I support this

Imagine needing to be thanked for that, yeah I can do it myself if you really have the need for pointless gratitude lol

The divider is so the cashier knows when to stop ringing more stuff up because it isn't yours. If she moved the divider back afterwards, that almost implies that she wants to buy the persons behind her products. The story makes no sense, the divider is something you put up for yourself, it just happens to benefit everybody.

This doesn't make a lot of sense. Amanda is talking about a "woman in Tesco", but somehow knows the reason she took the divider back. Did the woman announce this or something? Or is it just guesswork? Or is it a bullshit made-up story? You decide!

More to the point though, putting the divider would help her more than it helps the man. Because without the divider she risks the mans stuff being confused with her stuff, such that she might pay for items that aren't hers, or just wait her own time. So why should the dude be thanking her if she's actually just looking after her own interests? (And all that is aside from the fact that it is such a low-effort ordinary interaction that a person might not notice or care that it happened.)

I'm human and I enjoy these stories of pettiness just like anybody else.

But if I may please speak in my "old man who has seen things" capacity for a moment, this is not the way to live. You should endeavor to do positive things every day to make life better for people around you as well as yourself. And you don't do this because it gets you praise or rewards, you do it because of the internal rewards. It's good for your mind.

Exactly.

Delighted to realize that my default internal voice for this man is the one from South Park.

Eh. I just consider it a common courtesy thing that doesn't require a response.

Yeah exactly. This is like holding a door for the person 2 steps behind you. It's something that decent people do without a second thought, because it's the right thing to do.
Yeah, nobody has ever said thank you when I've done it, nor did I expect them to.
- Oh I'm sorry. Everyone deserves a thanks on occasion. Thank you kind stranger, i am so flighty i forget to say it at the store 😋

I am autistic. Talking to total strangers anywhere but online is really fucking hard. I find the words catching in my throat every time I go to speak. And even then, sometimes it's barely above a whisper.

To a normal person, this is petty. To me and mine, this is cruel. And you have no way to tell which it will be. Maybe you shouldn't support this.

Cruelty usually is the point. It's why I think humans should part ways from each other, end this civilizational bullshit.
- I can't fault you. At least we should organize into groups of 150 or less, the theorized maximum number of people that your average hairless ape can comprehend compassionately.
  I propose a cell-based or council-network system that uses directly overlapping membership via 25 member subgroups, with each person a member of two groups. It maximizes empathic reach as members would better empathize with members of their two groups while increasing the likelihood members would empathize with members of a different group through the connection of another group member.
I'm autistic, rules are rules. The divider provider must be acknowledged.
Voice is improved with practice. Join a toastmasters,or learn to sing?
- Also autistic : Rules are a construct we ourself shape and create in order to archive the illusion of control over the raw anarchy that is the reality of free will and sovereign thought.
- Putting the divider down is also polite. Why are we expected to always be the most polite or suffer cruelty if we don't comply? It's a two-way street.
  And my voice is fine. It's the presssure and anxiety of the situation. The nervousness makes it harder to speak loudly.
  The point here is that removing the divider after having placed it simply for the person not thanking them is petty at best and cruel at worst, and it simply shouldn't happen.
  People should be better, and should have some fucking grace and consider that maybe said person has a hard time speaking, or yet again worse, is mute.
- literally, the divider is to protect the person in front from having to pay for a accidental scan of the items the person behind them may place. it’s literally is everyone’s interest that the divider is there. don’t go expecting thanks yous in general but especially when the action was in self interest

So dumb.. the divider is for her and the checkout person’s benefit. for fuck sakes

Yeah, but social punishment for rudeness is how you get a world where strangers are polite to each other
Causing a tiny inconvenience for yourself is worth it
- It only causes inconvenience for herself and the cashier. It doesn't effect the guy behind her even slightly.
- Yeah, but social punishment for rudeness is how you get a world where strangers are polite to each other
  Bwahaha sure it is.. look at what the OP posted…Do you think this event made the OP polite?
- this isn't like somebody left a cart blocking the sidewalk in front of the store lol

Big Karen energy.

“entitlement”
use your vocabulary…
“all bad women are karen” is so 2010…
- Ok Erik
- Whatever Chief.

I've given up on having expectations of other people.

I've decided to just be nice to everyone no matter the circumstance or reaction. If you don't want to be nice or polite ... screw you.

If you want to be unkind, negative or rude ... I'm going away from you as fast as possible ... and if I can't avoid you, I'm giving you an earful of how I feel about your stinking guts

Putting down the divider is not a courtesy, it is expected of you.

This is like expecting someone to say thank you because you flushed the toilet before leaving it

In all of my experience, it's required for the person behind them to put the divider on the belt before putting their own groceries down. Not on the person in front to put it down after their items (unless they're trying to be courteous)
- Here in Germany, i've observed it the other way around: Everyone always puts a divider behind their items.
- Other way around. If you don't want to pay for my shit, set your divider.
i liked the other comment that also said it was like thanking someone for flushing the toilet and hour after you posted

It is to stop items from accidentally getting charged to the wrong person. It benefits both people. I never expect a thank you for doing it. If something gets charged to the wrong person, everyone gets screwed. You, the cashier, and this idiot. Now everyone has to wait for the cashier to void the transaction and call a manager over. Congratulations, you played yourself.

I'm just gonna keep what I paid for, thank you very much.
- Congratulations, you've now only played yourself here, ending up buying something you didn't want or need.
- “Thanks for the muffin carton, dick!”

I'm sorry, I fail to see how this reads as anything other than "Amanda" being an insanely self-important cunt...

So, if you "support this" feel free to assume that extends to you as well

I'm sorry but I have to assume you're not British (which is fine, not your fault). You wouldn't survive one day in the jungle of unspoken rules of politeness that is a Tesco queue.
No 'thank you' for a divider? That's a firm mild stare for you
No 'no worries' when people apologise for forgetting to thank you for the divider? Rude.
No 'nonono it was me luv' when people tell you 'no worries' after you apologised for forgetting to thank them for the divider? Are you some sort of sociopathic asshole?
- I'd rather shoot myself than have to navigate that purgatory, holy shit
- I'd rather get punched in the dick then deal with this passive aggressive bullshit.
I'd recently blocked "LadyButterfly she/her" because I was getting fed up of her constant low effort ragebait, so I was surprised to see this post appear on my feed - it turns out she's posting from multiple instances, presumably to get around either blocks or bans.
- Oh wow... Ya know, I'd noticed on a few occasions that she seemed to be the predominant poster in a few of my mental health/'tism related subs, but now that you've brought it to my attention I can't seem to recall her posting anything OTHER THAN the most basic of basic bitch, LCD kinda stuff day in and day out... So the whole "secret identities" aspect tracks too 🤣😂

Practically never in my whole live, standing in thousands of checkout lines, have l heard anyone say "Thank you" to another person placing a divider.
Maybe under very special circumstances that primarily had nothing to do with the divider itself.

It is in both person's interest to place it, so the the one who has the opportunity to do it just does.

Had I encountered the woman from the post, I just would have classified her as mentally not entirely stable and kept my distance...

Have probably heard thank you more often than not in California
It’s like saying thank you to someone for flushing the toilet.
I had a girl say thabk you to me three days ago. But that was because I put the divider down and then used it to drag my stuff towards the cashier to make more space for her stuff.
- That's one of the exceptions I was thinking about. Looking at someone and deciding to do something beneficial specifically for that person.
I say thank you when people put them in front of me, including the cashier.
- Which is totally ok!
  Although I would either be slighty confused by it or more likely wouldn't even register it at all, as not expecting thanks to be directed at me.
  After all, placing the divider is somewhat of a selfish action on my part, omitting later stress...
Do you live in a city? In the admittedly pretty large village I live in, I hear it almost every time I go to Home Bargains.
- Home Bargains is British, isn't it?
  So maybe region-dependent custom.
  Here in Germany I would judge it to be equally uncommon both in cities and the more rural areas.

Yeah? You're supposed to put it down after You're done.

I'm not gonna thank someone for flushing the loo after they're done either.

why would you just copy another comment like that?
- Maybe they are the same person trapped in different multiverses

The man didn't notice this and the cashier kept scanning all the products, hers and his. Very smart Karen, you got him!

You're not putting the divider for the person behind, you're putting it for YOURSELF and the cashier.

Plot twist the man behind her was nonverbal...

Am from Germany and this reads like absolute asshole behaviour TBH

Y’all are less likely than Americans to say excuse me when navigating (walking) past people right, only when it’s a true squeeze?
Just for fun I would have considered not putting the divider in so they had to make sure they told the cashier when the last item was, or pay for stuff they didn't want.
- I too would have left the divider out, because I default to assume others are acting in good faith.
  I would have wondered why we needed to not use a divider, today. I would have assumed she knew something I didn't know. And then I would have shrugged and left it how she put it.
  So I guess I would have achieved an accidental malicious compliance. Haha.
  Edit: No joke or anything, I'm just that naive sometimes.
- Just for fun I would have been crab walking on the floor too low down to see what happened. To the cashier, I would appear only as an arm from below the conveyor placing items
Yeah, try that at an Aldi with the lightning speed cashiers.

I’m not gonna assume it’s flirting but if it is…

Does Amanda not do shopping? You place the divider behind your shopping. It’s Tesco Woman’s turn to put the divider, she’s in front. If he places the divider in front of his groceries, she should say thank you.

Dunno if it's a US vs UK thing, but my experience has always been the opposite. That is, you put the divider down before putting your groceries down

Why do you need a divider?

I think someone on 4chan once answered this question: It's the only form of segregation white folks are okayed to use, so they cling to it like they do guns and religion.
so the cashier knows where one customer's groceries end and the next begin. this feels like she's going to punish herself, buying his groceries, out of pettiness, i guess
- I should have been more clear: I don't think dividers are needed. It's possible in some stores that's different, but usually there's no purpose that I can see.
I've never understood this either. If someone is holding things in their arms it's helpful, but if they have a cart then nothing is really gained. I can easily fill the conveyor belt by the time the person in front of me finishes paying. So getting started early feels like I am crowding them for no reason. Like flooring it between red lights; you're just wasting energy to wait anyway.
- I agreed with you 100% up to the end.
  There are few things in driving more irritating than some asshole coasting at 10 mph to a light when you want to turn before the light. You should accelerate and drive at a normal speed between red lights if there are other humans around you because you are not the main character. You don't need to floor it but you should still drive to the light. I also experience this regularly as a pedestrian...either fucking stop and let me jaywalk or fucking go and let me jaywalk, coasting fucks over everyone around you.
  Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
so the cashier knows where your items end and can start the payment portion of checking out, getting you out the door more quickly
I don't put the divider up for the benefit of the person behind. I put it up for me. well, and also to be nice. but it benefits me
- But there's never really a need, or at least I've not seen a situation requiring it for years. You just leave a foot or so of space.

Is that not how you are ment to put the devider down. If the next person to put it down you may still have stuff to put on the convaer belt. This is potentially a high stakes event.

Yes it is high stakes.
When I go for it, I leave exactly one milk carton of blank belt before adding the divider.
I feel that it gives me an air of unhurried friendly eye-contact-free confidence.
I've heard other people speak in this situation, but that sounds like a pro player move that I might warm up to in a few more years.

I'm this way with helpful comments

Thank you

I just had someone not hold the door for me, after I held the door for them and they acknowledged it, and said thank you. 🤷

I was walking towards the entrance of a building, texting on my phone and didn't realize someone was walking behind me as I got to the main doors. So I apologized to the woman (for being in her way), put my phone away and held the door open and let her go in first. She said "thanks!"

Then we went through the 2nd set of inner doors she opened the door and didn't bother holding it open for me or look back or anything. Just pulled it open just enough for her to squeeze through and let the door start to close in my face.

People are fun.

Reminds me of the time I accidentally blocked someone behind me in the grocery store. Before I could say anthing, she shouted "Some people say excuse me!"

So I looked all confused and did sign language saying I couldn't hear. I will never feel bad about it because I'm trash and divider woman can join my trash villain team.