I'm closed when I say I'm closed

[Divra]

"The Computer is your friend. The Computer wants you to be happy. Happiness is mandatory. Failure to be happy is treason. Treason is punishable by summary execution."

And when customers complain about me closing down the bar, I point to the clock on the wall and say "I synchronize that clock with an atomic clock in Germany twice a day, and that clock is the one that counts.".

[Lace Neil Singer]

Exactly. I always want to say, "By the way, the petrol station runs on Greenwich Mean Time, not Customer Standard Time."

[Evandril]

To put in a contrasting point of view, if one of my troops seems a bit off, I'll ask 'em how they are doing...Though I will trust their answer. I've got some good troops who will try and keep their personal life seperate...but if I know there's an issue, I'll try and find 'em something to do that works best with the issue (IE, my troop who's going through a nasty divorce I keep off the phones if possible )

[Cat Herder]

There's a word for it in Newspeak: Facecrime.

[Jester]

Time Idiots: Had this semi-regular local come in the other day. He works an info booth for a jet ski rental type place, and whenever he's in at the bar, he brags to us about how he sends us "mad people." What we don't say to him, that we all want to, is that almost with exception, the tourists he sends us are assholes, and cheap assholes at that. Frankly, we wouldn't mind doing without them.

And that all would be well and good, as his intentions are good, but the other day, he directly pissed me off, rather than his usual indirect method (of sending us assholes). After he had had his first beer, he asked if it was happy hour yet. When I told him not yet (it was about ten minutes off), he asked if he could have a beer and not have me ring it up until happy hour, so he could get the special. I told him no. When he asked why not (in a whiney tone), I told him it was because I rather liked my job, and wanted to keep it. He seemed irritated that I wouldn't bend the rules for him. Sound familiar? Anyway, after a while I noticed that he wasn't there. His friend (who was just drinking water, and had no tab with me) said that Doofus had gone to close down his booth, and would be back "shortly." Doofus hadn't bothered to tell ME this, of course. And he hadn't bothered to close out his tab before he left. Whatever. I figured he'd be back in a few minutes to resume drinking and pay his tab.

I was wrong. He never came back. My manager comped off his bill (just ten bucks), but I was so pissed. And the next time he comes in to my bar, when he orders a beer, I'm going to tell him, "That'll be $x.xx." And when he inevitably asks if he can run a tab, I'll say, "Sure. I just need a credit card." Why? "You walked on your tab last time, dude. I need you to pay as you go or give me a credit card to hold your tab. Your choice." Management is totally fine with this, as they are not fond of people walking on their tab, or of comping off tabs.

Mood Police: As a bartender, I'm expected to be friendly, and that's fine, but this one couple took it too far. One day as they were leaving, they complained to my manager about me. What was their complaint? That I didn't sit and shoot the breeze with them or crack jokes as I normally did. And why didn't I do this? Was I suffering some great personal tragedy that made me sour and unfriendly? Nope. I was fucking busy as hell, and was running like mad just to keep up with everyone at my bar. And despite how busy I was, I DID make sure that this couple had everything they needed, when they needed, and sometimes even before they needed it. And I was friendly as all get out with them. But as I said, I was BUSY. But of course Mr. and Mrs. Specialkins just couldn't be bothered to realize that they weren't more important than the scores of other customers I had at my bar that kept me moving at Mach Two while they were there.

My manager treated their complaint with the respect and attention it deserved. He told me about it, then promptly ignored it.

[Shalom]

Really, does it take Benedict Cumberbatch to figure out REGISTER LIGHT = OPEN?

Dunno, I just got back from the local bullseye, and there were five lights on, but only four cashiers; whoever belonged at Register #3 was AWOL. People kept wandering over there with their wagons (I was on line at #5, the next open one, so I got to witness this firsthand), and wondering out loud how come the light was on if there wasn't anyone working there.

[Racket_Man]

Manager: "You look down, is everything all right?"

Me: "I'll get over it."

See, my mom when she was training people for a fast food restaurant used to always give a simple speech to them.

"You see those doors? Whatever problems you had outside are left right at those doors when you close them behind you. You can pick them up when you leave, but don't you dare bring them with you on the floor. It affects your performance, and how you deal with people, and it makes your job a whole lot harder than it needs to be. None of the customers know what's going on in your life, if your dog or cat died, or if you broke a nail dressing. They're not going to care, they're going to wonder why you got rude. Then they're going to complain."

She gave it to me when I started my first job, and I made it my personal philosophy - home problems stay at home. Work problems stay at work.

this is good advice BUT I have to respectfully disagree with it under certain circumstances. these circumstances just hit you hard (as in with a sledgehammer)

For example: When my Father passed about 18 years ago, he went rather suddenly (as in almost dropped dead in the kitchen when my Mother was in the basement. his heart stopped but the paramedics revived him quickly but the brain damage was irreversable). as I was living 300 miles away that news alone hit me HARD. even though I was working in an office setting, I just could not be my "normal" self for the next couple of days (and yes I did inform my manager of the situation.

When my Mother passed about 2 years ago it was not unexpected but still a bit sudden. with the time it took to arange the funeral service a week passed. again it me hit hard for that whole week. and yes it did effect my job as a delivery driver.

same thing again when I walked in the door one day about 7 years ago and my Ex announced that she was leaving and wanted a divorce after being married for just under 20 years. YES that did hit HARD and I could not just be my normal happy delivery driver self.

there are just some things that can not be "walled off" and seperated or surpressed

[Food Lady]

I was fine to the customers, but all the running around--because, like Jester said, I was busy--made me seem cranky. Actually, I was, and it wasn't the personal stuff. It was the trying to run a restaurant by myself becaue they will never let us have another person.

[Lace Neil Singer]

this is good advice BUT I have to respectfully disagree with it under certain circumstances. these circumstances just hit you hard (as in with a sledgehammer)

...

there are just some things that can not be "walled off" and seperated or surpressed

I agree. When a good friend of mine died in a motorbike accident, I did try to stay normal at work after the funeral (which I went to cuz my fantastic manager swapped my shift for me; you don't get an automatic pass for a friend) but seeing the front page of the local paper just did for me and I burst into tears. The customers I was serving were wonderful; they got a supervisor straight away and I went off the till to go upstairs til I'd calmed down.

Since I'd explained why I was sad, there were no problems at all. These customers even explained to the other people in the queue as to why there was going to be a short delay, as I was unable to do so. Most people don't expect cashiers to be Stepfords, and if there is a problem, will be understanding.

I have encountered one of the other sort, unfortunately; this concerns the day after my granny's funeral when I was working on a till and trying to just get thru the day. This arsehole complained about me to a supervisor, saying that while I served him I was miserable and didn't look at him (cuz I was trying not to cry). The supervisor told him bluntly that it was the day after my granny's funeral. Apparently, he was horrified and withdrew the complaint, but if he'd just, you know, asked me why I was sad, I would have told him.

[dalesys]

... wondering out loud how come the light was on if there nobody was home.

Bet their elevator doen't go all the way to the top, either.

[Lovecats]

I work at the Bullseye and occasionally we will have someone on the salesfloor come up for backup and turn on the light and then forget to turn it off when they go back out. Then on our express lanes our supervisors have decided that even though the cashier is on say lane 4 they turn on the lane 3 light (it's just in front) so that people will "notice" the cashier on 4. I tell them when I am on 4 that actually people do notice me and it just irritates them that there is no one on the other register.

[emax4]

When bad moments like those come into your week, it's time to just take at least a day off, assuming your attendance history isn't bad. I've had breakups, tax stresses, stuff like that; and it just makes the day harder to deal with. People are happy, customers are happy, and there's a small need to fit in, but why make it hard on yourself? Your employer won't have to close up shop and lose a day of business just because you had a bad day and can't make it in.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Sometimes, that just isn't possible. If I don't go into work, I don't get paid. And I can rarely afford to take unpaid leave.

[pzychobitch]

The worst part is, you can't win with Mood managers. This could be the one time they say "You look down" and it's like being accused of witchcraft. If you say you're fine, you're only being evasive, and if you agree they give you some recycled speech about being positive.

And every decision they make about you in regards to schedules, opportunities, etc, is suddenly biased because of that one time they decided to play pop psychologist.

I found that when it comes to mood managers be as blunt and harsh as possible in telling them what's wrong. They tend to leave you alone after a few incidences.

[pzychobitch]

I work at the Bullseye and occasionally we will have someone on the salesfloor come up for backup and turn on the light and then forget to turn it off when they go back out. Then on our express lanes our supervisors have decided that even though the cashier is on say lane 4 they turn on the lane 3 light (it's just in front) so that people will "notice" the cashier on 4. I tell them when I am on 4 that actually people do notice me and it just irritates them that there is no one on the other register.

Oh my freaking god. When I worked at the red circles of hell (what I call the bullseye), I hated when the sales floor would do that crap. It literally bugged the hell out of me. (I usually had a walkie when I cashiered. strange, but I was often taken off the register due to being cross trained. And I would always make sure to call them out on it)