New Olympic Sport: Entrance Barricade Obfuscation.

[yomiko]

Would customers still try to enter an area they shouldn't, if there was clearly a ferocious wild animal on the other side of the door?

Yes, they would. There are no limits to human stupidity.

[aurelemsrealm]

I worked at a convenience store in my hometown a few years ago. A tornado ripped through town while I was working by myself one evening. There was a lot of damage across town, and the rest was without power. The store was not damaged, just no power. I locked the doors, and checked the phone. The phone still worked, so I called the manager to let her know I was okay and the store had no power. She told me to close and go home, and that she would check on the store later.

I had half a dozen people bang on the door in the time it took me to do the closing paperwork and make sure everything was off or unplugged. I just shouted that the store is closed, and kept doing what I had to do. I was just glad to get home and find only a few downed limbs in the yard.

[XCashier]

when i was a manager i used to get it all the time.*rattle rattle*are you open?yes were always open when the lights are off,the doors are locked AND THERES A BIG SIGN IN THE WINDOW THAT SAYS CLOSED.

Had that all the time when I worked at the Coin Shop. Door magnetically locked, big red "CLOSED" signs on either side of the door, store hours on a huge red sign with 2" tall white letters, obviously we're closed...yet we'd have people banging on the doors, peeking in, tugging at the handle (sometimes hard enough to twist the hinges or misalign the lock!).

Are these folks:

1. selective readers who conveniently ignore "CLOSED" signs,
2. so utterly narcissistic they think the world revolves around them, and only them, and the CLOSED sign is for everyone else, not Almighty THEM!
3. just plain stupid, or
4. all of the above (heaven help us!)

[Mnemjian]

Some people really are oblivious to everything except for their own little world (in which signs are not recognized). Once our store got broken into overnight. A window was broken and glass was everywhere on the floor. So the police, the manager and I were standing around inside, with the doors unlocked but closed, the lights were off, the sign said CLOSED, and it was still two hours before the opening time.

Guess how many people tried to come in and shop? ...Only three

I wonder how many customers try to come into our stores when they are 100% closed and nobody's even there?

[chainedbarista]

not the horrid wilting moaning masses

why does this statement make me recall the original 'dawn of the dead?'

[AtDIelement]

I've had similar at the bank. People wait and when we roll up at 7 in the AM (our drive thru opens at 7:30) they would try and follow me in.

I told them we weren't open yet and they would just stand there and blink at me.

It got to the point one time that I went back and sat in my car, being it's a security hazard to open with someone standing there. They actually came over to my car and waited for me... I called the cops and they got those free shiny bracelets.

....Idiots.

[The Gatekeeper]

This brings back memories.

When I managed the music store in the mall, that also had a ticket outlet. One of the benefits of working in a music store was a really good stereo. At open, and at close we would crank up the music so we couldn't really hear them rattling the gates. It was always tricky when staff started to trickle in closer to open. Sometimes the idiots would try and sneak in with them, or try to not let them through. I really got to perfect my Death Glare™ while working there!

SC (Screaming over the music) - "What time do you open!?!??"
Me (because I'm a bitch, and they're stupid) - "Same time as the mall!"

Seriously? Yes the doors to the mall are open, so the seniors can do their walking. But NO ONE else is open. The mall hours are posted on ALL of the doors.

How do I know that they were being willfully stupid? Because almost none of them followed up with the obvious question "and what time is that". Obviously they knew the mall hours. Dumb asses!