Line Switching Etiquette

As any seasoned couponer knows, picking your cashier is integral to your couponing strategies. You've gone over all the ads with a fine tooth comb. You've browsed all the online boards for any deals you might have missed. You've made your list and cut your coupons. You've filled your shopping cart, stopping to whip out your calculator and adjust your attack plan when you find a bare shelf. You've counted, added, and rechecked your shopping cart and coupons to make sure everything is right before you get to the register. With coupons in hand, you approach the checkout lines. You take a quick stroll along the whole length of registers evaluating each cashier available to you. The cashier is the only thing left between you and your cart full of shiny freebies and deals. You must choose carefully to avoid any hassles or problems.

You find the one that looks the most promising or your favorite cashier and you pull your cart into their line. You stand in line patiently trying to pretend you are checking out the cover of one of the more respectable magazines like Home and Garden.
You might even say something aloud about the cute flower bench that would look great on your porch, while you are secretly wondering what evil thing Angelina has done to Jen now that is splashed all over the tabloids in front of you. You don't dare pick it up and let any of these strangers catch you actually reading that stuff.

Then as luck would have it, a new line opens up right next to yours. The new cashier comes over and says you are the next person in line and invites you to move over and join their line. You panic. You have two seconds to evaluate this new cashier and decide if you want to make the move. Your rushed evaluation tells you this cashier might be trouble, but that could be just because you are already comfortable where you are. You try to plan an exit strategy quick. The person in front of you has already unloaded half their cart onto the conveyor belt.

Then brilliance hits. You can still get out of this and look good doing it. You will look like the nice customer by telling the person behind you in line that they can move over instead since you are not in a hurry. With a smile on your face, you turn around and... there's no one there. Apparently the person behind you had already switched lines while you were wrapped up in Brad's girls' rivalry. Panic again sets in as you realize you are out of ideas and out of options as the cashier is standing there waiting for you to make your move.

You reluctantly move over. The results of your switch can be good or it can be bad.
In my latest occurrence, it was not so good for me. The cashier was friendly and efficient, but I held my breath as I handed over my stack of coupons. Most of them were no problem, but a few were questioned. Some were allowed to pass while a phone call was made on some others. Those that required a phone call were ultimately denied for this visit. (I was allowed 3 of 10 coupons) Of course, those were the ones that would have paid for most of my order and of course they expire that day!

At this point, I should have taken off some of my higher priced items- like my ham so that I could rebuy them later with the coupons I still needed to spend. Unfortunately, my mind was still back on the line switch trying to figure out a way I could have gotten out of it. That's the way my mind works, you give it a problem or a puzzle and it wants to solve it. So I pay for my stuff- with actual money!

Later that night, I go to a different store since I still have those coupons to use.
I have decided to rebuy some of the items I had bought earlier in the day and then I could return those items from the first trip for a refund of my money. No problems on this order at all. The only problem now is I hate returns and now I have to muster up the strength to take this extra stuff back to the store and explain to them that I didn't want to pay cash for it in the first place.

Well, that's my story, some of you might be able to relate. I'm wondering if Miss Manners has any rules of etiquette for declining a line switch at the grocery store?