Checking out an hour after close

[Jester]

I forgot in my earlier post, but being a DJ in a bar, one can have a more amusing time getting people to leave.

When I used to DJ at a titty bar in Phoenix, this would happen at closing time.

JESTER: "Gentleman, thank you for coming to [Dive Bar Show Lounge]. It's now 4 am, and we are closed. We'll see you tomorrow."

No one moved. All the guys kept staring at the stage, zombie-like, apparently thinking there were more dancers coming out. Or ignoring me. Or both.

JESTER: "Gentleman, as I said, [Dive Bar Show Lounge] is now closed. If you have not already purchased a private dance with one of our lovely ladies, you will have plenty of opportunities to do so tomorrow, but at this time, we must ask you to enjoy the rest of your evening somewhere else."

No one moved. Zombies. Crickets. You get the idea.

JESTER: "Alright, gentlemen, we have no more dancers for you, but it's now time for the DJ to dance!"

At which point everyone got up and left. Some rather quickly.


When I used to DJ at the clothing optional bar, with one song left, I would announce last call. No problem. After that song ended, I got on the mike some some variation of this:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the [Clothing Optional Bar] is now closed. If you are not staff, if you are not sleeping with the staff, and if the staff has no immediate plans of sleeping with you, it is now time for you to GET THE FUCK OUT. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here!"

I'm not sure if it's related, but I got laid from that job more than any other job I've ever had, before or since.

[RetailSlave]

Our store closes at 7pm Christmas Eve and reopens at 6am on Dec 26th..the only time we are ever closed. We start making announcements at 6pm, followed by announcements at 6:15, 6:30, 6:40, and then every 5 minutes. In the last 10-15 minutes they send managers, floor workers and LP out to patrol the aisles and get the customers to the registers. Once the last customers have left they pull Uscan and all the tills but one and one cashier will ring up workers who are grabbing a few last minute items. If that cashier needs anything one of the managers will ring them out. Scratch off lottery tickets and money orders are pulled from the Service Desk and we normally have the last employee out the door by 7:30. Store Director and LP will go close the gas station, shut down the pumps and drop the money and lottery tickets in the safe.
Luckily the last two years I have worked 3rd shift so I have had Christmas Eve off, but come in at Midnight to clean and get things ready for opening at 6am on the 26th.
We did have to close the doors one time for a couple of hours because we had lost power and our backup generator failed. We had to take flashlights and escort everyone out. One woman locked herself in the dressing room and refused to come out. She told the Team Leader, "No! I took a long time to pick out these clothes and I am not gonna leave until I try them on!" What the hell?? It was pitch dark so she couldn't see how they looked, and the registers were down so she couldn't buy them even if she wanted. Nevertheless, she stayed in there until she had tried on the clothes, then she unlocked the door and walked out and was escorted to the doors.

[BowserKoopa1]

Your managers appear to have absolutely no consideration for their employees if they let stuff like this happen. Of course why should they care? They're probably a bunch of greedy moneygrabbing assholes who so badly wanna make that extra sale. And when someone actually has the guts to say something, their response is something like....
"They're customers and they pay our paychecks, so don't complain" or "We need every sale in this lousy economy". God I am so fucking tired hearing about the dam economy. Its 1 lousy sale, tell them to come back tomorrow. Offer them a voucher or something, but your employees are tired and want to go home and be with their families on Christmas Eve.
I used to work at Target, and I actually saw 1 of our closing managers get furious when 2 customers were taking their sweet time. He said he was going to make them leave. I sure wish he had, because he chickened out and didn't say anything to them, just like we all figured he would, he was more bark than bite.
Here is what I might suggest doing.... If you have security in the store or a police officer, have them follow the guest around a little bit. I guarantee this will make them want to leave quickly.

[PepperElf]

Yikes.

i thought about this thread last night ....

My bf and I went to a coffee shop last night (after the gun range). He looked around and asked me what time it was... apparently it was 5 minutes until closing. So we left. There'll be plenty of other days to go back.

And I told him about some of the SCs discussed here and that yes... there would be some who would be bitches and demand service anyway.

[Kogarashi]

This was one of the things the management at the last Walmart I worked at did right. Store closing time was 10pm. All 2nd shift employees clocked out at 10:30pm and sent home so 3rd shift could do its cleaning/restocking work overnight. During that half hour, the cashiers were to quickly straighten the front end and do returns, and organize aisles if necessary until clock-out time. The only exception was one cashier who was left on the cigarette/express lane to check out any stragglers as quickly as possible. Closing warnings were announced over the PA at one hour, half an hour, fifteen minutes, ten minutes, and five minutes, followed by a "The store is now closed. Take your stuff to the front and check out please." announcement. Any customer on the floor at that point would then be told to get up front since the doors were being locked. Only once did the last cashier not get off register until 10:30, and that was because there were a bunch of stragglers that day, all escorted up front with loaded carts as soon as the store closed.

If anyone protested, the employees (usually CSMs and managers, as the cashiers were busy cleaning) explained that we were shutting down the registers and if the customers didn't hurry, they wouldn't be able to pay for anything.