Everyone is taught not to cut in line before they are even in school. This is a thing people should just know and accept. However, that’s wishful thinking I guess because there is a staggering amount of people who think they deserve to be first always. Content edited for clarity.
She’s A Legend
“During the pandemic grocery hoarding time, before they started putting limits on how much toilet paper you could buy, I was at Sam’s Club. I was about 5th or 6th in my line. This ‘Karen’ came up behind me, huffing and puffing about the long lines and how she didn’t have time for this. I carefully turned to see who this drama queen was and noticed she had at least 10 cases of toilet paper.
Karen decided she was just too important to have to wait in line so just as an elderly lady stepped up to the register, Karen tried to bust in before her. The elderly lady tried nicely to explain that she was next but Karen ignored her and moved right up to the register. I was stuck in place, too stunned to do anything but watch it all play out. The old lady surprised everyone when she did what all of us wish we were brave enough to do.
After several tries at getting Karen to step out of the way, the elderly lady walked over to Karen, whacked her with her purse, and told Karen to move it. Karen then started screaming that she was assaulted and she was going to sue the store, yada yada yada.
The store manager came over to get the story from the cashier and told Karen she must leave the store or he would call the police. Karen went on and on about how her family needed this toilet paper and refused to leave. Store security was called. One security officer took her toilet paper and walked in the back with it while the other tried to escort her out while she was screaming about lawsuits and toilet paper.
Somehow she got loose from the guard and ran back over to the old woman saying, ‘I hope your happy you old bat! How is my family supposed to live without toilet paper?’
At which the elderly lady says, in the sweetest voice I’ve ever heard, ‘Oh Honey, if your family needs that much toilet paper, maybe you should spend your money on a doctor instead.’
I thought Karen’s head was going to explode. It was awesome.”
Extreme Actions, Extreme Consequences
“I did something terrible when a woman cut me off, but it was more than justified. I took my three-year-old to a month-end sale at a department store. There was a woman there who went crazy grabbing items off the shelf and shoving and pushing people. It was fine until she stomped on and kicked my three-year-old to the ground.
I am usually a calm and mild person, but unfortunately, I have a bad temper and it is like a match—when lit, I see a streak of red and you should watch out!
I really love my children and I won’t allow anyone to hurt them. I acted without thinking and I still can’t believe what I did. I shoved that woman as hard as I could. She landed on the floor and slid across the floor.
My husband grabbed me, picked up our baby, and we left the store. He gave me a lecture and I told him to shut it! The woman deserved my wrath.
This happened 30 years ago and I still can’t believe I did it. But I would do it again.”
An Icon
“Several years ago the late Maya Angelou was paying a visit to my home city of Vancouver, Canada where she had a scheduled public speaking engagement as well as some visits with various people and of course an autograph signing of her book which was being sold at a large flagship store of a book store chain known as Indigo Books which includes the store Chapters.
I was buying a copy of the book for a friend and perhaps as many as 1,000 people stood in the line that snaked through the entire store with partition ropes keeping us in line. There was store staff handing out flyers and special coupons and prizes to various customers in line who all had numbered tickets. I did manage to win two gifts, a SWAG bag with ‘mini-booklite’ and bookmark and the latest copy of some suspense-mystery novel by a popular author (a Sue Grafton book if I remember), plus another bag of goodies.
Well, I was perhaps about 100 feet away from Maya Angelou who was famous for her poetry, being best buddies with Oprah Winfrey, and who was a national treasure in the USA, when three middle-aged women barged into the line up each holding an armful of books proclaiming, ‘We are with a book club and we’re buying all of these for you to sign.’
A store manager mentioned to the ladies that ‘there was a line-up and they’d have to wait their turn as indicated on the number with their ticket’ (that everyone was handed a gift bag with coupons and a bookmark as they came into the store). One of the middle-aged women snapped, ‘Oh be quiet, look at how many copies we’re buying.’
Maya Angelou, being the refined lady she was just sat at the table as news photographers and a cameraman from a local news channel stood close by. She looked at the women with narrowing eyes and finally snapped back saying, ‘If you had ever read some of my poetry and books and opinion articles published in magazines you’d know that I would NEVER treat anyone the way that you’re doing and you should all be ashamed of yourselves. I will not sign my name into another book until you ladies leave right now.’
Maya Angelou just put down her pen and poured herself some water from the glass pitcher that was on the table as she sat there and sipped. A security guard and two other employees along with the manager escorted the three women out of the store after they put down the books on the table. They walked out with their noses in the air to the loud applause of everyone in line including me who saw the whole ordeal.
Just as the three women were leaving one of them shouted, ‘I’ll never read another one of your books again.’
To which Maya Angelou yelled back in very lady-life fashion, ‘As you can see that really won’t matter now would it’, which caused more applause and cheers from everyone.
When my turn came up to get my two copies of Maya Angelou’s book signed I smiled and she smiled back and I said, ‘I’m sorry you had to experience that, I’ve never seen you ever get that angry on the Oprah Winfrey show.’
Maya responded with, ‘I’m sorry that you had to see me like that but if I didn’t say anything they’d never learn and people need to speak up when they see something wrong no matter who they are’.
That’s a lesson that stuck with me.”
He Had It Coming
“This last Thursday I was lining up in a small grocery store near my house. A woman had just finished bagging her order, to the right of where I was, and the conveyer belt was free. I went to make a move, and an older man cut me off. He came from an aisle to the right of me.
The store policy was everyone who uses the two sets of conveyer belts was to line up where I was standing, so as not to cut off the middle aisle. It’s a small store. Three aisles only, and then a separate area for veggies and fruit to the far right. I was on the far left-hand side, near the frozen desserts. So I was in the right two times over.
He had a trolley full of groceries. I had five items.
He boldly proclaimed, ‘I was here first.’
I plainly said, ‘No, you weren’t. I can see around the corner, and I heard you walking up. The line is behind me. You cut off two other people too.’
He pushed, ‘Well, I’m a senior.’
I shrugged and decided it was not worth the effort to argue for only a few extra minutes to wait. Other people behind me muttered, annoyed.
An older woman who was still checking out, first paid for her groceries with cash, slowly counting out change. I started to get amused.
The old man started to put his groceries down and had around three or four items in place.
Then another person finished up at a conveyer belt directly ahead of me and began to pay. Simultaneously, the older woman checking out to my right said she wanted to buy 5 gift cards for charity, and each had to be charged separately. The old jerk went to grab his four-plus items from where he placed them and put them back in his trolley.
I wasn’t going to let him get away with this so I zoomed over to the newly opened checkout. The woman behind me moved closer, used her trolley to cut the line cutter off, and secure her spot as next to checkout.
I checked out and brought my empty trolley to the cleaning area. The woman behind me was working on her groceries. And the man behind us both had moved into the position she vacated. The old jerk was stuck. The woman buying gift cards was still working her way through them.
It was pure karma! I and two others messed with his senior power trip. My dad is older than this gentleman, and he always waits his turn. My dad had a few choice words when I told him after I got home.
Literally, I never expected this could happen in my life. It sounds so stereotypical.”
Absolutely Not
“A few weeks ago I was in a large chain store. It was a weekend and since I am disabled and can’t stand for long, I normally don’t shop on weekends. But I was out of dog food and that chain is the only one in the area that carries the brand my dogs like.
The lines were terrible. I was leaning against a display, trying to stay out of the way of cross traffic and maintain distancing. I was in so much pain I seriously wondered if it was worth it. But, the puppies. Then a woman with a cart piled high looked like she was just walking down the main aisle. Instead, she stopped in the gap I had left for people to pass.
Other shoppers in neighboring lanes complained. I could barely breathe at that point and couldn’t say anything. Another worker who was stocking shelves walked up to a closed check stand and pulled me over. She checked me out with dog food and perhaps three other items. The line-cutter complained very loudly that she was ahead of me. The worker just shook her head and said, ‘No, you weren’t.’
After I finished, the worker closed out that register and went over to the one I was originally waiting for. When the line cutter was next, the worker told the clerk, ‘Aren’t you supposed to be on break?’
Because she had cash transactions they needed to count out the till. The line cutter was still fuming after I bought a coffee at the coffee shop in the corner and left. Perhaps 15 minutes after she would have been checked out if she hadn’t cut. I had to keep myself from laughing out loud.
Yes, I contacted customer service and made sure to thank the worker by the name on her nametag.”
“Perfect Karma”
“When I still practiced dentistry, I was running tight on time getting to work, but I had to fuel my stomach first or pay the consequences. So I stood in line at Panera’s, only one person in front of me, when a woman dashed in just as the cashier called, ‘Next!’
To my shock (and the guy ahead of me), the woman dashed right up to the cashier and began to place her order.
I walked over and pointed out to the cashier how the other guy and I had been waiting at least ten minutes, while this woman she was waiting on had just now flown through the door. The cashier had already started ringing up the woman’s order, so said cashier sheepishly shrugged and grimaced a half-assed apology, like, ‘What do you expect me to do now, it’s too late,’ and continued on.
The entitled woman, in the meantime, yelled at me, ‘I’m running late for work!’
As though that explained everything. I replied, ‘So am I! But I was here first, and now you’re going to make me even later.’
She waved me off as the cashier went to get her order.
Now for the satisfaction.
As I walked toward the door with my bag of food, the entitled woman was standing at a counter to add sugar, etc. to her extra-large coffee. The cup suddenly flipped over and spilled its contents all across the counter and onto her.
It may have been mean of me, but I said loud enough for her to hear, ‘Perfect karma,’ and walked out the door.”
You Get What You Deserve
“A wealthy ‘first-class passenger’ cut in front of approximately 200 people in the security line at LAX. The TSA agent said, in a very authoritative voice, ‘Please step right over here sir so we can give you proper care.’
Numerous times the man demanded the TSA agent help him ‘IMMEDIATELY!’ The TSA agent would smile and politely respond, ‘Yes sir, we will be with you shortly.’
After I had passed through the security process the man still stood by getting louder, ruder, and then verbally threatening the agent.
It just happened to be that l sat three rows behind first class. As the doors were about to close the same ‘first-class passenger’ rushed on board in a big huff and looked seriously insulted. He loudly relayed the story to a stewardess and demanded a drink.
The woman beside me said loud and clear, ‘If he acted like that in security it’s a wonder they didn’t arrest him!’
I couldn’t help myself, I burst out laughing! The look he gave me could have strangled all nine lives out of a cat! My funny bone really kicked in and I started laughing much harder. About 20 other passengers couldn’t help themselves and began laughing as well.
When we arrived at our destination he was the first passenger off the plane. I never saw him again but I’ll always remember that incident and how he created all his troubles and ultimate embarrassment!”
Don’t Ever Hold Back
“I love spending time with my Mom. She doesn’t suffer fools and she’s the wrong one to mistake for a punk. Cutting in line is one of the worst things one can do to this woman. There have been multiple incidents where her words left another cowering. Here are a couple of spectacular examples:
One time we were at Food 4 Less when I was little and per usual, she didn’t hold back.
Mom: ‘Do you not see us standing here, or are you just rude?’
‘Jerk:’ ‘Bitch, I have an important meeting to get to.’
Mom: ‘The meeting might be important, but you’re clearly not if you can’t be one minute late so I can pay for my bread.’
Jerk: ‘F*@k you!’
Mom: ‘Interesting. You called me a bitch earlier. You’re into all sorts of things?’
Jerk grabbed his items and threw them behind our bread, and shouted, ‘There. You happy now?’
‘That I had to school a grown man on proper etiquette in front of my 8-year-old daughter? No, I am not happy,’ mom said flatly.
The jerk stomped off without his items. As a kid it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.
Then another time we were at a Costco when a woman squeezed her cart in front of ours and tried to empty it.
I say she ‘tried’ because my Mom quietly and calmly grabbed the items and placed them back into the offender’s cart. She then moved it behind ours.
Since you place your items on one side of the checkout stand and pay on the other and the lady was glued to her phone, she didn’t notice.
When she reached the register and heard the total for her purchase, she exclaimed, ‘No. That can’t be right. I only bought like $30 worth of stuff.’
‘That’s because it’s my stuff, not yours,’ Mom pointed to the lady’s cart and said, ‘There’s your stuff, right behind ours, as it should be.’
The woman’s mouth gaped open, but she moved out of the way until we left the checkout stand.
Thank god for my feisty ma.”
True Colors
“My parents lived in Wisconsin and I lived in Florida at the time. My dad was in hospice care at home. My mom was scheduled to start chemo for breast cancer the next day. I took a 30-day leave of absence from work to take over the house stuff and help as much as I could. I was a single mom with a six-year-old daughter, and we booked a flight out the night before my mom was going to have her first chemo session. Weather canceled our flight out, and as soon as the announcement was made I grabbed my daughter and ran to the gate that had an alternative flight. We were second in line when we got there.
There were four seats available. The couple in front of us got the first two, and we were next. Well, we were first until this absolute jerk of a man cut the line and went straight to the front. Of course, he got a seat. I wasn’t upset at the airline staff, but I was upset at the nerve of this jerk and he got away with it! I stayed super polite and tried to get on whatever flight they could find for us. As they were helping me book another flight, I saw security rushing onto the plane. A few minutes later they were leading our favorite jerk off of the plane. I don’t know what he did, but I have never been so grateful for a jerk to show his colors.
We got on that plane. The flight attendants were wonderful and it was a great flight.”
