You don't have to go home...

[Redhead17]

...but you can't stay here, because I want to go home!

Please people, if you see a person closing the gate to a store it means that we are closing. Do not walk into the store and begin to browse.

Closing time and we leave the gate open just enough so the last people can exit, and the lights are off. Well, a lady does not get that and comes into the store and starts to browse. My manager goes over to her and asks her if she is looking for anything. The lady says she is just browsing. While they are talking, more people start to come into the store. (Another lady, a family of 5, and an old lady)

Note: The store has been dead ALL DAY. Not more then a few people in the store at a time. And now they all decide closing time is the perfect time to shop. Also I do not have the authority to kick the people out.

Lady 1: Continues to browse.
Lady 2: Knows what she wants, and is out quickly.
Family: Makes one purchase, for over $300. They are out quick.
Old Lady: Is browsing.

15 minutes past closing time...
These 2 people are still here

30 minutes past closing time...
Old lady's daughter comes in to get her mom. (She was shopping at another store who is open later then us.) Old lady pays for her item, and comments that she did not know the store was closing.
Lady still browsing. That's it you are getting locked in, begins to close the gate slowly. She leaves without buying a thing.

I leave the building 45 minutes after closing time.

[An Haddock]

Is it possible to position someone at the front door - have it locked, and just unlock it to let someone out? I've seen the post office and banks do that until their last couple of customers leave.

[thehuckster]

Is it possible to position someone at the front door - have it locked, and just unlock it to let someone out? I've seen the post office and banks do that until their last couple of customers leave.

At CVS we had those big gates that go up and down. Problem was it took forever to get it up from the ground to a level where a customer could just duck their head to leave.

...so we left the gate at about 2-3 feet above ground to make it faster to move it up to that level. Of course, customers on the outside saw this as a challenge, and would either limbo (it was quite amazing how low some people can go!) or do an MLB-worthy slide under... the less acrobatic or athletic customers would simply wait for one of the customers to leave, and would simply enter while they exited, and no amount of our objections would stop them.

What's most annoying is the mall security would not get into matters like this, even if the mall closing announcement was made 15 minutes ago. They simply stated that mall policy prevented them from ejecting customers "just because the mall closed" ...which was combined with another policy that would fine stores that stayed opened after mall hours. So, we were often screwed both ways.

[Pixilated]

Good idea, but there's not always enough staff to do that. In "my" store, one of the last shifts had two people: me and Coworker. As closing time nears both of us are busy getting the closing stuff done -- cleaning, mopping, checking supplies and stock, etc.

We tend to close the door grill far enough that (we hope) people will get the message -- we often close it nearly all the way; anybody who's still inside can just push it open a bit more and leave, but people walking past will realize (we hope) that closing time is upon us.

So far it seems to be working...

[PepperElf]

, comments that she did not know the store was closing.

so the gate being half-lowered wasn't enough of a fucking clue-by-four?

[Lovecats]

I can still remember a comment from one of our customers that we should stop turning the lights down when we are closed as it makes it hard to shop. It makes my head hurt just trying to think of the logic behind that (or should I say lack thereof).

[Lace Neil Singer]

Old lady pays for her item, and comments that she did not know the store was closing.

Get this a lot where I work, even tho we have the closing and opening times clearly signed on the door.

Wouldn't let this woman in a few days ago to buy petrol; she started screaming at me that there was one hour to go before we closed and she'd call the manager if I didn't let her in. I replied, "We always close at ten"; her reply? "No, you close at eleven you lying bitch! You're just being lazy."

Needless to say, all bets are off the moment a customer starts with the namecalling. I wouldn't let her in and she drove off swearing to complain. Her complaint is going to go straight in the idiot file the moment she mentions that she showed up at ten.

[icmedia]

You're lucky in one respect-I used to manage a pizza place in our local mall, and we had no gate. This was especially fun in the morning when, before opening, we would be rushing to make the food necessary to start the day and be stocked up for lunch...I never realized how many people want pizza and breadsticks at 9am

[NotAlBundy]

When I first started working for my company a million years ago, the store I was in had an electric gate. Customers would wait until closing time before they realized they needed shoes to complete their outfit they had spent all day shopping for. The gate open/close mechanism was close to the floor. EVERY Friday and Saturday night, I would plop myself down on the floor so I could let customers out without new customers coming in.

And like others have said, we had people that would try to crawl under, roll under, limbo under, fight me (verbally), etc. I would just sweetly say, "Sorry, we closed at 9. I am not allowed to let people in after closing time."

ETA: I also think that some people see the halfway closed gate and think, "Oh, that's so rude. I'm gonna go in and look around, just so they can't close."

[EricKei]

At GameStore, we were able to get the gate down to about 2 feet from the ground, and were actually allowed to tell people we were closed (or about to close). As we COULD NOT count any money until all customers were gone, this was a godsend.

At BoutiqueGrocery, however, were were NEVER allowed to actually tell custys that we were closed/had closed half an hour ago if they were already in the store...We could turn off the automatic doors and guard them, shut off half of the lights and the marquee, sweep aisles the nansecond a custy moved to a different aisle, etc...but never TELL them. Naturally, we had a handful of regulars who came in at 5 minutes before close regularly so they could "shop in peace/without other customers getting in their way", knowing full well that it meant keeping half a dozen workers AND all of the managers there an extra half an hour to an hour. Makes me wonder if the owner ever did the math to see how much these people would need to spend every trip just to cover the extra salary & overhead from letting them do that...

[taxguykarl]

I've seen the post office and banks do that until their last couple of customers leave.

I can't speak for my CW's but at the tax office, I lock it at closing time. Next I assure any customers waiting that they will be served as they arrived before closing. Unlocking the door to let them out is not a problem.

[Lace Neil Singer]

At the garden centre, seeing as the manager wanted to get out of there as soon as, he had no problem with staff telling customers to leave. In fact, there'd be the outside staff or pet centre staff (ie me and my collegue) on the door ten minutes before closing time to stop customers coming in. Tho the manager was a pain in the arse incompetant (manager cuz of Dilbert Principle), his longing to leave the store bang on time was good for all the staff, as we got to leave on time, too.

[fireheart]

...but you can't stay here

"Were we being too loud?"
"No, the furniture was being too on fire."

[BrenDAnn]

I hate last-minute browsers. I'm not supposed to do it, but I have been known to shut off the lights on them. Thankfully, that usually gets their attention, and gets them in gear. Well...Aside from the couple that stood in the chip aisle, bickering over which bag of chips to get, for a good ten minutes or more. I was very much NOT amused that night, needless to say.

[emax4]

At some point you should be able to walk up to the patrons still in the store RIGHT AT CLOSING TIME and direct them up front. Advise that the registers shut down at a certain time and that waiting in line would be useless since the register wouldn't be operating anymore by the time they were ready to check out.

I also remember suggesting to an employee dealing with a repeat offender that he or she should just ask the customer what few items they wanted, have the customer wait at the cash register while the employee retrieves the item(s). This prevents custys from walking around with the lights out or dimmed and saves the employee from having to work (or wait) longer than necessary. I believe that the tables can be turned on the custys too. Why not dust, mop, or empty all the remaining cash register receipts and make the customer wait at the cash register? It's obvious that they don't have any concept of time or urgency, so use it to your advantage and get work done on your time and theirs. If the customer complains, simply tell them that the closing announcement was given a few times before, and since they're in no hurry to purchase their products that it shouldn't impact them waiting a little longer. Make up some excuse that the registers have to reboot because it's past the data transfer time and the last few purchases will count towards tomorrows sales.