No, we're closed...we're closed...we're CLOSED!

[Gizmo]

- Even worse: They would give us a First-And-Final warning (it's never authorized unless you're on salary, in which case, it's mandatory)...for "stealing from the company" by going 15 minutes overtime.

Um, "stealing from the company"?? Under company orders to serve people?

Ok, forgot where I was for a second.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

We used to lock the doors at five til, but word came down one day that We Can't Do That(tm). Not that anybody pays attention to that directive. A lot of CWs on the closing shift take the bus and need to be out there by five after (if they miss that bus, the next one may not be for a half-hour)

I found a good workaround for this. I kept a makeshift sign handy that read:

CLOSED EARLY DUE TO EMERGENCY

Now I didn't use it EVERY Sunday, but there were plenty of days I locked up early and put that bad boy up on the door...and never got a single complaint.

[Rana]

People that do this baffle me completely ... now I understand them turning up at 8.55pm on a weekday night, company's fault as they chose to do a trial run of 10pm closes and decided it was not worth the loss in money since not many took advantage of it, but customers are still surprised months after stopping this when we tell them we close at 9pm.

What really gets me is people have NO idea that we close at 4pm on a sunday ... in England, where it's part of the law to only be open until 4pm in the evening. Lately we've taken to ushering people to the tills, but we will still be serving at 4.15pm and finished closing by 5pm at the earliest ...

We even get the people that will rush in through the exit door when people who were there before 4pm leave the store. These people always throw a hissy fit when we chuck them out, they don't get that it's not our company that makes the rules, it's government. You know we close at 4 on Sundays, so get here earlier in the day so we can get home to our families on time

-.-;

[katzklaw]

after just having survived thru Memorial Day weekend at a campground, i totally feel your pain... door closed and locked at 10pm Friday, Saturday, and Sunday... and inevitably we had someone yank the handle each night trying to get in (while the lights were half off and the "closed" sign hanging in the middle of the door) at 10:30 after all the drawers were counted and we were doing stuff like mopping and cleaning the coffee pot and other crap like that. we could stay open till midnight, and people would still be trying to come in at 12:15 i bet... "oh can i just get a bundle of wood and a bag of ice??!"

[taxguykarl]

Shout "There's a guy in the car park giving away free money!"?

Only a good idea on paper, LNS. It will be your fault when the SC arrives too late for the freebie

[WishfulSpirit]

My solution to "oh, I can't tell customers to leave and I can't stay overtime" is to clock out and walk out. Managed to not get fired too, but my excuse is "I'm going to miss the bus."

[bankworking]

Ah the contradiction between "no unauthorized overtime" and "no asking customers to leave when you're closed"... I really think it's because some upper manager is hoping they'll cause employees to clock out early and work unpaid. Either that or they want an excuse to deny raises, and this way every employee is in trouble for something.

[Legacy_of_Torment]

This reminds me of the store my fiancee manages. I've witnessed this before and how he hasn't flipped by now I don't know.
The store has one of those roll down shutters to close off the open front, he will close this three quarters of the way down just before closing time and while his staff are closing the last sales. This is obviously so he can easily let the people in the store out, and common sense says if it's 6pm closing time (clearly displayed on the window) and the shutter is down, they aren't open. But no, cue a bunch of Indiana Jones wannabes, rolling through the gap at the bottom!
They will then spend their time pestering staff who are trying to tidy up and leave, wasting their time by asking about things like phone contracts, things that take a lot of time and require opening up one of the tills again.
They even argue with him when he tells them they are closed! "Its not 6pm by myyyyy watch!"

Thankfully for his staff he doesn't want to be there after hours anymore than they do, so they're always ejected, but for crying out loud what's wrong with people?

[eltf177]

Ah the contradiction between "no unauthorized overtime" and "no asking customers to leave when you're closed"... I really think it's because some upper manager is hoping they'll cause employees to clock out early and work unpaid. Either that or they want an excuse to deny raises, and this way every employee is in trouble for something.

The latter is what my workplace is looking for, but either way management wins and the employees lose!

[Catwoman2965]

At the store I used to work in, we were not allowed to tell customers we were closing. Per corporate edict. So while it was common knowledge we closed at 9 every night, except for Sunday, we would have people come in shortly before closing, wanting to try on clothes, and shop, and take their sweet time. We also had those who would apologize, continually, as if it made it alright. which it didn't.

We were however, allowed to lock the doors promptly when our register read 9pm. Which I took full advantage of! I do recall our latest GM, who was the type who thought if we had customers, we were open. Yes, if they came in BEFORE we closed, say something to me about asking for "permission" to lock the doors, since there were still customers IN the store. When the rest of the managers would simply let us, once the clock struck 9.

This same manager once said to me, after a customer had come in right at closing, and i answered her questions as to when we actually closed, and walked out "i hope you didn't chase her out" Um no, she came in, at like 8:58, asked when we closed, and i told her 9, and she then said ok, and turned around and left.

Which was silly, since the longer we left the doors unlocked, the greater chance of having someone else walk in, and having to wait for them.

Now if someone simply came in 5 minutes before closing, to pay their bill, buy a gift card, or grab something and pay, that was ok. but those who felt they were entitled to shop as long as they wanted drove me nuts.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Thankfully for his staff he doesn't want to be there after hours anymore than they do, so they're always ejected, but for crying out loud what's wrong with people?

They don't consider us retail drones as being human beings who get tired, hungry and who want to go home after their shift, that's what's wrong with them. -.- That is why every single person should, by law, have to work a year minimum in a retail establishment; half in a restaurant/takeaway, half in a shop.

When I worked at the pet store within the garden centre, the manager was a complete knobend, but he didn't want to stay in the store any longer than he had to so would stop customers coming in at five minutes to closing time. This is cuz he knew that he couldn't go home until we drones did, therefore he would back us up if any pestomers decided that they didn't have a home to go to and refused to leave at closing time.

[emax4]

Maybe a staff member can purchase a police officer uniform, then stand at the entrance at 5 til close. When customers ask, tell them its to legally escort last-minute stragglers off of the premises.

[EricKei]

Kaeli and catwoman - Same thing back at BoutiqueGrocery back in the day...We were not allowed to tell anyone we were closing/closed unless they specifically asked. We even had one guy who intentionally (by his own admission) always came in at 15 minutes prior to closing so he could get his hour or so of shopping done in peace and quiet. As opposed to, say, coming in during the FIRST two hours we were open every day when there would be tons more staff, freshly-restocked shelves, and still almost no other customers.