Posted Hours Bitch.

[Jester]

I have no problems with stores being closed. I don't tug on the door incessantly, bang on the door violently, or call up the store's number bitching about how I was inconvenienced by the store being close and am going to now have my high-priced (and fictional) lawyer sue the hell out of whomever was responsible.

But...and this is an important point....is it too much to ask that a store actually be open during their posted hours? I went to a local shop today that deals with my phone provider, merely wanting to purchase a new protective case for my phone, as the old one is falling apart. And wouldn't you know it? The door was locked.

Mind you, this was not five minutes before close. This was a full 18 minutes before close. And I knew what I wanted, and it would have taken from 30 seconds to (maybe) 5 minutes for my entire transaction. But it's not even like there was someone there to bitch to. The entire place was locked up tighter than a drum, with no vehicles in the parking lot, and the lights off. No note on the door saying, sorry, folks, we had to go. However, their posted store hours did say they were open till 5 on Saturdays. It was 4:42. As if that wasn't enough, they actually had a HUGE banner above their store front proclaiming "NEW SATURDAY HOURS! 10 AM - 5 PM!" The kind of banner you could have easily read from a block away. At night. In the fog. Yeah, that kind of banner. And yet...they weren't.

Fuckers.

[strawbabies]

I thought businesses in the Keys were notorious for closing whenever they felt like it.

[Jester]

Well, yes and no. Bars often have "soft" closing times, as in they'll determine their closing time based upon business volume. My bar, for example, has no precise closing time, though we usually close around midnight. (Earlier if it's dead, later if we're jamming.) And there are some non-bar businesses that will have somewhat flexible hours. But generally speaking, those businesses are downtown, cater to tourists, and/or have signs that say something like "open at tennish, close at sixish, give or take." And no, there was no such sign on this business's door.The businesses outside of downtown, the chain stores and the supermarkets and department stores, the ones that don't cater to the tourists, they tend to actually stick to their posted hours like anywhere else.

Of course, since Key West is stocked with people of all levels of flakiness, I suppose I shouldn't be all that surprised. Actually, come to think of it, I wasn't all that surprised....just freakin' annoyed.

[Android Kaeli]

Maybe they weren't busy enough to stay until the posted hours? Although nearly twenty minutes to close is excessive for closing down, especially in tourist places where, even in the off season, there are still plenty of people shopping that are out of state (I don't live any where near the Keys but I do live in a tourist town on the beach). o.o

I've only been in two situations where we were done for the night, registers counted down, and we were clocked out by two minutes after closing because there was no one in the store and had been like that for almost an hour. Then again the doors weren't locked until five minutes til closing and no one came up to the door and wondered why we were closed a few minutes early.

[Broomjockey]

Ugh. Usually when I see businesses do that they're kind enough to, you know, leave a note or something. Even a hastily scrawled "Closed early, apologize for the inconvenience" goes a long way. For them to do it when they've a banner like that? You're right to bitch.

[SG15Z]

We've closed during posted hours before. But we usually have a sign saying "Sorry we're closed, open again at _____" But that only happens when the graveyard person calls in and there's no one else to replace the shift. It's rare, but it has happened. Now closing and not putting up a sign at all. I'd bring it up next time you're there.

[Ben_Who]

I was at a bus depot several years ago that had a magic-marker sign over the door that said, "Closed 1PM-5PM." Since my bus was to arrive at 2:30, this was pretty bloody inconvenient for me, as I didn't have a ticket. The assumption was that they were understaffed and couldn't find anyone to cover.

I was at a comic book shop a few months ago. I walked in the door around 4:30 of a store that closed at 7. It was a fairly new comic shop, and looked at first blush as if an 80's nerd had emptied his attic into a storefront. About a minute after I walked into this maze of shelves, one bank of lights went out. I wondered about that for a few minutes until one of the proprietors, who looked as if he could have shaved with a dry washcloth, noticed me reading a copy of "Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text" and said, "Uh, sir? We're closed."

Well, far be it from me to tell y'all how to run a railroad, but throwing out your only customer over two hours before your posted closing time, during rush hour, while still in your first few weeks of business is probably not going to earn you rave reviews with the Chamber of Commerce. Then again, many's the time I've seen some Gen-X'er open a shpp front with little more than his Mom's money and a vague dream, only to take down the signage just a few months later when it turns out that though they know a hell of a lot about movies, they don't know thing one about running a business.

Love, Who?

[draggar]

Complain to the carrier or next time you're at the store ask for the district manager's number (make it sound like you had a great visit - they're more likely to give it to you ;) ).

[Jester]

Maybe they weren't busy enough to stay until the posted hours? Although nearly twenty minutes to close is excessive for closing down, especially in tourist places where, even in the off season, there are still plenty of people shopping that are out of state...

Sorry, but no tourists in that area at that shop, unless they really have problems with their phone/service, enough to trek to that side of the island. Very rare. That shop definitely caters to the locals, with the tourists being an occasional bonus.

Ugh. Usually when I see businesses do that they're kind enough to, you know, leave a note or something.

I would have been perfectly fine with a note. But the only note I saw was that giant fucking banner.

Complain to the carrier or next time you're at the store ask for the district manager's number (make it sound like you had a great visit - they're more likely to give it to you ;) ).

Nah, not going to bitch.

This time.

[AccountingDrone]

And the store could have not been open that day at all because of the flu, death in the family of the only employee, or something like that ...

[Broomjockey]

And the store could have not been open that day at all because of the flu, death in the family of the only employee, or something like that ...

And still a note would have been the thing to do. I can think of damned few situations where it would be impossible to go and tack up a quickly scrawled note. About the only one would be "relative died, only plane to get to funeral on time leaves in 3 hours."