Those closing time blues.

[Arcade Man D]

It's the one thing everyone who works in an arcade has had on closing shifts. How do you get customers out by closing time, without angering them? My normal methods work.... For normal times. But with the Christmas shopping/return seasons coming up, it'll be a whole other story. And I've already got one employee who has problems getting them out until 10-15 minutes after.

[digilight]

Do you play music in the arcade? If so maybe 5 minutes prior to closing you switch to classical or bluegrass. It was proven on a case study at convinence stores that kids tended to loiter less when they piped classical music into speakers mounted outside the store.

Otherwise you can always bribe the local highschool football team with a free round of skeeball if they sweep out the gammers who insist on staying after hours. :)

[Rubystars]

I don't suppose there's a way to cut off power to all the games (or at least the ones being used at the time?)

[Arcade Man D]

The music suggestion would be good.... but it's on a DVD we aren't allowed to switch out.

As for the latter? That won't get the latter part of what we want. Not pissing off the customers, so they'll come back later.

Don't get me wrong, if they're still there 15 minutes after close, or repeatedly ignore requests to not play new games, we'll reach behind the game in full view of them and pull the plug, rather than just hit the breakers like we always do at night. I may not normally want to piss off customers, but if they're ignoring rules? They're no longer customers. ((Yay employee handbook that says 3 strikes max. For customers!!))

[MadMike]

I don't suppose there's a way to cut off power to all the games (or at least the ones being used at the time?)

This one place I used to go to back in the late '80s used to do that, at least on Sundays when the mall closed early. I bit frustrating to have your game go dead all of a sudden. I liked it better at the other places where someone would come around and tell you "last game", because they were getting ready to close.

Although I saw someone abuse that one time. I was finishing up, when I heard the owner yelling at these kids, "What are you doing putting more money in? I told you last game!" And then he told them to leave. The kids told them, "You really know how to treat your customers." To that, he answered, "Well, you really know how to listen!"

[Arcade Man D]

I liked it better at the other places where someone would come around and tell you "last game", because they were getting ready to close.

That's actually our usual system. However....

Although I saw someone abuse that one time. I was finishing up, when I heard the owner yelling at these kids, "What are you doing putting more money in? I told you last game!" And then he told them to leave. The kids told them, "You really know how to treat your customers." To that, he answered, "Well, you really know how to listen!"

That happens. A lot.

[edible_hat]

It was proven on a case study at convinence stores that kids tended to loiter less when they piped classical music into speakers mounted outside the store.

When I worked night shift I used to switch the radio over to Classic FM (as in classical music). I'm not sure if it worked or not since most of the customers at that time of night were drunks from the numerous pubs and clubs in the area.

[Gurndigarn]

The music suggestion would be good.... but it's on a DVD we aren't allowed to switch out.

Not to mention that is sucks, and it repeats over and over and over and over and... it was one of the primary motivations I had for getting out of the mall arcade side of things.

Normally, I didn't push customers out the door. The changers got turned off at closing (usually they were on their own dedicated breaker), customers warned... and we started vacuuming. Hey, they're on OUR time now. Don't like WRRRRRURRRURR next to you? "Sorry, sir, but it's after closing now... we could just kick you out instead...." And because we needed to vacuum before leaving, it wasn't bad. People could finish the last token or three, they felt good that we were bending the rules a bit for them, and all was well. Usually. There were a few times when we had to tell people "don't start any more" or "no, it's past closing, leave now." But not often.

OTOH, when you have a reason to get out as fast as possible, warn everyone that the games go off Right At Closing today... and then kill the breakers. Try not to do it too often and you won't have customer service issues.

[ibor132]

Well, I worked for the same arcade in two different physical locations. My techniques differed a little bit from store to store (the original store was 1) larger 2) had a PA system.

In the old store, I would start anouncements 1/2 hour before closing, and do them at :30, :15, :10 if it was busy, :5, occasionally :1 and close. If it was particuarily busy, I would have somebody do a walkaround and let everybody knwo that we were about to close. As wel, we pulled our drawer at :15 before close, so at that point we could no longer give change (the changers still worked, but very frequently people would "only have a $20".
The rest of it would differ depending upon 1) how busy it was 2) what games people were playing. Usually, unless it was SUPER slow, I'd kill the lights at 1-2 minutes before close. That, combined with the announcements, would usually get most people out. If not, and I'd hit all the annoucements, I had no objection whatsoever to simply killing the power to the games (this was condoned by management, they were actully less forgiving than I was).
Now, every once in a while, we'd have somebody hit something on a high-volume ticket game. That I would deal with on a case by case basis. If they were polite, it was close to the end, or if we had a pretty good idea of how much was left, we would usually wait it out or just give them the tickets. If they were rude, forget about it. Kill the power and say "Sorry, you were warned". Ticket redemption was also case by case (more to the point, manager to manager). I would USUALLY give people 5-10 minutes of leeway if I wasn't in a hurry, but the SM was completely OK with us saying "sorry, we're closed, you'll have to come back another time".
Usually I would be more forgiving if we had missed annoucements, or were shorthanded in some way that precluded getting people out prior to close. If we were standing around doing nothing for the last tein minutes, and at the dot of close the entire store wanted to redeem tickets, then I would be a lot more likely to say "too bad".

It was a little bit trickier in the new store, as we didn't have a PA system, which precluded the absolute defense of "We made announcements for the last half hour". However, *generally* it would be easier to get people out, as it was a much smaller store. Generally, I would have somebody do at least one walkaround at 10 minutes or so prior to close, and another one at 1-2 minutes (letting everyone know that it was last game time). Again, I would kill the lights a few minutes prior, but that was somewhat less effective in this store, as some of the lights were on the same breakers as games. Again, I'd make a call about whether or not to kill the power at close on a case by case basis, however I was somewhat more apt to let people finish up their games if it was only a couple of people. Pretty much the same deal with high volume ticket games - judgement call based on whatever.

The thing that helped a little bit is that we stopped getting paid at close (no lectures about that being illegal, I am well aware. It was a very small staff, and we were pretty loose about stuff like that). That gave some motivation to try to get people out quickly (we did all of our closing tasks, except for the final safe audit before closing, so if we were REALLY on the ball, we could get out right at close).

[Arcade Man D]

Normally, I didn't push customers out the door. The changers got turned off at closing (usually they were on their own dedicated breaker), customers warned... and we started vacuuming. Hey, they're on OUR time now. Don't like WRRRRRURRRURR next to you? "Sorry, sir, but it's after closing now... we could just kick you out instead...." And because we needed to vacuum before leaving, it wasn't bad. People could finish the last token or three, they felt good that we were bending the rules a bit for them, and all was well. Usually. There were a few times when we had to tell people "don't start any more" or "no, it's past closing, leave now." But not often.

Ah, see, when I started, I didn't either, but customers abused that kindness of mine far too often by playing ticket games and bitching when I wouldn't redeem their tickets 20 BLEEDING MINUTES AFTER CLOSE!

And it does only take half an hour to clean after close. If there aren't customers. Which is *just* enough time to catch the bus for those of us who bus.

[Gurndigarn]

Ah, see, when I started, I didn't either, but customers abused that kindness of mine far too often by playing ticket games and bitching when I wouldn't redeem their tickets 20 BLEEDING MINUTES AFTER CLOSE!

Redemption people I would warn that they need to bring tickets up right away, or return with them at a later date. And the changers did get turned off at closing— they almost always had a specific breaker that didn't turn off other games— or at least not many.

We also had signs we posted on the changers near closing that told the customers that closing was imminent, and that extra tokens purchased could be used next time they came.

And in a worst case, just remember, you are master of the circuit breakers!

[Arcade Man D]

Thanks for the tips, Gurndigarn. I've got a new guy who reminds me a lot of me when I started. Shy, timid, doesn't want to offend anyone. Hopefully these will help him.

*Is really thankful he only rarely ever has to deal with closing now. The patrons at his particular mall can really suck about closing sometimes.*