Working the Fourth

[Trayol]

Oh what a fourth it has been. At least I was able to get some good stories from work. Nothing overly sucky but still interesting.

The Audacity of it All
A woman was shocked to find that she would have to pay for the extra syrup in her shake. Her claim was that she has never paid for extra syrup before. If it was true, it was not from our store most likely.

Thanks?
At the beginning of my shift there was the usual call asking for what time we closed.
Me: Me OW: Older Woman
Me: <Greeting>
OW: What time do you close tonight?
Me: We close at our usual time of 11.
OW: exclaims 11pm, on the 4th of July?
Me: Yes.
OW: Oh, I’m so sorry.
Me: Thank you?

The Elusive Second Window
SL Jo, when on the drive-thru head set, will tell people to pull up to the first window. We only have the one. While I was talking to him about not needing to say “the first”, the car he just took actually drove in search for our second window. They quickly drove around back in line (they were the only ones in line at the time). SL Jo couldn’t keep a straight face when they came back through. I was doing fine until I tried to take their money, but they were laughing and I couldn’t keep it in.

Okay?
A car came through drive, and the couple in it asked what time we closed. This was at 9:30, I told them we close at 11. They said “Oh, we’ll be back later.” They never did.

Broken Filter
My normal spiel for greeting people at drive through is “Hi welcome to <Dairy Store> how may help you?” When SL Jo had told a car to wait for me, I came on and said “What am I suppose to do for you?” It made Jo laugh, but he quickly said I should apologize when the car came to the window. Luckily they had no idea that I said anything wrong.

Only means Only
Our stores keep the drive-thru open for packaged items only after 11. Packaged is anything from the cooler or freezer. However, this concept is somehow too vague as people still try to order shakes, smoothies, sundaes, etc. That is until I dash their hopes and dreams when I tell them they can’t them.

[RetailActress]

I'm sorry you had to work on the 4th of July. This day should be set aside from corporate/managerial greed, and even more so should be Memorial Day, which is the
day to honor our war dead.

Citizens, don't patronize stores which greedily stay open on these important commemorative days, and let their corporate leaders know! Call, write, e-mail them!

R..A.

[RetailWorkhorse]

But....RA......THE MONEY IS BETTER! *Hugs paycheck* Holiday pay is the best, aside from OT, but I've only had two minutes worth of OT before.

[bainsidhe]

Hmm, would saying pre-packaged items be of any help? Until you educated me, I wasn't sure what a "packaged" item meant. I mean, shakes come packaged in a cup, right?

'Course, I wouldn't have yelled at you or anything like other SCs, I would've just given the famous blank look followed by surprise.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Most of my company's stores close on holidays like Easter, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, etc.

The ones that stay open? They're in Wisconsin and they include my store.

Dammit.

[Peppergirl]

I like working holidays because I get double time (plus 7.5 hrs comp time), but I do NOT care for the breed of travelers that the holidays tend to produce.

Particularly the one that called me all manner of names because I had the audacity to inform him that adding shore excursions to his Disney cruise vacation for October is NOT an emergency situation.

[StarsAreFixed]

My store only closes on Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and St.Stephens Day. Unlike most shops, it is open on New Year's Day, Good friday, and St Patrick's Day. I like getting the time and a half, but people expect amazing service on these days, and give out hell because there's not enough managers to cover the store. New Years Day/Paddys Day shoppers especially- why are you shopping, you should be drunk/hungover!

[karma_gypsy]

My husband had to work on the 4th ...

No OT, no time and a half, no double time, no holiday pay ... just yer regular ol' wages ... I felt bad for him (as my store was closed) ...

[monolayth]

I was at work. It was BUSY. Crazy busy. If I could my last caller would have been strangled over the phone. GRRR. At least I got to go to a party and blow things up.

[Pagan]

My store only closes on Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and St.Stephens Day. Unlike most shops, it is open on New Year's Day, Good friday, and St Patrick's Day.

St. Stephen's Day? Seeing that you're in Dublin (and I so want to visit someday!), I would expect that most places would be closed on St. Patrick's Day. But why St. Stephen's Day?

[mattm04]

I'm sorry you had to work on the 4th of July. This day should be set aside from corporate/managerial greed, and even more so should be Memorial Day, which is the
day to honor our war dead.

Citizens, don't patronize stores which greedily stay open on these important commemorative days, and let their corporate leaders know! Call, write, e-mail them!

R..A.

Better when a we are open on a major Religious holiday, easter comes to mind. We close at 2 PM, but never leave to 2:15 or later. We will always get one customers who comes in and says "It's a shame you have to work on Easter!" Yeah, well enough people SHOP on Easter to make it profitable to be open, if you don't shop we won't be open. That simple.

This year was the first year that the decided to keep the store open regular hours(6 am to midnight) Memorial Day and the 4th. Normally they are 7 am to 9 PM. I was stuck until 9, but like I predicted by 8 employees outnumbered employees by 4 to 1. Every other supermarket chain closed early. One closed at 1 PM the other at 7 PM.

It was busy from 8 AM to 10 AM, the an a parade cut off almost all traffic to the store until 11:45 to 12 PM. By 7:45 PM we began to essentially loose money, it cost more money to run the store than the number of customers we had. The last transaction from customer was at 9:20. The people left did back shop and cleaning by 10 and the sat around until midnight. Dodn't see a single customer.

[Sharsarannon]

St. Stephen's Day? Seeing that you're in Dublin (and I so want to visit someday!), I would expect that most places would be closed on St. Patrick's Day. But why St. Stephen's Day?

Saint Paddy's really turned into the big bash it is here in America as more of an Irish Heritage day than anything else. It's nowhere near as big in Ireland.
St. Stephen's day, on the other hand, is a very old traditional holiday in Europe that, being a Saint's Day, Americans have opted to forget, because who needs more holidays, right?
"Good King Wencelaus look'ed out, on the Feast of Stephen..." That St. Stephen's Day.

[crazylegs]

But why St. Stephen's Day?

It's the 26th of December, in the UK it's known as Boxing Day, it's a Bank Holiday in at least 27 other countries.

[Pagan]

St. Stephen's day, on the other hand, is a very old traditional holiday in Europe that, being a Saint's Day, Americans have opted to forget, because who needs more holidays, right?
"Good King Wencelaus look'ed out, on the Feast of Stephen..." That St. Stephen's Day.

Yeah, I knew the "Good King Wenceslas" angle (although I picked up an alternately worded version from my mother), just didn't know when it was. And, as I'm sure you can tell by my name here, I'm not exactly up on Christian saints!

It's the 26th of December, in the UK it's known as Boxing Day, it's a Bank Holiday in at least 27 other countries.

Hah! Most stores here are so engrossed in inflating their bottom line that the day after Christmas is almost as bad as the day after Thanksgiving. Not having to close on Christmas Eve and then be back early the day after is one reason that I'm am so happy not to be in retail anymore.

[Mark Healey]

The Fourth is the only holiday we close, and that is for our annual serious cleaning. The other major holidays it falls to the person who works that day to decide whether to work or not.