Would You Say Something in This Situation? (ALDI Checkout)

Try and picture this.

2 checkout lines. Left checkout line has 2 people in it as it is closing.

In my line we have about 5 people. Lady in front of me and myself have not yet reached the conveyor belt to put items on.

Cashier in the "closing" lane then points to the lady in-front of me and myself to come to her checkout as it is actually not closing, she just did not change the indicator.

Middle aged lady behind me goes from 0 to 100 and pushes her trolley in cutting off lady in front of me and myself.
Cashier lady was not impressed but did not say anything. Customer begins to put her shopping on the belt and gives us a face.

I stayed calm then I lashed out. Just basically said to her what a rude selfish bitch she was for doing that, and that others were waiting with the right intentions especially the lady in front of me.

Is this just an Aldi thing? I have actually experienced this behaviour before regarding this. What happened to us as a society?

My question to you is, would you have said something as well or let it slide?

edit: I actually forgot to mention she tried cutting in front of us earlier but didn't see the line had snaked out past the freezer. (Due to covid distances)
Then she waited behind us before she pounced.

Poll Options

  • 477
    YES I would have pulled her up on her behaviour
  • 93
    No I would have not engaged
  • 129
    Cashier should have said something

Related Stores

ALDI
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Comments

    • +2

      Some people are rude and inconsiderate, and some people may have valid reasons to behave like arseholes that we may not appreciate or fully understand.

      Wrong, no-one has a valid reason to behave like an a55hole in a supermarket.

    • I find that Aldi staff lookout for the numbers in the queue and if more than 2/3 call for another line to be opened,

    • +1

      They never check the volume of customers in the end aisles who are about to finish their shops to work this out.

      Unless you're in the queue, how do they know you're about to finish? Just beacuse you've picked up the milk, doesn't mean you're finished, you could be going for another look through the specials.

      I beleive the standard for them is if the queue reaches the end of the (full) conveyer then they open another register. If two conveyers are not fully used, they close one. I've often seen them close a register, only to open it back up shortly because more customers arrived at the queue again.

  • I had this happen to me, but it was a new checkout line opening up. I was next to unload but not started yet and had 2 people behind me. The cashier opening up walked past me in the queue and said come over to the next lane. As soon as the light went green the person behind me effectively ran across and dumped his stuff, it was a double wide lane so I walked around him and started unloading while he was getting death stares from the cashier. On my way past I said 'he asked me to come over, I'm first.'
    The a55h0le only had maybe 7-10 items and I had a full trolley, so I probably would let him through if he didn't push in.

  • +2

    I didn't realise calling someone a bitch could insult many on this site. 🤣🤣

    No children were in the vicinity.

    • +2

      Don’t worry, it looks worse written than hearing in person.

    • -2

      Except one ^

    • -6

      As I woman, I find that extremely offensive. Regardless of who is the vicinity.

      Yes, she was selfish but there was no need to take it personal and start using insults. Let alone misogynistic ones. It shows a lack of control in your part. Someone below commented that it was a bitchy move on her part, so why not express that? Describe the action, not the person.

      • +5

        Please don't use the "as a woman I am offended by this".

        I called her a bitch because she was acting like a dog. Not because she was a women.

        I was standing up for the 70 year old woman in front of me.

        Not my fault people are such inconsiderate shits sometimes.

        • +8

          In all honesty would you have called a man a bitch? Would you have, even, called him a dog? Why not just keep it gender neutral and call someone a selfish, inconsiderate moron?

          • +1

            @try2bhelpful: Yeah your right. I should have thought about what I said in the space of her acting like an agressor with her trolley.

            Im sorry for my actions, I am guilty as charged.

            • +5

              @iNeed2Pee: I am assuming sarcasm here but once you get down to calling someone a bitch you lose the high ground. You are likely to be the one tossed out. Whatever the provocation I try to count to ten before reacting and I try to see how this is going to play out to the people around me. They may not see the woman cut in but they will hear the bitch remark. If she calls in the management where do you think this will go?

              • +1

                @try2bhelpful: What is weird about this, is I actually did stay calm for a few seconds this time. I just noticed how flustered the lady infront of me was.

                So I reacted to it I guess.

                • +1

                  @iNeed2Pee: It can be trying but you may well have made her uncomfortable as well. I would’ve asked if she was OK given she had been cut off.

                  • +3

                    @try2bhelpful: No I did, then I lashed.
                    Then she thanked me for backing her up.

                    My cashier even apologised for thad ladies behaviour. In the heat of the moment you say things.

            • @iNeed2Pee: Try "Mother f*****"
              The last I checked it was gender neutral!

              • @SillySorjai: The problem is that word has two meanings.

                1. a despicable or very unpleasant person or thing.
                2. a person or thing of a specified kind, especially one that is formidable, remarkable, or impressive in some way.

                Someone who is unpleasant enough to barge in may claim the second meaning.

                If they say “why yes I am formidable, remarkable and impressive” you’ve wasted a rude word.

          • +1

            @try2bhelpful: I probably would have called him a cockhead or a bastard.

            (Ironically none of which are blurred out as profanity)
            🤣

            • +1

              @iNeed2Pee: See my previous comment. As I said in a previous post; learn something in a different language. You will feel better and you won’t get into pinged. Bitch isn’t blurred out either.

              • +1

                @try2bhelpful: Don't worry, I had already cursed her in my native tongue of Spanish!

                But I am not a misogynist in anyway shape or form.

                • @iNeed2Pee: A lot of other languages have better curse words. We tend to run out after about seven of them. You just need to be careful about loaded terms. The last thing you want to do is reflect pain back on yourself. It is a trick I learnt when writing up emails at work. I would write the reply in notepad, sit on it overnight, then write the diplomatic answer in the morning. It is amazing how many other people tripped themselves up and I looked professional in response.

                • +1

                  @iNeed2Pee: heh heh heh POOOOOOTAAAAAAA!!!!!!

          • @try2bhelpful: My former self would have called him (and everyone else regardless of gender), the four letter C word that rhymes with punt.

            • +2

              @LordPanda: Yeah, that probably would get you thrown out of Aldi. The problem is once you reach into that one you have nowhere else to go. Whatever you think of the individual you need to consider your audience. Do you have the right to upset other people in the queue? Frankly, that is the swear word I don’t use and I, certainly, don’t hold people who use it in high esteem.

              • +1

                @try2bhelpful: Where are you getting this from? Thrown out of Aldi? I had my life threatened in Aldi by a loser retread who told me he was going to stab me - and he wasn't thrown out.

                And my response to him included most of the words you seen to think don't work. They do work, delivered right. He won't ever threaten my life again, that I promise you.

                I was also not thrown out.

                • @kale chips suck: Sounds like Aldi wasn’t doing anything right that day.

                • @kale chips suck: Aldi does not seem to have security guards. It may be a different story in Colesworth who do and are reputed to be quick to react.

                  • @Yola: I was in the self checkout area in Coles, one day, and this guy threw a punch at one of the staff members. Security was there quickly and they took pictures of the guy to give to the police. The guy did get out of their quickly once people started yelling for security. I asked one of the other supervisors if she was OK; it was pretty shocking.

          • @try2bhelpful: If someone is trying to insult, why the concern about 'gender neutral' insults.

            Calling a man a bitch would be even more insulting IMO

            • +2

              @greatlamp: Because you are implying it is lesser to be a female? Gender neutral avoids a whole different minefield.

      • Crazy how people can say that 'bitch' isn't a gendered insult when it clearly is (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitch_(slang))

        • -1

          He even admitted that he wouldn’t have called a man by that word 🙄. But sure, he can neg away.

    • +6

      No children were in the vicinity.

      Is that your justification for hurling abuse at strangers? Also, is that in any way to speak to anyone in public?

      Yes, I agree. Her behavior was repugnant, and the cashier should have stepped in as a neutral mediator to inform her that she was breaking social norms by pushing in front of the queue.

      You, on the other hand, completely lost the moral high ground by using such a derogatory term.

      Whatever happened to: "Excuse me, Ms. There is a line here…"?

      • +3

        Whatever happened to people in our society not being agressive idiots.

        • +3

          By immediately cursing people out when they do something rude, you are also being an aggressive idiot…. you do realise that don't you?

      • +2

        She knew there was a line, she knew she was going to cut any line she could to be the first out.
        I did my years in retail, it's not uncommon and they don't care as its all about them.

        Good on OP for calling her on her sh!t, shame others didn't also speak up and make some friendly comments about how that's poor form, maybe asking her if she
        acts the same way in the car park or on the roads? I bet she's one of those women who will run in to a car park and stand in a car space blocking it from others in the line so the car she was in can park in it, and cause a scene if anyone dares to try park there.

    • Women hate being called a bitch. Men hate being called an (profanity).

  • +1

    Too many rude people in cities to confront them all. Definitely understand how it can be hard to hold back when someone is been so blatant, though.

  • +3

    I'd just laugh and say "some people…" while looking in her direction.

  • +8

    Would have grabbed her trolley and launched it backwards… helps being my size, they dont usually complain :)

    • +1

      🤣🤣🤣

  • -2

    There is likelyhood that the Aldi staff in closing lane decided to point you and other buyer as you both looks like buy few items. But the woman behind you misunderstood (or don't care?) And come into the lane as you two hesitate or something. But really no need to name calling just for this issue. Take it easy.

  • +1

    aldi cashiers seems to be the most miserable and life hating out of the big 3

  • +2

    This is not unique to Aldi, happens anywhere where they are multiple queues to different windows and a new one opens up.

    But it happens a lot in Aldi and registers are frequently opening and closing response to queue lengths.
    In my Aldi people are generally pretty polite. If I have a full trolley and someone else has a couple of items I usually let them go in front and most other people seem to do the same. I guess it depends where you live???

  • +2

    This whole opening and closing thing with Aldi is just bizarre. They seem to do it all the time.

    • yeah its rather strange.. like they'll close one lane, and the same worker will just move to another lane

      • The best checkout people I’ve ever seen are at Costco. People turn up with shopping trolleys the size of Mac trucks and they just churn through the queues. The only time I ever saw it batshit crazy was at the start of lockdown2 when the queues at Docklands were back to the meat section. I got out of their ASAP.

        • Yes, there is a disease out there so let's all go out and queue together.

        • +1

          Our Aldi staff are super friendly. When I go it's always super quiet, so don't have to deal with other customers either.

          • @Miss B: Our Aldi isn’t too bad either, it is fairly new. Usually, I wander through the specials, look what is the the alcohol area, and often leave without buying anything; showing them inside my bag on the way out. I do buy the odd thing; and they can have some very odd things.

            Like a lot of places, it is easier if you are a regular.

  • +1

    ALDI customer service? Does not exist in the German handbook.

  • It's not worth the effort.
    I literally just came back from Aldi. I let the girl behind me with 1 bag of lollies go first. And I've been let in front when I had just 1 or 2 items too.

  • +4

    id push in and crop dust the (profanity) out her. unfortunately the world is full of Gronks, she was probly desperate to get home and rip a cone.

  • +11

    As an ex checkout person I would have said something. But also understand why someone wouldn’t.

    Agree on calling her out on it, 100%, but probably didn’t need to swear at her. I just don’t think swearing/name calling in situations like this really helps the persons argument. It makes them look just as rude.

    Best using sarcasm. “Oh sorry I didn’t realise your time was more important than anyone else’s. Please, go ahead so we don’t hold you up any further”

    • I’d feel more sympathetic to somebody who punched me than somebody who said that.

      • +4

        You’re probably not the kind of person who will try and push in and then claim you’re deserving of going first though.

        It really irks them. You just agree with them when they say things like “I’m in a rush” and they just get so angry they couldn’t have that fight with you. The veins in their head come to the surface. It’s great.

  • +1

    Another day another Karen content to be uploaded on Tik Tok.

  • +3

    I've always said 'you can tell a lot about a person by how they act when a new register opens'

  • +1

    they're everywhere…move on…

  • +2

    Good job. I would have stayed calm but I’d be happy the person next to me is having a go.

  • +2

    You should have uploaded it to TikTok, wtf are you doing?

    Learn from your mistake next time. We're all bored here. Do your civil duty and record such abominations of the human race j/k

    • Gotta get them sweet sweet social media likes

  • +1

    Sounds like a bitch move. I can see it being reasonable if the lane that opened was further away (in that case, its a fresh queue and the previous queues rules don't really apply). But if you just need to take a single step to the right to be in the new queue, and the person in charge has instructed you to do to, that's very rude for someone to push past you.

    As to whether I'd say something, no, definitely not. I don't have anywhere near the dress sense or speech skills to pull that off.

  • +1

    Aldi.

    Enough said.

    The lowest of the low looking for "bargains".

  • +1

    Sometimes its better to let it out
    If you need2pee you should just pee

    I'm too passive/cowardly but appreciate people like you who call out this kind of shit behaviour.

    • Yes, otherwise you stew on it for a long time.

  • I went to aldi about 2 years ago during a work lunch break and bought like 2 items or so, the checkout lady was just finishing off and motioned me to come over and gave me the physical checkout closed sign to put on the end. about 10 seconds later gross old man ignores the sign and starts dumping stuff on the conveyor belt, i give the sign a double tap and tell him to go to another checkout and push his items back past the sign. He gets pissy but ends up moving after i just dont let him put any items down, funny thing was that the work uniform was very similar to aldis uniforms so he probably thought i worked there as well. I think its an aldi thing!

  • +4

    Please, please, please, everyone say something stern and thought-provoking (no profanities) to the selfish people that do this, whether it's in Aldi, jumping the queue at the pub bar or them trying to push past everyone to get off the plane first.

    Cos if they're not stopped and keep successfully pushing in, they will do it all the more.

  • Funny how people take one person's actions and generalize it to the entire population "what has society come to". Reminds of how news outlets put out a story with crazy titles and captions trying to blow things out of proportion.

  • +2

    I hate aldi. Coles and woolies self checkout for the win!!!

    • +1

      But not the prices

      • Aldi products are just repackaged homebrand goods. I work in FMCG and have seen it all.

        • How does that change the prices argument?

          Aldi are cheaper or have a larger range of homebrand products.

          • +1

            @samfisher5986: I would say some are cheaper but some are more expensive compared to coles/woolies select/homebrand items. 50/50

            If you include the flybuy/rewards points and online discount codes, coles/woolies are much cheaper.

            • @mrvaluepack: Which products are more expensive?

              Aldi are very strict with being competitive in price, if its more expensive there is probably a reason for it.

              There's no way flybuys points itself make Coles cheaper, however taking advantage of their special flybuys promotions can make them cheaper but also require you to spend $x for 4 weeks which they specially design to be more then your usual spend, so its cheaper per product, but not overall.

              • @samfisher5986: https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/683014/shi…

                cheapest ever per unit homebrand without discounts.

                Aldi is 15-17c i think.

                There are many others, just lazy to compare and find for you.

                I have always been getting spend $80 for 2k flybuys points. Thats 12.5% discount off my total grocery bill.

                • @mrvaluepack: Yes… but have you used those woolworths dishwasher tablets? they are garbage.

                  Aldi dishwasher tablets are decent.

                  Thats why you can't compare it like that, food is a lot easier because you can compare ingredients.

                  • -1

                    @samfisher5986: Yes I have used them, they are better than Aldi's.

                    You're sounding like an Aldi fanboy now lol. Even after I showed proof.

                    Have fun wasting your time queueing at the register and then being rushed to quickly pack up your stuff.

                    • -1

                      @mrvaluepack: I primarily shop at Coles for your information…

                      Aldi means going to two supermarkets since they only have limited items so I don't normally bother.

                      But I'm not stupid and think that I wouldn't save more money at Aldi if I had the time for it.

              • @samfisher5986: If you have several flybuys accounts you can just use the one that gives you an acceptable spend amount and do not need to spend more than you want.

                • @Yola: You won't get the spend unless you use the flybuys though, it gets pretty messy juggling flybuys so you get the promotion at the right spend amount.

  • +5

    If I am at the deli at coles and there was someone there before me and the girl behing the counter goes to serve me first I always say that the other person was before me!

    How hard s that?

    • I do the same thing.

    • +1

      I do this at bars when trying to pick up.

    • I thought deli have that ticketing system.

  • +4

    We need more people like OP reminding people that their behaviour is in not acceptable.

    And reminding the a holes that speed up when you’re trying to change lanes.

    Good work op. :)

    People should stand up and say something when they see something wrong. Simple as that.

  • +4

    I used to not say anything, for fear of getting into altercations. I then realised that 99% of people are all talk, so now i call people out for the dumb shit they do all the time.

    Like you, i go from 0-100 so the language that comes out is real colourful.

    • +1

      I want to be like you, any tips. Fear of being stabbed is high. Have you been spat at/on before?

      • Im really good at assessing a situation quickly, which helps. Things such as:

        the area you are in: is it a nicer suburb, dodgy suburb etc

        the demographic of the people in the area. eg: people in the cbd might be all talk, however if your in a 'lower class' area, then people grew up fighting so might actually retaliate

        who's around you: if something does go down, would they jump in to assist you, or just stand back in fear

        Are you dealing with one person or multiple.

        Basically you need to put all these facts together and make up your mind and then go for it. Ive never had anything happen to me, but ive also decided when and where to do it.

        Your location: if something does go down, can you escape. eg: if your in a train, your kinda stuck, but if your out in the open, you can easily leave the scene.

        Your body language and posture says almost everything about you: if you slouch vs if you stand tall. basically sizing up your prey.

        Once a couple of mid 20's kids tried snatching a toy i was buying for my nephew out of my hands in kmart (yup, wtf?) so i just looked at them and said wat the f are you doing?. Before this they were walking around, yelling etc. They then laughed and said oh were just joking. I then told them to get effed, which they didnt like. I said your real tough walking around the kmart toy section ey. Both of them were then up in my face, yelling, swearing, yeh you want to go! Lets fight, come on then, come on then! By this time a large crowd had gathered. I literally stood point blank and laughed at them, once again telling them, real tough boys: trying to fight in the toy section of kmart . As i thought, they were all talk, i literally laughed at them and walked off.

        Basically, the ones that can actually beat you up, dont talk shit, they wont stand in your face yelling and threatening to punch you, they'll just do it. The rest, as i said, are shit talkers.

        Its also why you need to tell them to get effed straight away, no being nice about it and building up to it. Straight to the point.

  • +1

    It's Aldi lol. Same people who would fight to the death over special buys.

  • -3

    This is actually an Australian thing unfortunately. Happens every single time a lane is opened at Woolworths or Coles. Although most Aussies can be pretty easy going, a lot of us lack common courtesy. I've travelled a lot, and in Europe and even the US, this kind of behaviour is rarely seen nor tolerated. Yes, each country might be known for other bad things, but in the US especially I was amazed how polite and considerate most people were, even to the point of going out of their way to ask where the line starts.

    • +7

      You clearly haven't travelled in Asia much if you think queue jumping is limited to Australia!

      • I have been to Asia many times, and agree they are famous for queue cutting. I didn't mean to make it sound like this was an exclusively Australia thing. I just mentioned two western continents where this type of behaviour is not prevalent.

        • We have many suburbs in Sydney where people of Asian background outnumber those from so-called Western nations, so I'm not really sure comparing Australia to Europe and the US is even relevant anymore. Perhaps we'd have to know exactly where OP was shopping!

    • I don’t think you can get a good sense of a culture unless you’ve lived there for an extended length of time. It is just as likely a traveller visiting Australia would never have a bad experience at a checkout, considering it doesn’t happen all the time.

      • +1

        I've lived overseas for 3 to 6 months at a time. It's definitely long enough to capture typical behaviour (having to do non-touristy things like weekly grocery shops etc.). I was used to Aldi before they even opened in Oz.

  • Had a lady push in front me at Aldi. Gave her the benefit of the doubt due to social distancing. Life's too short to sweat the small things

  • Middle aged lady behind me goes from 0 to 100

    Would you say she can beat the plaid model S ?

    Is this just an Aldi thing

    More noticeable at Aldi as they have open / close cashier system.

    My question to you is, would you have said something as well or let it slide?

    Life’s too short. This sort of things happen to me everywhere I go. I tend to think I’m paying back my bad karma and move on. I also let someone carrying few items to go before me if I have a cart full of things.

    ——

    Single queue multi counter is the way to go to reduce all frustrations but it is not practical (cheers to melb airport immigration for implementing this đź‘Ź)

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