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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To expect places to be open during their published opening hours?

46 replies

Vickisuli · 11/10/2015 22:36

I have had similar situations before but today took my daughters to our local arts and community centre because DD2 had homework which included "go to an art gallery and write about what you saw, your favourite picture etc." I checked the website which said it closed at 5.00, so I picked up DD1 from her friend's at 4.30 and went over there.

It's not like a big museum, it's just a single large exhibition room which has different artists or groups of artists each week, and can easily be looked around in 10-15 minutes.

We arrived there at 4.45, and as we were heading into the gallery room the lady on the reception desk called out, "Sorry, we're just closing". I said, "Oh it closes at 5 doesn't it?" She replied "Yes but we're just getting ready to close now." So I said "Well we'll only be a few minutes" and carried on. Then after about 30 seconds the person invigilating the exhibition (possibly but not definitely the artist) also came over and said, "We're closing" I just said, "Yes, I know, thanks" and carried on looking at the pictures for a few more minutes, discussing them with the kids.

Now, I'm sorry but if the closing time is 5.00pm I think it's really rude to try to chuck people out before that. It's a free centre, so okay we are not paying anything to use it but the person that works there is employed not a volunteer so as I see it she is paid until 5.00pm. If the artist in residence is bored of looking at her own pictures all day, tough.

I also run classes in the centre so am there a lot (and pay them quite a lot of money!) though this particular reception person didn't know me. So I know that there is no major 'closing down procedure' which is going to take them ages, they just switch off the lights and lock up, and she could easily have switched off and closed everything in the rest of the centre while we looked round this one room.

Not quite the same but I was similarly annoyed at Diggerland recently when it said it closed at 5.00 but when we tried to get on a ride at 4.50, we were told that the rides had closed. So effectively it closes at 4.45 then? Then say that on your literature. At the Merlin parks, if you get in a queue for a ride by the published closing time you are allowed to get on the ride before you leave.

OP posts:
NoisyOyster · 11/10/2015 22:48

I can kind of see your point if we're being completely "play by the rules....

But turning up 15 mins before it closes on a Sunday... Hmm
Ffs they probably just wanted to go home and have a cup of tea.

You were being a bit U, turn up with more time to spare next time rather than waiting till the last 15 mins for your daughter to be able to do her homework on a Sunday night

dementedpixie · 11/10/2015 22:50

Yes yabu turning up just before they close.

PaulAnkaTheDog · 11/10/2015 22:53

Yabu.

EduCated · 11/10/2015 22:54

YABU. Why on earth would you leave it til 15 mins to the closing time?!

Also, if she is paid til 5pm, why should she wait until then to chuck you out, thus staying past 5 to lock up in her own time?!

trixymalixy · 11/10/2015 22:56

Yabu

balletgirlmum · 11/10/2015 22:57

The same has happened to me at two different local libraries.

The times on the door said they closed at 5pm. We arrived just before 4.55pm. Once was to pick up a pre reserved book & the other was to drop off a book.

Both times we were turned away at the door. Ds & I would have left the building before 5pm.

TendonQueen · 11/10/2015 23:03

That really annoys me. When I've worked in customer facing roles I've worked till actual closing time. Yet you do go places where people are glaring and huffy if anyone dares to go in, or want serving, in the last 15 minutes. Everyone leaves work 'on their own time' and if people don't want to work till closing time, they should look for a different job.

WhoTheFuckIsSimon · 11/10/2015 23:09

I used to work in a shop. Was paid until 5pm. Was really annoying when people would run in the door at 4:59 and go and get something. Id be serving after 5pm and not getting paid.

80sMum · 11/10/2015 23:10

I agree with you, OP. If it says that it closes at 5.00 and doesn’t also specify a 'last entry' time, then it should remain open until 5.00.

EduCated · 11/10/2015 23:10

There's leaving on your own time, and there's doing things that can only be done once the shop is closed, like cashing up/stock checking/packing things away/cleaning.

We used to get some right snotty customers come into the shop just before we closed. Funnily enough, despite insisting they would 'only be a couple of minutes', they would inevitably be there past closing, making it a mad dash to do everything we had to do in the allotted 15 mins after closing.

Epilepsyhelp · 11/10/2015 23:14

I'm paid til five. If I leave by six I'm lucky. If you take a job in a place which closes at five you cannot possibly think that you also will be swanning off at five. If your contract runs til five take it up with your boss. Ridiculous to exclude customers before close of business because you're in a hurry to piss off home!!

EduCated · 11/10/2015 23:19

Or businesses could step up and actually pay staff the hours they work.

PassiveAgressiveQueen · 11/10/2015 23:24

When i worked in a supermarket it was expected we were on the till with our counted and signed for till at the start of our shift and we didn't leave the floor till the end of our shift (the advertised closing time) then we could count the till and put it away.

blaeberry · 11/10/2015 23:26

If staff need time yo lock up they should be paid this on too of the opening hours.

What also annoys me is when you phone someone and get a message saying phone back within certain hours when you are phoning within those hours.

BackforGood · 11/10/2015 23:29

I think YWBU to turn up with 10mins to go until closing time.

However, as a general principle, then yes, if a venue/shop has an advertised closing time, then it shouldn't close before then. However, I agree with others, that if the venue closes at 5pm, then obviously the member of staff can't be clocking off at 5pm - there has to be a buffer time which will either mean paying staff until 5.15, or advertising that the venue closes at 4.45.

corgiology · 11/10/2015 23:32

This really annoys me. I work in a shop and we let people in at closing time provided it is a quick transaction and not a look around. However I go elsewhere (tesco in particular) and grab what I need yet am told oh we are closed 15 mins before closing time. Really?

They took the tills off 15 mins before closing time and apparently didn't know I was there. Your sign says differently about closing times. I was so annoyed I would never do that to a customer.

Pipbin · 11/10/2015 23:34

and pay them quite a lot of money
And this is where the sense of entitlement comes from...............

TendonQueen · 11/10/2015 23:39

It's not 'entitled' in the MN sense to expect to go somewhere within its stated opening hours.

EduCated · 11/10/2015 23:41

Also, they weren't to know that you knew the place and knew you'd only be 15 mins - surely it's better they're warning people that they're about to close so that you're not pissed off at being chucked out unexpectedly at 5? I mean, they did actually let you in, it's not like they had the doors closed and the lights off.

CassieBearRawr · 11/10/2015 23:51

YABU. If somewhere closes at X I would expect from around quarter to/ten to X to be the tidy up and shut things down time. Not that that's how it should be, companies should pay their staff for all the hours they work/allocate enough time to do the work. But the vast majority don't, and I wouldn't ever take that out on the staff.

Tigger365 · 11/10/2015 23:58

Wow...I must be lucky, if I'm supposed to stay at work until 8, but I'm dealing with something until 10 past, I get that 10 minutes back...
OP, I'm not sure U is right, but in your scenario, it seems pretty normal

SeaMagic · 12/10/2015 10:37

What Cassie said.

It's not right but a lot of places do this, pay the staff till closing time. Management expect the tills balanced, money cashed away in safe, displays cleaned, tidied and re-stocked, paperwork completed, etc, prior to staff leaving for the day but only pay till closing time.

When I was teenager working in a fast food place I was expected to do all the above and clean the restaurant tables, floor, windows and toilet whilst still serving the final customers of the day Hmm

So when those late customers then decided to eat their food at one of the tables and use the toilet in the last 5 minutes of my shift it really pissed me off because I knew that instead of being stuck with 15 - 20 minutes unpaid overtime as usual it would be closer to half an hour plus. However even as a 16 year old I realised it wasn't the customer's fault but rather tight arse management. I compensated myself by filching a can of drink or a roast chicken every now and then. Sackable offence but I really didn't care [and never got caught luckily]. It was a fast food chain too, not an independent restaurant.

LemonySmithit · 12/10/2015 12:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Katie2001 · 12/10/2015 12:28

Often in galleries they have a sign somewhere which says 'last admission time is....' which is to make sure than anyone coming in has some time to look round. I think you got there a bit a later than I might have done, plus there may be some sort of local authority regulation on the times they are allowed to be open.

cleaty · 12/10/2015 13:01

I think a gallery or museum is different to a shop. They probably have lots of experience of trying too get people to leave by 5pm, and failing. So makes sense to get you to leave a bit before.