Tweet
Yeah, they only exist to serve YOU!
We were closing up the mall tonight when I noticed a person standing near a store, we'll call it 'Blaire's', watching. Turned-out it was a plainclothes manager doing a secret observation of how her store was closed at night; was the gate closed early, was the register counted, were lights turned-off, etc. It was approx. 8:59PM when we watched an ENTIRE family (4 adults, 3 children) amble-on in. The Manager informed me that they have to keep the gate up right until closing time; you get in trouble if they get a report that you closed even a minute early. If the gate's up, you have to take the customer! Then we see one of the adults hoisting a young child into the ear piercing seat. I commented to the manager how inconsiderate it was for these people to come-in for an ear piercing at closing; not to mention I doubt they're going to get their kid to sleep tonight! The manager agreed, and also told me how it would affect the employee's evaluation. I asked was she seriously going to get in trouble for closing late. The Manager informed me that the employee would only get paid for 1/2 hour after closing, at which point any time she went over would be deducted from her hours for the rest of the week! 
I asked how it could possibly be fair when the employee has no choice but to wait on customers until whenever they decided to leave? The Manager just shrugged and said it's corporate policy. I told her the company's policy stinks for putting employees on the spot like that; they're damned if they do, damned if they don't, and that the corporation should empower the employees more (yeah, I was on a roll). I said that she shouldn't be punished for the unthinking actions of customers, and was what they were making off the piercings even enough to cover the extra electricity. The Manager didn't really have anything to say. By this time it was 9:10PM and the employee had only been able to pierce one ear on the kid because she was thrashing too much to do the second, so the family was roaming the store trying to calm the kid, while the employee stood there wringing her hands. THEN the family starts looking at piercings for the other kids! By 9:30 the employee STILL had not been able to do the 2nd piercing. The Manager then went into the store herself to help (and probably tell the poor employee how she just failed her evaluation) I had to go to the other end of the mall, but when I came back at 10:10PM the employee was JUST turning-out the lights.
If I hadn't been on-duty and representing the mall, I would have torn those parents some new ones! As it was, I made sure to comment loudly to my coworker about how some people just can't tell time and how rude it is to do your shopping at closing when you had 12 hours to get it done!
PS - the kid getting pierced was an infant.
I asked how it could possibly be fair when the employee has no choice but to wait on customers until whenever they decided to leave? The Manager just shrugged and said it's corporate policy. I told her the company's policy stinks for putting employees on the spot like that; they're damned if they do, damned if they don't, and that the corporation should empower the employees more (yeah, I was on a roll). I said that she shouldn't be punished for the unthinking actions of customers, and was what they were making off the piercings even enough to cover the extra electricity. The Manager didn't really have anything to say. By this time it was 9:10PM and the employee had only been able to pierce one ear on the kid because she was thrashing too much to do the second, so the family was roaming the store trying to calm the kid, while the employee stood there wringing her hands. THEN the family starts looking at piercings for the other kids! By 9:30 the employee STILL had not been able to do the 2nd piercing. The Manager then went into the store herself to help (and probably tell the poor employee how she just failed her evaluation) I had to go to the other end of the mall, but when I came back at 10:10PM the employee was JUST turning-out the lights. If I hadn't been on-duty and representing the mall, I would have torn those parents some new ones! As it was, I made sure to comment loudly to my coworker about how some people just can't tell time and how rude it is to do your shopping at closing when you had 12 hours to get it done!
PS - the kid getting pierced was an infant.
Comment