Does it LOOK like we're open?

[Retail Associate]

Our store is open 24/7, 364 days a year. The only time we close is 7PM Christmas Eve, then we re-open at 5:30AM the day after Christmas. It's been like this for 20 years or more but crazy SCs just don't seem to get it.

Last Christmas Eve I was able to leave right at 7PM rather than staying late to help 'close up.' Since all my family activities were already over by that time, I had no where to go but home alone. So, I couldn't resist sitting out in my car for a few minutes just to watch SCs try to get into the store.

Our store has two sets of doors. A greeter is posted at each set to let employees out and to keep SCs from sneaking in. Some SCs stand there and wait til the greeter opens the door to let an employee out, then dart past the exiting employee to get in...only to be stopped by the greeter:

"Sorry, we're closed."

Their reply: "I've just got to get one thing." or "It'll only take me a minute."

As I sat in my car the lights in the parking lot were all off and the majority of the lights inside the store were off as well. Any one with a bit of common sense could tell the store was closed but the SCs still kept coming.

There was a steady stream of cars pulling into the parking lot. The SCs would park and walk to the doors which normally open automatically. Some smashed right into the doors. Others stood there as if their very presense would magically cause the door to open. Others pushed on them and still others would keep stepping back and forth in front of the 'eye' trying to get the doors to open.

Once these idiots finally figured out those damn doors weren't going to open, most would get back into their cars and leave. But some actually walked down or drove down to the second set of doors and did the same things there.

It was fun to watch.

.

[Andara Bledin]

On lost wallets, cellphones, etc...

Why would you not call to let the staff know what happened? That's always been my first instinct.

When I lost my wallet in San Jose (several hundred miles from home), I actually took the time to look up the number of the restaurant I had been at to call them before going back to look for myself. (never did find it)

^-.-^

[Quicksilver]

Retail Associate, thanks for you great post! You made my whole day! Especially the part about the morons walking into the doors!!! LMAO!!!!!

[Boozy]

I couldn't resist sitting out in my car for a few minutes just to watch SCs try to get into the store.

I do that on occasion. Our store is located inside a grocery store, so if I pick up a few things after I close up for the night, I'll check out at the cashier closest to our store. I can watch the clueless folks trying to yank the doors open despite all the lights being off inside (and clearly no one in there).

I've even heard people demand that the grocery clerks open the wine store for them, despite it being an entirely different business.

[mattm04]

My store is open 6AM - 12AM(midnight) M-Sat and 7Am-10PM Sunday. We close for Thanksgiving and Christmas. On Easter we close at 2PM. I was "volenteered" to work easter one year and around 2:15 all the door were locked and the last customers had left and we were finishing the las check of the store while the MOD put the money in the safe. One older guy (late 60-70's) started pounding on the doors, then kicking them, demanding we let him in as he needed one item. We told him to leave several times and he finally left when the MOD told him leave not or we call the police. The MOD filled out an incident report and the SC actually filed a complaint with corp for not letting him in almost 20 min. past close.

[Shabo]

When I worked at a pet store, we had a grooming salon with two doors, one that opened into the vestibule area and one that opened directly into the store. The one that opened directly into the store locked from inside the grooming salon (I think? it's been a few years) and the other one was left open as long as there were groomers in there. Now the grooming salon opened at 7, which was the same time that managers and employees would start doing animal maintenance and opening stuff and what not, but we usually were not wearing our store shirts that early. We would have people dropping off their dogs at the grooming salon, then unlock the door leading into the store and let themselves in! (it didn't happen often, but since I would clean the cages closest to the grooming salon, I got to stop them and kick them out ) We also had people complain if they came in at 9 pm to get their dog's nails trimmed, and oh noes, the groomers are all gone! (The store itself closes at 9:30... seriously, you had over 12 hours to get your dog in here...)

When we had store meetings, it was always right in front of the main doors. We didn't get too many crazy people, but that's only because we were usually closed at that time anyway, as were most of the other stores in that area.

[Tito]

Then there were the real idiots who would tug three or four times.

Oh, but didn't you know? Doing this automatically turns on the lights & wakes up the staff who lives in the back.

[blas]

Christmas Eve 2005 was the WORST!

I closed super early, but one of the doors wouldn't lock all the way. So I shut off all the lights and locked the other door, but it didn't fail, a real steady stream of cars, or it seemed, every car going down the damn street was pulling into the parking lot, pulling up to the pumps, and freaking out that I wasn't authorizing the pumps, and even worse was the one door wasn't locked so people were walking into my pitch black store and getting mad when I said I was trying to close up. Here I was with a till with thousands of dollars in it and customers walking in! It was a NIGHTMARE!!!

All holidays or early closings were nightmares at the gas station. Customers banging on the doors, yanking on the doors, pulling up to the pumps and flaring their arms up at me.....parents thinking maybe if they sent the child outside to pump gas and give me the Bambi eyes, I'd change my mind......nope!

When I worked at the young lady's store, we'd put the gate down at closing and keep it down until the store opened. People would crowd the gate at about 8:30 am even though the mall didn't open until 9.....it was irritating! People crowding and just waiting for it to open!

[ArenaBoy]

Lost wallet story.

Of course it's understandable when you lose something and I've had it happen to me but going to a closed store to buy that quart of milk that can wait the next day is another story.

Andara Bledin: On lost wallets, cellphones, etc...

Why would you not call to let the staff know what happened? That's always been my first instinct.

True but sometimes you'll realize it when you're halfway home. Then again I tend to be paranoid about my surroundings and what's in my pockets.

[Jack T. Chance]

We had a staff meeting last night in our store. -=SNIP!=-

Twice in the span on two hours someone came up to the locked gates, saw staff members sitting on the floor in jeans, eating pizza and drinking wine, and proceeded to bang on the door and yell, "Hey! Aren't you open? I need a bottle!"

Clueless.

And this is why staff meetings should always be held in the BACK ROOM/OFFICE, out of the sight of the customers! Or, better yet, hold them OFF SITE, perhaps at a favorite restaurant! That's what we do where I work now! ^_^

I currently work for a chain of mattress stores that only has 3 showrooms in the area right now. When we have a staff meeting for the sales staff of the 3 stores, + our DM, we have it at a restaurant, usually over breakfast! We've only had one since I started this job, but it wasn't bad. The worst part was that it was at 8:00 AM in the morning (I am SO not a morning person!) The best part was that it was held at a Silver Diner, which meant I got a GREAT breakfast on the company's dime! ^_^

AND I got paid for being there, too, which was cool, 'cause it was held on my day off.

I once worked at a mall and we were there early to do some cleaning and two morons came in by leaning down to duck under the gate that we had half hanging down in front of the store.

Then they complained that it was in their way.

This is why you ALWAYS close the gate all the way and LOCK IT at closing time! I mean, that's just common sense! :-p

I was helping to set up one of my company's stores one time, so we're all sitting in a big mess of cardboard boxes, cases anbd labels all over the floor, the place is a complete mess and obviously not open. We had the doors unlocked because the store manager and district manager were having to run errands every thirty minutes or so. It never failed, about once an hour someone would walk into the store, look around at all of us in street clothes, the mess, the unlabeled cases laying around everywhere and the empty shelves and ask, "Are you guys open?"

And this is why you always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS lock the door when the store is closed! Who cares if the Mgr and DM keep running in & out? They're MANAGEMENT, thus they should have KEYS to the store! They can let themselves back in, for frak's sake!

One of two days that we close the store is Thanksgiving.

-=SNIP!=-

"Well, the door was unlocked"

It's a good thing you're not MY wife! Because I am a FIRM believer that the door must ALWAYS be locked when the store is closed! And trust me, if that were my store, IT WOULD BE!

my favorite, we're closed moment, was when i worked in fast food. The restaurant I worked at had a thanksgiving dinner for all the staff, and even though you could see all of us, most still in uniform, eating a turkey dinner with all the tables brought together... people would still pound on the door demanding we open again for them.

And that's when you give 'em the ol' One Finger Salute, and go right back to eating!

Or, if you're not that mean-spirited, you can just do this -->

Our store is open 24/7, 364 days a year. The only time we close is 7PM Christmas Eve, then we re-open at 5:30AM the day after Christmas. It's been like this for 20 years or more but crazy SCs just don't seem to get it.

Last Christmas Eve I was able to leave right at 7PM rather than staying late to help 'close up.' Since all my family activities were already over by that time, I had no where to go but home alone. So, I couldn't resist sitting out in my car for a few minutes just to watch SCs try to get into the store.

-=SNIP!=-

It was fun to watch. :-D

Definitely sounds hilarious!

This year, you should VIDEO TAPE it and then send it into America's Funniest Home Videos!

My store is open 6AM - 12AM(midnight) M-Sat and 7Am-10PM Sunday. We close for Thanksgiving and Christmas. On Easter we close at 2PM. I was "volenteered" to work easter one year and around 2:15 all the door were locked and the last customers had left and we were finishing the las check of the store while the MOD put the money in the safe. One older guy (late 60-70's) started pounding on the doors, then kicking them, demanding we let him in as he needed one item. We told him to leave several times and he finally left when the MOD told him leave not or we call the police. The MOD filled out an incident report and the SC actually filed a complaint with corp for not letting him in almost 20 min. past close.

Well, if the asshat filed a complaint over the fact that you *GASP!* closed early on a HOLIDAY, then I'd say you're well within your rights to do the following:

1. Get your hands on the full complaint, including his contact info that he provided.
2. Upon obtaining his address from the complaint, consult the mapping program of your choice to make sure you know exactly where he lives and precisely how to get there.
3. Put on your black trench coat, round up your "hetero life mate", and head to his house.
4. Knock on his door or ring his doorbell.
5. When he answers, you and your "hetero lifemate" immediately do your best Jay & Silent Bob impressions AND BEAT THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF HIM ON HIS FRONT PORCH!
6. For added effect, bring a boom box and crank up the song "How Many People Wanna Kick Some Ass?"

And then you can rest soundly, knowing that justice has been served... or at least a richly deserved SMACKDOWN!

Christmas Eve 2005 was the WORST!

I closed super early, but one of the doors wouldn't lock all the way. So I shut off all the lights and locked the other door, but it didn't fail, a real steady stream of cars, or it seemed, every car going down the damn street was pulling into the parking lot, pulling up to the pumps, and freaking out that I wasn't authorizing the pumps, and even worse was the one door wasn't locked so people were walking into my pitch black store and getting mad when I said I was trying to close up. Here I was with a till with thousands of dollars in it and customers walking in! It was a NIGHTMARE!!!

And the lesson is learned yet again: ALWAYS lock the doors when the store's closed... ALL of them! ;-)

When I worked at the young lady's store, we'd put the gate down at closing and keep it down until the store opened. People would crowd the gate at about 8:30 am even though the mall didn't open until 9.....it was irritating! People crowding and just waiting for it to open!

Yeah, I hate that particular breed of entitlement whore with a raging inferno of loathing!

This is why I miss my last job. The front door and back door were keyed the same at that particular mattress store. And there was a nice big parking lot behind the store, that the smarter employees of the shopping center took advantage of! I'd park in back, and enter and exit through the back door, so customers couldn't see me coming and going! ^_^

Meanwhile, when I was in the back room, there were certain spots from which I could look out onto the showroom floor, with the front doors in full view, without the customers being able to see me! So, if there was some clueless asshat waiting at the front doors well before opening, I'd just hang out in the back room until the clueless moron finally left!

Same thing if I went out to pick-up lunch. When I entered the back room with my hot meal, if I looked out and saw a customer at the front door, I'd wait a couple minutes until they left, so they didn't see me walking out onto the sales floor and then start banging on the door, demanding immediate entry!

But back in the days when I worked for a local chain of bunk bed stores, I experienced the worst entitlement whore of that kind that I've ever experienced! The location I was working at that day was 45 minutes from my house in rush hour traffic, but on this particular day, I left the house so early, I arrived at work at 9:30, a full half-hour before I had to open! I figured I'd go into the store, drop off my work stuff, throw my lunch in the fridge, then take a leisurely stroll down to the CVS to get a Mountain Dew to give me my dose of caffeine. Only... there's a woman LEANING against the door, impatiently waiting for an employee to arrive! And by her feet are 2 bean bag chairs that she is obviously trying to return, even though we didn't accept returns on them, we sold them as an "ALL SALES FINAL" item!

I loitered in the parking lot for a couple minutes, but the bitch refused to get a clue and go away until 10 AM or later, so eventually, I parked, walked up to the door, and told her something along the lines of "we're closed, we don't open until 10, come back then!" But that didn't stop Mrs. Ima Fucktard, oh no! The second I unlocked the door to let myself in, she followed hot on my heels!

I reiterated that we weren't open yet, and also reminded her that there's NO returns on the bean bags! She then proceeds to tell me that the Store Manager had already told her she could return them. And the Store Manager at that location was actually the Vice President of the company! So, I called him right away to verify her story.

When he didn't answer his phone, I told her I wasn't going to take a return on them, since it was against our policy. She insisted that she wasn't taking them back with her, so I told her "Fine, you can leave them here, but I'm NOT giving you your money back, and you can talk to (the Vice President) when he's in again to arrange the refund." She then left and I was FINALLY able to return the store to its closed status, like it should've been.

Oh, and the reason she was there so godsdamned early? Well, Mr. Vice President had the annoying habit, as some in the furniture industry do, of IGNORING our posted store hours and opening EARLY! He'd leave the house plenty early, get to work at 9:45 or 9:30 or even earlier, and then open the store as soon as he got there, even though it was nowhere NEAR 10 o'clock yet! And thus, that store ended up with asshats like the bitch with the bean bags!

And thus, today's lesson in regards to opening and closing of your store is this: Control your customers, strictly and with an iron fist, or they will get OUT of control! ;-)

And that is why I always unlock the doors absolutely NO earlier than the stroke of 10! I don't care how many people want in early, I don't care how many get pissed off and leave in a huff to go to our competitors, never to return! The hours are the hours, period! NO EXCEPTIONS! I don't care if you're the hottest chick in the world!

Well... actually... the hottest chick in the world MIGHT be let in early, IF she offered me an appropriate... incentive. ;-)

But everyone else can TALK TO THE HAND!