Sometimes it’s just pure obliviousness and you really need to speak up.
One of my embarrassing moments was shopping at a teacher store to supply my ex’s classroom. We were kind of enjoying the afternoon so taking our time, no big deal. Then the store people started coming over more frequently to ask if we needed help. No thank you. Eventually we make our way to the register and were shocked to discover the store closed half an hour ago. wtf, why didn’t someone kick us out, or at least stop being so damn polite and tell us they were closing since we clearly didn’t realize it? I’ll never forget the cringe of keeping people so late, and we were just enjoying leisurely shopping that could have finished long since
My boyfriend and I did this by accident in one of the big ass multi floor arcades in Akihabara. By default, service in Japan is so polite, and people are often very indirect, so the employees kept giving us subtle cues to leave that we were both oblivious to. Eventually, we caught on and were like, “Oh shit,” so we headed to the exit. Most of the employees had gathered to wave off customers as they left, but they all looked pretty pissed. We were the last two customers in the building, and they closed the doors behind us.
I still feel so horrible. It doesn’t help being foreigners and falling right into bad stereotypes 😭
Former cashier here: not paid enough to argue with the person who does that on purpose. Maybe they even have a semi-good reason, like “the party starts in 5 minutes”.
I was at a grocery store where a guy went into the express 15 items checkout with a full cart (no excuses, it’s very clearly marked), he was unloading all his stuff while the person in front was finishing up and then when it was his turn the cashier dead faced stared at him, shut off the light and her register, and walked to the one next to it and started it up. It was amazing.
Long ago when I worked in supermarkets, our 12 item line was a hard limit; the scanner stopped working at 12. If you had more than that, it was your hard luck item 13 simply wouldn’t scan.
Many times this caused problems, mainly for the customer.
Customer: Hey it is only 2 more items.
Operator: But I can’t scan it, the scanner stops at 12.
Customer: But it is only two more items!!
Operator: I understand that, but the scanner won’t take them.
Customer: FINE, just start a new transaction!
Operator: If you will please go to the back of the line then.
Customer: WHAT, but I’m here now!!!
Supervisor: What seems to be the problem here?
Operator: More than 12 items.
Customer: I ONLY HAVE 2 EXTRA ITEMS!!!
Supervisor: I understand, if you could please go to the back of the line to get the extra two items, we will be happy to help you.
Customer: WHAT THE FUCK, IT IS JUST TWO EXTRA ITEMS!!!
Supervisor: If you want, them in one transaction we can cancel this one and move you to a full sized checkout.
Customer: …ENRAGED RANTING…
Supervisor: If you are going to be abusive to me or my staff, I’ll have to ask you to leave.
Word of that type of thing gets around, for the number of people through the supermarket, the total number of incidents was very low. But they happened at least once a week.
It’s nice when you have a boss that has your back. I worked at RadioShack back in the day, and the manager of the store I stayed at the longest was like that. Of course we didn’t have the whole x items or less, but we were in a busy college area, only on-street parking, so we’d get people running in and wanting to be served immediately regardless of how busy we were because they were double parked. The boss empowered us to tell them to fuck off, politely of course. “Come back when you have more time, we’ll be happy to help”. Also, we were next to a parking lot, it wasn’t ours, though we did have a couple of spots that were clearly marked employee parking only. Few things gave the boss more pleasure than calling a tow truck… Literally rubbing his hands with glee on multiple occasions.
The thing is, you don’t know if the customer is just an asshole or oblivious. So, I could confront you and risk being yelled at (which I really don’t want to deal with at the end of a shift), then stand around waiting for a half hour, OR I could skip the yelling and just stand around waiting for a half hour.
I work at a restaurant inside a park. We open an hour after the park opens, and one of the store entrances is attached to the park welcome building. The doors for that entrance do not securely lock, and can be opened, with a bit of struggle, while locked. You know it’s going to be an interesting day when you have to kick people out BEFORE we open. We don’t turn the lights on until open, but every couple weeks people still manage to get in and expect to be seated.
You can hear them struggle with the door from across the room. They walk into a dark restaurant. You say “I’m sorry we don’t open for another 15 minutes”. Most of the time their response is not to apologize and leave. I’ve heard the open ended statements “Well we’re here now”, or “your doors were unlocked”, or even the more presumptuous “can we eat in the trolley?”. They are still made to wait outside and are inevitably mad about it.
I will choose to avoid confrontation anytime I can, as most of the time I don’t have a choice.
As someone who works retail, I’m pretty shameless when it comes to kicking people out. I do it politely and with a smile but I have no problem telling customers we’re about to close or are closed.
I worked retail at a store that had a rule that we DO NOT rush customers out if they come in before we lock the doors. We were NOT allowed to mention we were closed and we were NOT allowed to roll out merchandise to the aisles.
Corportate was cobfused on how our store had so much overtime when customers would regularly walk in a minute before close, stay an hour and buy nothing.
As a customer, I only wished you’d have a screen or something other than the menu.
Or maybe hours posted at the box.
The McDonald’s by me likes to change hours- I’m. It there frequently enough to know how often but they still have the “open 24” signage as you pull in; so it’s more or less impossible to know if they’re just busy or actually closed.
I worked at fuddruckers in high school, and the owner would jump over the counter and haul ass across the restaurant to lock the door in people’s faces. It was amazing.
At my store (which I worked at for 23 years and miss dearly), I would always let my regulars come in after closing if I could still serve them. If they had cash, I’d ring it up the next day.
That was one of 7 stores I worked in over the years (same company).
The other 6, hell no. Once they realized that I’d open the door after closing those bastards were coming up to an hour after I locked the doors. Same jerks every time yelling and cussing at me, “Well yer still here yuh faygit I don’t see why you won’t let me git a beer!”. Sometimes I’d stay late and hide in the office to watch a little tv before going home. It was always the same jackasses beating on the door at 1 AM putting their hands and faces up to the glass with stupid looks on their faces. I stopped letting them in after it became a problem for me and no matter how many times I said no, they’d walk their drunk asses to that store to try me.
It is amazing how much culture can change over 40 miles of road. I mean it, it’s crazy. Even the meth heads were polite and reasonable when they were in the middle of a 3 week, no sleep, hallucination fueled nightmare. “Ah, man. I’m so sorry that I bothered you. There’s people following me across the road so I’m just gonna borrow a little of your light here until someone I know comes to get me. I hope you have a good night.”
In that one store every local was always polite. I had two memorable assholes there over 23 years. At the others I had so many I couldn’t tell you.
Worked at a staples store in the early 2000s and we’d make an announcement that the store was closing 30 minutes before, 15 minutes before and then another when we closed.
Nobody was rushed out by employees but we still let them know.
My favorite tactic used by several of the coffee shops near me is they start slowly turning the music louder. People naturally start leaving once it’s too loud to think or talk. Place I used to work at we’d turn off half the lights and everyone would just show up at the register no confrontation needed. People were fine with it a vast majority of the time but occasionally there would be someone who asked us to turn the lights back on so they could keep shopping
Sometimes it’s just pure obliviousness and you really need to speak up.
One of my embarrassing moments was shopping at a teacher store to supply my ex’s classroom. We were kind of enjoying the afternoon so taking our time, no big deal. Then the store people started coming over more frequently to ask if we needed help. No thank you. Eventually we make our way to the register and were shocked to discover the store closed half an hour ago. wtf, why didn’t someone kick us out, or at least stop being so damn polite and tell us they were closing since we clearly didn’t realize it? I’ll never forget the cringe of keeping people so late, and we were just enjoying leisurely shopping that could have finished long since
My boyfriend and I did this by accident in one of the big ass multi floor arcades in Akihabara. By default, service in Japan is so polite, and people are often very indirect, so the employees kept giving us subtle cues to leave that we were both oblivious to. Eventually, we caught on and were like, “Oh shit,” so we headed to the exit. Most of the employees had gathered to wave off customers as they left, but they all looked pretty pissed. We were the last two customers in the building, and they closed the doors behind us.
I still feel so horrible. It doesn’t help being foreigners and falling right into bad stereotypes 😭
I’ll never forget when my wife and I accidentally entered the 15 items or less line at the grocery with a full cart. Why didn’t they say no?
Former cashier here: not paid enough to argue with the person who does that on purpose. Maybe they even have a semi-good reason, like “the party starts in 5 minutes”.
I was at a grocery store where a guy went into the express 15 items checkout with a full cart (no excuses, it’s very clearly marked), he was unloading all his stuff while the person in front was finishing up and then when it was his turn the cashier dead faced stared at him, shut off the light and her register, and walked to the one next to it and started it up. It was amazing.
Long ago when I worked in supermarkets, our 12 item line was a hard limit; the scanner stopped working at 12. If you had more than that, it was your hard luck item 13 simply wouldn’t scan.
Many times this caused problems, mainly for the customer.
Customer: Hey it is only 2 more items.
Operator: But I can’t scan it, the scanner stops at 12.
Customer: But it is only two more items!!
Operator: I understand that, but the scanner won’t take them.
Customer: FINE, just start a new transaction!
Operator: If you will please go to the back of the line then.
Customer: WHAT, but I’m here now!!!
Supervisor: What seems to be the problem here?
Operator: More than 12 items.
Customer: I ONLY HAVE 2 EXTRA ITEMS!!!
Supervisor: I understand, if you could please go to the back of the line to get the extra two items, we will be happy to help you.
Customer: WHAT THE FUCK, IT IS JUST TWO EXTRA ITEMS!!!
Supervisor: If you want, them in one transaction we can cancel this one and move you to a full sized checkout.
Customer: …ENRAGED RANTING…
Supervisor: If you are going to be abusive to me or my staff, I’ll have to ask you to leave.
Word of that type of thing gets around, for the number of people through the supermarket, the total number of incidents was very low. But they happened at least once a week.
It’s nice when you have a boss that has your back. I worked at RadioShack back in the day, and the manager of the store I stayed at the longest was like that. Of course we didn’t have the whole x items or less, but we were in a busy college area, only on-street parking, so we’d get people running in and wanting to be served immediately regardless of how busy we were because they were double parked. The boss empowered us to tell them to fuck off, politely of course. “Come back when you have more time, we’ll be happy to help”. Also, we were next to a parking lot, it wasn’t ours, though we did have a couple of spots that were clearly marked employee parking only. Few things gave the boss more pleasure than calling a tow truck… Literally rubbing his hands with glee on multiple occasions.
What’s it like being a monster?
Like I said, I will never forget. When I realized I tried to take back our stuff but it was too late.
So you relish it in your memory. Awful.
You got me! One time I berated a service worker into making me an off menu item! Yesterday I kicked a kitten for looking at me funny!
I bet you make the if it doesn’t scan it’s free joke every time
As a former long time service industry wage slave I’ll have it known that you’ve crossed a line. Take it back.
It’s like it lives rent-free in the head and constantly pipes up saying just how monstrous that was. That’s rough punishment.
The thing is, you don’t know if the customer is just an asshole or oblivious. So, I could confront you and risk being yelled at (which I really don’t want to deal with at the end of a shift), then stand around waiting for a half hour, OR I could skip the yelling and just stand around waiting for a half hour.
I work at a restaurant inside a park. We open an hour after the park opens, and one of the store entrances is attached to the park welcome building. The doors for that entrance do not securely lock, and can be opened, with a bit of struggle, while locked. You know it’s going to be an interesting day when you have to kick people out BEFORE we open. We don’t turn the lights on until open, but every couple weeks people still manage to get in and expect to be seated.
You can hear them struggle with the door from across the room. They walk into a dark restaurant. You say “I’m sorry we don’t open for another 15 minutes”. Most of the time their response is not to apologize and leave. I’ve heard the open ended statements “Well we’re here now”, or “your doors were unlocked”, or even the more presumptuous “can we eat in the trolley?”. They are still made to wait outside and are inevitably mad about it.
I will choose to avoid confrontation anytime I can, as most of the time I don’t have a choice.
I never worked food service, but I did my time in retail… That “Well we’re here now” just gave me a PTSD-like flashback…
As someone who works retail, I’m pretty shameless when it comes to kicking people out. I do it politely and with a smile but I have no problem telling customers we’re about to close or are closed.
If they are non-assholes then they should be glad you made them aware
Shameless makes sense. Rules aren’t shameful they’re just rules.
I worked retail at a store that had a rule that we DO NOT rush customers out if they come in before we lock the doors. We were NOT allowed to mention we were closed and we were NOT allowed to roll out merchandise to the aisles.
Corportate was cobfused on how our store had so much overtime when customers would regularly walk in a minute before close, stay an hour and buy nothing.
This is what I liked about working for McDonald’s. Oh it’s 12:01 and you rolled into the drive thru? Nah fuck off we’re closed.
As a customer, I only wished you’d have a screen or something other than the menu.
Or maybe hours posted at the box.
The McDonald’s by me likes to change hours- I’m. It there frequently enough to know how often but they still have the “open 24” signage as you pull in; so it’s more or less impossible to know if they’re just busy or actually closed.
I worked at fuddruckers in high school, and the owner would jump over the counter and haul ass across the restaurant to lock the door in people’s faces. It was amazing.
Surprisingly, the restaurant didn’t last long.
At my store (which I worked at for 23 years and miss dearly), I would always let my regulars come in after closing if I could still serve them. If they had cash, I’d ring it up the next day.
That was one of 7 stores I worked in over the years (same company).
The other 6, hell no. Once they realized that I’d open the door after closing those bastards were coming up to an hour after I locked the doors. Same jerks every time yelling and cussing at me, “Well yer still here yuh faygit I don’t see why you won’t let me git a beer!”. Sometimes I’d stay late and hide in the office to watch a little tv before going home. It was always the same jackasses beating on the door at 1 AM putting their hands and faces up to the glass with stupid looks on their faces. I stopped letting them in after it became a problem for me and no matter how many times I said no, they’d walk their drunk asses to that store to try me.
It is amazing how much culture can change over 40 miles of road. I mean it, it’s crazy. Even the meth heads were polite and reasonable when they were in the middle of a 3 week, no sleep, hallucination fueled nightmare. “Ah, man. I’m so sorry that I bothered you. There’s people following me across the road so I’m just gonna borrow a little of your light here until someone I know comes to get me. I hope you have a good night.”
In that one store every local was always polite. I had two memorable assholes there over 23 years. At the others I had so many I couldn’t tell you.
Worked at a staples store in the early 2000s and we’d make an announcement that the store was closing 30 minutes before, 15 minutes before and then another when we closed.
Nobody was rushed out by employees but we still let them know.
On the occasion I’ve rushed into an Aldi 30 minutes before closing, they have that too
At my last job I wasn’t allowed to mention that my shift was over to a customer.
If you’re no longer on the clock then why are they telling you what you can and can’t do? Just tell the customers your shift is over.
My favorite tactic used by several of the coffee shops near me is they start slowly turning the music louder. People naturally start leaving once it’s too loud to think or talk. Place I used to work at we’d turn off half the lights and everyone would just show up at the register no confrontation needed. People were fine with it a vast majority of the time but occasionally there would be someone who asked us to turn the lights back on so they could keep shopping
I like the one with turning off half the lights. That seems like an effective signal while not being confrontational.
So you first told them you’re closing right? Or just plain up acted like they meant absolute nothing?