OMG I have a GREAT story for this one!

I was in line at the grocery store behind an adult woman and her mother. They were buying groceries along with a handful of those cheap plastic toys they tend to stick in bins by the checkout.

The clerk (who looked to be all of about eighteen, which might explain why these women thought they could behave this way) starts ringing up the toys, and the younger woman flips out on her for no apparent reason, screaming that all the toys are the same price and the girl just rang a couple of them up at a higher price.

The poor clerk is totally bewildered, as all she did was scan the items - it's not like she did it purposely.

Now the mother gets into it and starts screaming that the girl is trying to rip them off, etc.

A manager finally comes over and tells them that yes, the bin is marked at one price, but that some of these toys came from a different bin, marked at a higher price (and really, they were like $1.00-$1.50 each).

Well, after much screaming and yelling, the women finally decided they didn't want any of the toys, paid for their groceries, and left.

I stood there stunned through the whole thing. I thought the poor clerk was going to cry. When I got up there I just looked at her and said, "Some people are real assholes."

At least I got her to laugh, poor thing. Wow.

Posted by: Ann at August 31, 2010 3:49 PM

As I was stepping up onto the bus, a woman stuck her cane between my legs, shoved me off my feet and jumped onto the bus.

Posted by: Ingrid at August 31, 2010 5:05 PM

The reason I chose to post the above comment under 'waiting in lines' is that I was waiting in line and the pushy woman was NOT. In fact, she shoved her way in front of the line every weekday for a year (that I know of) until that day. I yelled at her once I picked myself up and got on the bus. That woman never took the bus at that time of day again.

Posted by: Ingrid at August 31, 2010 6:56 PM

WTF? She flat-out TRIPPED you? That's ballsy.

Posted by: Ann at August 31, 2010 7:22 PM

A HUGE pet peeve of mine is when people disregard the sneeze guards at restaurants! The most frequent infraction I see is at Chipotle. As these people decide what they want on their burritos, the reach OVER THE TOP of the sneeze guard to point at what the want! I always put them on the spot, saying something like "you know those guards are there so the public DOESN'T contaminate the food right? And when you reach over, it defeats the purpose!" Often they get embarassed and leave and the staff thanks me.

The worst may have been when a mother stood her toddler up on the ledge and his handprints were smeared all over the guard! I was nicer to her and she apologized profusely. Luckily for her I was in a calmer mood.

Posted by: Brad at September 1, 2010 3:36 AM

Please-oh-please, stand BEHIND me in the line and not next to me. I don't care if your order was called in, I'm still in line to be the next one served.

(Exception to the rule: I don't mind if you line-jump to TELL [not to ask, but to make a declarative statement] the clerk something important, like the fact that they're out of toilet paper or somebody threw up or that there's a missing child. Something that the clerk needs to handle near-immediately and needs no discussion.

Posted by: cornerdemon at September 1, 2010 8:52 PM

People are Always going ahead of me in lines in stores. I am short and they act like I am not even THERE!! I was thinking of getting a sign and wearing it on my back. I am IN LINE IN FRONT OF YOU!! I EXIST !! Do not EVEN THINK ABOUT IT Cutting In FRONT OF ME !!!

Posted by: Becky at September 3, 2010 5:53 AM

Our local grocery chain has four self-checkout lines in its stores. I can generally make it through the checkout process in seven minutes max (and that is with a "large" order).

I have two stories -- one only happened once the other is a common.

The line has about nine-ten people waiting to checkout plus the four stations are already occupied. These two guys, apparently old acquaintances, meet up in line and have about five items each. They are talking as the line progresses. It took them about 10 minutes to checkout because they are B.S.ing back and forth as they checkout. They were totally oblivious that they are holding up the rest of us. The poor clerk is stuck trying to get them moving. :-(

The other is when it is busy in the store -- most of the lanes are open -- I'm using the mini-cart or a basket (and most of the rest of the people are) on the self-checkout line. Then you have someone who is special and shows up with a full sized cart that is almost full -- and it isn't bulk items like cases of soda and water. Then to add insult to injury -- they aren't quite sure how to run the self-checkout stuff to get the best results.

Posted by: Jim P. at September 6, 2010 1:44 PM

My self checkout rule, one of them anyway, is that if I have more than three items that do not have a barcode on them, I use a manned checkout station.

Posted by: Steve Daniels at September 6, 2010 6:11 PM

Please don't stand on my feet, bump into my back or legs with your bags, elbows or breasts, grab the bin at the airport security line ahead of me when you are behind me and by all means do not stand next to me. It is called a "line" for a reason and running into me constantly will not make it go any faster.

There.

Posted by: Tom S at September 8, 2010 4:30 AM

I'm with Tom S. I have turned around and asked people to back up before. If I can hear/feel you breathing, you are too close to me. You're not going to get their any faster by being up my ass. I have pretty long hair. When things get really bad, I take it down and start tossing it over my shoulder repeatedly. It usually only takes me a few tries to whip the ass behind me in the face with it. If you get whipped by my hair, you are TOO CLOSE. If I can't step backwards from the counter at the gas station to leave, YOU ARE TOO CLOSE!

Posted by: Kimmy at September 8, 2010 5:23 PM

My sister's boyfriend hates waiting in line and gets very impatient if he has to. He my sister and I were at the movie theater. He was in line getting concessions and she and were getting tickets. I got my ticket before her and so joined him at the end of the concessions line. Not realizing his disdain for line (having only met him earlier that week.) I started chatting, big mistake, he immediately told me that I was "retarded and if I didn't have anything smart to say I should shut up." I was completely shocked and before I could get a response out my sister walked up. She sensed the tense mood and tried to make a joke to lighten it. Another big mistake he told her she wasn't funny and that both of us need to learn when to stop talking. That is about the time I actually figured out what to say. I told him that he was acting like an immature child and needed to learn how to treat others with respect and that if he did not immediately apologies we were outta there. So he apologized and we stayed but now I kind of wish we had left cause this guy still acts like a total jerk when waiting in line.

Posted by: Katebo at September 28, 2010 7:17 AM

I hate waiting in line and i like the scene from the movie, it was a very nice movie.

Thanks for sharing

Posted by: karen at February 24, 2011 6:28 PM

I was next in line to be rung up at a local drug store, and a little old woman wandered past the head of the line and straight to the register. Seeing as she was at least twice my age and probably confused, I figured this wasn't something worth getting upset over and let her go ahead.

As it turns out, she pulls this maneuver quite often. The next time I was there waiting further back in the line she made her way to the register. Only this time she was cutting off another elderly woman who was next, and this lady was not having it! She let her know in no uncertain terms (and in a fun combination of Korean and English) that she needed to haul her butt to the back of the line.

Posted by: JonnyT at September 12, 2011 2:14 AM

I shop at Trader Joe's regularly, have for years. Those of you that go there understand that Traders is tight. The aisles, the check out, everywhere in the store. Patience is key for the place. I have no problem waiting my turn but I will say something if I am cut off and have been waiting. Traders customers have a tendency to be courteous and thoughtful though.

However, one day I was checking out and things are especially tight there. There is barely enough room for each persons line to go through. A woman waiting in the line next to mine pushed her way between me and the woman behind me. No excuse me or asking for pardon for bumping into us. She had an armful of gladiolas and they were long stemmed and bulky. She turned and hit me in the head with the flowers. She apparently didnt notice she had bounced my head forward but several others did. I turned around to say something to her and she then pretended to not speak English. She acted as if she didnt understand what I had said and then proceeded to turn around again to go back in line next to me and hit me in the face with them this time. I touched her arm to tell her, again, that she had hit me and she completely ignored my touch and words and disappeared back into the store.

Both checkers and the customer in line behind me and the one checking out behind me asked if I was ok as it had hit me in the face. They were as appalled as I was. The checker said the woman asked her question in English before pretending to not speak when she spoke to me.

Posted by: Audrey at September 18, 2011 10:57 PM

I was checking out at a self check-out line, just finishing up bagging my items when a woman with her teenage daughter and the daughter's newborn baby step up behind. The old biyatch looks directly at me and then scans a bottle of fabric softener and then just tosses it down the conveyor belt into all of my stuff. Then proceeds to send a giant storage box down into all of my stuff. Then gets upset because the price isn't right and calls the clerk over so now I have to move my shopping cart the let him through. It would have only been another minute you impatient wh*re!

Posted by: Misty at October 29, 2011 1:59 PM

I had somehow dropped my club card inside Costco and couldn't check out without it. The people behind me and the cashier were all really nice about it. Everything was loaded back into the cart and I was sent over to a service desk for a day-pass. Even my 3-year-old was being well behaved, not fussing in the cart or anything. It was too good to last.

When I got there, there were 2 people ahead of me and one staff member running the desk. The first person was doing a new application, which takes a couple minutes. However, the computer was having issues, so the wait was maybe 4 minutes. During this time, a very old "gentleman" came into the store and got in line behind me. After less than a minute he started going, "Come ON!" in a grumble that was loud enough to be easily heard by the person running the counter. He couldn't make it a minute before repeating himself. Then he started slamming his hand against the cart handle and adding grumblings like, "Geez!" and, "(snort) They're too slow."

The poor lady staffing the counter was getting visibly frustrated, which was clearly slowing her down... and making the man louder, ruder, and bolder. After several more minutes of this, my child asks, "Why can't he wait nicely?"

I replied, "I guess his mommy never taught him good manners. Do you see why they are so important now?"

He said he did, but this didn't even make the man pause and think (we were less than a foot apart, and he clearly heard us despite using appropriate voices). At this point, the first lady was done and the lady in front of me moved to the desk.

Thankfully, somebody arrived with my now-found card and I was able to hop out of that line and back into the check-out. When I left a few minutes later, the man was practically growling at the lady behind the desk (it was now his turn).

This whole thing was easily under 10 minutes.

Posted by: Anon at January 3, 2012 1:47 PM

When I was about 14 (circa 1995), I rode my bicycle to "town" and went into the V&S (remember those?) to buy some t-shirt to tie-dye. There was only one cashier and the line was relatively long. I waited patiently.

When it was my turn I stepped up. This *really* big lady pushed me (with her stomach) hard enough that I sort of flew forward several feet (well past the cashier). She then proceeded to knock my pack of t-shirts to the side and hand the cashier her basket of items.

Unfortunately, the cashier was probably not that much older than me. She rang this lady up and then I (after being squished to the side as this lady passed) had to go and jockey to have my purchase rung-up because the person *behind* the big woman didn't see anything. He had no idea that I had waited in line and was just trying to pay. He thought I was cutting and tried to send me to the back of the line.

The cashier took pity and rang me up, saying it was her fault.

Posted by: Anon at January 3, 2012 1:56 PM