Closing time is non negociable

[Mytical]

There were people working for this guy for 14 years still making minimum wage. Chances of him paying for insurance for those drops would be about the same as putting out the sun by spitting on it.

[EricKei]

At Grocery Store, they installed computerized timers on all the electrical circuits, so half the lights in the store went out exactly at closing time.

I LOVE it when stores do this. I honestly believe that it's the only way to get a certain percentage of last-second shoppers to get it in gear. At a small grocery where I worked in the 90's, we had a cursetomer who INTENTIONALLY showed up at ten minutes to close when they came (and told us so), specifically so they could shop in peace and quiet (so come at 9am, dingbat), and never stayed for less than an hour -- at a store where we were FORBIDDEN to ask them to hurry up, or to give them "hints" by sweeping up the aisle that they were using...

Which probably means that you weren't covered by your employer's insurance while you were making those deposits.

I never have understood that -- why is it that stores seem to force the people who are paid the least to handle huge sums of money, AND hold them personally responsible for any shortages? Yes, meaning, if they got mugged while taking the Deposit to the bank, they would get fired immediately and possibly sued for the money; maybe even threatened with criminal charges, as well.

GameStore, in particular, was known for this -- and, as was mentioned in a prior post -- going overtime by even 15 minutes was a fireable-on-the-spot offense (whether the OT was intentional or not); if you kept your job, you could expect to get a reaming from the higher-ups about your having "stolen money from the company"

[Argabarga]

I LOVE it when stores do this. I honestly believe that it's the only way to get a certain percentage of last-second shoppers to get it in gear.

That reminds me, back in my grocery days, we had a customer slip in the door as the manager was going to lock it. Not wishing to cause a commotion, he just turned the lights off since everything else was shut down...

The customer grabbed a cart anyway and started shopping in the pitch black

The manager had to find him in the dark to tell him to get out, we were closed....

[Lace Neil Singer]

We used to do that in the garden centre; everyone with a separate section would switch the lights off once they'd closed up, to herd any customers still left in the store to the front. I remember once switching the lights off in Pets and there was still this woman groping around in the dark. I went up to her to tell her to go to the front, and she came out with, "Why have you switched the lights off?" I told her that my section was closed, and she grumbled a bit about how she hadn't finished shopping yet.

Jeez, if you want to take ages shopping, then why not turn up earlier?

[EricKei]

The manager had to find him in the dark to tell him to get out, we were closed....

"Attention Mallmart shoppers -- The store is now closed. If you have anything in your basket, too bad, it's time to leave. We're locking the doors in fifteen minutes. If you end up locked in here overnight as a result, that's not our problem. Just stay away from the produce section and you will probably live until we re-open in the morning; Mister Grumbles doesn't like surprises or loud noises."

Fifteen minutes later...

"I really hope you didn't think we were kidding. Good night, and good luck ... Release Mister Grumbles." *clack*

[Lace Neil Singer]

Ha, you joke about that, but at the garden centre we very nearly locked a customer in overnight. Not on purpose, you understand, but accidentally. Normally what we did before leaving and locking the doors was to check around the store while the manager checked the security cameras, just to make sure no-one was inside.

The day was Friday; payday. We were all paid weekly and in cash. Since we were all on fixed hours, this meant a mad rush for the door on all other days, once we were free to go. On payday, we all hung around to wait for our pay packets. This was fortunate for the woman customer who strayed off camera and was not found in the sweep of the store. XD Just as we were about to leave, the woman came sprinting into the checkout area screaming, "Wait, wait!" XD

She was a little put out when told she couldn't buy the stuff in her basket, since the last till had been cashed up long ago, and left in a huff. Well, sor-ree, next time we'll let you spend the night in the store!