No the store will not open just for you

[csdrone]

I was renewing car tags today (the DMV kiosk is in a mall) and decided to take a walk through the mall. It was about a quarter till 10 and a few stores were open. My calendar store had the planners for 1/2 price and I was happy. As I was walking away, something caught my eye. 2 women were standing irately by the grate to a clothing store. Yup they were standing there all upset that the store employees were not opening the door JUST FOR THEM!

[powerboy]

If the store is closed, then it means it is closed. It is not going to open 10 minutes early, just because you want it too. Damn customers, really need to learn.

[Ciarrai]

When I worked in the gift store I would show up about 20 to 30 minutes earlier than we opened so that I could get the cash drawer out, put my stuff away, put the music on and all that type of thing.
It never failed that if I was standing there unlocking the door someone would try to come in after me. I cannot count the number of times I had to slam the door in someone's face. It was especially bad because I would have to run to the back to turn off the alarm system (they weren't too smart and decided to have it at the very back of the store.) Because of this I couldn't lock the door behind me until after I turned off the alarm, and it drove me nuts when people would walk in while the store was still dark and try to shop. I had a few arguments with customers who believed because I was in the shop, I had to serve them even though we didn't open for half an hour.

[alphaboi]

...Yup they were standing there all upset that the store employees were not opening the door JUST FOR THEM!

Did one of them happen to have a daytime talk show?

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Did one of them happen to have a daytime talk show?

I kinda doubt it, as she's been in Africa busy with the opening of her Leadership Academy for Girls.

[csdrone]

No talk show hosts or radio folks: just generic SC's. Older soccer mom SC's to be precise.

[Luna]

Every day when walking to my lil spot in the mall - I see agitated customers pacing back and forth in front of the gates of various stores. The thing that drives me crazy is that I see them mostly an hour before mall opening, that's when most opening staff come in for most stores.

I get stopped frequently (since I'm in uniform) and asked when the mall opens. When I tell them in a hour - they give me a nasty look like it's all my fault they came so early.

[Kiwi]

I get to work 30 minutes to and hour early every morning because me and K share one car, and he starts at 9am.

I always grab my book (from my cubbie) and head up stairs through the back way or sit out the back of the store and read. Never fails delivery people will try and get out of having to go upstairs to the administration if they see ANY lights on...

bang bang bang.... its a small town, our delivery people are always the same, they KNOW what time we open!

Customers dont usually get there until around 10 minutes until open, but we can ignore them to.... we do not open until 10am no exceptions!

[blas]

At the young lady's clothing store, I only opened a couple of times. Being a store in the mall, it had a gate of course. Opening staff were to arrive 30 minutes early.

We opened up the gate and snuck in, put the gate back down and locked it, the store still pitch black, then turned on the lights and the music, got the register ready, yada yada yada....

Well, during that time....people had started gathering on the other side of the gate, like a herd of cattle waiting for the farmer to let them out to pasture to graze.......well I kept that little image in my head, and when the gate was unlocked at 10:00 am.....all the cows went to graze alright.

How pathetic...let's just stand by the gate with dumb looks on our faces, just waiting....waiting....waiting...

[Arcade Man D]

I've had people waiting, but honestly, they're (usually) just little kids, so I just use my sweet, little kid voice and say "We're not ready to open, sorry. We'll be open at $TIME." I have, however, had issues with getting customers who will raise the gate while I'm doing open/close duties. They're a real joy. Generally, I drop my voice (I have a somewhat flexible voice, from Louis Armstrong to K. D. Lang is about my voice range) and just say one word. "OUT." Occasionally I'll add a "NOW."

It's amazing the leeway you get when dealing with people who do stuff that pisses your boss off, too.

[Lace Neil Singer]

On Sundays when I worked at the garden centre, we were on 11 to 5 opening hours, however we were all told to come in an hour early so we could prepare the tills, and in my case, feed the animals for sale in the pet centre. Without fail, there'd always be a customer or two pulling the off automatic doors open and trying to come in. We'd tell them we were closed, they'd bitch and whine. But, on no occasion would we ever serve them early; it's Sunday trading hours, and they do not change! Just cuz the doors are unlocked and there's staff in the shop does not mean we are open! I used to just ignore the idiots standing hopefully at my till and carry on feeding and watering the animals and birds.

[Arcade Man D]

That's why I ended up just locking the gate from the inside while I was doing opening/closing work outside of store hours, half the time.

[BookstoreEscapee]

B&N employees go in 2 hours before opening to do morning paperwork, count safe/drawers, shelve books and do displays and stuff. My last store had people thinking that we were open that early just because we had a coffee shop.

In my first store the coffee shop is actually Starbucks that rents the space from BN. They open at 6 and bn opens at 9. Had a woman yelling through the gate that she'd been waiting since 845 and she needed to pick up her book and get to work and yada yada. She started this right at 9 and we were waiting for the manager who has the only keys to the gate. Rather than walk around to the front door this woman is bitching at me. Finally gets in, gets her book and spends the next half hour wandering around the store, and never even bought the book. This is why we don't open early just for you!

[MMATM]

Our opening shift (bakers only) actually starts at like 5 in the morning (we open at 7:30) so they can get the muffins and early baking stuff out into the store at about 6-6:30. Since the door is unlocked at this time (we need to go out and pick up the newspapers that have been delivered so we can stock them) people sometimes come in. Since the registers are on by the time the coffeepots are out, some of the regulars are allowed in before we officially open, since they are just there for coffee on their way to work.
Occasionally, though, some geniuses will follow them in and then bitch that they can't get a sandwich or soups since (go figure) none of our breads are baked (thus no sandwiches) and our soups aren't even cooking yet. Even bagels usually take until almost 7:30 to get out into the store, since there are more than 20 (23 that I can name off the top of my head) types of bagels that we serve, and so they're not always available until we're actually open.
It's appalling how many people will come in and complain that there aren't enough options... when it's about 7:15 and we did them a favor just letting them in out of the cold.

[BookstoreEscapee]

We keep the door locked. There's a doorbell hidden off to the side and above our heads so we can get let in. Or we'll call on a cell phone or bang on the window if we can see someone working.