Connie Primmer: In defence of queuing

The queues in the store were reaching lengths normally only experienced in the run-up to Christmas, but customers were waiting patiently in an orderly line as they made their way slowly to the under-staffed tills.

One shopper however, decided enough was enough and made the bold and astonishing move of trying to persuade other people in the queue to buy her shopping for her.

To be fair to the wily woman, she was only buying one item and had the cash ready, so it didn’t seem too unreasonable, but despite asking three or four people in the queue in front of me, she could not find anyone who would agree to her crafty plan.

I was glad she gave up and left the shop before she got round to asking me because I don’t know what I’d have said.

Despite watching others refuse her, I felt like it was a bit petty so say no to such a simple request which wouldn’t really affect me.

Then again, I was only buying a couple of things and I wasn’t marching up to other customers who had been queuing for ages, cheekily asking if they would mind getting my stuff so I could jump the queue.

The lady looked a bit peeved that her queuing advances were rebuffed, but really, what made her so special that she felt she shouldn’t have to bother queuing like the rest of us?

If we all took it upon ourselves to ask customers already in the queue to get our shopping for us, there would be chaos at the check-outs.

So even though I would have been horribly embarrassed and struggled to find polite way of saying no to the brazen queue-shirker should she have targeted me, I admire the people that said no for sticking to their principles, they were far more corageous than I would have been.

I’m now worried that this situation might occur again as the seasonal shopping stampede ensues and feel I need to have a response ready.

I’ll have to mull over the best way to react. What do you think?