If it’s something serious I’m definitely going to say something. What happened to me the other day, and what happens sometimes, is my brother and I went to go pick up some food we ordered. The line was weird because the entrance was very small so everyone was scrambled. As we were walking in my brother held the door open for someone. That person knew we came in before them and after the lady in front of me went to get her food, the worker asked who’s next and that guy said he was and went to the worker. I didn’t have to wait to long but I just let it happen. Am I supposed to do something in this situation besides just let it happen? What would you guys do? I normally just let them do it because I’m not stressing it but I’ll make sure I give them eye contact on their way out.
TL;DR: What should you do when someone cuts in front of you at a restaurant/store when an employee asks who’s next?
Edit: My brother held the door from inside, so we were already in front of him. The room was just very awkward so the line was weird. Also, the guys approached the employee in a way that I couldn’t intervene.
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I tell them the line is back there if they are adults.
If they are teenagers or little kids, I tend to let it slide. But grown ass adults can get their ass beat.
Honestly most of the time I do not respond because it tends to be a hassle mentally to appeal for common decency to an arrogant person. If I just have to skip that I don’t mind. But it depends on the situation. If a person speaks to you in a rude way or bumps into you physically on purpose or something that you see was clearly intentional, speak up. Don’t be a pushover, you don’t deserve that. But in most cases just accept the fact there are assholes and it’ll cost you more fighting one than ignoring one. It tends to get easier with time.
My go-to is to say, in an extravagantly courteous tone of voice, “No no please, after *you.*”
I would have behaved like you did but perhaps not try to give the eye stare.
If I have been waiting for a long while, I would have mentioned about my wait and the line. But if the wait time is really short, I would have let it pass just because it’s not worth escalating if they’re just “making a quick order”.
Some people do waltz in w/o being aware of their surroundings and just dart straight to the register and I have been complicit in that. There’s a chance that they might have also thought you were waiting inside, but not waiting “in line”. This happens if you already placed your order and given the “line was weird and everyone was scrambled”, there’s a chance that the person might have taken it that way. On the other hand, they may have been fully aware of your presence and still pressed themselves to cut in line. We can’t really know for sure. Either way, cutting the line, aware or not, is not excusable. If I was that person, I would asked questions first before placing my order.
The lines are clear for me if it’s a sit down restaurant and I have been waiting for 10+ minutes. I would absolutely said something about a line. However, for me, if it’s just McDonald’s, I’m w/e about it, I’ll let it pass; not worth arguing for a McDonalds order. Between those examples, it can vary for each person.
A solid “hey, I was in front of you” does the trick. Depending on who it is and how they act I will be more forgiving/kind.
Personally if I want to be next, I hold the door behind me from inside, then once they grab the door, I let go and continue inside. If I am holding the door I front of me and allow people to walk past, I am also inviting them (unspoken) to go ahead of me in line.
I would give them the benefit of the doubt and assume nothing. It’s possible they didn’t know or didn’t realize that you’re in line before them. You can just say “Oh actually, I’m next in line.” It’s not confrontational. You’re just clearing up a misunderstanding.
I very loudly say EXCUSE ME!! and if they ignore me I walk up closely behind them and ask the cashier is that allowed??
Basically cause a scene, Idc
I’m currently cultivating disagreebleness to stop people from walking all over me, so I use various situations to see how far I can get before I get stabbed. In this scenario I’d definitely yell “hey man, you are behind us, get back in line”. I think it’s a state of mind, I’m just always ready to argue or say no. I’m a pretty big guy tho and I’m always ready to throw hands and suffer the consequences.
When you join the end of the line tell the person in front of you “I am after you”.
So if someone cuts in that person can vouch that you were there first
I say, “Excuse me. The back of the line is over there.” But I would add, make sure you are in the right! One time I was in line and the person let a police officer butt up in front of him. But I didn’t see what happened so I thought someone butt up in front of me, until the other officer said, “He’s next.” I try not to be an ars about it. For example, if someone is especially weak, frail and is about to topple over any minute, I let it go even if they did butt up.
_if you allow people to go in front of you after holding the door open for them, then they are in front of you. If you stay in front of them and kindly hold the door until they reach it and take hold of it for themselves, then walk forward, not allowing them to get in front of you, then you are clearly in front of them._
In order from polite to rude
1) do nothing
2) “excuse me, I was next”
3) “excuse me, I’m next.”
4) “Actually I’m next”
5) “the line starts back there”
6) “get in line!”
In this case, I would probably do nothing because there wasn’t really a line to begin with. But if there’s a clear line and people aren’t respecting it, it’s okay to stand up for yourself.
Did you try tutting?
I’m an old grouchy broad.. I wuda said AYE!! I WAS NEXT!! and walked past the line cutter up to the counter
Had some tourists try to cut the line in front of me recently. I just didn’t let them, like I physically inserted myself in front of them and ordered faster than them. The worst part is that it was just me in line and I was on lunch break. Pissed me the fuck off
I normally either get a bewildered look on my face and say out loud “oh ok” that’s kind of on instinct. Probably half the time the person realizes they cut me and let me go. I’m pretty chill so idc a lot and don’t get upset easily. If it’s something more serious, I’ll speak up and say “oh, lines actually back there” and point. I haven’t really come across anyone ignorant enough to not respect a line. But if I did I’d probably just let it go because crazy people are unpredictable and scare me 😂😂
If you feel compelled to speak up in the moment do so confidently while also giving the other person grace. Assume they were mistaken unless you have good reason to believe otherwise.
In your circumstance you said it yourself the line was weird. Maybe the guy was just being careless. You still have a right to speak up, but if you assume a mistake you’ll likely convey the message is a much more agreeable manner.
Choose your battles. Is it worth the possibility of a bad confrontation? But yeah, if it’s important you should.
If it’s one spot away from let’s say the counter I just come up and start ordering preventing whomever cut the line from talking to the barista/clerk, etcetera.. in the midst of it, I just turn around and say, “I was next”, then proceed with the transaction.
Say there’s a rip in their pants, and you wanna know where they got their underwear.
They have toilet paper on their shoe/ hanging out their pants.
The store has a deal for the 100th guest and you’ve counted it out and you’re thanking them for giving you that spot
Lean in and whisper “you’re the guy/ gal? Just drop the goods, and no one gets hurt” or “Ames told me about you, do not disappoint”
Absolutely ask for you what you want.
Say, “bro, would you mind letting me and my brother go first?”
Then let it drop either way.
Do not try to enforce. Not your restaurant, not your house, not your call. Let the cashier or store owner decide who to serve first.
Consider it as a surprise test life threw your way to test your mental toughness. Use a breathing technique like tactical breathing to calm down. See if you can be calmer after than before.
Afterwards consider finding someone you trust who’s willing to listen and not share what you said without giving any advice or judging the situation. If you can’t find someone try journaling or voice recording.
Assholes exist. There’s so many more people that aren’t. Don’t spend any more time interacting with assholes than you possibly can unless you are paid (and insured and trained and supported by a team) to do so.
I would also just let it happen. I don’t think it was in a malicious way, so there is no need to embarrass him or get angry. Even a “I was first, but you go ahead” would embarrass him, and it is just unnecessary when it’s only a few seconds longer.
I don’t think he noticed you were first even if you held the door open, misunderstandings can happen. If he really was an asshole, I’d say “Excuse me, I was first”.
I don’t say anything. But there was this one times this asshole was trying to put his groceries first on the register conveyor belt when I was trying to just buy a pizza and he kept sizing me up and trying to put his body between me and the register so I was like “Fuck I have to do something or I’ll have to go to the back of the line” so as soon as the belt moved I placed the pizza in there right away before he had the chance to do it. Guy was pissed but just kept staring at me angrily didn’t say anything
In situations like this, I don’t say anything. I find it annoying, but there’s not much else I can do.
Say that you were next. I try to say it in a neutral tone though I’ve had my bad mood days when I wasn’t so calm in tone
There’s a chance they didn’t know. Chance they did know. Stand up for yourself regardless without getting indignant about it is my best advice
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If you arent in line that is free game to me. Im sorry, i aint got no time to play games. If the clerk asks who is next and Im first in line, then it is my turn. That is how lines work.
I just keep telling myself that I’ll never see them again and to not allow them to ruin not just my entire day but ruin my interest in ever going back to wherever this incident occurred as I know it would turn me off greatly.
This honestly works 1000x better than confrontation. Be the stronger person.
Exception is if it’s someone you have to deal with more often that that
If it’s a small matter and doesn’t bother you, just let it go.
If it’s a long queue, and a lot of people are waiting, just say out loud to the worker not shout “excuse me, my brother and I was here first”. There is nothing wrong or awkward in doing that, what happened next is up to the worker.
It is a choice. I went to a restaurant a few weeks ago. It was a fixed price menu that does seatings where everyone shows up at the same time. My wife an I got there before most everyone else, and we were both really really hungry.
So when they started seating people, there was a kind of scramble with no orderly line. I kind of politely pushed my way to the front. People deferred to me because I was smiling, but determined.
Any one of them could have said “excuse me, I think that we were before you” and I would have let them.
This was not my ordinary behaviour. I was so hungry that most of my politeness went out the window. I was going to hit that buffet first or perish in the attempt.
Long winded way to say, there is no fixed response. Were you really starving you could have said “excuse me, I believe we were here before you” chances are very high that they would have let you.
But you could also decide “fuck it, I’m off work and in no hurry, let them go first”
I am a regular at a large hardware store. Often because of my work I am doing complicated returns with items on several different receipts. So if someone approaches the counter with one item, I will say “take care of them, this is going to take a while” a few times that kindness has bitten me in the ass because the person appeared to have one item then wanted to do some stupidly complicated transactions like paying with 40 dollars worth of dimes or something. But most people appreciate the kindness.
What the short answer is : there is no loss of manlyness by letting someone else go in front of you. However, if you do not want them to, there is nothing wrong with saying “excuse me, but I was next”
I personally would say something to them along the lines of “wtf,” but very non aggressively. Because people who are that selfish have problems, and I don’t see any real reason rather than my own ego to get involved with that obviously disturbed/egotistical individual.
Some people here have really rude advice. Pick the least rude ones and you’ll be golden. Don’t start fights over 1 person, but you don’t have to stay quiet either
In that situation, I’d just let it be since the air was weird anyway and you really couldn’t intervene without making a scene.
If it were the checkout line at Walmart? I’d say “Woah buddy, I’m before you” with a smile and walk in front of them. You can’t let anyone take liberties with you in the name of avoiding confrontation, you gotta step in if you can.
Honestly I personally don’t do anything unless it was deliberate and the person was being rude. Most of the time it is a true accident. There are some crazy, entitled people out there though. I work in a grocery store and I’ve people cut others and say “I’m not waiting in this line.”
No need to be aggressive or confrontational about it if it’s a mistake.
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if I’m next im next. i tell them every single time. i don’t give a shit what they think. my time is the most valuable thing to me.