Rare video of a manager with a spine

[Dark Psion]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRn26...eature=mh_lolz
---------------------------------------------
Wal Mart manager says no to a last minute shopper at 8pm on Christmas eve

[Slayer]

Uhh... I kind of agree with both sides on this one.

Stores closes at 8. Refusing admittance at 7:30 just isn't cool nor proper customer service. Even 7:40 I find too early.

Then again, it's Christmas Eve and people want to get home. The customer had all year to buy that 'specific item'.

If people are supposed to be out by 8 (customers and most employees, for example) then an amended sign should have been posted with a correct closing time.

And I'm happy the guy couldn't go in. A lot of his comments were just ignorant.

I worked Christmas Eve. Store closed at 5. There is no way I would even think about telling a customer they're not allowed to enter at 4:30. Granted, we're a small store, but still. It's just not in me to change the hours without notice.

Barely anyone even came out of the Walmart, lol. That must have even frustrated the SC even more XD

I'm on the fence with this one. Both sides have fault, IMO.

[Demolition Man]

I'm mixed on this. Yeah I understand the assistant manager wanted to get his employees out by 8 PM which is respectful. On the other hand its terrible business to not let people in at 7:40 PM like that. Yes the customers should have been better prepared since its not like as if Christmas changes its date every year its always December 25th. In the end I suspect this assistant manager is going to end up getting in trouble for this now that this video is on YouTube.

On that note the customer pretty much lost my sympathy on their plight once he made his racist comments.

[MoonCat]

And some idiot posted "the customer is always right" in the comments. If that was true, they'd have to let them in the store at 9 PM if that's when they showed up!

But I do kinda agree with the customer. 7:40? Really? 7:55 I could see...

[LillFilly]

Yeah, I'm on the fence too, but the Customer made some horrible comments, and I'm sure it was JUST one item; they seem like the type that that would hem-haw and take their sweet time and end-up with a cart full and not leave till an hour after closing. Then again, a store does have the right to refuse service, so hmmmm. I'm glad the manager tried to emphasize that they wanted to go home to their families too. Some comments said that if they're paid till 8 they have to let you in; umm, they do need to clean-up and close before leaving - do they do it for free?

[HappyFun Ball]

I'm on the fence as well about this.

[Redbeard]

I'm cheering for the asst. manager.
He was obviously told from above to make things happent his way and he stood his ground in the face of a sucktastic jackhole.
"The law says you have to let me in!"
He could have ended the whole conversation with 9 words:
We resevrve the right to refuse service to anyone

[mikoyan29]

I'm kind of on the fence about this too but I can appreciate where the manager is coming from. You let those people in and they wont leave at 8. They seem like those kinds of people.

[draggar]

I'm on the fence, too but there was a very simple solution - don't wait until the last minute (literally).

Another simple solution - stores amend their hours so the employees can leave when the higherups want them to - close at 7:30 and tell customers (over the intercom) at 7:30 that the store is closed and they need to head to the checkouts.

[Rine]

We closed at 6 on Christmas Eve...people were coming in at 5:40 and grabbing carts to do some real shopping...we were extremely aggressive in our closing announcements though and shut down one level of lights at 5:50 and locked all doors on the entrances but one (so people could still come in.) But at 6 PM when we were announcing that registers were going down soon so you should get in line, I was told by a (still shopping) customer that we were "SO RUDE" to be closing "SO EARLY" on Christmas Eve.

Twenty minutes before a store closes on Christmas Eve is not the time to decide to go shopping.

[Squeaksmyalias]

Twenty minutes before a store closes on Christmas Eve is not the time to decide to go shopping.

That is why I'm not at all on the fence about this. Even if you need something last minute like a gift card for someone you didn't expect to see that day, you can get gift cards and gas stations or a 24 hour place.

The manager was doing right by his employees, that means they can finish with the other people in the store which will likely take 20 minutes, or quite possibly more, then do their closing which may in fact take longer then the past 8pm closing.

I read an article that showed the video where the writer said, this time of year every sale counts. How much are these people planning on spending in 20 minutes? Especially considering if employees have to stay later, is that amount going to make it worth it to keep a manager and employees behind? If they are buying big items, well the holiday is on the same day every year, and many stores have been open 24 hours a day. It's not this manager's fault they couldn't get there half an hour before the store closes, or did their major holiday shopping long before Christmas eve.

In the end I don't see him being at all unreasonable, he is the one at the door saying sorry but you can't come in, he is doing right by his employees who are human and want to go home at a reasonable time. It's the holidays, sometimes you have to shrug and find an alternative and let people get home to their families, especially when you consider most of these people have worked some wonky hours all in the name of customers getting their way.

[AccountingDrone]

I am not on the fence at all. 30 minutes is not enough time to go in and shop for anything, when you consider they still have to go through a check out line, as does everybody else in the store. Kudos to that manager for being willing to make sure that the crew gets off work and home to their families.

And you KNOW when Christmas is, get your frelling shopping done before the last second.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

In the end I don't see him being at all unreasonable, he is the one at the door saying sorry but you can't come in, he is doing right by his employees who are human and want to go home at a reasonable time. It's the holidays, sometimes you have to shrug and find an alternative and let people get home to their families, especially when you consider most of these people have worked some wonky hours all in the name of customers getting their way.

This is true, but if any of the people turned away complain to that manager's boss at corporate (which they always can), or that video somehow makes it up to his bosses at corporate, he's probably in deep shit.

Closing at 8 pm means the doors stay open until 8 pm. Not 7:30 or any other time before 8 pm. Corporate wants to chase every possible sale, even if it isn't profitable for them to do so.

Once 8 hits, you can do anything you want to get the shoppers out. Turn out the lights, close down the registers, no more purchases will be rang out, get out of here, we'll deal with your carts of crap on the 26th.

I am not on the fence at all. 30 minutes is not enough time to go in and shop for anything

This doesn't mean people won't try. One year we had a woman come in a minute or two before 6 pm Christmas Eve, our closing time, and grab a cart and leisurely begin browsing the aisles like it was 9 am October 24, instead of 6 pm December 24.

And we had to let her shop. The only thing corporate allowed us to do was keep approaching her and asking her if we could help her find things (like, for example, the exit), and if she didn't that was it.

And nobody could leave until the store was emptied of all customers, so we were about half an hour late getting out Christmas Eve. This year nobody was able to leave until half an hour after close because of the last-second stragglers.

Looking at my 2012 calendar, I notice the Christmas shopping season will be as long as possibly can be, due to Thanksgiving falling on November 22. People will have 32 days to get their shopping done if they haven't started before then. But there will still be people waiting until the last second December 24 to rush in a try to get everything they want to give.

I think I procrastinate a bit much on my Christmas shopping, but I still try to have it done no later than a week before Christmas.

[PepperElf]

I was in walmart on christmas eve - but not for gifts, just some stuff my bf and i wanted.

Just a couple of minutes into the store they announced that the store would be closing in 30 minutes and that the registers would automatically turn off one minute past 8 pm, no matter the line. IIRC they had no ability to override this.


Sure I know there's the age-old argument of "You're open, you HAVE to let us in!!!" but... it's not a law, just a corporation policy. So it IS something the corporation can change the rules on. And since, according to the youtube comments, the district manager made the call... it falls under one of those things the company authorized.

Just because some corporations dictate "stay open until the last customer leaves" does not mean all corporations will - or have to - do this.


Besides, we all know those "one item" shoppers usually end up taking FOREVER. What kind of drama would they have pulled if they didn't get through the line before 8? He'd be stuck with stuff he couldn't purchase and then... it'd probably be an even bigger drama.



Although I'm wondering now... who videotapes their entrance into walmart? Unless he KNEW the manager was turning people away and wanted to create a little drama-vid in order to attempt to get the AM punished for daring to tell His Highness "no"....

[tropicsgoddess]

I'm on the fence with this. I get that the manager wants his employees to leave on time to go home but to anger customers by denying them to get in at 7:30 when the sign says that the closing hour is at 8:00 is not a good idea. Denying customers to come in at 7:55 would be better than 7:30 to be honest. I would be a bit upset about it but I wouldn't cause a complete ruckus over it because going in the store to shop at the last minute is a choice the customer makes, not the store. One person's lack of planning should not equate to somebody else's emergency. As for the guy that said he new the AM's superiors, I call bullshit on that.