I got in line the wrong way.

[Audrey Quest]

Even if the Op did something wrong, no one should be yelling at her or making a big deal out of this.

I don't shop at a certain grocery store in my town even tho the prices there are a bit less because while checking out the cashier would hold a conversation with the other cashier who is behind me, chomping on her chewing gum the whole time like she was a cow out in the pasture.

It was like I didn't exist.  I didn't feel that I needed to spend my money in a place that treated me like I was invisible and where the cashiers were annoying.

If I were made to feel humiliated even if that feeling lasted a second or so, I would never shop there again.

[jpcher]

This humilated you? I can see it being awkward for a moment, but clearly everyone agreed that you were next. I'd do my best to shrug it off.

I would have been embarrassed, just as the OP was. Being yelled at in a crowded situation where you are pointed out as being the "bad guy" would definitely be cause for me to want to shrivel up and die/hide in a hole somewhere.

The cashier who yelled like that showed a serious lack of judgment, and you didn't deserve it.

POD. People often make simple mistakes that certainly are not yell-worthy-reprimandable.


Cashier was out of line. Not you, OP. (No pun intended )

[pearls n purls]

Mistakes happen.  Yelling was not okay.

A couple years ago, a local grocery store was remodeled.   It wasn't busy and there were no lines, so I went straight to the cashier.  After I had paid he let me know I was in the express lane (and I had about 20 or so items.)  I hadn't noticed that the express lanes had been moved to the opposite of the store.  I was embarrassed, but it was an honest mistake and I would not have been happy if he had yelled at me, letting everyone nearby that I was doing it wrong.

[Piratelvr1121]

This humilated you? I can see it being awkward for a moment, but clearly everyone agreed that you were next. I'd do my best to shrug it off.

I would have been embarrassed, just as the OP was. Being yelled at in a crowded situation where you are pointed out as being the "bad guy" would definitely be cause for me to want to shrivel up and die/hide in a hole somewhere.

It would have made me mad rather than embarrass me, honestly. 

[nyoprinces]

I had almost the exact same situation happen to me a few years ago - the only difference was that there were multiple people in the "non-line," because the way the store was set up, it looked like the natural place for one, and the "line starts here" sign was way at the other end of the cash stands in what was actually a different, connected store, and faced away from the entire store I was in. I sent a complaint through the corporate website because it was embarrassing (the cashier had taken several people in front of me from the "wrong" line, then yelled at me when I got up there because someone had found the "right" line and was in the process of coming through the switchback lanes).

When I visited the same store several years later, they'd remodeled so the checkstands were walled off, with one clearly-marked entrance in the middle of the two connected stores.

I don't know that my complaint made any difference, but many of them together probably did.

[Raintree]

It sounds to me as though they need to mark the entrance to the line-up more clearly. The OP did nothing wrong and the cashier was rude.

This doesn't excuse her attitude, but she had probably been dealing all day with people who got in line in the wrong place, and people from the correct line yelling at her for taking the "wrong" people. Of course, the cashier doesn't usually get to decide how the line-up is marked, so someone should inform management that it is causing confusion.

Reminds me of a time I went into Ubiquitous Canadian Donut Chain. I am not a regular there. I had never been to that particular location. Our group of about seven walked in, and nobody else was in line, so we lined up in what seemed like a logical place (nothing was marked).  The cashier said, "Oh, you're lining up over there. Okaaaayyyy........"

After that, people started coming in and lining up in a different spot, so I gathered that they were regulars and that was where the lineup usually began. I was mildly miffed at that cashier for expecting us to know, intuitively, where to stand. It may seem like it sometimes, but not everyone goes to Ubiquitous Donut Chain every day.

[LifeOnPluto]

If the cashier yelled at you, I hope she also yelled at all the other people who were ahead of you in the "wrong" queue.

As for how to respond, I would have politely stated that (a) the sign for the "right" lane was not clearly noticeable; and (b) there were other people ahead of me in the "wrong" lane, indicating that the queue started there.

[sweetonsno]

The cashier clearly messed up, but I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she wasn't being a jerk on purpose.

I'd assume that this was a clumsy attempt to consolidate "Yes, she was next" with "Folks who are waiting, please form one line in the middle." Basically, she was intending to address the others who were(n't?) in line and totally botched it.

Other possibility is less forgivable but probably understandable: she had been dealing with customers arranged in a slightly chaotic manner rather than an organized line and was about to explode from the repetition. Obviously, it's not a customer's fault for not understanding a new system and customers haven't been told a million times. However, sometimes you forget that even though you've issued what feels like a million reminders, your audience of one hasn't heard it before.

It happens to the best of us, and I hope it didn't ruin your day.

[gen xer]

I had something similar happen...except the cashier chastised her coworker in front of customers for taking what she thought was the wrong person ( me ) in the lineup.  I was embarrassed for the coworker.  I was in what I thought to be the line ( snaking through the gauntlet of racks full of small items, candy etc ) behind a couple of other people ( who also must have thought it was the line ) when all of a sudden it was my turn and the cashier called me up.  To which his snotty coworker said loudly "You shouldn't have taken her - she's not next.  Next time you need to take people in order."

Of course I started looking around to see a man off to the right waiting.  He did not appear to be in line at all and I can't think of anyone who would have reasonably thought so especially since two other people went ahead of me without incident.  I apologized to the cashier who got chastised because I didn't want him in trouble but was really annoyed by the other cashier's attitude.  She was glaring at both of us.

You weren't rude - she was.  It's unprofessional to call someone out like that espcially if the line is not clearly marked.

[Zilla]

This was my third time in this store.  The last time 6-8 months ago.  The time before that was over a year ago.  The previous 2 times the line was right where I stood this time.  By the buy by the pound dog treats by the registers.

Moray, I don't really know who she was yelling to, she was literally yelling, not talking loud.

lowspark, that is exactly how I took it.  It made her feel good to be authoritative and call someone out.

It's a pity that she has such a meaningless life that she has to yell at customers who pay her wages in order to feel better about herself.

I would like to think she was just having a really bad day.  But, I also will never be back.

Bad day or not, I would have called the manager on duty and informed him or her of the cashier's behaviour. There is no possible reason to ever raise a voice at a customer and especially like that in your situation you described.  I would not be humiliated though, just be angry.  Why in the world would I be embarrassed? She is the one making herself look like a fool.