Why wait until we close?

[Alephcat]

Just a quick one.

Yesterday afternoon I was in the office continuously from 3:00pm until 5:00pm when we leave and took a total of 1 phone call. As soon as the clock struck 5:00 I had 3 people ring and ask for help which meant I did not get to leave until gone 5:15. Why do tutors wait until 5:00 to ring us when every lecture finishes at 4:30 and the next ones do not start until 6:00?

[volatile]

Just a quick one.

Yesterday afternoon I was in the office continuously from 3:00pm until 5:00pm when we leave and took a total of 1 phone call. As soon as the clock struck 5:00 I had 3 people ring and ask for help which meant I did not get to leave until gone 5:15. Why do tutors wait until 5:00 to ring us when every lecture finishes at 4:30 and the next ones do not start until 6:00?

OOOOH I F'N HATED that. No orders for a long time but as soon as it gets to the top of the hour before close...BAM...a few orders that set us back and lengthens our cleanup time. It never, ever failed. I don't know why people like to wait to the top of the hour. OR....they call 15 to 30 minutes after we are closed and get pissed off that we had already closed. Well, if the douchebags called on time it wouldn't be an issue.

"It's ONLY one pizza! You guys want to lose out on 20 dollars?!"

Yeah dipshit...I do, actually.

[Foxglove8778]

"It's ONLY one pizza!

Dude. Make it yourself. It's ONLY one pizza. Mess up your own kitchen.

He'd probably give himself food poisoning. Would that be win-win?

[Jack T. Chance]

Having been in retail as long as I have, I long ago stopped putting up with that crap. I no longer answer the phone before opening time (10 AM M-S, 11 AM Sun) or after closing time (9 PM M-F, 8 PM Sat, 6 PM Sun.) I don't care if it's 9:01 PM. I close at 9, so at 9 O'clock, I clock out and leave. I make sure my paperwork's done and filed away, all the lights are off, door's locked, etc. by 9. At the stroke of 9, I clock out, shut down the computer and I'm gone. If the phone rings before I get out the door... FRAK 'EM! They should've called earlier!

And like I said, I also ignore the phone before 10 in the morning, too. I don't care if it's 9:58. We open at 10, not 9:58! You want your phone call to be answered, you wait 'til we're OPEN to call!

Of course, I'm sure the customer would say that according to THEIR watch, I'm supposed to be open! They always do. But, of course, I open and close the store based on the time as shown on MY watch... which synchronizes itself every night with the US Atomic Clock, so I know MY watch is keeping accurate, official US time!

[Foxglove8778]

" Your watch does not dictate my paycheck. The store clock does. "

[Mr. Rude]

A call I had the other day...

SC: What time do you close today?

Me: 6 PM....Sharp

SC: Do you guys stay open any later?

Me:Not a chance . 6:02 we are out the door.

SC: *Chuckles* Ok...I'll get there on time.

[norrina]

A few years ago, I worked weekends at a semi-chain bookstore. I don't remember what time we opened, 9a, I think, but I was an opener. If the phone rang before we were open, we had to answer it, because it could be an employee calling in. But the problem was, once we had answered, if it was a customer, we HAD to help them. Even if we offered to call back once we were open, that wasn't good enough.

[Arcade Man D]

I would ignore calls before open and after close, but those are generally my boss calling. Besides, we never get customers calling anyway. Just people who think we're a video game store, not an arcade. Or that arcade is synonomous with video game store.

But yeah, despise the people that want to come in after close. Or stay because "I didn't use all my tokens". Well tough s***. I warned you we were closing soon. You're the dumbass that put 20 bucks in the token machine at 9:25 when we close at 9:30.

[KellyHabersham]

We have this problem at the library quite often.....patrons always wait until the last minute to decide that they want to sign up for a library card, need help with printing something, or pay fines. If not that, then it's patrons allowing their kids to make a mess out of the children's area, and leaving at the last minute without picking up after themselves. (one couple in particular, I wish would not be allowed in the library because of this sort of thing)

[SuperB]

I've yet to figure this one out myself especially in my area in the summer where it's mainly retired vacation owners. When I work a 12 hour day and they want in right at closing to brows the DVD's, I start closing 5 minutes early. It worked last year, they appeared to get the message after a time.

[Kiwi]

Some days at the gallery we were paid 1/2 after closing to cash up, get our paperwork done (you would not believe the amount of paperwork a non-profit place has) and power down the gallery, set the security alarms etc

Some days if we closed at 4, our pay ended at 4.Yet we were expected to not close the gallery until 4.... yah that doesnt work... you either pay me until after 4 or the gallery closes before 4. Im not working for free (well not with the attitude the management gave us)

[auntiem]

Gah, I always get this happening. Never fails, quiet day (or at least undramatic) and then 10 min to 5 someone who has "never worked with an agent before" wants to plan something elaborate without any prior planning on their part and they of course balk at my simple suggestion to come in a pick up a brochure as that is the best place to start because they want to go at X-mas (if the call comes in early Nov) and there might not be space available if they wait until tommorow. I've got news for ya, it is gone already.
Repeat after me - "poor planning on your part does not constitute a crisis on my part".

[Noelegy]

Dude. Make it yourself. It's ONLY one pizza. Mess up your own kitchen.

He'd probably give himself food poisoning. Would that be win-win?

You hit on something that makes me wonder about SCs' rationale. They are paying service personnel for services or goods that they either cannot produce for themselves or don't want to. I mean, you can go to the store and buy taco shells, meat, lettuce, tomato, seasoning, cheese, etc., and make your own tacos and they'd probably be a lot better, but most people want quick and cheap, so they go get the fast food. So why complicate that transaction by being abusive to the person who is in the position to provide you with cheap, quick tacos? (or pizza, or whatever) Especially why mess with someone who's handling your food?