YOU'RE NEXT

When I entered the School-Turn Casey's on Monday, there was an old man standing at the counter, beside a guy who was being run up. They have a weird line there. They run it from the opposite side of the register nearest the door, because some genius put up a display wall where people would line up to be waited on. So you go in the door, and have to make a left and walk up the coffee aisle halfway across the store, to get to where the line is. 

There are two registers. Nobody was working at the left register. The old man was standing sideways, with a small soda on the edge of the counter, facing the guy paying at the working register. A clerk I've only seen a couple times was ringing him up. I stood back a respectful distance, maybe 8 feet, behind the paying man. It was obvious that Old Man had simply walked up from the door side, not taking the detour around to the line area. What's the point, when only one person was ahead of him, and already in the middle of a transaction?

I'll be darned if that clerk didn't turn to Old Man, and say loudly:

"YOU'RE NEXT."

What in the Not-Heaven???

We had all been in our configuration for over two minutes. It was obvious who was next. It's not like I was creeping up with my belly almost touching that paying fellow's rumpus. The Old Man knew he was there ahead of me. I knew he was there ahead of me. He was already closer to the register than I was. 

Maybe I'm just generally a paranoid old biddy, but I take offense to that clerk bellowing "YOU'RE NEXT." Why didn't she just glare right at me, and say, "STOP TRYING TO CUT!" Sweet Gummi Mary! I don't know where she expected me to go. Did she want me to mess up the whole line system and stand at the wrong end, behind the Old Man? If I had waited any farther behind Paying Guy, somebody would have come up and got ahead of me, thinking I was not in line.

Some people are SO unnecessary...