what would you think...

[GingerBiscuit]

I get that a lot.
Now I've calmed down a bit...
I've lost track of the time in shops sometimes, a few days ago we ran to a cheap frozen food place to get some dinenr stuff, lost track of tiem while we were in there having a coversation about which fish my boyfriend wanted for dinner (he decided on salmon) when they flicked the lights out. At which point- ooops, I think they want us to leave, and instead of faffing about for an extra five minutes, we went straight to the till.

However, the ones I was complaining about didn't do that, they walked very slowly to the till, and two of them didn't even buy anything to make up for me having to stay after the shop has officially closed.

And I have, in two years, only been *almiost* rude to customers twice. I am always polite, even if internally I'm thinking *just go home, just go HOME, I want to go home*

[Sparky]

Speaking of customers who come in before the store was open ... I was a SC once. When I was driving my bus, I remember one day that I wanted to use the phone. I don't remember what it was, but I was having some kind of personal problem and wanted to talk to my dispacher about getting me off early, and didn't want to have to discuss it on the radio where all the drivers and half the passengers would have heard me. I saw a bunch of people entering one of the department stores at the mall. "Oh boy," I thought, "I didn't realize they open this early, but I can go use the phone by the restrooms." So when I walked in, someone flagged me down and asked if I worked there. They weren't open for another half hour and these were employees arriving. I asked if I could just use the phone and she rolled her eyes and said "I guess." Can't say I blame her. I'm sure she couldn't understand why any SC would need to use THEIR phone so desperately and why I couldn't just drive or walk to a gas station.

My reason? Because the store was on my bus route, I was ahead of schedule, and the bus was empty, otherwise I wouldn't have stopped. And if I'd taken time to explain all this, I wouldn't have had time to make my call. I should also mention that at this time we didn't wear uniforms, and that this was back before anyone had cell phones. Also, I didn't realize how early it still was since I'd been working since 6:00 a.m.

[Kyree]

I'll admit...I do get snappy at 5 minutes until close. But, at the place I work at, we close at 9pm. Our boss schedules us until 9pm. We somehow have to magically finish by 9pm on the dot. We also have a time card machine that, if we don't punch out by 9:04, we can't punch out. We have to find a manager, explain why we cannot punch out, then they have to march upstairs, and find the override card. (They're not allowed to carry it on them, it has to stay in the upper office.) Then, they can manually punch us out. And I really don't have time for that when I have to catch a bus at 9:20, or else have to wait until 10pm for the next one.

[Becks]

I don't mind if people come in about 5-10 minutes before closing UNLESS they're doing a year's worth of shopping.

After all, the store is still open.

[AnaKhouri]

This happened once a couple Christmases ago...

We closed at 11 on a weeknight. After cleaning up the messes left by Christmas shoppers, it was past midnight before we left. When we close this late everyone waits and walks out together for safety reasons.

So at 12:15 we are standing in the store's doorway (the shutter is half-closed) awaiting a tardy co-worker.

This couple comes waltzing in! The woman is yapping away to the man. The man stops and looks confused when he sees us all standing there with our coats and bags. The woman, still yapping away, walks PAST us and into the store. After a minute she noticed the man wasn't with her, she turns around and faces 8 people staring at her like she is an idiot.

Manager: Ma'am, we've been closed for an hour.

Woman: Don't you have extended hours?

Manager: We stayed open until 11. Those are the extended hours.

They left, the woman complaining how we should have extended hours, the man looking embarrassed.

Seriously, who the hell goes shopping at midnight, besides poor retail workers like us? These people were definitely not of our ilk (I could tell- they were dressed like the rich racehorse owners that live around here) and how are you so self-absorbed you don't notice the door is down, the lights are off and the entire staff is waiting to leave??