Line cutters

[MamaMootz]

In a very crowded pharmacy yesterday, I was in line for over 20 minutes waiting to pick up my prescription, as were other people behind me. As it was my turn to be next, a woman entered the area, went directly to the counter while skirting the line and kept looking at her watch and huffing. The pharmacist looked like a deer in the headlights. As she went to cut in front of me, I firmly stated, "Excuse me, I believe I was next."

The woman turned to me and snapped, "Yeah and I've been waiting since yesterday."

I looked at her and said, "Ma'am, there is a line here and all of us have been waiting our turn for over 20 minutes. I was next."

Woman huffed and said, "Well, I have to be back to MY SCHOOL within 5 minutes".

The pharmacist them stepped in and got someone else to help Impatient Woman while he helped me.

When people are cutting in line and insisting they are right and you are wrong, what is a good response? It's funny that after the woman left, the people behind me in line said they were glad I spoke up (but none of them stepped in to back me up, either).  I took offense to the automatic assumption that she could jump the line because she didn't plan well and assumed her time was more important than ours. What if someone else in line was just as late but waiting their turn patiently?

Thoughts/ideas?

[mj]

I think the pharmacy was wrong to cave to her and assist her in successfully jumping the line.  That would really impact my view of this particular pharmacy.

I don't know that there is anything you can do.  In a gas station once, there were two very long lines and a man asked to jump.  No one let him, then he yelled exasperated "Hey! I've got a baby alone in the car, I need to go first!" The cashier spoke up and said if he left his child in the car he has more problems than needing to go first.  The man left without a word.  I saw his car as he was pulling away, a two seater without a baby anywhere to be seen.

[siamesecat2965]

I agree the pharmacy shouldn't have catered to her SS-ness. What they should have done is directed her to the back of hte line, and said they'd be with her as soon as everyone else who'd been waiting had been taken care of.

And if she knew she only had five minutes, then perhaps she should have chosen a different time to pick up her stuff.  I don't fill many prescriptions, but any time I have, whether dropping one off, or picking on up, no matter what time of day, day of the week, its ALWAYS busy. So I plan accordingly. I don't go if I know i have exactly 2 minutes to walk in, walk to the back of the store where the pharmacy is, wait my turn, wait for them to look for it, ring it, sign, etc. I go when I'm not in a rush.  She was just rude, and kudos to you for politley pointing that out to her!

[Otterpop]

Yes you were right to speak up.  At least she might think twice next time.  The pharmacist was really, really wrong.

(We had this happen at a movie theater last weekend.  Long line, 20 people deep.  Two ladies came from the sidewalk right up to the next window.  DH said "No way, there are people here who've been waiting" and we stepped in front of her to the window.  No one else spoke up as they got her tickets right after us.    We looked like jerks.  I didn't care.)

[Sophia]

...We looked like jerks.  I didn't care.)

No, you didn't.  They looked like jerks, and everyone in the front of the line knew it.  The employee was wrong to not signal for the next person in line.

[Sharnita]

I actually think there should be a pick up line or something so if she had previously done the preliminary stuff she could go to a different spot.to pick up scripts that were ready.

[WillyNilly]

Well I think there are two problems, and yeah the first is a 20 minute line at the pharmacy - you know that's not ok or normal, right?  It should be moving a lot faster then that, they need more employees or a better system or something. I would expect, absolutely without a second thought, that I could run in and get my Rx and be out in 5 minutes or so.

But onto the line cutter.  I'm sorry no one backed you up.  I would have.

A while ago I was online for a ticket machine for a train.  These trains only run every 30 minutes and it was scheduled to be there in about 4.  There were 3 people ahead of me.  I was a bit antsy.  a young woman ran in and up to the line and pleaded with those in line in front of me that she "needed" to be on that train.  Someone was about to let her cut when I spoke up "I need t be on that train too, and there are 3 people ahead of me, if you want to get at the end to give her your spot fine, but she may not cut in!"  I said it firmly with a bit of force and the one who was about to let her cut sort of slumped her shoulders and shook her head at the girl. (We all did get our tickets, but dang I don't see why I should have been the stressed person at the back of the line if I showed up in time!)

[bonyk]

Not that it excuses the bad behavior, but it is possible that the pharmacy had messed up her order one or more times, and that this was not her first 20 minute line to pick up her meds.  IMO, that would justify the pharmacy's actions.

[Bexx27]

Not that it excuses the bad behavior, but it is possible that the pharmacy had messed up her order one or more times, and that this was not her first 20 minute line to pick up her meds.  IMO, that would justify the pharmacy's actions.

That's what I was thinking since she said she'd been waiting since yesterday. Of course, the other customers shouldn't have to wait longer because of that. Calling an extra employee to help her rather than increasing the wait for everyone else was a good solution if that was indeed the situation.

In general, I absolutely hate it when cashiers don't tell line cutters to go to the back. It's great when customers stand up for themselves, but they shouldn't have to.

[CluelessBride]

Not that it excuses the bad behavior, but it is possible that the pharmacy had messed up her order one or more times, and that this was not her first 20 minute line to pick up her meds.  IMO, that would justify the pharmacy's actions.

This. She was still rude in how she explained it, but I've seen situations where a business has advised a customer to "come to the front of the line" when they return because of problems/mistakes on the business's part.

Since she said she'd been waiting "since yesterday" it wouldn't surprise me if the pharmacy had a long wait and then when it was finally her turn they didn't have her prescription in stock, even though she'd been told it was ready for pick up. In that case, especially if she'd had a long wait and (justifiably IMO) complained about the long wait for nothing because of the pharmacy's mistake, I could see a clerk telling her she could bypass the line the next day.

[m2kbug]

I think what you said was perfectly fine and I really can't think of any better way to handle it.  They helped the other lady first, while everyone else had to wait, and that bothers me.  But I guess in the interest of preserving some peace this is what we do sometimes.  Maybe she had spent the past couple days dealing with this prescription and there was another reason for the priority of helping her first.

I was  behind someone where there was an issue with the items she was buying.  They weren't ringing up properly to the ad or coupons and it was taking a rather long time to sort this out.  Finally everything seemed resolved and she paid and left.  The cashier was ringing up my items when this woman came back in to the cashier  holding the receipt out...more problems with the pricing and the cashier went to deal with that.  "Excuse me," I said, "I've been waiting quite awhile and now it's my turn."  The woman backed off, nicely, the cashier agreed.  I think she called customer service to help this woman and there was a rather long line of customers waiting in her lane and it all worked out.  You you have to speak up.  This other woman behaved badly.

[SciFiLeslie]

Perhaps you don't know the whole story.  Sounds like she had been there the day before and had problems(possibly not her fault).  I have been in situations where I have stood in line and through no fault of my own have had to get out to find a different form, etc.  I am usually told to go back up to the counter and bypass the existing line.

At the point you saw her, she may have been so irritated with the situation she was not thinking.

[shivering]

There are times when for whatever reason the cashier tells a customer to come back and just cut the line (maybe the Rx wasn't ready when promised, etc.) But, if that was the case, the customer,even though annoyed, shouldn't have snapped at OP. She just made it a bad situation. She should've said something like "I was here earlier and told to come back and to just go to the front).

OP, there wasn't much more you could've done than speak up. This is where the store employee has to take charge and ask the person to get in line.

[BeagleMommy]

IF there had been a problem with the woman's prescription and she was told to come to the front of the line she could have calmly explained that to the others in line.  However, she didn't do that.  All she did was make herself look entitled and snowflakish.  OP, I think you were fine to speak up and I would have backed you up as well.

[Outdoor Girl]

I was at the airport, waiting in line after collecting my luggage to hand in my customs card.  There was a woman behind me and a bunch of us were just chatting.  She glanced at her watch and said she only had 15 minutes to make her connection; did we think she should go to the front of the line?

Yes, yes you should.  She was so embarrassed, she held her magazine beside her face as she walked by the line.