# Businesses closing before closing time **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-closing-before-closing-time/674024 "2013-11-16T00:04:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-closing-before-closing-time/674024/81 "2013-11-19T11:42:11Z")
It can be a real problem in Thailand. But one shining example is Annie’s Massage Parlor, a decades-old (since 1969) popular brothel now run by Annie’s daughter, the lovely Aey. Aey has posted on the Annie’s website that while they close at 12 midnight, even if you walk in at 11:59pm you WILL get your two hours’ worth. I know the lady, a lovely lass, and she’s quite serious about that. A breath of fresh air. Just one of those little touches that help illustrate why her establishment is so popular. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-closing-before-closing-time/674024/82 "2013-11-19T13:44:24Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’m surprised that one obvious choice was left out of the poll. I would be annoyed but it wouldn’t stop me from going back. Yep. That was my thought exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-closing-before-closing-time/674024/83 "2013-11-19T15:53:03Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > This happened to me at the Rite-Aid, not even a small business. They closed 10 minutes early and I was livid. I am not happy when a “mom and pop” shop closes before their posted hours, but I will absolutely seethe with FIERY RAGE if a chain does it. One night a week I have to work until 9 PM. I don’t feel like cooking after that and neither does my wife, so 9 times out of 10, we get take out. Once, I went to to Panara Bread a little after 9:30 (posted closing time: 10 PM) to get a panini. The jackass at the counter tells me they’ve already shut the grill off and started cleaning it. So no panini for me even though I know the Panara that’s a little further out (that I usually go to) always keeps their grill on until 10. This also happened at Subway. Posted closing time (on the website) was 10 PM, but the front door was locked by 9:15 when I pulled on the door. A dude was still cleaning up and I asked him about it. He says the closing time of the store has always been 9 PM and the website is wrong. Curiously, there was no sign on the door for me to double-check with. In both cases, I wrote an email to the main office through the customer feedback page on their websites. Since then, I’ve found that both Panara and Subway are open all the hours they’re supposed to be now. The main office doesn’t like that crap. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-closing-before-closing-time/674024/84 "2013-11-19T16:35:04Z")
I would be annoyed if it happened once, but would not let it keep me from returning. If it happened a second time though, every time I considered going there, I’d remember that they very well might not be open, and I’d go somewhere else if possible. Everyone bitches about the big box stores ruining small businesses, but a lot of the time they ruin themselves with short and inconsistent hours, refusal to post prices, inadequate signage, overbearing staff, etc. Personally, I enjoy an impersonal shopping experience with as little need for human interaction as possible. Close up early and you’ve just given me one more reason not to shop at your store. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-closing-before-closing-time/674024/85 "2013-11-19T20:28:45Z")
I once worked briefly at a Pizza Hut. At our location we kept that door open until the exact time listed for closing, because the district nabobs would sometimes send around “secret shopper” types to check on us. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-closing-before-closing-time/674024/86 "2013-11-19T22:55:27Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I’m curious. For those of you who would have no problem given the store another chance, would it make a difference to you if the store did this solely business was slow? > > In other words, say the business advertised it had hours until 6pm, but on your lucky day, they hadn’t had a customer since 4:30, so they locked up at 5:45, and you showed up at 5:50. Also, assume this business was a place where transactions were almost always very brief (such as a dry cleaners). How much difference would this make in your level of annoyance versus a business that closed up because of a special circumstance? It would make a big difference what kind of business it is. If this were a place where, as you say, it was something you needed to pick up, (your dry cleaning or similar items), if it happened more than once, I probably would go somewhere else. If it’s a place where other (RUDE) customers may decide to loiter long after closing, I don’t blame the businesses one little BIT for closing up shop a few minutes early, and therefore would simply readjust my schedule to make sure I made it there earlier the next time. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-closing-before-closing-time/674024/87 "2013-11-19T23:36:25Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > In actual practice, I’ve been to dozens of small businesses, very close to closing time, and they universally have stayed open a little past closing time, to provide full service. > > Small business in America is service oriented. The competition is fierce. They want your business, and they take all sorts of extra efforts to get it and keep it. > > If a small business storefront closed early, right as I was getting there, I’d assume there was a damn good reason for it, and would smile, wave, and come back another time. I know how very, very much they do not want me to go and shop at the competing store just across town. Since I OWN a computer shop I feel obligated to chime in :D. There are rare occasions when I leave early. However if we have told anyone that day “we are open till 6pm” for a pickup, we stick around. If everything on the benches is work in progress and running virus scans or waiting on parts I may duck out early. If I do I have a sign (Sorry due to on site emergency all of our technicians are working in the field, if you have a question or would like to arrange to meet me here later please call XXX-XXXX.) If my duck out was optional, I will usually try to run errands in the area so I can play the “I am on my way back right now” card and meet them there in 10 min or so. If someone asks I usually stay up to an hour late. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-closing-before-closing-time/674024/88 "2013-11-20T01:34:21Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I am not happy when a “mom and pop” shop closes before their posted hours, but I will absolutely seethe with FIERY RAGE if a chain does it. > > One night a week I have to work until 9 PM. I don’t feel like cooking after that and neither does my wife, so 9 times out of 10, we get take out. Once, I went to to Panara Bread a little after 9:30 (posted closing time: 10 PM) to get a panini. The jackass at the counter tells me they’ve already shut the grill off and started cleaning it. So no panini for me even though I know the Panara that’s a little further out (that I usually go to) always keeps their grill on until 10. > > This also happened at Subway. Posted closing time (on the website) was 10 PM, but the front door was locked by 9:15 when I pulled on the door. A dude was still cleaning up and I asked him about it. He says the closing time of the store has always been 9 PM and the website is wrong. Curiously, there was no sign on the door for me to double-check with. > > In both cases, I wrote an email to the main office through the customer feedback page on their websites. Since then, I’ve found that both Panara and Subway are open all the hours they’re supposed to be now. The main office doesn’t like that crap. I think that if the main office is going to insist that a business be open to customers until 10:00, then the main office is going to have to accept that occasionally the workers are going to clock out after 10, rather than 10 on the dot. I think that arriving at a quick food place half an hour before closing is allowing plenty of time for your meal to be prepared and given to you. Clean up work should be done AFTER closing, not just before closing, especially when it’s something like cleaning the grill. That’s just part of the business, and the main office needs to take this into account. I know that in a lot of places I’ve worked, we were expected to clock out on the dot at closing, yet we were also expected to wait on customers who wanted to stay after hours and shop. The management needs to decide which is more important, because you can’t be serving grilled sandwiches up to 10 PM and then have everyone leave at 10, without spending some time on cleanup. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-closing-before-closing-time/674024/89 "2013-11-20T11:51:22Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Too late to edit : I’m amazed by the number of people who thinks the shop owner should have a valid excuse to close early. What kind of sense of entitlement is that? If you find out that the closing time is not reliable, come earlier or bring your business elsewhere, and that’s the end of it. Why he’s closing earlier is absolutely none of your business. I wouldn’t expect a detailed explanation. A note that says “Due to circumstances beyond our control, we have had to close early tonight. We apologise for any inconvenience” would go a long way to making me feel less miffed that the store wasn’t open when they said they would be. Anecdote: months ago, at the garden supplies place next door to my daughter’s school, I saw bird houses for sale that I thought my daughter would love. When her grandmother asked if I had any ideas for birthday presents for my daughter, I suggested she check them out. The business is only open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm, so I made sure she was aware of the opening hours. On Wednesday morning around 10:30 she went and found the place locked up, no note. She sent me a message complaining. I told her not to worry, I’d just head up to the school early the next afternoon and grab one before I picked my daughter up. Imagine my surprise on Thursday at three to find myself looking at a locked gate. Right beside the chain and padlock was a sign indicating their opening hours; I was there within them, and yet the place was locked up tight. I snapped a photo and sent it as a text message to my mother in law. MIL was really annoyed, so she phoned and left a message on their answering machine to complain that, two days in a row, they were closed during their posted opening hours without even a note. They called her back and said she was mistaken. They had been open both days. They said she had clearly gone to the wrong entrance, and their main gate was open. She emailed them my photo of their main gate. They replied and said they’d closed up that Thursday because high winds had knocked over things and caused trip hazards. They closed by saying they would not apologise for closing early for safety reasons. “My business, my choice”. So, between the lying and the condescending and the rudeness, we’ll never go back there. For a business located in a tiny town, near no main thoroughfares, not in the way to anything (except the school), and needing people to travel from afar to keep them in business, they were mighty rude. That’s the experience I was thinking about when I replied. “Closed due to high winds” wouldn’t have needed any further clarification for me. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-closing-before-closing-time/674024/90 "2013-11-20T17:50:09Z")
Here’s my story of a business being unexpectedly closed, and a moment where I was VERY glad to have held my tongue. I went over to the local Indian store. I really needed something for dinner that night. It was 1:30, and the posted hours were from 11 am to 8 pm at night. No one was there. I banged on the window a bit and peered in to see anyone. I waited about fifteen minutes. Meanwhile I cursed “Indian time” - in which opening at 2 when you say you are opening at 11 would be perfectly acceptable. I cursed in my head at the owner and was just about to leave when I saw him enter through the back. He let me in, and I really wanted to say something but curbed my temper - at the time this was the only Indian store with the “right” kinds of foods around, and I didn’t want to burn my bridges. I got what I wanted and came up to the front counter to pay. As he rang me up, he apologized for not having the store open. He’d gone to take his wife to the hospital, he said. She had cancer and was dying, and he was having a difficult time balancing running the business and taking care of her. :eek: :eek: :eek: I have never been so grateful that my manners won over my temper and that I hadn’t said anything to him! I expressed my sadness, wished him the best I could, and scurried out the door. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-closing-before-closing-time/674024/91 "2013-11-20T17:51:25Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Too late to edit : I’m amazed by the number of people who thinks the shop owner should have a valid excuse to close early. What kind of sense of entitlement is that? If you find out that the closing time is not reliable, come earlier or bring your business elsewhere, and that’s the end of it. Why he’s closing earlier is absolutely none of your business. The point is to indicate that the closing is an exception and one may reasonably expect the business to be open during future posted hours, not just randomly open and close by the whims of management. I don’t care WHY they are closed, only whether trying again is likely to succeed. Be open “by appointment only” and post a sign to that effect if you wish, but don’t jack your customers around by pretending you’re normally open at times when you aren’t. A business is not “entitled” to our patronage and endless efforts to shop there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-closing-before-closing-time/674024.md?page=4)