Found this thread after googling line jumping etiquette. Perhaps I, too, think of things too much.
Situation was I was in line, 1 guy ahead of me, several behind me. He goes up to the register, then immediately his gf (I presume) jumps over from a separate line where she was 2 still ppl back. They then proceeded to get rung in separately.
In this situation, I could accept if it was one transaction (although, during the line selection phase, I'll select lines based on both the # of people, and quantity of things) but I've also been known to ask someone with me to go grab something extra at last minute then return before with hit the till. I feel I could let 1 transaction slide, but not two. What are people's thoughts on that?
The one line method is the optimum, and even noticed some stores like walmart setting up for that at normal tills. 1 giant alley of candies and magazines, then a number gets called and off you go to a specific station, which is more compact. The frustration is with the new self checkouts. 16 kiosks, and some morons trying to set up 16 lines. Or somehow completely missing the existing line. In areas where queue jumping is more accepted, people behind you will get upset and push you ahead if you leave any gap. Apparently by not "protecting" your space, you're not only doing a disservice to yourself, but everyone behind you, since they're operating on the assumption that that space is now fair game.
If a new line opens, I concur that no line exists *until* the clerk says "next in line". At that point, #1 in existing line has priority, but can defer to #2 if the person at the till is finishing up, and moving lines is a bigger hassle than waiting 5 seconds. However, after next in line gets called, and the primary position gets established, it's a free for all IMO. There is a degree of unpredictability as well. A 10 person line could be done faster than a single person if they have ah hyper complicated order, then after 40 things get rung through need to go to their car for the cards which they forgot, and then again for a cheque since their card got declined.
The shining light is however that once that new till opens, every single person in the existing queue is better off. So it/s a more of difficult argument to say "Yes I'm better off, but I should have been more better off"