nice as they should be. Where I'm from though and the places I've lived "the south" I've always experienced that. People giving up places in line and so on.

[midtwenty]

I got pissed at the bank on Friday. I needed to make a withdrawal and there was only one teller line open. There were, I kid you not, 12 people in line. I was about the 5th one back, having barely gotten ahead of some weird kind of bank rush. Anyway, finally two more tellers open their lines and every fucknut behind me about broke their damn necks getting over there to get helped first. Nevermind that most of us toward the front of the line had been waiting already for at least 10 minutes. The asshats didn't even wait for those of us who'd been waiting forever to take a step in that direction - they just sprinted over. So I ended up waiting twice as long as people who came in 10 minutes after me. VERY annoying.

[spokes]

i can't even remember the last time i dealt with a teller at a bank - between cash machines, phone and e-banking, i don't even go inot a branch anymore. And now that I think about it, my branch is actually located in a city that is about 2500 miles away from me.......

[paiger81]

Mid20-
This is why I only use drive-thru. It's hard to cut in line when there are vehicles involved :razz:

[midtwenty]

Mid20-
This is why I only use drive-thru. It's hard to cut in line when there are vehicles involved :razz:
The drive-thru was so jam packed that it would have been an hour in line, easy. The ATM machine was down. I was in a part of town that made it most convenient to stop by the bank branch. If the ATM had been functioning, it wouldn't have been a problem. But I ended up having to go inside.