Yes, it’s on the form she filled out. Her address, too. She’s going to have to come back to our office next week and if the kid is in a similar state again, I may report her.
I don’t know about the other employees, but after I get off of work I’ve got shit to do. Generally hours of homework, which is even more fun after I’ve expended all of my energy on closing, and even more fun after dealing with asshole customers who don’t leave at closing and leave a mess (this is one unified group, BTW). The bottom line is this: my mother raised me to understand that when you’re in someone else’s house, you follow their rules. I wouldn’t purposely overstay my welcome at those customer’s homes (or places of business) because I don’t know what they have to make time for after me–and it doesn’t matter anyway because it’s disrespectful.
If I ran the place, I imagine it’d be much less forgiving about people hanging around after closing. My time is valuable, but even if it weren’t, it’s just plain disrespectful to waltz around the store assuming that yours is more important. And as a manager I like to think I wouldn’t tolerate customers being disrespectful to my employees. But then again, who knows what I would actually do if I were?
Can I get an AMEN to that? Other than my own AMEN? I think that the asshole customers cost the stores a lot of money, rather than being a source of revenue.
SnakesCatLady’s post reminds me of my stint in retail apparel. We had a huge sign up that said that we didn’t accept returns on formal, cocktail, and “after five” wear…basically, if someone wanted to wear an outfit once and return it, they were SOL at our store. Not that they didn’t try. This was in Las Vegas, so a lot of women wanted to get dressed up for a show, then return the outfit later that week. Ummmm, yes, and would THEY want to wear a used dress? That hadn’t been cleaned?
I am also reminded of the group of high school girls who came in, eating ice cream cones, and announced that they wanted to try on our wedding veils. Right. I told them that I wanted to see cash first, and it would be understood that any veil that showed the slightest spot would be paid for. I guess they thought that they could play dressup with our stuff, just like in Grandma’s attic. And yeah, I established early on that none of them were married, or even engaged, they just thought it would be fun to try on veils.
If you have nothing to do after work but go home, smoke weed and masturbate to Animaniacs videos, then that’s still your right. I got furious at an employer once who made an employee (not me) explain in writing what she had to do that was so important she had to leave at 8:15 when the store was still busy. Point of fact she had a blind date, but of course she wrote that her grandmother was in critical condition at the hospital (which in fact she was but she’d been in that state for about two months and was in her 90s and they weren’t close to begin with), but it made me furious that she had to justify her actions when she was off the company’s clock and had actually stayed late to begin with.
What I hate about the “customer is always right” policies is that it encourages assholes who are going to try their dead level damnedest not to pay one cent they don’t have to. This was especially true in hotels, where some hotels posted a “100% satisfaction or 100% refund” policy. It was hurting them to do this- that makes the hotel have to honor that and you wouldn’t believe what some people would complain about and demand a 100% refund for (the color of the carpet, the towels weren’t fluffy, no room service after 11 pm, etc.- none of which is worth $125 refunded). Any hotel worth their salt is automatically going to comp a room when something genuinely bad happens (guest can’t sleep because of noise, A/C and plumbing go out, desk clerk accidentally gives somebody that room key and the other person walks in while the couple in there’s making love, whatever), but by catering to these asswipes they actually encouraged a class of people who stayed there specifically because of that policy; they essentially saw it as a free stay in a nice hotel, all you had to do was find something to complain about. (Once it was pubic hairs on the bathtub- I knew for a fact that new bathtubs had just been installed in that series of rooms and they were the first to use them.)
Oh my God, quit spying on me.
How about places that jump the gun and close early? Last night I needed to pick up my prescription from the pharmacy whose hours are open until 9:00 PM. I planned to go earlier, but I had visitors last night and they stayed a little longer than I had planned on. At 8:50 PM I figured I still had enough time to get to the store, only a 1/4 mile away, five minutes’ drive time, tops. By the time I had arrived they had already closed. It was only 8:55 PM according to my cell phone and they had already shuttered themselves for the night. At least it wasn’t urgent that I get them, so I picked them up this morning.
If I could needlepoint, my favorite bar would have this on a sampler.
I work in retail, am the manager, but, luckily, it’s a small company with a niche market, and, generally, good customers. Of course, there are always the PITA’s. Very much sympathize with the OP.
Our business is known for great customer service, and we really try to treat everyone as a guest, and be helpful. After some years of experience, I’ve found this tactic for folks who come in right before closing (it’s some Law of Physics that it’s always the rare occasion when I really do have a need to leave on time that someone will roll up right up to the wire) works well:
" Hi, how are you, etc… we close at five, and it’s ten til"
Most common response “Oh yeah, well, we just want to walk around and browse awhile…”
“You know, we really want to give each customer personal service, but find that hard to do when we are in the midst of our closing duties.” Looking square at them , unwavering. “If I can help you find something right away, I’m glad to do that, but, I hope you can come back another time when I can give you my complete attention.”
This always works well for me, probably not so much for the OP, because an urban coffee shop has more “gotta gotta” demands.
I do have some flexibility on it, though; one time an obviously upset woman and her Dad came in at the last minute to get a tree to plant in memoriam for their beloved dog who had been hit by a car that day. They were grief-stricken and not thinking clearly about closing hours, and it was important to them. So I stayed, listened, and helped them way past closing time, and felt good that I was able to give them some comfort on a bad day.
You can do retail with heart. The above statement of how I handle the customer showing up late usually amazes them with being nice about it. “Oh, OK, yes, we’ll come back soon!”
Which is exactly why, I think, a reasonable solution to this problem would be the one I offered up: Tell the customer you’re closed, but that you’ll be willing to give them a coffee in a to-go cup. Customer should be happy with your understanding and you can be out of there when you need to.
If the customer insists at this point, I think you’re well within your rights to refuse. At our cafe, closing generally took 45 minutes to an hour (sometimes more), so customers hanging around for a half hour after close was not a problem. But if your cafe has a strict closing time, there’s nothing wrong with enforcing it.
Maybe their clocks were ahead? Or yours behind?
I’m not trying to be a pain, but a five minute difference seems easily explained.
A variation of this that my husband (residential master carpenter) used when times got tight and a contractor or homeowner was balking at his price per hour was to offer to work for one day and if at the end of the day the contractor didn’t think he was worth the hourly rate the day of labor was free. You must be very confident of your skills before making these kinds of offers!
He’s never not been paid at the end of the day.
In my youth I worked many different CSR type jobs, from waitress to store clerk. Then about two years ago, I worked for a local chain gym as an interim job for about 8 months. There were always several people who took “close at 10pm” to mean “finish your last set/get off the exercise bike at 10pm, make your way toward the locker rooms, and then lazily wander out of the club by 10:30 or so”.
We were allowed to politely say something to them, UNLESS they specifically complained to management, and then they got put on the “special” list and we middle managers weren’t allowed to do anything about them.
I don’t work in customer service anymore, but I turn into the angry old lady masked avenger to serve and protect ANY CSRs being mistreated by my “fellow” customers. Your rude Chicagoan would have gotten the sharp edge of my tongue in short order had I been there.
CanvasShoes, you reminded me. When I was still single, that was one of the ways I decided if a guy was worth dating. If we went out to dinner and he was rude to the waiter/waitress, or didn’t tip at least reasonably, I wouldn’t go out with him again.
Me too! In fact, I had one guy do that snappy finger thing, and I left. Right there and then.
My dad never worked retail, he was blue collar, but he was always kind (and goofy) to waitstaff and such. At least some of the good lessons from my parents stuck.
Customers who stay after closing never want to buy anything. They’re more interested in throwing magazines across the room and generally acting like monkeys. People who want coffee to go have already bought it. (Like many coffeeshops, we sling coffee in paper cups unless the customer requests otherwise.) People wandering over from the bookstore can certainly buy a last-minute drink and GTFO if they want, but if the manager’s already taken out the cash drawer and closed down the register they’re SOL. Either way, I can count on one hand the number of times customers have overstayed their welcome because they wanted to buy something. But every single night we get hangers-on who are there to read things they have no intention of buying and then make a mess of them in creative ways.
We do have a strict closing time: 30 minutes. Usually the most hectic 30 minutes of the day, unless it was slow enough early on that we could get some of the stuff done early. As soon as we close we have to start the process of cleaning the espresso machine and the coffee urns if we hope to make it out in time.
And believe you me, I have no hangups about getting people out at closing time.
Sorry–my advice was more related to the specific incident mentioned in the OP, which did involve somebody wanting to buy a drink and, presumably, a register that hasn’t been closed down. I was replying to you, but I did not mean to direct my reply to your situation specifically.
Jesus, I cannot believe this kind of attitude! Your level of contempt for the people whose money pays your bills is simple reprehensible. The customers are certainly not douchebags.
They are goddamn, fetid, oozing, pustule-ridden douchebags.
I was in an airport once (San Diego, maybe), waiting in line at a food stand, when some harridan at the counter started screeching about her allegedly fucked up order. She actually said, “The customer is always right! I’m the customer!” Normally I’d approve of bodily throwing people like that out the door, but in this case I was glad the clerk appeased her so I didn’t have to be assaulted by her unholy orifice any longer.
I got a job instantly at Panera when the manager interviewing me asked if the customer was always right and I laughed and said, “No.” He clapped his hands and said, “Hallelujah!”
Treat customers respectfully. But don’t put up with abuse, and call the manager over if they get irate. That’s why the managers get salary and I get $7/hour.
(I worked there about two months. It was fun, but I was stretched too thin.)
My first job was when I was in high school. I worked at a local grocery store. The rule was “The customer isn’t always right, but they’re always the customer”, which I thought was fair.
However, we really didn’t have the CUSTOMERS making us stay late. No, it was one of the asshat managers, who would make us stay and help him count drawers, AND do shopping for HIM.
Eventually though, since most of us were minors, the store was fined, because we went over the amount of hours we were allowed to work without clocking out for a lunch. Then our boss (who was really cool), told him we had to be out on time.
The only time a customer was really a pain in the ass about staying was when the electricity went out during a really bad thunderstorm. We only had so long before the back-up generator shut down, and so we had to get people out in a hurry. My manager was ready to explode (not the same one who would keep us after-hours), because as I was doing a walk through to see if anyone was left, I had to tell him it was RAINING back in the meat department.
So we’re getting everyone out, as one by one, the registers shut themselves down. We had this total bitch with who was making us do price checks, bitching about coupons, and generally acting like an entitled pain in the ass. Hello, lady, if we don’t finish in less than TEN minutes, you won’t BE ABLE to buy your grocceries.
And don’t get me started on the guy who started banging on the door after closing on THANKSGIVING. We were only open until 2, bite me.
I’m sympathetic to those in retail that want the customers to GTFO at closing time, but less sympathetic if the employees attempt to discourage customers from entering the store 10 minutes before closing time because the employees are involved in their closing duties while the store should technically still be open for business. I guess I feel if the store is open until 8:00, it should be doing business until 8:00. Obviously that means the customers have to do their part and skedaddle asap, but I don’t like being turned away prior to closing time because the register is being closed out early.