To close at closing time?

[Bananafritter]

I’m pretty sure I’m not but the reactions you get from some people you’d think I am!

I work in a retail store inside a shopping centre. It’s a popular clothes shop. Our shop closes an hour earlier than most other shops in the centre at normal times of the year. At the moment some shops in the centre are open much later for Christmas shopping however our Christmas shopping times don’t kick in till next week.

I often get abuse from customers in the 10 minutes before the shop closes as we can no longer let new customers in the door, or into the fitting rooms. Tonight it was particularly bad, with several people verbally abusing me (as if I set the closing times and not head office).

The simple fact of the matter is that staff don’t get paid after the shop closes therefore we can’t keep serving people with unpaid staff. On the more practical side people have buses to catch, lifts waiting, kids to get home to. It’s not fair that staff have to wait.

Is it unreasonable to close a shop at the time we say we close? I’d be interested to hear opinions from people who try to argue their way into shops past closing time.

@PolarBearFlavour- it's why I now work in an office, too!

Most shops display opening times on the window and the door though don’t know so customers can clearly see when the shop shuts. I find it amusing that people think that headoffice listen to sales assistants and that we would have the power to phone them and tell them to change opening hours or tell them they need better signage . Way above our pay grade. I worked in a shopping center that added an extension for a massive Debenhams and a few other shops. The older shops had different contracts with the shopping center that they closed at 6. But new shops done late night . So it’s perfectly reasonable to not expect all shops to have the same closing. They do have a disclaimer on advertising posters etc saying check specific shops for opening times to avoid dissapointment .

The shop I work in is inside a large market, we have to close on the dot to get everything done because the market itself gets locked up half an hour after our closing time. I could get three people in at five minutes to close, all wanting the product we sell and want it set up which takes ten to fifteen minutes. They would be told to come back another day basically. That half hour is for cashing up, cleaning up and getting out before getting locked in the market! However if they are just after some little accessories for the product, that's a five minute job and wouldn't be a problem.

A handful of customers going into a clothing shop with five minutes to close, expecting to pick items, try them on then pay for them, could easily take another half hour after close to get them all processed and out the door! There has to be a line drawn somewhere.

YANBU. I used to work in the classical department of one of the big HMV shops on Oxford Street. Getting people to leave at 8pm could be tricky until we discovered our secret weapon - someone would nip next door to the Country section, borrow Mary Schneider Yodeling the Classics and stick it on the stereo. I don't think anyone ever lingered longer than the William Tell Overture!

At the same time I think the shop owners should review their policy and have more flexible closing. If customers are regularly being turned away that is potential lost sales. Why not pay staff to stay until the store can be closed without turning away customers.

So staff should have no idea when they finish? Would you work 9 -5...or maybe quarter past...actually on Christmas Eve it might be closer to 6? It's not like people have busses to catch or people picking them up. I once worked in a supermarket which closed at 11pm and people would still walk in at 10:58pm. Are you saying staff should have stayed until 11:15pm just for these people?

YASo NBU. We usually put a tannoy message out to say we will be closing in 10 minutes. This week we've been told not to so we can maximize sales. This will not help with the shitty attitudes.

We do not get paid a minute past the contracted hour. My colleague told this to a customer calmly cruising around the aisles at closing time. He thought it was funny.

Whatever closing time you have somebody will want to come in later. Last NYD I worked and one customer came in about 15 mins from closing time proceeded to browse around and fill a trolley withover £300 worth of goods and eventually after me chasing her round telling her she needed to go to the checkout or nit get served she got to the till 10 mins after closing time. There was stillone other customer being served so by the time her stuff had gone through myself and my colleague plus security were at least 20 mins over time. She then said she was waiting for a cab and could she stay inside till it arrived. When I said no sorry you cant she promptly went into a rant threatening me swearing at me and so on. Then she had the audacity to say I couldn't get here any earlier its a holiday and I was seeing family. Well yes and we would like to go home and see our family funnily enough.

Surely if a shop shuts at 5pm that means you have to be in and out for 5pm? I would never walk into a shop at 450 expecting to wander around at my leisure doing the weekly shop .

Unfortunately @LoisWilkerson1 plenty of people think as long as you get in before closing time you can then take as long as you want

I really think this selfishness is a relatively new thing. I blame 24 hour opening. People just expect to be be able to shop any time. Retail have to go along with it as it's struggling.

I always use to bring my shutter down half way at 10 or 5 to .. where I work now in a big brand store we have a tannoy . Could you do this over your radio system? Ie .. such and such will be closing in 5 minutes , we cannot process any sales after this time , thank you .. etc

I’d have given my kidney to secure an office job rather than work with the public when I was in retail 😂 soul destroying!

People enter five mins before closing and meander purely because they can, they know there are no consequences, that nobody will stop them and they’ll get what they want. I think the old adage ‘the customer is always right’ has bred a lot of entitled people. It’s patently not always true either.

That's illegal. If you're being paid till say 5pm you can walk out the door that very second.

You’ve clearly never worked in retail.
You would get very short shrift for that.

in one of the electrical retailers where i worked there was a tannoy system where reminders of closing time were announced

It made absolutely no difference............2004

Totally agree to the poster who said to walk out at the very second you finish has never worked in retail. Do you expect us to walk out and not lock the place up? Also more than one person has to stay for security with all the cash . So even tho it might be the managers problem you would have to be pretty shitty to just go and leave her alone if something happened. I also think our insurance would have been void if we didn’t have more than one person at closing .

Not only that but I expect you would find yourself on a disciplinary for walking out on the dot. In retail it is made very clear that if you don't want the job or will put up with the crap they give you then there are many other people who will take your place.

slashlover a lot of people do work flexible contacts and do overtime if needed. The important thing is that you should be well paid to do.

If anyone’s interested in an update! Tonight I was busy sorting some stuff for tomorrow and couldn’t stand at the door stopping people coming in. From 10 to I was telling people as I walked past we were closing. From 5 to I started telling people as they came in the door but wasn’t actively stopping people coming in. Had a woman reply “oh that’s fine it’ll only take me 5 minutes”. Unfortunately there was already a queue of people and the till and the result in all the people “just grabbing” one thing was me leaving 15 mins after closing. 15 minutes unpaid!

It didn’t bother me so much tonight as I didn’t have any particularly rude customers but this is just a point for the posters claiming that they would expect to be able to nip in and nip out - one person can yes, 10 people can’t!

Oh that shit banana people are so rude makes my blood boil . Take comfort in that then Christmas period is nearly over and then the sales start

I work in retail

The shop doors shut at 8pm (or very close to, 7.58 for example)

We then cash up, we dont get paid for the 5-10 minutes it takes to do this

If a customer is still in the shop at 8pm that 5-10 minutes may well turn into 15 minutes plus

I think we have all been there til at least 8.30 on the odd occasion

Its a shite state of affairs banana

And others have said you cant just leave whoever is cashing up by themselves...i feel too guilty

It is illegal as it can mean that people are on less than minimum wage, HMRC are cracking down on this...its only a matter of time

YANBU. I worked in retail light years ago (would hate to do it again –respeck to anyone who does) and people could be weapons-grade cunts.

The thing is that unless you've actually worked in retail, you don't know - why should you know? - that closing time really is the end of when the staff are paid until. As far as I'm concerned, if the door of a shop is open and the lights are on, its open for business. If I'm informed that shop will be closing in a few minutes I will hurry up, but it's a shame that shop workers are so often part-time or temporary and therefore not unionised, as a campaign to make it illegal to not pay for the forcible overtime of escorting the last customers out, cashing up and cleaning would get my support.

I work alone in a foreign currency exchange bureau....on a saturday i am open between 9.00am and 6.00pm....within that shift i get one half hour break.....i put a clock up to advise customers that i will reopen in 30 mins....the amount of abuse i get for taking my break is unreal....customers seem to forget that taking my break is required by law...

A lot of the responses on here are examples of what the OP was saying. I work in a tiny shop, often alone. I am fortunate that I get paid to cash up. I do not get paid for the 10-15 minutes I come in early to get things set up so I am ready to open at 9. Because of where I work, I will often stay open to help a customer (singular) because of the circumstances that may necessitate them shopping after closing.

I don't often get abuse in my job, but have had it in previous jobs. You do, however, get rude fuckers in every place. I only work there. I don't choose the clothes or set the prices. I can't offer a discount for cash or because you are an OAP. I can't tell you if a certain item is going into the sale because I don't know what is going into the sale or even if we are having one!

Yeah, I think everyone needs to work for a certain amount of time in retail and learn that they are not the be-all and end-all.