No food for you!

[Anakah]

So last night I was excited that I would be getting off of work earlier than usual and was yayed that I got off early enough to make it to Rice Garden before they closed.

I have crazy bad anxiety in public so it took all I had to go over there too. So, its inside of where I work but my casino doesn't own it. I got there a little before 9pm. An hour before they closed.

I know that is pretty sucky to arrive to a place an hour before its closed but last time that happened at a different location they were super nice and made the hubby and I fresh food--which we didn't ask or expect to happen. It's also our fav place cuz of how nice and fresh their food is all the time.

Anyway, so my friend who got off at the same time as me offered to walk with me cuz she knows what a wuss I am. We walk over there and the lady is just standing there staring.

I look over and there is only rice and chow mein. Nothing else.

E: employee

E: Why are you here so late?? (said in a snotty and accusatory voice)

Me: Uh... I just got off work.

E: This is all we have and WON'T be making more.

Me: I thought you didn't close for another hour...

She just stood there looking at me like I was the idiot and so my friend and I just walked away. It may seem like nothing but I never get off early enough for places to be open and I was really looking forward to it after a shitty night. And I wanted to surprise my husband. Also I was super lazy and didn't want to cook.

I ended up going somewhere else.

. I emailed the corporate office and told them of my experience. They emailed me back and said they'd take care of it. I don't usually say anything but shouldn't management know that kind of stuff? That and what's she gonna do for that last hour besides stand, stare and tell people to go away? I could tell the food had been long gone since before that hour mark though.

What time do they stop making new food?

[cleorose]

Actually most places don't stop making food til about 15 mins to 30 mins to close and most places are not allowed to tell you they can't make anymore food.

I worked at the restaurant in a bowling alley. We closed at the same time as the bowling alley but we would close down 30 mins before. However if we had a customer and it was say 15 minutes to close we had to cook for them. If it was 5 minutes or less til close then we could offer them something else at discount.

[Catwoman2965]

I could see 15 minutes, MAYBE 30 before closing, but an hour? Nope, she was just being lazy. My guess is they had run out of food a while back, had no customers, and therefore weren't going to make anything else.

And yes, nothing wrong with letting corporate know since its bad business, and management needs to know.

Like my job in retail; we can be dead all night, store is pristine, then that ONE customer comes in 15 minutes before closing, and decides to take their time. Corporate policy dictates we CANNOT tell customers we're closing and to get out. So even though we thought we'd be out on time, we end up staying later. I will say, someone like that, who has no consideration, won't get as much help from me in finding an item we don't have. But you didn't hear me say that.

[Firecrackers Not Included]

Yeah, food places should not operate that way. They are a little different from retail because the transactions happen before the customers are served (in fast food anyway). The establishment has full control when they cut off new transactions from coming in: AT CLOSING TIME. There is no special claim on the sign for the hours... "Tuesday: Open until 10pm/order cut-off time: 8:30pm.
LAZY.

[XCashier]

I could see 15 minutes, MAYBE 30 before closing, but an hour? Nope, she was just being lazy. My guess is they had run out of food a while back, had no customers, and therefore weren't going to make anything else.

I would think if they had run out of food, the server would've said so. I went to a Taco Bell late one time, and the manager apologized and said they'd run out of food so they were having to close. All I wanted was a soda, and luckily, they still had that, and he gladly sold that to me. He was very nice about it, and I would go there again if I were still in the area.

But see, there's a difference between an apologetic, "I'm sorry, but we've run out of food and I'm having to close up early," and a snotty, "This is all we have and WON'T be making more." So yeah, you did right in contacting corporate.

[MoonCat]

I think she meant "this is all we have that's already prepared," not "we're out of food." So, yeah, lazy, and rude. Asking you why you came so late? Rude.

[Anakah]

Gave this place a benefit of a doubt and yikes. Went there TWO hours before closing and they still had NO food and weren't making anymore. I think its just having problems or something. I was nice to them and ended up getting a little bit of what they had.

Turns out they had a guy on the front from another store who has never been on the front but always in the back. Makes no sense but maybe they had an emergency or something. The dude was nice but omg so slow (moving). But not his fault. I was super nice to him because he looked like he was having a crappy day.

[thatcrazyredhead]

I would contact corporate again. That's just ridiculous!

[Gizmo]

I have known a store like this.... a service station McD's which magically seems to have a reason to close about 2 hrs early every time we go there late ish night... and the staff seem to be having a party inside.... hmmm.

I wouldn't question it if it was once or twice but its been a bit too often to not suspect that the shift manager doesn't want to work late nights....

[NorthernZel]

^

It reminds me of a pub that I and Mr Zel used to frequent often in our childless days, since one of Mr Zel's relatives used to work there and we were friends with the owner.

One Friday night at approx. 8 pm (so not that late, the pub used to close at 10 pm on weekdays and 11 pm during weekends), we approached the pub... and the door was locked. The pub was empty, but the lights were on, and a lady coud be seen sitting behind the counter. After knocking the door and asking politely what was going on, the lady explained that yes, she was on shift... but she didn't want any drunk and/or rowdy people in, or for that matter people who MIGHT get drunk and/or rowdy later on.

I guess it's needless to say that we never saw that lady behind the counter again...

[MrSmiley]

I've had experiences similar to several of these.

Restaurant/Pub I used to work would "close the kitchen" an hour before closing the premises and have last call 30 minutes before closing the premises. No problems or rules with informing customers that; however I'm not sure they ever bothered to put that information on the menus or near the hours. Didn't seem like a big deal. A few times they'd break their own rule to keep cooking.

For a time there was a McDonalds that proudly proclaimed 24 hours... so a few times this summer, I walked over at about 2am only to find it was closed. WTF!? The story I got later was that "they didn't have enough staff". In which case; you should probably cover up your fancy 24 hour signage. I didn't complain to corporate, but I now feel that I should have.

One of the pubs I frequent is full of nice people, but sometimes they close early, have private functions, etc without bothering to put any signs on the door or other information where I might know that. Half the time they don't lock the door. So I go in, look around, aim for a nice seat and get told something by somebody. I usually tell them they should write a sign for the door. As of yet, I haven't seen one. If I didn't have a lot of other good reasons to keep going there; including proximity, the fact that I know lots of people, and they have what I like on tap, I probably would have looked to start going elsewhere. On the other hand, they kept the kitchen open as long as the business.

[MrSmiley]

From the other side of the viewpoint...

here's a scene from the movie Waiting (overly crude and rude movie, but it has it's moments...) where the restaurant is about to close:

http://youtu.be/lk1ggvcWyTg