Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › Rant: People in Checkout Line on Their Cell Phones
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October 31, 2010 at 3:58 am #596837
yamanbParticipantGuy and his friend in line tonight at the Jefferson Square Safeway. I politely ask if you are in line as you are straddling two lines while talking on your cell phone. You proceed to keep talking on the phone as you argue with me that I should mind my own business.
What’s with people being inconsiderate of others as they blab on their phone and blame others when they’re called out to pay attention to what’s going on around them? I can’t even imagine what it’s like when these same people drive and talk on their cell phone. Oh wait, that’s supposed to be illegal now…
October 31, 2010 at 4:39 am #706899
pigeonmomParticipantOy! Don’t get me started on this one. :-<
I’ve seen tons of jerky cell phone chatters at the ferry dock. Including some of my co-workers! Grrr.
The world apparently revolves around them.
October 31, 2010 at 5:33 am #706900
The Velvet BulldogParticipantThursday in PCC I watched as a woman made the cashier wait for her while she finished her phone call before paying. Unbridled lack of consideration. These things seem to bring out the worst in us.
October 31, 2010 at 5:50 am #706901
flowerpetalMemberI really hate to see parents with their toddlers in strollers going for a walk and they are chatting away on their cell phones… “So he said blah blah blah and then I said blah blah blah.” Please hang up and talk with your kid. His intelligence and success depends on your interactions.
October 31, 2010 at 1:56 pm #706902
redblackParticipanti agree about the phones, but grocery lines bring out the worst in people, too.
what’s up with standing too close to me, then muscling in as soon as the cashier hands me my change? can i please have a second to get my affairs back in my wallet? [because cashiers are also less-than-courteous these days, and insist on handing coins, bills, and receipt in a pile, then turn immediately to the next in line. we used to call that “the bum’s rush.”] believe me, i don’t intend to camp there, and i’m in a hurry, too. i just need some space for like 10 seconds, people. i paid for it, after all.
it seems that patience and courtesy are increasingly antiquated notions.
October 31, 2010 at 3:32 pm #706903
SmittyParticipant“what’s up with standing too close to me, then muscling in as soon as the cashier hands me my change? “
*Major* pet peeve of mine. I always give space to the person in front but never get the same consideration in return. Drives me nuts!
October 31, 2010 at 3:57 pm #706904
JoBParticipantI am not condoning crowding at the register..
but i get it.
here’s the problem…
you can’t check the register tape if you aren’t standing in front of it and the cashier isn’t waiting to check your items through…
i hate it too.
I have actually asked the cashier to wait until i can see the register before starting my order.
they don’t.
some stores have a second little “desk” down where groceries are bagged for you to put stuff away…. but most don’t.
i sure miss the days when a clerk waited for you to check your change before you left the register.
i think the idea is that the further they get you away from the register the less likely you are to take the time and effort to check and complain about an item that is inaccurately priced or incorrect change.
I want a friendly responsive polite clerk where i buy my groceries…
I don’t want to check myself out and wait for the lone clerk while the machine beeps because something didn’t go well…
and i don’t want the bums rush.
I often choose the morgan thriftway or met market or PCC for that very reason… but i always spend too much in those stores. It seems i can’t resist temptation and those groceries have it in spades:(
i am beginning to think shopping online may be the answer for pantry staples…
and Tony’s.
they are closing for the season soon.. if they have’t already.. and i will miss them.
February can’t come too soon.
October 31, 2010 at 4:00 pm #706905
yikesMemberLOL, Smitty! We lived in Europe for awhile and many Northern Europeans have very little sense of personal space. My neighbors would stand in line so close to me at the stores that they would sometimes touch me. It drove me crazy! Then I realized they were all doing it… and I was the weirdo wanting space. I loved Europe, but that is one of the things I was really happy to return to… Big grocery stores! big parking spaces! and big personal space!
October 31, 2010 at 6:05 pm #706906
SmittyParticipantEuropeans are way more attractive so it didn’t bother me as much over there.
The other thing about Europe is they appear to not have any ice! I ordered a fanta with EXTRA ice and by the time it came to the table their was one piece spiraling out of existence! Ice, freeways and Targets, baby!
Other than that – Europe kicks our butt.
October 31, 2010 at 8:27 pm #706907
KimberleyParticipantThat’s funny, I think Americans are more touchy-feeling and stand to close to me whilst in the checkout line than Europeans back home standing in line at Tesco’s.
October 31, 2010 at 9:58 pm #706908
dgirlMemberI saw an amazing one the other day at the Admiral Met Market. A woman was in the “Express” lane with about 30 items. As the checker checked her out, he politely reminded her that next time she should go through the regular and not the express line (it was a very crowded day). The woman was irate and informed the checker that he would NEVER be telling her that if Safeway hadn’t closed!! Nasty and amazing…!
November 1, 2010 at 12:43 am #706909
yikesMemberOMG, Smitty! I am an ice freak, too. I lived in England, Germany and Belgium and Belgium was the only country that served ice. It has something to do with getting value out of the drink, not having it watered down. That’s why they mark the glasses, too.
And… I’m with you on many of the aspects of Europe. Not so fond of how many of them are less than friendly toward the handicapped and minorities.
However, I raised my daughter there, and their family policies put ours to shame.
Nice to meet you!
November 1, 2010 at 3:16 am #706910
KevinParticipantTwo techniques that I have used in the past for the folks with no sense of what personal space is.
For the ones that are closer than I would like but not that close, I will sometimes turn around and start engaging them in pleasant face to face conversation. That will sometimes make THEM uncomfortable.
Another one that I have used when someone is actually is touching me, is to turn and ask them in a fairly loud voice, “are you trying to pick pocket me?” and if their response is anything other than a simple apology, I will respond back with “you know, people usually only stand that close to someone they don’t know when they are trying to pickpocket them.” Fortunately I have only had to use this one rarely, but it does get the point across.
November 1, 2010 at 3:27 am #706911
JanSParticipantsmitty ..wonder what the taxes are in Europe to make it the way you like it ;->
November 1, 2010 at 3:51 am #706912
SmittyParticipant“smitty ..wonder what the taxes are in Europe to make it the way you like it ;->”
Very high, from what I hear! No causation, however!
November 1, 2010 at 5:24 am #706913
redblackParticipantkevin: nice! i like it, and i’m going to use it.
with your permission, of course.
my personal theory is that most americans have some kind of social disorder that makes them want to be too close to people who may or may not have washed recently.
but the phone thing is disturbing, too. i don’t think that you or your conversation are as important as you think they are. so whose self-entitlement wins? your right to yell a conversation in public; or my right to relative peace – even in public?
November 1, 2010 at 5:30 am #706914
JanSParticipantI’ve always felt that mobile phones come with voicemail for a reason…and that more people should take advantage of it. :)
November 1, 2010 at 3:27 pm #706915
JoBParticipantSmitty…
on the contrary.. there is direct causation bectween taxes and what most Americans love about Europe.
Most of the buildings we love to gawk at in Europe were the direct result of taxation.
Those public transportation systems.. not privatized.
the autoban.. public money there…
those manufacturing jobs… subsidized by taxes..
that well educated populace that is so much fun to talk with … taxes :)
and the list rolls on….
November 1, 2010 at 4:22 pm #706916
yikesMemberJOB:
Taxes are correlated to much of the benefits they enjoy in Europe, but those are things and not all of what I admire.
Among the things I appreciated the most was how the Germans care for their elderly… in their homes. And many live in multiple generational homes where grandma to grandkids live. I love their family focus… don’t know if I could live like this, being brought up in our less close culture, but I think it is a very good model.
November 1, 2010 at 4:39 pm #706917
JoBParticipantYikes…
the medical care and other financial support that the elderly get in Germany is one of the contributing factors in that multi-generational family focus you mention..
it is paid for by taxes.
In fact.. wellness health care instead of critical health care is the largest contributing factor contributing to the elderly and disabled remaining in their homes .. even when those homes also house extended family.
not to mention the available childcare and eldercare that makes it possible to leave children.. and parents and grandparents … in safe and nurturing environments while at work.
While i am sure there are some who choose not to have parents and grandparents in their home or nearby because of a need for personal space…
most of those i know now struggling with those decisions find the financial burden and lack of supporting services far more onerous.
The sad truth is that they find parents or grands or greatgrands or disabled spouses or siblings are actually going to be safer and get better care in an assisted living facility.
I am guessing you are not of an age to be making those kinds of choice yet… but they turnout to be far more complex than they seem.
November 1, 2010 at 5:07 pm #706918
yikesMemberActually, JoB, I am of the age to make these decisions… both as an individual and as the child of parents… I plowed my way through the system this year as both my parents died at age 94. And what I know to be true is that they wanted to be home, surrounded by family in the last year of their lives. It was horrendously expensive, because our system tends to prefer to support them in group settings but they stayed with family in a home setting and had a good passing.
I don’t think that anything can substitute for the presence and love of family, no matter how great the assisted living situations can be… and many are very good in Seattle. My dad died in his favorite barco lounger, surrounded by us, and, of course nurses.
That is the spirit that I saw in Germany… that family took care of family and all members were a part of that.
November 1, 2010 at 5:23 pm #706919
luckymom30ParticipantWhat people who stand in line waiting to use the public restrooms and talk on their phones.
November 1, 2010 at 6:17 pm #706920
pbgirl423MemberWhat’s the difference between someone on their cell phone or just talking with a friend in person? If that person is clueless, they’ll stay that way whether they’re on the phone or not. The phone is not the problem. The person is.
November 1, 2010 at 6:22 pm #706921
JoBParticipantyikes..
i am glad you had the resources to make that happen for your parents. Not everyone does… at least not here.
and therein lies the rub :(
November 1, 2010 at 8:24 pm #706922
saneyMembermy grocery line checkout pet peeve….when the cashier is having personal conversations with his/her co-workers while ringing up my groceries.
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