Customers who come into the store to shop......10 minutes before closing time!

[greensinestro]

Years ago, I worked for Publix while in high school. It was a good paying job (at least to a teenager), yet I always had my pet peeves about the customers. Much of the time, many were nice, but you always had the troublemakers. The ones I hated the most were the ones who had all day or evening to go grocery shopping, but then would arrive five or ten minutes before the store was about to close. This one lady did that one night. One of the managers told her, "Maam, we are about to close." Her response was, "Yes, but you cannot deny me entry into the store if you all are still open. You are about to close only for those that come in after 10pm." What a bitch! To add insult to injury, she was not there to get just one or two things. She got a cart, and did her entire two weeks' worth of shopping. Meanwhile, when she finished at 1050pm, 50 minutes after the store closed, she then had to have a bagger take out her groceries. This took another ten minutes or so, because this woman was religious and had to preach to the poor guy (who wanted to go home pretty badly).

What's awful about a story like this is that per company policy, managers are not allowed to turn away customers when it is a few minutes before closing time. When I worked for Publix, we had a manager that locked the doors at five minutes before, and when a customer was refused entry, this customer reported it to the corporate headquarters. Needless to say, this manager was fired almost immediately for this.

Publix much of the time closes at 10pm where I live, yet there are other grocery stores like Albertson's that are open until midnight (although I only shop there for something quick, like a gallon of milk or loaf of bread. I hate them otherwise). Winn Dixie has many stores that are 24/7 (they suck, too, by the way). Then again, customers like this woman probably only shop at Publix, therefore an argument like this is fruitless. I think her reply to that manager was "I know you're about to close and you all want to go home, but I really don't give a shit. That's why I waited until 955pm to do my shopping."

[Reyneth]

You could let her in - but did you have to check her out? At all of my stores, you can come in the door until we were technically closed, but at closing time you better be IN line (or within one minute) or you whould be told "please come back and finish that tomorrow, you MUST leave now." I'm surprised that corporate was willing to shell out the $$ for everyone that must stay an hour longer because one woman wanted to be a snot and shop then.

The handy "the registers are on a timer and close down 10 minutes after our stated closing time" has been used in my past (although the sucky entitlement queen you knew), along with the (true) one that our insurance/security company does not allow anyone not on payroll in the store during non-operating hours.

[greensinestro]

Reyneth,

Thanks for pointing that out. I forgot to mention that in the years since this incident, OSHA stepped in and took care of problems like this. While customers still are able to do shit like this snotty ass woman did, Publix is no longer allowed to keep employees under the age of 18 past certain hours, usually past 9pm, if I am not mistaken. When this happened, Publix was breaking all sorts of laws, like allowing under age kids to operate machinery, or keeping them until 11pm or even past that. These poor kids were not getting their homework done, or weren't getting enough sleep because of how late their boss kept them at the store. What was bad was you couldn't leave because management would lock the doors to keep out other people trying to get in. So, you felt as if you were a prisoner.

[Becks]

That's why I like our cops at work. At about 5 or 10 minutes before close, they will stand by the doors and tell customers that the store will be closing soon. Some customers actually LEAVE!!!!!!! When others attempt to grab a cart, the cop tells them that they can't.

[Imogene]

This took another ten minutes or so, because this woman was religious and had to preach to the poor guy.

Hmmm...
RB: Now, you know, Jesus died... for your sins?
M: No, did you know Luminous created God?
RB: What?
M: Luminous, 'The Light', created your concept of 'God'.
RB: What? *getting angry*
M: Well, if the universe started with darkness, then the only way to distinguish that there was a 'God' out there to create Earth, would be if there was a light source for people to see him. Sure, 'God' can see in the dark, but people can't. So, obviously, Light created 'God'. Luminous, be he ever so humble, is the reason your 'God' exists.

[greensinestro]

Hmmm...
RB: Now, you know, Jesus died... for your sins?
M: No, did you know Luminous created God?
RB: What?
M: Luminous, 'The Light', created your concept of 'God'.
RB: What? *getting angry*
M: Well, if the universe started with darkness, then the only way to distinguish that there was a 'God' out there to create Earth, would be if there was a light source for people to see him. Sure, 'God' can see in the dark, but people can't. So, obviously, Light created 'God'. Luminous, be he ever so humble, is the reason your 'God' exists.

Oh, my goodness! You sound like the old man who used to come in and preach about The Temple. It got to where any time this man came in, the cashiers would cringe and wonder who was going to be the victim cashier that had to ring this guy's order up. Then, it practically got to where a manager would have to force a bagger to take his groceries out. This man would at times keep the poor baggers our for twenty, thirty minutes at a time. It got to where if I was chosen, I would load his groceries in the car, then tell him to have a nice day and quickly walk away, even while he was still in the middle of his sermon. Oh, how I hated this guy.

[Imogene]

Oh, my goodness! You sound like the old man who used to come in and preach about The Temple. It got to where any time this man came in, the cashiers would cringe and wonder who was going to be the victim cashier that had to ring this guy's order up. Then, it practically got to where a manager would have to force a bagger to take his groceries out. This man would at times keep the poor baggers our for twenty, thirty minutes at a time. It got to where if I was chosen, I would load his groceries in the car, then tell him to have a nice day and quickly walk away, even while he was still in the middle of his sermon. Oh, how I hated this guy.

Are you calling me old?
I don't pontificate (out loud) on my religion unless someone else starts telling me about theirs, and trying to say it's "the one true religion". Them going into their spiel, just means it must be alright for me to go into mine. Do unto others, and all.

What's *mood lighting comes up* 'The Temple'?

[Knightmare]

The Temple?
I think Indiana Jones had something to do with it.

[SuperB]

I'm in an area that has both locals and cabin owners. In the summer, when I work, I work from 8am to 8pm. This last summer for whatever reason, we had a lot of cabin owners who thought they could come in a few minutes before closing and not only look for a snack but spend 20 minutes or more picking out a movie to rent. I finally had to start closing 5 minutes to 8 and make sure they all *knew* I was out of here at 8, no later.
The cabin owner who was the last straw, knew I wanted to close, was told I had somewhere to be, was told I had been here 12 hours and he still let his brat of a kid spend 15 minutes deciding on which candy bar she wanted.

[Seshat]

I think her reply to that manager was "I know you're about to close and you all want to go home, but I really don't give a shit. That's why I waited until 955pm to do my shopping."

She'd give a shit if you put a surcharge on her shopping: the overtime wages of each person she kept back, for the period she kept them back.

Sounds like justice to me.

[Hicksey]

Closing time doesn't only mean that one cannot enter after that designated time, but also that they must EXIT before said time as well.

Like Ron White says, "You can't fix stupid."

[Jester]

Not to mention, I'm not paid past closing time. So that's when I'd like to leave because I don't particularly care to work for free.

Technically, that's illegal. If your employer is making you work, they must pay you for said work. They cannot have you working and not be on the clock. Absolutely ridiculous that places are still getting away with such idiocy.

[childofsolitude]

A few nights ago, I was closing and I was walking up to the front registers to put an empty cart away. We were making the final closing announcement when I see two teens walking into the store. The lights had shut off at this point but they didn't seem to care. I followed the two of them around the store to see where they were going and they ended up in the electronics department. One of my coworkers told them that we were closed and they had to leave. One of the teens said to my coworker "We just need to find a CD". My coworker replied with "Ok but we WILL close the doors if you don't hurry up." My coworker and I were just standing there staring at them when my coworker got angry and asked them which cd they were looking for so she could get them out of the store. We were out of the cd yet the two of them continued to browse the cd area. At this point, it was 5 minutes after the store closed and the people up front were trying to close the registers so my coworker ended up kicking them out.

Who goes shopping 1 minute before the store closes to buy a cd? WTF?

[blas]

I don't understand why stores cannot shut off the lights and lock the doors (at least, the entrance doors, and have an employee on guard at the exit doors to prevent any sneaky customers from entering) at 5 minutes to close. I'm sure if those corporate assholes were in any normal employee's shoes, they'd be irate and pulling their hair out when they saw several cars pull up at 10 minutes to close and "I'm only getting 1 thing!", then 45 minutes later, two cart fulls of stuff.

It's not even a selfish thing......it's a safety and security thing. Knowing exactly who is coming in and who's going out, making sure there are no more last minute lurkers.........and having an employee to prevent sneaky customers from going in the back could prevent a lot of trouble.

I got lucky at the gas station, being all by myself. I didn't even care what the clock said, at 5 to, I'd run and lock the doors and shut off the lights. When people still wouldn't stop, I made it 10 to........and on International Drunk Day, I made it 20 to, lol. I always figured if my manager were to say anything (but she never watched the tapes unless she had to) I'd bring up to her all the times that she had to come in for someone (when I couldn't) and she'd say "fuck it" and close at 7 pm just because she didn't want to be there anymore.

Unfortunately, one employee took it too far and closed too early one night and a customer complained (rightfully so with how early this kid closed). I was pushing it with 20 minutes early, but I was just starting my new job and did not want to be in such a fussy mood. I'd dealt with drunks for almost 8 hours, I'd had enough. So closing early was nipped in the butt after that, and my manager would watch to see when people closed. Darn. Too bad I was long gone after that

[DesignFox]

I use to shut down the good ol' photo studio about 10 mins early. Closed at 7, meant "go home, off the clock" at 7. People couldn't grasp that I had closing tasks to do, and if I tried to take their portraits at 10 to 7 because "you are open for 10 more mins, you HAVE to take my pictures" I would end up in the studio until 8 o'clock at night...sometimes 9! I got sick of people taking advantage of me, so, if there were no customers all day long...and that last sad individual wanted their photo taken at 6:55 at night, they were out of luck. I was not going to force the company to pay me overtime for one lousy idiot, who couldn't make it in the other 8 hours of the day....not to mention that c'mon...I have needs too! On the days we had to cut film...closing tasks could take 30 mins or more. so I'd stop taking photos 30 mins to close...i'd schedule appointments, answer the phone, allow pick ups or orders- but no more shooting. sorry. same went when it got close to lunch break. I got tired of not getting a break because of last minute jerkwads.