Queueing etiquette

mr_fishbulb

iammumtoone wrote: »

I think you are missing the point it is not ok to mention if the person was white either, no one has said it is. The skin colour is irrelevant black/white/pink/green it makes no difference and should not be mentioned at all.

I agree it's irrelevant, but why is it "not OK?".

Are you offended by seeing someone's skin colour mentioned?

Typical knee-jerk reaction.

mr_fishbulb

gwynlas wrote: »

So,young father joins queue at post office counter realises he;s got time to use shop. Rejoins queue position marked by child in pram, you are behind him not pushed in front of pram which is rude. He is in the right, similarly to elderly lady who marked place in queue with shopping trolley but took advantage of seat to rest her legs. What is your problem?

Problem is he wasn't sat in the post office resting his legs, he was out in another shop getting another task done.

Lily-Rose_3

I would not have given a fluffing fluff if someone had reserved their place with a pram, so to the OP, I would have just let him in front...

Have to say though that the reaction to the OP mentioning the man's colour is hilarious. So she said he was black? So what? Big deal. It was just a way to describe him for goodness sake. Why are people so sensitive? Do people have to pull their words out of their mouth and look at them before they say them?

Good grief! The world is PC crazy! :eek:

warehouse

It's the yellow ones I don't trust in queues.

daytona0

iammumtoone wrote: »

Yes you were totally right and I was totally with you until I read that the young man was black. Why mention this, it has no relevance on your story? You stated he was young and fit which is fair enough by why mention the colour of his skin?

I have now lost sympathy with you and feel for the man in question as I wonder if you would be writing this rant it the person involved was white?

Don't forget, it isn't a crime to call a black person black (or a French person French, or a Chinese person Chinese - I personally struggle with identifying where any given 'black person' is from, so kudos to you if you can make that differentiation! Two of my ex's a long time ago were from Cape Town and Ghana respectively, and I couldn't pick up on anything to tell where they were from!).

I think you read a bit too much into this, but I admittedly did stop and think for a few seconds when seeing the word "black".

To me, the OP seemed to be more scared of the fact that they were young and physically fit than anything else!

iammumtoone

Inigo_Montoya wrote: »

I left it at that as I had neither the energy nor the inclination to get into a physical confrontation with him over it (young fit looking black guy so probably would have got the better of me anyway)

The way I read the above is that the OP was not wanting go get into a confrontation with the man as he was young, fit and black. I read that he was assuming that being black (as well as young and fit) the man would have won the fight. This to me read as he was stereotyping the man due to his colour. That is what I objected to.

Maybe I read the post wrong it is clear that others did not read it that way.

I do think I should not have posted, not because of what I said, I stand by that (although maybe it did come across a bit harsh) but it has detracted from the point of the thread which is whether the man was in the wrong regardless of colour.

melanzana

Why did the person leave his child in a pram on its own though?

Has anyone thought about that?

Breaking a queue is one thing, but leaving a child alone is another and that is worse!! IMV.... others might think differently of course.

daytona0

iammumtoone wrote: »

The way I read the above is that the OP was not wanting go get into a confrontation with the man as he was young, fit and black. I read that he was assuming that being black (as well as young and fit) the man would have won the fight. This to me read as he was stereotyping the man due to his colour. That is what I objected to.

Maybe I read the post wrong it is clear that others did not read it that way.

I do think I should not have posted, not because of what I said, I sand by that (although maybe it did come across a bit harsh) but it has detracted from the point of the thread which is whether the man was in the wrong regardless of colour.

I completely get your objection! I was about to comment on it too.

I just think that OP came across as more scared about the fact that the GUY (typically more physical than girls) was FIT and YOUNG more than anything. I'm prepared to give OP some leeway in mentioning that the guy was black, as I suspect that a 'young and fit Frenchman' could also take on OP!

boliston

It's the same as if you were in a queue and one person decided to stay static allowing a large gap to form in front of them - I would just assume they had a good reason not to keep up with the queue and walk (but not push!) past them - if there was no space I would let them know the queue has moved forward.

barbiedoll

OP, yes, he was in the wrong. The point of a queue is that you're waiting in turn to be served (or get on a bus, or whatever.) If you're somewhere else, you can't possibly be waiting for service, no-one can be in two places at once. What would have happened if the queue had moved more quickly, would everyone behind him have to wait around, twiddling their thumbs, until he finished his shopping elsewhere?

The arguments about colour as mentioned in the OP do make me laugh. I live and work in an area with a high ethnic population and I can often tell where people come from by either their facial features or their name (both black and white) As part of my job, I have to ask people what their "ethnic origin" is, the only person that I can remember being offended, was a white Irish woman, who found the question "intrusive and nosy". When I told her why she was being asked (ethnicity can indicate a person's likelihood of carrying certain genetic conditions) she was fine about it.

It's a shame that we feel that we can't mention a person's skin colour without fear of offending someone. For all that I know, OP may well be a fervent racist (I'm sure she isn't!) but mentioning a person's skin colour doesn't, by itself, indicate that she is. I do notice that people are a bit scared of using the adjective "black" as a description though. I was on the phone recently with a patient who was trying to describe the midwife that she usually sees, she couldn't remember her name. After telling me that she was "quite young, medium build, very friendly" etc etc, I asked "is she black?". The patient paused for a bit and then said "Um..yeah", like it was something that shouldn't be mentioned! :rotfl: