WARNING, VERY LONG!
Some interesting and rediculously interesting experiences when closing:
One time my co-worker and I had closed the store. After getting the last till closed out and getting the master credit card batch settled and all that good stuff, we had clocked out, put our jackets on, she had her purse in her hand and I had my backpack on. Store lights were turned off. She comes up to the switch to open the gate, and I come up there shortly. With the lights off, our jackets on, and our purse/backpacks on, and with the gate still in the process of opening, and us beginning to walk out, someone wanting to shop comes up and asks "Are you closing?"
Ok, this next thing wasn't when closing the store, but one time when working a mid-shift, I had just finished my shift and clocked out. I was putting my jacket on, grabbing my bag and my laptop computer, and just before stepping out of the office, a customer thinks they see someone in there and asks if anyone is in there. That was at the exact same time I was starting to exit the office. When I step out, with my jacket on and bag and computer on, this person asks me to help him out with some merchandise questions. I told him I was done for the day, but he still asked again. I referred him to the one only other associate at that time, who had a small line of people at the register. He wasn't really an SC, just seems stupid to ask someone who is obviously headed home.
This happened on my day off, but one of my co-workers had a busy day, and still had customers checking out and even some shopping at closing. She turns half the lights off in the store, and the gate is halfway down, to discourage the "shoppers" from continuing to shop. My store is in the airport, which like the shopping malls, has our hours determined by the port, and with few exceptions all stores are supposed to open and close at the same times. Anyway when about to shut the gate, I heard that someone came in after seeing all the other stores closed, and said something like "I'm glad you guys are still open, but you don't make your store very inviting to customers".
Also didn't happen to me or in my particular store, but a part time person that worked one time in another store in the airport had gotten everyone out and lowered the gate almost all the way, but so low you'd have to get on your belly and slide thru to make it in. Well guess what, she said that when she was closing her register, someone actually did that. She said "Excuse me, we're closed!" The person said "I didn't know you guys were closing!"
Last one, again, didn't happen to me, but one of my assistant managers used to work at another store location in a nearby shopping mall. She went to close the gate after everyone was out of the store. The switch to close the gate however is somewhere in a place where you can't actually see the gate itself easily as it's closing. Well apparently, she said that a couple came into the store and actually ducked under the gate AS IT WAS COMING DOWN :-) and then heard them say "Phew.... at least we made it before they closed on us".
Anyway, sorry for the length of this, just wanted to share some of the "interesting" closing experiences that either I've experienced or one of my co-workers has experienced :-)
Some interesting and rediculously interesting experiences when closing:
One time my co-worker and I had closed the store. After getting the last till closed out and getting the master credit card batch settled and all that good stuff, we had clocked out, put our jackets on, she had her purse in her hand and I had my backpack on. Store lights were turned off. She comes up to the switch to open the gate, and I come up there shortly. With the lights off, our jackets on, and our purse/backpacks on, and with the gate still in the process of opening, and us beginning to walk out, someone wanting to shop comes up and asks "Are you closing?"
Ok, this next thing wasn't when closing the store, but one time when working a mid-shift, I had just finished my shift and clocked out. I was putting my jacket on, grabbing my bag and my laptop computer, and just before stepping out of the office, a customer thinks they see someone in there and asks if anyone is in there. That was at the exact same time I was starting to exit the office. When I step out, with my jacket on and bag and computer on, this person asks me to help him out with some merchandise questions. I told him I was done for the day, but he still asked again. I referred him to the one only other associate at that time, who had a small line of people at the register. He wasn't really an SC, just seems stupid to ask someone who is obviously headed home.
This happened on my day off, but one of my co-workers had a busy day, and still had customers checking out and even some shopping at closing. She turns half the lights off in the store, and the gate is halfway down, to discourage the "shoppers" from continuing to shop. My store is in the airport, which like the shopping malls, has our hours determined by the port, and with few exceptions all stores are supposed to open and close at the same times. Anyway when about to shut the gate, I heard that someone came in after seeing all the other stores closed, and said something like "I'm glad you guys are still open, but you don't make your store very inviting to customers".
Also didn't happen to me or in my particular store, but a part time person that worked one time in another store in the airport had gotten everyone out and lowered the gate almost all the way, but so low you'd have to get on your belly and slide thru to make it in. Well guess what, she said that when she was closing her register, someone actually did that. She said "Excuse me, we're closed!" The person said "I didn't know you guys were closing!"
Last one, again, didn't happen to me, but one of my assistant managers used to work at another store location in a nearby shopping mall. She went to close the gate after everyone was out of the store. The switch to close the gate however is somewhere in a place where you can't actually see the gate itself easily as it's closing. Well apparently, she said that a couple came into the store and actually ducked under the gate AS IT WAS COMING DOWN :-) and then heard them say "Phew.... at least we made it before they closed on us".
Anyway, sorry for the length of this, just wanted to share some of the "interesting" closing experiences that either I've experienced or one of my co-workers has experienced :-)
Comment