To expect to be able to make a purchase at closing time.

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I was in Laura Ashley today just before closing looking to buy a picture, The assistant showed me the display item which was still marked up at full price and then went over to the tills to check the sale price for me.

Yes I'd like to buy it I replied - only to be told that sorry you can't do that today as the tills are closed now. I checked my phone, bang on 6pm, closing time. I queried this as I have never come across this before. I have been in plenty of shops that advise customers to go to the tills at closing time, but none who refuse to make a sale on the dot of closing.

I said as much to the assistant who looked apologetic and consulted senior assistant. The tills close themselves down at 6pm she advised me. if you want to buy it you'll have to come back in the morning. Don't worry the sale is on until Monday.

Is it unreasonable to expect to complete a purchase when I am already in the shop at closing time?

Your point is a fair one gandalf but really it comes down to the fact that if people are being better catered to elsewhere, they'll cease to engage with bricks and mortar stores.

Whether you care about that or not comes down to how wedded you are to working in a bricks and mortar store. But I expect many retail staff are getting better deals currently than they would if they worked for Amazon.

But i will put money on the fact that that poster takes pride in their job and never gives the customer as much as a sniff that they are annoyed with them

Yes, the rest of her post left me in no doubt that was the case not

Some can't compete, of course. Many smaller companies cannot keep up with a giant such as Amazon because they don't have the buying power and, relatively speaking, their overheads are going to be higher for the size of their business

laurie

She would be out of a job

You said so yourself

Or do you honestly and truly believe that retail is the only job that you cant be sacked from

Of course not Rufus, that's not what I said.

I'm gobsmacked by the attitude, it's miles away from my experience in other industries. To even think about a customer in those terms speaks volumes.

Thanks laurie

I think thats where we differ, i think as long as you dont reflect it in your work that being pissed off with one small part of your job is fine

it's miles away from my experience in other industries. To even think about a customer in those terms speaks volumes

To be fair I doubt people would complain in this way in real life

And all industries must have aspects that people hate

Dh is really cheesed off with some of his clients at the moment...but they will never know

Personally I am a bit old school. I prefer to browse and physically see something. The Internet can't compete with that. I also want something there and then, not hang around for deliveries. Besides, I am never in so it is a hassle

I think you'd have had a point had it been 5:55.

I was very frustrated to drive 6 miles to the recycling centre which closes at 4pm to find he gates locked and the man walking away at 3:45pm! I tooted but he became suddenly deaf.

I'm surprised no one else has mentioned the scene in the first Inbetweener film where Neil drops the tub of prawns at the supermarket deli counter at exactly 6pm because that's when his shift ends.

Surely there should be some management discretion in cases like this? Staff should be paid past the door closing/ till closing time to give them time to get ready to leave. Customers should be advised that purchases need to be completed by 6pm too. I know when I go to the supermarket on a Sunday I fly round to make sure I'm done by 4pm. The store makes loads of announcements too.

lazy

A friend got locked in a cemetery the other day

Apparently though the official times were 8-8 the caretaker locked the gates at 7.55pm and opened them at 7.55 am

I used to work in retail and I would have loved tills that switched off at closing time, especially on Xmas eve! Didn't rtft but for the people that said that getting the item priced delayed the sale, the assistant didn't go off to the office or the stockroom or wherever to check the price, she went to the till, the till she would have gone to anyway to check out the item presumably, so no delay.

See, me personally I DON'T take promotions, do other jobs because I need to leave on time I wont take the role that might mean answering a call at 1min to finish means I might still be on that call half an hour later. Not all of us are able to take such roles, so simply we DON'T!

Why? I have disabled children who do not understand being kept waiting,

My colleagues comment that actually, I spend a crazy amount of time helping some customers with things that my job doesn't require me to help them with, have amazing patience with the majority of the older or more needful customers.

Only once in twenty years have I thrown a customer out for abuse (normally I can calm them and resolve their issues and even when they have come in spitting chips, they will usually leave happy and will have received excellent customer service)

As I have said already, I will complete whatever main transaction they came in for, but if they start wanting queries or additional requests, they are given several options of what to do to get those things, which actually, they can do SAME DAY, but I wont START them AFTER I am finished (and the doors are already locked behind them)

I DO NOT get paid overtime unless I do THIRTY minutes of it, but even 5 mins and I am cutting it fine to collect a child that struggles with the concept of waiting through disability, 10 mins and they are waiting more than they can cope with and I am in serious trouble from where I am collecting her. Am I really unreasonable to stop working when I stop getting paid?

just wtf tbh

flowers

We can be with a customer for an hour

Rufus maybe my recycling guy was dashing off to his next job!

Didn't rtft but

Probably should... It's quite annoying otherwise

Rufustherenegadereindeer1
What??

Which bit are you whatting kali

YOUr friend!

It was funny kali

It was getting dark and she was contemplating climbing the fence and getting the car the next morning

In the end she managed to find the tiny cottage the caretaker lived in. Knocked on the door...

Braver than me . I would have jumped the fence (got dh to bring a ladder) sod the car!!

Just to give you some context, I frequently do 15-20 hours unpaid overtime a week. That's not unusual in my industry. If I didn't do that, I'd lose my clients and eventually lose my job. I too have kids who need to be picked up, I too have a house to be run and a life and all these things mentioned in the thread.

Now, I'm not for a second suggesting that this much overtime should be expected or even should be delivered. Of course it shouldn't.

My point is simply that people in other industries (rightly or wrongly) with the same commitments as those working in retail, suck up a lot of unpaid over time hours. So when I see the attitude that at 6pm exactly you down tools, don't serve and start seeing customers as 'trespassers', that sits very badly.

That's really just an attempt to explain where I'm coming from.

Omg rudus your poor friend, but so funny

And i have every sympathy laurie

All my office and banking jobs have been the sane

Dh leaves his job when the work is done and brings work home

And no one has shown me a post where a SA has said that at 6pm they down tools and refuse to serve

A few posts are certainly unhappy about doing it like you are probably unhappy about yours but no one has said they refuse to serve

Their thoughts are their own

Oh and laurie your posts in no way shape or form have been offensive or wrong

But some posters on here are putting words and actions into SA behavior when all we have is evidence of their thoughts

I frequently do 15-20 hours unpaid overtime a week. That's not unusual in my industry

20 hours a week unpaid? Really. Oh my. What industry and role would that be, and on top of how many hours?