Um, Yes. The Sign is There for a Reason

[Really]

Hello! Long time lurker and here is a story for everyone.

I work for the Big Red Circles of Hell in the clothing department. Yesterday I had one of my coworkers come up to me and tell me that he just had a women get stuck in the handicap stall in the fitting room. The handle had broke on the inside so you could get in but not out. I locked the door (which you need a "key" to unlock it from the outside) and an "Out Of Order" on the door and told the boss so it could be fixed on Monday and you can not miss this sign.

Today (Sunday) I'm heading back to the fitting room when I can see that someone was in that stall with a cart (Not suppose to have carts in there anyways). This floors me.
a) The door was LOCKED and you have to open it from the inside if you don't have the key
b) The inside handle is broken therefor can not be opened from the inside...

How this women got in I still have no clue. I'm waiting for it though. I'm waiting for the call for help, and sure enough I hear the cry "Someone, anyone HELP! I"m stuck!"

I go in with the "key" and try to unlock the door, the "key" doesn't work. Let me explain the "key". The "Key" is just a simple paper clip that is unfolded to make it straight. We use the paper clip in a tiny hole that pushes the push button on the inside to unlock the door. I stand there for 5 mins (normally I can jimmy the "key" into working in under a minute) and I start to get a little worried. This women wouldn't fit under the door if I couldn't get it open, so the next step was call the fire department and the manger.

During this time this was our Conversation:

Me- Me
SC - Woman
SCK- Her kid (around 4years old)

SCK- Hello?? Let us OUT!
SC- She's trying sweety
SCK- Just go under mom!
SC- I am NOT climbing under that door. I don't care if I stay here all night, I'm NOT doing that.
Me- I can arrange that Yeah, THIS is the reason why we had the Out Of Order sign on the door
SC- Yeah, Now I realize why you had the sign there.


WAIT... Really???? RRREEEEAAALLLYYY???? You SAW the sign yet STILL for some reason decided to use the fitting room anyways???? REALLLY?!?!?! No I'm sorry we just had that sign up there for laughs, we were just lying to keep people out of that room. There was no reason other then that

I finally figured that if I pulled hard enough in the opposite direction of the door jam there would be just enough room to open the door. Soooooo, using all my power that this little 130lb 5'7 woman can muster I yank the door open and TADA! The woman is free.

I just stand there and glare at the woman
SC- Yeah, I needed to use that room because I had my kid with me
Me- Thats why you should have taken him out of the cart and used a room that was in working order
SC- *walks away with her tail between her legs*

No Sorry, no thank you for saving me, not a thing. So now thanks to this woman my shoulder has decided to punish me for my heroicness with so much pain that it hurts to move it. Thank you so much lady. Next time when a sign says "Out Of Order" IT'S NOT LYING!

Now excuse me, I need another Vicodin. If it still hurts like this in the morning I'll be making a stop back into work to file a claim then off to the doctor.

[Food Lady]

Seriously? People are the same wherever you go. I totally at Red Circles of Hell; best pseudonym for your store that I've heard. And I have to say that at my store paperclips fix everything. If not, we use duct tape.

[Marmalady]

And I have to say that at my store paperclips fix everything. If not, we use duct tape.

Over the customers' mouths?

[Mytical]

Over the customers' mouths?

Rule #1 violation, boy is work gonna LOVE me.

[Kristev]

But it would be fantastic! That's just what they need, a big piece of tape right across the mouth.

[LillFilly]

Yep, That's gold standard SC behavior right there. You don't know how many times we have people use the out-of-order bathroom stalls (they MUST climb under or something!) when there's a half-dozen others open! Or, when they put their money in a dispenser/game/machine that has an out-of-order sign on it (we had a guy doing this often; finally stopped giving him refunds) I just don't get it!!!!

Maybe she had the kid unlock it for her?

In the words of one of our SCs, "It says 'Out of Order'; it DOESN'T say 'Do Not Use." GRRRRRR.....

[Lace Neil Singer]

Welcome to CS.com! ^^

In my years working with the general public, I have found that customers do not read signs as a general rule. Once in the supermarket, an entire shelf of white wine collapsed. We shut off the aisle with trolleys each end and stuck a sign on both trolley rows saying that this aisle was closed, due to the huge amount of broken glass. Result? Several customers were caught pushing the trolleys aside trying to get to the aisle. -.- Yeah, fine, go there; cut your feet to smithereens. Just don't come crying to us.

[Magpie]

to . Would you like some cookies? They won't make you feel better, but you'll care less.

Shame about your shoulder. Me, I would have told her "sorry, because this door is broken I'm not physically capable of opening it, I need to get someone with tools." You are clearly a much nicer person than I am.

[NateTheChops]

Me- I can arrange that Yeah, THIS is the reason why we had the Out Of Order sign on the door
SC- Yeah, Now I realize why you had the sign there.

Yet another customer who would easily be rubbed out by natural selection if services like 911 didn't exist. She's the kind of person who spreads KY Jelly on toast and sues the company later because she was too busy to read the instructions.

Welcome to the boards. We feel your pain.

[EvilEmpryss]

You know, after all of the horror stories I've seen here about what people do in the changing rooms, if I saw "Out of Order" on one of them my first thought would not be that the door was broken. . .

It would be that someone left something indescribably icky in there and they hadn't had a chance to sanitize it yet.

Sometimes too much knowledge is not a good thing.

ETA: I've also seen people use something pointy to unlock doors like the ones you have. I guess they think it takes too much time to find the attendant.

[MoonCat]

Once in the supermarket, an entire shelf of white wine collapsed.

This makes me sad.

[Andara Bledin]

Or, when they put their money in a dispenser/game/machine that has an out-of-order sign on it (we had a guy doing this often; finally stopped giving him refunds) I just don't get it!!!!

I would bet you all the money he got refunded that he never put a single quarter in those machines.

And I'm one of the optimistic people, here.

^-.-^

[Lace Neil Singer]

This makes me sad.

Alas, poor wine, we knew you well.

[bainsidhe]

I'm somewhat surprised at how polite she was. Stupid yes, but she didn't chew you out for taking forever trying to fix her mistake. Guess I'm getting pretty cynical here, too.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

And I have to say that at my store paperclips fix everything. If not, we use duct tape.

Over the customers' mouths?

And also to secure unruly children to the walls.