NickP 1K

Had a person today hold up her rollaboard and main bag on a moving scanner with nothing in it to take off loads of jewelry, cell phone, change, pocket items etc. She had 5, repeat 5 small trays taken for these. Holding up the line behind and nothing actually entering the scanner. Suggested to her next time to push her larger bag through while she has smaller stuff go through and she essentially told me "to mind my own business". Geez what the heck is wrong with people.

Badenoch

Take her advice.

jkhuggins

What is "wrong" is that most people don't like unsolicited advice --- no matter how correct or well-intentioned the advice might be.

I'd say more, but then I'd be offering unsolicited advice, right?

Exec_Plat

People are generally morons.

all of us.

WillCAD

"Well, ma'am, since I'm behind you in the line and you are delaying me in my travels, that MAKES this my business. And since I was only making polite and helpful suggestions that would benefit both you and everyone behind you in the line, I think YOU are the rude person in this scenario. Please finish your chores quickly so the hundred people stuck behind you can continue through the checkpoint. Some of us have flights to catch."

My mantra since high school. I learned that lesson early, when I worked as a cashier at Burger King at 16 - the average customer was such an idiot, I had to develop patience and tact to deal with them.

"Can I get a Big Mac?"

"Not here, sir, that's a McDonald's sandwich. This is Burger King."

"So no Big Macs?"
​​​​​​​

Badenoch

That's a good approach if your objective is to escalate a delay of a couple of minutes into a further confrontation. While you might be a person who feels free to rebuke slow women be mindful of who she might be with. An accompanying male might take offense to your patronizing and insulting tone.

A couple of months my wife and I were stuck in a long exit line at YYZ. A fairly aggressive fellow began pushing my wife and demanding she "hurry up." He was quite started to discover she was accompanied by a large man who took exception. The fellow's departure was further delayed as he was advised in very direct terms to mind his manners and keep his hands to himself.

My mantra at the airport is only you care about whether you catch your flight. The airline, security, cab drivers, shop clerks and other passengers couldn't give a damn so adjust your expectations accordingly.

WillCAD

I don't give a rodent's posterior what gender, age, or size a person is. Rude behavior is rude behavior, and my estimation of when to call it out or not call it out is not based on something as primitive or backward as whether they're a man or woman, or whether they may have an irate hubbie in line who might feel compelled to protect his lady's honor and virtue by challenging me to a joust because he thought I failed to show proper obeisance to the Weaker Sex.

However, my instinct is always to de-escalate a situation, so I probably would not have delivered that entire speech to the rude woman, only the first sentence or so. The angrier someone is, the less likely I am to speak to them at all, because even offering helpful suggestions can focus their anger on you. Still, someone who is holding up a line full of people due to either cluelessness or outright rudeness should be informed of the fact. I don't expect anyone to care about anyone but themselves in today's society, but many people do, in point of fact, mitigate their behavior to avoid causing inconvenience, difficulty, cost, or harm to others. Such behavior mitigation is called "common courtesy" or "manners".

YOUR situation was entirely different. Some guy actually pushed your wife while in line, that's assault, and rather than coming to her rescue like a knight in shining armor, you should have called the police and filed an assault complaint against the guy. Had he responded negatively to your advice to "mind his manners", you could have found yourself in a physical altercation that would have landed both of you in jail, despite the fault being entirely his.

Badenoch

People who "don't give a rat's posterior" in response to bad behavior risk eventually being knocked on to their own posterior. Best of luck to you. There's no shortage of rude and moronic behavior at an airport. Learn to deal with it. Rebuking the woman won't make her move any faster.

In my situation, immediate action solved the problem. Your advice would have only delayed us further and I doubt the police would have taken the matter seriously. Far better to deal with it it in the moment.

jkhuggins

What evidence do you have that she wasn't already aware of that fact?

WillCAD

I don't know whether she was aware that there were people waiting behind her, nor whether she was aware of the fact that her behavior was holding up their progress or if she was aware of these facts and simply didn't care. But when someone is holding up a line full of people, they should be informed of that fact.

catocony

Go around people like that. I do that on occasion, if the person in front of me is moving very slowly. Once I get my bins I take under 30 seconds to get everything situated and ready to go through the x-ray. They can take all they time they want if they're at the start of the belt and there's room to their left for bins.

jkhuggins

Why? What does informing them of the fact accomplish, in that moment?

Let's return to the original scenario from the OP. At the point of the confrontation, there's nothing that the OP could do to make the other passenger accomplish her task any faster. In fact, talking to her probably slows her down, because now she has an additional task to perform: interacting with the OP. This, of course, only makes matters worse.

As long as you're standing there with nothing else to do, why not offer to help her instead of criticize her? Clearly you've got the time, since you can't do anything else until she transits the checkpoint, and assisting her might actually allow her to transit the checkpoint faster. Plus, you're treating her as a fellow human being and not an obstacle.

Sure, she'll probably decline the offer of help. But, either way, you'll convey the same information in a much more polite manner.

WillCAD

I think you're missing part of the conversation. Let's go back to the beginning:

So, OP actually DID make a polite and helpful suggestion to make her transit easier. She responded with a rude comment.

After that, I posted a long-winded, snarky response. But I didn't make it clear in my first post that I would not have actually said all of those things to the woman, I probably would have only said the first sentence, "Well, ma'am, since I'm behind you in the line and you are delaying me in my travels, that MAKES this my business." I clarified later that I prefer to de-escalate tense situation rather than inflame them.

The woman was being rude, and rude people deserved to be informed of that fact, called out, shamed, whatever you want to call it. Sort of like what you just did with me - in your opinion, my suggestion was rude, and you called me on it.

jkhuggins

Except that the suggestion did absolutely nothing to help her with her current transit. "Next time, do something else" isn't helpful for this time.

As to whether or not the suggestion was "polite", or the reply was "rude" ---- that's an interpretation that none of us here can confirm or refute.

DCP2016

Was this Pre-Check or in a regular lane? If in a regular lane I don't see the problem. If this was a Pre-Check lane this would absolutely be a problem and I would probably just cut in front of her.