New checkstand open ettiquite (person, business)

[AndyAMG]

I was at a Walgreens, had a few things at the check stand line. It's your typical Walgreen 2 parallel check stands one on each side of the exit.

There was only one check stand open. There were 5 people in front of me 2 behind.

An associate comes up and opens the check stand next to us and says "I can take the next person in line."

So the next person in line goes over to the new check stand. But the lady behind her just stands there.

So after 30 seconds the woman behind her goes over to the next check stand and the lady just standing there goes on a diatribe about how rude people are and that we all need to wait in order and that we need to wait for the checker to call us into the line.

This is not a rule anywhere that I have observed. Once the checker opens a new check stand the norm is that the 1st waiting and 3rd waiting go to the new check stand. So they become 1st and second in their respective lines. That's how it would have played out had the other lady not gone on a diatribe.

So this lady wont drop it and she shouts to the cashier/checker should you wait in line until called. So Im expecting her to say no, or it doesn't matter. But she says "yes, generally wait until I call you."

"What?" 4 of us spoke up and said "since when?" Which made everyone get defensive about proper etiquette for new check stands, and the original lady and another guy got into a heated battle of words because she said "I can't understand why everybody is in such a big hurry." he said "Well I have 7 minutes to get back to work." She said "ugh, unbelievable, such selfish people, just rude, unbelievable."

So what is the etiquette? I have always understood once a checker says "I can help the next person in line." 1st and 2nd or 1st and 3rd go to the new line with out any more calls forward. Everyone else just kinda puts themselves where it evens out the line.

[Pitt Chick]

Originally Posted by AndyAMG

Once the checker opens a new check stand the norm is that the 1st waiting and 3rd waiting go to the new check stand.

Not the norm in my area.

Here, when people are in one line & a second cashier asks for the next person in line, that is the only person that moves.
The 2nd person waits for the next available cashier.
That way you are taken in the order in which you arrived.

Never heard of - or for that matter, never saw - first and third move.

[Mattie]

In my experience, it depends on whether or not both registers are visible from the line. If that's the case, then one line forms, and then next person moves as a cashier frees up. When you can't see the register, as is the case in our grocery store, or in a department store if somebody comes over to let you know the register in the next department is open, whoever wants to leave can do so. You're taking a chance that a new line will move faster than the one you are leaving.

So, in the OP's case, one line would have been the common result.

[KathrynAragon]

It's kind of first come, first serve around here, though usually people are gracious about it and offer to let people ahead of them in the line go first. I've never seen any brouhaha over it.

For the record, I rarely hear "Next person in line." What I usually here is "The cash register is open" or "I can take somebody over here," that sort of thing.

[5-all]

If they say "next person in line" you stay in the original line until called.
If they say "register 2 is now open" a new line forms at register 2.

[stan4]

I let the people who have been waiting the longest go first in their original order.

[HighFlyingBird]

I didn't know there was a specific protocol at all. Iv'e seen the 1st and 3rd thing. Or everyone else stays and waits until the person called over gets done, and if the cashier is still around, the next in line goes. But sometimes its random. I personally stay put until someone calls me over. I'm pretty zen most of the time and just stay in my lane unless someone urges me to move. I also don't really mind if people go out of order...they might just be in a hurry.

Again, I didn't know there was any specific protocol. It seems like, in general, most people are fairly polite about it and it all works out.

[AndyAMG]

Hmm seems there are different opinions.

Here is my thing why should everyone stand in one long line that snakes into the aisles when 2 people can be loading their stuff onto the conveyor belt as two people are being checked out? The person waiting causes the line to get longer.

In my scenario. The next person in line at register one becomes first person in line at register 2. Second person stays at number 2 in the 1st line and 3rd person becomes number 2 at check stand 2. I think what that lady was mad about is she wanted to see what line moved faster. Which doesn't make sense to me. Why have one line for two registers?

Could you imagine if you had 4 or 6 checkers and one line? No, it doesn't work like that. You pick a line and it's luck of the draw. "Yes, I need lotto tickets Marlboro reds in a box, I have these 17 coupons and I need can deposit redemption." Looks like I lost line roulette today.

What should have happened is she should have noticed the person in front of her had almost nothing and went to the new line but she just stood there waiting to be called forward while the conveyor belt stood empty. She wanted to know which line was going to clear first but to me it was obvious they were going to clear within seconds of each other so what was the point of holding everyone up. I felt it was a control issue. Of course, this could be solved by stores having more cashiers. The line got to like 6 people before they even called a second cashier and it grew to 11. It seems like more and more when I go to the store checkouts are taking 5 mins. plus these days and one checker is now so common.

This is just the first time I have seen someone vocal about a second check stand opening. Most the time it's as KathrynAragon describes. but If you watch it's usually the 1st and 3rd person that goes over there the second person is second whether they are in the new line or the old line, so most don't switch.

[froglipz]

Everyone eventually were served and went on with their lives!

[oceangaia]

I think it depends on how the business normally handles it's lines. Does one line feed both registers or does each register have it's own line? If both registers were open when you walked in the store, and when you go to checkout one has 5 people in line and one has 2 people in line, which line would you take?

In my experience, in that situation the person opening a new register is probably a manager or shift leader, opening temporarily to ease the backlog. They aren't intending to stay open when things get back to normal. In that case, they would probably prefer you wait until called over.