SC's Having A Tantrum When You Tell Them You're Closed

[Imogene]

Pretty sure I posted this story in my rant at Goth AM, but I'll retell it here, cause it still ticks me off.

One night, at Chesterfield, Goth AM and I are closing store... one cash drawer on the counter between the tills, being counted down. Some old fart comes up to our gate (down and locked)
"Do you guys have StarGate season n?"
GAM: *goes around corner, finds that we do indeed have that season* "Juwl, go let him in so I can ring him out."
M: "How about no?"
GAM: "I'll go let him in then."
M: *cursing under my breath, and lock my gaze on the till that is sitting on the counter as I ring the jackass out*
GAM: *after I finish the transaction, and the guy has left* "Now that's customer service!" *said as though he just learned how to use the toilet without wetting himself*
M: *thinking* "No, that's a liability issue, moron! The cash was right there in sight, how do we know he didn't want to rob us at gunpoint?"

Goth AM left us just before a Christmas rush to work at Hot Topic. And life got better.

[karma_gypsy]

You can always tell the customers who have worked in customer service jobs and the ones who haven't . . .

We get at least one customer a night tugging on the front door, it's locked plus a visible chain and lock around the bars of the door. Instead of looking at the sign a few inches from their face, the customer will peer into the store and stare helplessly. Us? We're inside counting down tills, putting away jewelry (this means that there is gold jewelry on the counters and going into bins) and doing the normal closing stuff for the night. The SC? still standing there, peering through the door . . . whatdya doin'? this isn't a nature show . . .WE'RE CLOSED.

[toolbert]

OK...you've had to practically limbo under the shutters and negotiate all the display stuff which is blocking the entrance cos I haven't put it out yet. And all in the dark because there are no lights on. Of course we're open! Making you run an assault course is all part of the service!

See, I think that'd be tons of fun ause you get some exercise plus you'd have the customer literally "jump through hoops" to get some good service .

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At our store, we usually get to close up right on time. What I hate aren't the people who come up when you're closing everything (nothing's out, drawers been counted, you're inputting all the info), but when I'm 2 minutes from closing. Techinically I cannot close anything till exactly 8 without security's approval, so if someone steps in right at 7:59 I am obligated to serve him, though not all the time I do . Still, there was this one group of people who came up at 7:59 while I was getting everything ready to close. So here I am, stuff all about and they come up and begin asking me tech questions. Now, I'm closing, you're obviously not going to buy anything, and I hate giving tech support right when I close cause I know its going to take more than 20 minutes to handle most problems. So I give him tech supports number and then the spiel happens.

- He drove so long to get here (I work here 4 or 5 days a week here...it takes me around 1 and a half hours of commute for me...don't pull that card)

- He's from Canada and they don't have one of these stores there (Not gonna hold it against Canadians...but I don't care).

- It'll be really quick (no, it won't)

- I should help him cause I work for Palm (doesn't mean I also do tech for palm, RETAIL SALES MANAGER, does that ring a bell?)

- He'll pay me for it.

When the last one comes up, I almost acquiesce to him, but I do quote him my outside tech support of my work (a whopping $75 and hour scares most people). He just stared at me and slowly walked away.

[Ringtail Z28]

I'm sure almost everyone will agree that some of the best closing time tantrums happen during the holidays.

I remember one guy who tried to get into the store just as the manager locked the door. The dude was more than likely a tweeker from the look of him. He started beating and kicking the door, yelling that he "only wanted to buy a ring for his wife". Me and another cart attendant were watching the show from behind some cars at the time, I was really starting to think that he'd break in the way he was letting the door have it, I never knew glass could bend so well. After a while he just started yelling and cussing at the top of his lungs at the crowd that started to gather around, the employees (except me and another cart attendant who were in the parking lot) were inside watching the moron rant. The cops pulled up like hour later to get rid of the guy, who by this time had yelled and screamed so damn much that he was starting to lose his voice and looked about ready to pass out. Did he really think the manager was gonna change his mind and let him in after all that?

[Broomjockey]

I love it when people yank on one set of doors, try the set next to them, move back to the first set, try another set, and so on.

A couple of times I've just stood there and watched them. They don't seem to enjoy that. If they don't get the hint after a few minutes, I edge the door open, and say "We're closed, have a good night." and close the door. I've still had people try to argue with me, but telling them box office is empty usually shuts them up.
Except for the ones that then ask "Then can I get in for free?"

Whenever I was closing floor, one of the first things I'd do is turn off the token machine for the arcade, but leave the rest of the machines on as a courtesy for anyone leaving their movie who still had tokens.
The next thing I would do is to go do some counts at the area across from the arcade. I got some pretty good laughs from watching people trying to use the token machine while it was off. One dumb soul tried for 5 solid minutes to get it to work.
Finally most of them walk off, but a couple see me standing across the way. These are the ones who want me to turn it back on so they can play games until two in the morning(I've had it happen)
My rule is token machine is off, its off. If you still have tokens, it isn't too late, and you ask nicely, I might turn on the other machines if I'd already turned them off.

[blas]

Don't even get me started on people throwing temper tantrums at/after close. I even made a thread about opening/closing follies, but mine were mostly closing, because I was the closing queen at the gas station.

Before I was hired, my manager always had to work the shitty shift (aka, MY shift).....I'm wondering if she always let in her pampered regular customers (the biggest, trashiest arseholes that came into that store) after close, because they'd conveniently show up about 1 minute after close and pound on the door and scream at me. Hahah, as if. I already have lots of money to count and a drawer to balance, I close at 9. 9:00....do I need to repeat myself? Not 9:02, not 9:05, not even 9:01. I am not staying a minute later because some dumbass couldn't stop by earlier.

The store would usually be dead until about 10 minutes to, and then the whole nasty neighborhood would show up. So I started conveniently closing up a few minutes early, and by the time I was almost done working there, it was closer to 10 minutes every night. I was so fed up with people showing up at closing time. It's so funny, because I heard that now if anyone is caught closing early, they are written up, and if it happens twice, they are fired. I started closing a few minutes early a few months ago, long before I knew I'd have a different job. I'm glad I got away with it.

The stories I could tell about people reefing on the doors, banging on the windows, yelling "Yoooo hooo" through the window at me, smashing money up against the window, begging to be let in, begging to just use the ATM or go to the bathroom...............the people who'd park at a pump and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait for what seemed like minutes...........the one SC who revved up his engine and circled the parking lot multiple times waiting for me to come out........Pyscho Window Banger.........the guy who threw beer bottles at the door the very first Sunday we started closing an hour early..........(that itself is a war story, unfortunately, I never saved it )...............the people who would creep up and stare at me blankly........

The stories I could tell about working at a NON 24 hr gas station.........

[HawaiianShirts]

When I worked pizza, we had that kind of thing quite often. The official closing time was 10:00 PM. Most days, that meant we stopped taking dine-in and delivery orders at 9:00 PM and stopped taking carry-out orders at 9:30 PM. Fridays and Saturdays were the exceptions, when we'd extend all those deadlines by half an hour. It was a small town, and every business (except us, the 24-hour gas station (only one), and the movie rental place) closed at 8:00 PM.

We had two doors--the main door and a side door. Employees used the side door exclusively; some customers came in that way, but most went for the main door. At 10:00, we'd lock the main door. About once a week, someone would come in the side door and try to order after 10:00, but most of them didn't throw a fit when we couldn't take their order. (Sometimes coming in right at closing was a good thing for all of us: if there were breadstick orders prepared but not yet cooked, we would sell them at a discount, which gave the customer cheap food and made less work for us.) Every once in a while, someone would rattle the main door several times before coming in through the side and saying to us, "Do you know your other door is locked?"

It was funnier to me when they did that in the morning. Official opening was 11:00 AM, though we took some delivery orders at 10:30. Employees showed up at 9:00 AM to get the kitchen ready. Had a woman come in once at about 9:15, just after Sylvia and I had turned on all the lights and washed up to start making dough and salads. She walked right up to the counter and started placing an order. I had to interrupt her to break the bad news: I would be happy to take her order, but it wouldn't be ready until just after 11:00. She was stunned and demanded an explanation. So I gave her the truth: "Well, I was just about to start making dough for the day. The oven isn't on yet, and it's very hard to cook a pizza without the oven on. All the toppings are still wrapped up in the cooler. And, technically, we're not even open for another hour and a half." She sputtered something about how I shouldn't even be there if we weren't open and marched out. (Who needs pizza that early in the day anyway?)

Where I work now, we have monthly store meetings on a Saturday morning about two hours before opening. Once, in the dead of winter, when it was still dark outside, we had all (about 80 employees, milling about eating donuts and drinking coffee, only half in uniform and all in jackets) come in and were waiting for the managers to get things started. An older couple walks up to the doors, looks around for a moment, then walks in. They stood just inside the store for a minute or two just staring at us with utterly confused expressions. Finally one of the cashiers approached them and told them what was going on. The husband wanted to shop anyway, but his wife sweetly apologized and told us they'd come back later (which they did, to our surprise, and made a rather large purchase). The look on their faces was classic, though.

I don't close often in the summer, so I don't see many of the Ten-Oh-Five Tantrums.

[Kiwi]

at the gift shop we closed 9pm on christmas eve on the dot.

my boss let me go at 5pm that year but I volunteered to stay until 9pm doing giftwrapping, making bows, getting stock from the back... all the fun stuff that freed the other staff up for getting through the lines faster.

8.50 comes around, I start pulling in our plinths, and pull our roller door half way down so its just in arms reach of my head. people see me doing this and start panicing, literally running into the already packed out store!

9pm comes along and I try to pull down the door, customers almost dive to get into the door and then my boss comes over to force me to go home. after grabbing my bag and saying goodnight to everyone my boss pulled up the door and I ducked under into a crowd of woman

they were yelling at her through the door about how she closed early and she was ruining their christmas and "I KNOW WHAT I WANT ILL BE QUICK"... she yelled back that her family was waiting at home to and she wasnt about to let them ruin her christmas.

it was 10:30 before they got the last customer out anyway!!

[RavenStarr]

She was probably pissed that she wouldn't be able to have a beer while watching the Nascar race that night

And to beat all, it was non-alcoholic beer. ( We're a dry town).

[SonOfSpam]

I've had a few customers shop for rugs right at closing time, it was almost as if they heard the announcement over the speaker and decided to migrate towards the carpet section to spend every last possible second shopping for a doormat. Once, a minute or two after the last of the registers were closed I had a woman come up to me with a runner and blurt "I need to buy this!" Funny thing is I had seen her browse through the section and dissapear 2 hours earlier, why she hadn't purchased it sooner I had no idea. When I told her the market was closed down and I couldn't help her she made a noise I could only describe as an "Uhn!" then threw the remnant to the floor and stormed off. I yelled "Thanks! Come again!" and was treated to her flipping me the bird as she exited the door.

[powerboy]

I had that once, at my job now. We closed, and were counting til, and ofcourse a couple of people came up, and tried the door. We did have a sign out saying that we were closed. And ofcourse, my boss letted them in, and wait for it, wait for it, they did not buy anything, like they said they would.

[Jester]

This is kind of like the people who come in AFTER last call. WAY after last call, but of course, the doors are still open because there are people still in there drinking.

ME: "Sorry, folks, I have already given last call."
SC: "Can't we just get one drink?"
[like after last call they could get MULTIPLE drinks?!?!?]
ME: "Sorry, no."
SC: "But we'll tip you really good!"

The few times I have given in, they have almost never tipped me "really good." Ya think I would have learned by now!

[Worker-Intellectual]

The other day a coworker was closed so he could count and order money. His light was off and his door saying "CLOSED" on the front was closed and locked. What does a customer do? Turn on his light, open his gate and say "you're open"

[Lace Neil Singer]

Get this all the time at my current job; altho, luckily, the supervisors always back us cashiers up and sometimes the customers do too.

At Hell's Pizza, we'd take orders up til 10:30; after that, nothing, zilch, nada. And we'd still get morons ringing up going, "But my watch says 10 o'clock!" We don't care what your watch says, the clock in the shop says 10:30 and that's the one we're going by!

[Mixed Bag]

If the CLOSED signs don't work, pity those who work at places with those awful new OPEN signs (green letters in a black box) that look like a regular OPEN sign even when they're off (if it's light out).