Do you close right AT your closing time or a few minutes early?

[Becks]

At my last job, we'd usually close on time.

Sometimes the cop on duty would lock the front doors a couple minutes early, but that was only when no one came through the doors in over an hour.

One time at Goodwill it was so dead (we hadn't had customers for 3 hours) we locked the doors and did all the cleaning and organizing.

Such fun.

[KiaKat]

Generally we close on time or just after. A good number of our customers know that we'll stay open a few more minutes if they come at or right before closing time, and mostly, we don't mind. After a 9 hour day, what's another few minutes.

We're actually expressly forbidden to turn away last minute customers unless we're walking out the door. Though most customers see that one of the gates is down, and that the store is dark, so they don't bother to even try coming in.

Only way we can close early is if there's police action in front of the building (had that happen at one of the storefronts a few months ago), if the owners tell us to close, or if we have to be evacuated. Power outages don't count (unless it's too hot to work without a/c), and we've actually been known to fire people who close early because they felt we weren't busy enough.

[draftermatt]

My shift ends at 3:30, but if I'm here past 3:25 then I'm flipping busy.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Only way we can close early is if there's police action in front of the building (had that happen at one of the storefronts a few months ago), if the owners tell us to close, or if we have to be evacuated. Power outages don't count (unless it's too hot to work without a/c), and we've actually been known to fire people who close early because they felt we weren't busy enough.

Wow. Only police action I've ever seen at my store was when there was a missing child reported, and so the cops come in and sweep the store looking for her. ...and then it turns out the child had left with her aunt to go to Toys R Us down the street, and just hadn't told Daddy.

There WAS the time we had to call the fire department because we thought we had a fire in the building. Being front door guy that day, I was in charge of telling people, "Go OUTSIDE, this is not a drill, everybody OUTSIDE! No, OUTSIDE, not just the vestibule, OUTSIDE, good, now, ACROSS THE STREET, everybody into the parking lot, let's go!"

Then it turned out the smoke we had inside was actually coming under the foundation from outside. Someone had been smoking a cigarette at the smoker's break table, and tossed their stub into the mulch, which had caught fire and was smoldering.

We now have one of those new-fangled cigarette disposal stands out there. The other day, though, smoke was pouring out of it, and I had to sigh, 'cuz some jackass had shoved some paper into it instead of walking five feet to the trashcan, and the paper had caught fire. So I got a coworker to dump a few cupfuls of water into it until it stopped smoking.

[KiaKat]

The police action was a shooting that happened a couple storefronts down from our primary store, it hasn't been big news outside the music industry (an up-and-coming rapper was killed in a drive-by - some people might be able to recognize basically where I work from that, but oh well) and neighbourhood.

We actually had an incident near our secondary location about a month after, on a day I was working. One of the blocks was shut off and there were cops flooding the place, but because we weren't involved or required to close for investigation, we just put on the local news station (streaming video is wonderful) and kept an eye out for anything suspicious.

I've also called the cops a couple times for fights outside the store, and actually had to give a statement once, thanks to an incident down the block. Ah, the Urban Life.

[Boggles]

As we're a little independent store we don't get into bother if we close early but it is very very rare we ever do. If it is really really quiet then we might close 2 or 3 minutes early but if a customer comes running down as i start to drop the shutters, i won't turn them away.

The only problem I hav with not turning people away is that on lotto draw nights (wednesday and saturday) we stay until 7:30 which is lotto cut off time and people can't understand that the terminal is turned off at lotto HQ and I have no control over it regardless of what their watch says or whether they reckon the supermarket would let them do it.

Normally we bring the shutters down bang on half past. However, 20 minutes before that I start counting the days newspaper returns, turning off the photocopier and that sort of thing so when the shutters come down all i need to do is hit total on the till/lotto machine/cc machine and lock the till drawer in the safe. We use 2 drawers so the following days is already set up with the float and I can do the counting etc the following morning when i have more time.

I'm paid until 15 minutes after close to allow for locking up time etc but if I am not locking the staff shutter behind me within 7 minutes then i am slacking (or it is sunday and I am borrowing a couple of computing mags to read tht afternoon!!!)

[JustADude]

There was the plucky little booty gem who came in one evening to tell me that his watch was set by the Atomic Clock in CO, blah, blah, blah...

Ya know, the guy may have been annoying about it, but he is technically right, if he's telling the truth.

The Atomic Clocks around the world (and the broadcast signals they transmit from the facilities) are the standard by which global time is determined. This means that they can't be wrong. Any variance from what they say means that the other clock is fast or slow.

Personally, if I were you, I'd go in and adjust the store clocks to match Atomic Time so I could use that argument against the SCs that go by whatever their watch says.

[Dreamstalker]

I would close the game store (lock main doors and start counting down the drawer) at five til if there was nobody browsing. Most times it would be slow enough that I could start counting the drawer down while the store was still open (helped loads with the closing duties as all I had to do was look at the tally-sheet and fill in the numbers).

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to close if the AC was fried (was that ever fun in last year's 96-degree heat wave).

[DerangedHermit]

Speaking as someone who closes often at midnight, it usually varies by three minutes on either side of midnight (unless a EW is being slow as molasses).

As for shifts where I don't close, I usually shut my light 3-5 minutes before the end of my shift so I can clean my register and take the garbage out. If it's selfscan, I leave right at the time of the end of my shift.

You know what annoys me about my store? The automated closing messages are about 20 minutes off, so at 11:50, you hear "It is now 11:30. This store will be closing at midnight. Please take your items to the registers for payment. Thank you for shopping at this store!"

[Jay 2K Winger]

Ya know, the guy may have been annoying about it, but he is technically right, if he's telling the truth.

The Atomic Clocks around the world (and the broadcast signals they transmit from the facilities) are the standard by which global time is determined. This means that they can't be wrong. Any variance from what they say means that the other clock is fast or slow.

Personally, if I were you, I'd go in and adjust the store clocks to match Atomic Time so I could use that argument against the SCs that go by whatever their watch says.

And to someone like that (not that I've ever gotten someone who's claimed that), I would say, "That may be true, but according to the [store] Clock, it's already past ten o'clock. Come back tomorrow and you can take it up with the manager."

[JustADude]

And to someone like that (not that I've ever gotten someone who's claimed that), I would say, "That may be true, but according to the [store] Clock, it's already past ten o'clock. Come back tomorrow and you can take it up with the manager."

Oh, indeed. It's a store's right to close whenever they want to close, posted hours be damned.

I own one of those Wave-Receptor watches as well, but I'd never be a dick about it. It's just nice to know, for certain, that I do have the correct time, which always used to bug me, as I despise having incorrect information even by accident. Please note, I fix the problem by getting correct information, not by screaming until the other person agrees with me.