in thinking that if Clarks closes at 5.30...

[Amanderrr]

at 5.23 the doors shouldn't be locked?

Went to Richmond today for a mooch around the shops. DS3 (4yrs) kept complaining about his feet hurting so we headed over to Clarks. We wouldn't have taken long as I know his size and width and just wanted the brown version of the black pair we bought last week.

Got to the doors and they were locked. There was a customer inside still trying on shoes and staff milling around. Had a look at my watch and it was just after 5.20. Looked at the opening times and they should have been open until 5.30. Asked DP what the time was in case my watch was wrong and he said it was about 5.23.

This is happening more and more. In the last couple of weeks alone Boots wouldn't let me in with five minutes until they officially closed. Office the shoe shop was shut before the time stated. The security guard in Zara, which was due to close at 7pm, was telling me at 6.50 that the shop was now closed and could I head to the tills. I looked over and there was a long queue so it didn't really matter whether I carried on shopping or not and M&S turned most of the lights off after saying over the loud speaker that the store would be closing in ten minutes.

I know in the grand scheme of things this should just be a slight irritation but today just brought it to a head when I couldn't get a change of shoes for DS3 when I really needed them.

Am I alone in finding this frustrating and would it worth emailing the stores when this happens?

I don't blame anyone for attempting to get out on time, of course not. We all hope to get out on time, but the vitriol on here about it is laughable as if people working in shops are some unique group of people that are particularly hard done by. The majority of people are treated like shit at work.

You're always going to to get twats, but not everyone is a twat and as was said further up, most people don't get to a shop at the last minute purely to piss you off, they probably get there because they've also had to work or juggle other things.

Well, boo-hoo for them having to juggle things. Who doesn't? I have to "juggle" stuff but I don't get arsey when not everyone else in the world refuses to bend over backwards to make MY hectic schedule easier.

Shame you didn't consult the dictionary before you used it then...

The culture of work being so overwhelmingly important is not good for family life (by which I mean children, parents, friendships), nor good for health. Work should be treated with importance while you are there, but for most people is just one facet of a fulfilled life. If individuals want to be all consumed by it, they can, but the expectation that everyone should feel this way is wrong.

But that's exactly what you are doing :o FFS, you're calling someone all the names under the sun because she wanted to buy a pair of shoes. She didn't blow up your granny. Who's the one with the sense of entitlement?

heee!

Is this irony fattening because it is simply delicious!

"You know what, you're not fucking unique by not being paid to do overtime"

"but the vitriol on here about it is laughable"

Hmmm.

Anyway, I don't work in a shop anymore so I'm not pushing any sort of agenda. I just think that you, Rockbat, and the OP and anyone else who thinks that not being allowed into a shop to buy shoes 7 minutes before the shop OFFICIALLY closes is UNREASONABLE.

Meh. I know what arsebandit means. It's not literal, it's a throwaway insult.

If I called you a pedantic twat, I wouldn't mean that you were a nitpicking, walking vagina, would I?

Get a grip.

Bt rockbandit the staff would still be working unpaid overtime to cash up and tidy up. So they are doing it. Most of them will have been in before their official start time so they will be doing unpaid overtime there. They just don't want to increase that time more than necessary.

I remember working in a shop. 99% of the time I would be there more than an hour after closing time doing paper work on orders, cleaning etc. I also got there at least 30min before opening. I still got annoyed at people turning up at 17:29 and spending 10/15min shopping. Even more so at the occaisional person giving me verbal abuse when eventually locking the door to go home for leaving so early.

Where is the sense of entitlement in wanting to finish your paid work at the time you stop getting paid? Sounds perfectly sensible to me. Everyone knows where they stand.

I think it also depends very much upon the attitude of the customer. For example someone rang me at the takeaway literally just as we were turning the ovens off. He was very apologetic and explained he tried to call earlier but we were engaged and he then got stuck with a customer who wouldn't leave even though they were closing for lunch . I happily took his order and we stayed 'open' for him.

Another customer rang about ten minutes before we were closing. I told him I would take his order, but he needed to collect it straight away as we were about to close. Ten minutes after we should have closed he turns up outside, but did he come inside to coollect his food? No he waved at us through the window and then stood talking to a friend he had bumped into. We locked the doors and the kitchen staff ate his food . He phoned the owner that night to complain about us

Some people think they are entitled to service at anytime that is suitable for them with no consideration for the staff. You get to expect that in retail/customer facing jobs and unfortunately customers do bear the brunt of this. The workers at Clarkes are probably sick of people turning up at closing time demanding to be served because they are a customer and therefore entitled to good service at a time which suits them.

We have this all the time. The surgery opens from 8am to 6:30pm. People still bang on the doors after 6:30 demanding to see a Dr (for non-emergencies, prescriptions, whatever) and get stroppy when told by reception staff closing up that there are no doctors left in the building, or that even if there are doctors left, THE PLACE IS CLOSED!!

Almost every day someone will show up at 6:20, having not bothered to come in on time for their earlier appointment, and still expect to be seen... the blood boils...

"If I called you a pedantic twat, I wouldn't mean that you were a nitpicking, walking vagina, would I?"

Bugger.. now I need a new keyboard

Shoe shops aren't exactly a pop in and out in a minute type places, although I understand your annoyance.

I used to work in a shop that was in a building full of separate concessions, and one of our ones was at the very front so when the main doors were open you walked straight into it. The owner of the building wanted to keep it open until 6 and the other shops all closed at 5.30, because they could close their own doors, but in this one you couldn't. And you couldn't exactly stand next to open doors saying you were already shut. Plus, everyone else, security, etc wanted to leave bang on 6, so you'd have hardly anytime to cash up.

So we would cash up by about 5.50 and then say to people when they came in they could buy something with the correct change and we'd put it through the till in the morning. Most people quite happy with this. But we had one repeat offender - Margi Clarke. She used to swan in just as the doors were closing at 6, all "do you know who I am", we'd say she had to be quick, have the right change "Oh yes" she'd say dismissively. Before spending 20 mins looking at a candle and then handing you a £20 note.

Grrr.

You missed my post where I said I've worked retail and worse.
But that's in the States where even arsebandits and twats get service with a smile.
I'm going to put it down to cultural differences and call it good. And I shall dutifully make sure all my future shop purchases are completed well before closing time.

Except walmart (which is 24 hours) Jfly the closing and locking the doors 10-15 mins before closing is standar in the states too. Worked in many shops there myself.

Oh this thread has made me so cross. Not because of the OP, but because it has reminded me that I got sacked from Woolworths for leaving FIFTEEN minutes after my shift had ended because I'd finally had enough of the manager's piss-taking attitude to my time.

I was there for a few years, part-time in my teens. Nobody was payed beyond 5.30 when the door was finally shut. This was in a major shopping precinct where everything else closed at 6pm so most customers were not aware that they had 1 minute to shop and get out if they came in at 5.29. So, we were still operating tills at 5.40 at least.

On one particular day there was a bus strike and I had to get the train home and needed to leave at 5.45 to catch it, or wait another half an hour. So, I refused to queue at the compulsory shoe and bag search upon leaving.

I was sacked for that!

Shirley I would like to return the overtures of love (don't tell DH).

The hairdressed that I take the DS's to did this the other week.

She closed at 5.15, we got there at 4.45

When she realised it was all 3 of them to be done she locked the doors, a customer came along at 5pm and was rather disgruntled to not be let in.

She finished cutting the DS's hair at 5.20, her little boy was dropped off by her dad at 5.10, and she still had to tidy up and cash up.

Can't say I blame her personally

YABU, Clarks isn't a public service, its business & the shop itself is private property, surely if they didn't want to let you in at 5pm it would be up to them? , I don't know where people get their 'entitled' ideas from.

I don't know where people get their 'entitled' ideas from

Consumer society, huh.21st century, Tsch.

Next they'll be thinking shops are in some way obliged to sell them the products they've put in "their" trollies.

Hairdressers run appointment systems for precisely the situation highlighted.
And they are clearly paid for that business.

I'm going to try to read all this later, but for now, I'll make a comment based on my own experiences working in a clothes shop.

YABVU.

We did not get paid overtime for the extra time we had to work when people milled around. They would think they had until closing time (in our case 6pm) to shop and then they could pay. This was completely unfair, but of course because we were shop workers, we were the scum of the earth and meant to kiss the buttocks of anyone strolling through the door.

If every customer who came through the doors was decent and nice and treated the staff with respect, then it would be possible to stay open until the last minute, but with stragglers and cashing up, you have to close early to stand a chance at getting home in the evenings.

And I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but I don't think your DS saying his feet hurt was really a reason to delay everyone getting home to their own families.

Shop assistants have lives too.

I started life in retails expecting that when the shop shut at five, it shut to the customers at 5.
That means you lock the door and dim the lights (don't put them out, but just to encourage the browsers to start gettting ready to leave).
All staff that don't need to cash up, then get their coats and go.,
all staff that do (eg, seniors, managers etc), grab their tills and get to the cash office.

I expect to be paid till 5, unless I'm cashing up.
and if customers are still there at 5:15, then so be it. anyone who needs to get a bus can go, others stay until it's clear.

If you're running your own shop, it's doubly so - I close my door at 5:30. if someone is still in the shop at 5:30, I wait till they leave, whilst reminding them to hurry up cos i'm closing.

and I agree about the haridresser comment - they know that they'll be paid for that job - I would say the best plan would be "appointments only after 4:30pm" signs, then noone can come in off the street.

cumfy - the hairdresser/barbers I take the boys to don't run an appointments system. You just sit and wait (not it's not Supercuts who won't let you leave the building without losing your space in the queue ).

It's her business and she works there full time Monday-Friday on her own - and has 2 staff employed for the Saturday.

exH prefers to take them to the barbers round the corner, but I prefer her and like to support a single mum running her own business single handedly

No-one pays her to clean up, and cash up.

(though her little boy was quite sweet helping to clean up )