Maybe they forgot? I agree they should have turned it off, but mistakes happen.
Came across a bookshop once that had a sign saying “Push this door hard it sticks!”. (Bolding the sign’s, not my own). Tried to enter, wouldn’t budge. Tried again somewhat more firmly, nothing. Pushed harder and harder, nothing. While I was getting ready to shoulder-charge the damn thing a bookshop drone walked over while chatting on her phone, turned the “open” sign over to “closed” , shot me a brief, amused, smile and ambled away.
If I was a wizard, bint would be managing one of those shops for fucking eternity. With a rictus grin, little girl voice, and a “Hi!-My-name-Trixi-how-may-I-help-you?” badge. Pinned to a pink cardy.
Bitch.
One of my pet peeves is businesses that leave all their electric stuff on through the night. Like that gym below Mom’s, which actually got a fine when the neighbors proved that their music was at a level that’s legal by day but illegal at 3am. Or all those boutiques that leave every single light on and the a/c blasting. Mind you, usually it’s the same places that when someone is actually inside will have the a/c full blast with the doors open (and of course the a/c’s motor is directly above the door).
No, no, no… the problem isn’t establishments that inadvertantly leave an ‘open’ sign on. My bile is reserved for places that start turning away customers before their posted closing time and compound the problem by staying fully lit.
“We’re closed.” Funny, not what the hours listed on the front door say. And I must be better at breaking and entering than I thought to have waltzed right in here. Sorry to have interrupted you in the midst of closing out your register, good sir.
“We’re closed.” My mistake. I thought the giant 50 kW “Hess” sign, the fully lit gas station, and all of the attendees milling about implied you were still pumping gas. In fact, you are pumping gas for several of the day’s last customers, I see. Ah, you must have just closed. In the future I shall remember that you close at 10:48 PM.
Fuckin’ jive turkeys.
By the way, I had one of those this-poster-is-in-my-head moments with this thread. I absolutely love Roland’s “It makes me smile every time I walk past it at 1:00 a.m. The knowledge that its soft, flickering, utterly meaningless light shall pursue, undaunted, through the annals of eternity brings a certain comforting warmth to my heart.” I feel ya, man. Gotta love the 1:00 AM walking-through-deserted-streets state of mind.
How about stores that don’t open when they say they’re supposed to? Like the local Indian stores? 11:00 AM is what your sign says and yet 11:30 rolls around and no one unlocks the door! Grr!
I agree, no one around here uses “shut” and it would be a bit weird.
And “jive turkey” is the best insult ever. I’m going to start using it.
The thing to bear in mind is that a lot of places only roster their staff for maybe 15 minutes after close, if that. People wandering into the store at 5:27pm and spending the next 10 minutes making up their minds what they want. By the time the salesman has processed the sale, it’s getting on for 5:45, and now they’ve still got to cash up, vacuum the store, and so on, but now they’re not getting paid for it. Or, they can start telling people who come in at 10:48pm that they’re closed, so they can get the people who are already in the store served and out of the store at 11:00pm, so they can cash up and go home. It’s not fair, but that’s retail.
The problem is that rather a lot of people who come in at 5 or 10 minutes to close don’t want to anything, they’re “Just looking”. At 5:30pm, if you aren’t standing in front of the counter with a product in your hand, or already engaged in finalising a sale with one of the staff, then you’re going to have to come back another day. Shops are generally open for at least 8 hours a day, it’s just inconsiderate to decide to save your shopping until 5 minutes before the store is due to close.
Sure, you might be a busy person who “cant get to the store”, but the staff in the store shouldn’t have to accomodate this- get there during normal hours like everyone else, or either buy your stuff off the net or wait till late night shopping.
Martini, I actually agree with you wholeheartedly… surely last-minute pain-in-the-ass customers are worthy of a Pit thread of their own (and no doubt there are such threads).
Still, if you are a convenience store or a gas station, you should expect walk-up traffic anytime. I’m not browsing… I know what I want; I will make my purchase and depart quickly. If you are open into the night, then your draw is that you are open into the night. Don’t invite me in only to turn me away.
Damn, do you people not remember the 70s? Jive Turkey.
I was born in 1975! I didn’t come to the States until '79! I have heard of it in movies and stuff but no one has ever used it in front of me.
This reminds me of a Steven Wright joke.
I walked into a store that had a sign that said “Open 24 hours” and told the owner that the last time I was there, the store was closed.
The owner told me “Yeah we’re open 24 hours - but not in a row”.
Yup – and one of them is a cheese shop. I’m inclined to believe that they’re locals. 
On a related note: I fucking HATE stores, houses, buildings, etc., that do not have a clearly visible street number on the door. Whatsamatter, $5.00 worth of number signs from Home Depot are too much for you to invest?
It drives me batty, to the point where if I can’t find the store easily I just leave and they lose my business. And I hope it hurts them good.
Hey, I like it when stores have cats in them!
Now I want a pink El Camino.
A few weeks ago I wanted to catch a quick dinner before a movie. Taco place? Too busy, not enough time. McDonalds? Closed. Qdoba? Perfect!
I walked in and expected to be greeted with a cheery “Hello, welcome to Qdoba!” But the counter person was not there. Probably in back. Oh well, I decided to look at the menu board. There was none. What’s in the steam trays? Nothing. So, while I was waiting for the counter person, I decided to grab a drink from the cooler. No drinks. And the lights were off. And the store lights? Also off.
It was a good two minutes before it dawned on me what was going on.
You had to rub it in, didn’t you?
Yeah, she’s being a bummer, man. We need to post with someone who’s more far out.
That is an excellent point. I’ve never really thought about it before but mistakes do happen.
RACIST! That’s what I’d expect from The Man, dig?
Not always. Any Pittsburghers remember the place in Oakland that had its door padlocked for failure to pay taxes? The band was already payed, so they opened a side door and it was business as usual. The IRS did not enjoy the music, however. 