# Weird retail or service industry policies... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 10, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796 "2012-07-10T15:22:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [July 18, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/41 "2012-07-18T03:32:17Z")
> [@expectopatronum](#): > > the fuck? maybe he just wants a day off for himself/his crew, as suggested above? why is he automatically an eeeeeevil christian? I didn’t imply that he was evil. The reason I think that he’s Christian is because he chose Sunday as the day of rest…though he might have chosen it because that means that everyone gets Saturday night off. > [@freckafree](#): > > To continue on the credit card theme, the salon where I get my hair cut takes credit cards, but is not set up so you can add a tip to the charge. So someone who doesn’t have enough cash to pay for his or her salon services is supposed to have enough cash to leave a tip? I feel sorry for the stylists, who must get screwed out of tips pretty regularly. The local beauty school does this too. What’s more, they’re not set up to take checks, which makes me go 😕. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/42 "2012-07-18T03:36:31Z")
> [@expectopatronum](#): > > the fuck? maybe he just wants a day off for himself/his crew, as suggested above? why is he automatically an eeeeeevil christian? Because most eeeeeevil Jews would close on Sat to go to [del]church[/del] synagogue. Stores that demand you to show ID to use a credit card. This is against the standard Visa/MC merchant contract. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/43 "2012-07-18T05:24:22Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > Speaking as someone who grew up long ago in a rural area dominated by family businesses and before big box stores came in: > > Most family small businesses would rather lose much money rather than pay a non family member a decent wage/bennies…and hiring people to run a store effectively without owners around would require this. Yes, that’s why I remember from my parents’ business, as well. Either mom or dad or both was at the store every day for 11 years. That experience is what prompted the post! ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/44 "2012-07-18T06:23:54Z")
I bought a book through [amazon.com](http://amazon.com). It was shipped to me in a bubble-wrap type envelope. It was damaged. The first rule of shipping the book back was that I place it in a box. I guess to preserve the damage. (If you’re wondering, it was Clive Barker’s Books Of Blood 1-3) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/45 "2012-07-18T07:02:21Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Stores that demand you to show ID to use a credit card. This is against the standard Visa/MC merchant contract. So I guess you don’t mind someone stealing your card and using it without having to prove their identity? ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/46 "2012-07-18T07:09:56Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > And yet the fact that some stores chose to keep shorter hours suggests that they have made the cost/benefit analysis and have decided that the time off is worth more to them than the extra business. > > Basically, they have already responded to your ultimatum: if you don’t want to go when they’re open, then they don’t want your business. Suck it up. And consumers often respond to that decision. If they don’t want to stay open convenient hours then they don’t get our business and may just go broke. Suck it up. Goes both ways. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/47 "2012-07-18T07:25:14Z")
A reversal: [**This chain**](http://www.salisburyhouse.ca/) of greasy spoons has signs at the tills saying the restaurant will accept only debit or credit cards after, I think, 10 p.m. For anyone wondering, “nip” for a burger is an 80-year-old regionalism that still exists only in a couple of places outside those stores. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/48 "2012-07-18T07:36:30Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > And consumers often respond to that decision. If they don’t want to stay open convenient hours then they don’t get our business and may just go broke. Suck it up. > > Goes both ways. Sure it does. But i don’t see any such store owners in here bemoaning their lack of business. All i see is foot-stomping consumers whining about how the mom-and-pop stores need to sharpen their business practices if they want to compete with Wal-Mart. Presumably, they have taken into account the loss of business when deciding on their hours. In some cases, they know they’ll lose some business, but consider the lifestyle benefits of shorter hours to be worth the reduced income. In other cases, depending on exactly what they’re selling, they may lose very little business at all, especially if they’re selling a fairly specialized product, or if their customers are aware of their business hours and are willing to make the effort to come when the place is open. My favorite camera store—indeed, one of the best camera stores in the country—is closed every week for the Jewish sabbath, and also for every Jewish holiday. That means, in at least one case, well over a week of shutdown at a time. And i don’t just mean that the doors are closed on their store; i mean that you can’t even place an order on their website. And yet they do fine, precisely because (a) it is a fucking awesome store, with knowledgeable staff, good products, fair prices, and a strong return policy, and (b) because their customers know what their hours are and are willing to shop when they’re open. I’m not religious, and i couldn’t give a flying fuck about the Jewish holidays, but i do have a certain respect for business owners who are willing to turn their back on Mammon for just a moment for some cultural or personal or religious principle. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/49 "2012-07-18T11:39:12Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > I can’t tell you how many times we were out of luck because the museum/monument/whatever we planned on stopping to see on our way from one town to another was closed between noon and two, and we showed up at 12:15. Tour guide: “And on this site the Magna Carta was created.” Tourist: “When was that?” Tour guide: “1215.” Tourist: “Damn, we missed it by 15 minutes!” mmm ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/50 "2012-07-18T11:39:13Z")
> [@Critical\_Mass](#): > > I don’t understand why more restaurants in my town don’t keep websites with online menus. > > If I feel like exploring options for a new pizza or chinese food place, I do my research online. > > If a restaurant doesn’t have a website with a menu, I don’t spend any money with them. Try Twitter or Facebook. A lot of my local restaurants are using social media instead of a traditional website because they can update and post specials and menu items with their mobile phones instead of having to find time each day to do it on a computer. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/51 "2012-07-18T11:48:59Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Presumably, they have taken into account the loss of business when deciding on their hours. In some cases, they know they’ll lose some business, but consider the lifestyle benefits of shorter hours to be worth the reduced income. In other cases, depending on exactly what they’re selling, they may lose very little business at all, especially if they’re selling a fairly specialized product, or if their customers are aware of their business hours and are willing to make the effort to come when the place is open. Yes, but not all of them actually make that kind of thought-out decision. In my heavily train-commuter suburb of Chicago, most of the stores’ hours are geared towards the stay-at-home/work-from-home/don’t-have-to-work resident - lots of salons, clothing stores, kids-oriented things, etc. The vast majority of stores close at 5 or shortly after. Anyone who works standard hours needs to shop in town on the weekend, in most cases. A couple wine shops were opening, and my husband talked to both owners and, finding out they had the same plan for their hours, emphasized that they would probably want to stay open later to catch the commuters coming off the train and wanting to pick up some wine on the way home from work. It’s been years since they opened, and both stores are open later - 8 pm or later, and they host wine tastings, have wine bars, etc. It seems like they’re also getting business from people leaving restaurants and inspired to bring wine home. It is **not** automatically true that if a business has certain hours, this is the absolute best decision by their metrics and we have no reason to question it. It is entirely possible that those wine shops would have come to the decision to stay open later on their own or with time, but then again, it isn’t guaranteed. I don’t credit my husband with causing this on his own, but he put thoughts into the owners’ heads and they probably talked to other people about whether this made sense. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/52 "2012-07-18T11:48:59Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > There’s a hardware store near here, not a chain store. They not only carry standard hardware store stuff, but have a variety of specialty items like springs and doodads and things. Their hours of operation - 9 am to 5:30 pm M-F, 9am to 4 pm Saturday. > > Seriously? Only open during standard business hours, no concession to folks who work for a living? Except for Saturday, I guess. That’s pretty much how I feel about _any_ business (or Government Department) that only keeps “Business Hours”. Look, I totally get a business owner might not want to be working 10 hour days seven days a week, and I completely understand them wanting a day off. But what’s wrong with opening, say, 11am-7pm during the week? You’re still open the same hours, but you get a lie in in the morning, you’re still open for the lunch-hour customers, and you’re open a couple of hours later on for people who work in offices and the like. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/53 "2012-07-18T13:02:08Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > If we’re bitching about weird hours, I’ll chime in with “the entire country of France.” > > I can’t tell you how many times we were out of luck because the museum/monument/whatever we planned on stopping to see on our way from one town to another was closed between noon and two, and we showed up at 12:15. > > Or, alternatively, we didn’t have time/get hungry for lunch until after 2, and every single frickin’ restaurant in a 20 mile radius was closed between 2 & 5. And now you know how do so many shops and museums in Europe manage to stay open after the 9-5 places close: by having a long lunch break! And how do restaurants which are only restaurants (as opposed to bar-restaurants) work: yep, they’re open during meal times. From our PoV, it’s the places with the 9-5 hours that are strange 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/54 "2012-07-18T13:23:40Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > To continue on the credit card theme, the salon where I get my hair cut takes credit cards, but is not set up so you can add a tip to the charge. So someone who doesn’t have enough cash to pay for his or her salon services is supposed to have enough cash to leave a tip? I feel sorry for the stylists, who must get screwed out of tips pretty regularly. This one annoys me too. I rarely carry cash and I’ve forgotten this a couple of times and had to go to a nearby ATM and return with the tip. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/55 "2012-07-18T15:58:21Z")
Not exactly retail, but the one thing I dislike about my doctor is her hours. Pretty much 9 to 5 with an hour off for lunch in the middle, Monday through Friday. Of course, now that I’m retired, I don’t mind it, but when I was working it guaranteed that if I needed to call or visit the office I had to take official time off from work to do it. Yes, it’s a small office, but so was the one I was working in, and we managed to arrange lunch breaks so that there was always someone to answer the phone. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/56 "2012-07-18T16:14:36Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > And how do restaurants which are only restaurants (as opposed to bar-restaurants) work: yep, they’re open during meal times. So everyone follows the same meal times all the time? And anyone who doesn’t is out of luck? ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/57 "2012-07-18T16:16:00Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Yes, that’s why I remember from my parents’ business, as well. Either mom or dad or both was at the store every day for 11 years. That experience is what prompted the post! Well, there was always the family businesses that didn’t want to give up the money of being open…but would be damned at paying someone a decent wage/bennies. They weren’t many but a few. They would then be shocked and outraged at the inevitable results. I remember a family owned pizza place. They decided that they really needed to be open after 6. :rolleyes: and so they hired a couple poor schlubs to run it at minimum wage and no benefits. It was pretty cool because you could pay full price up front or go around back and knock at the alley door and pay about a fifth of full price. Yes, those two running the place after hours were unethical/illegal…but what do you expect? When you pay someone a pittance and give them responsibility one of the first things they will do is find a way to increase their pittance to something relatively decent. Paying people in positions of responsibility too little is just as unethical as the unethical behavior those people hired will then exhibit. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/58 "2012-07-18T16:18:53Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > A reversal: [**This chain**](http://www.salisburyhouse.ca/) of greasy spoons has signs at the tills saying the restaurant will accept only debit or credit cards after, I think, 10 p.m. > > For anyone wondering, “nip” for a burger is an 80-year-old regionalism that still exists only in a couple of places outside those stores. This makes sense to me if it is in an area that is known for robberies. Probably also keeps ‘undesireables’ out as they don’t usually have CCs. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/59 "2012-07-18T16:19:18Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > You say this as if it’s some sort of contradiction, but it’s precisely true, and it relates directly to the issue of opening hours. > > These little stores are screwed either way. They can keep civilized hours, leaving themselves enough time to actually have a life, and they’ll have people like you complaining about how they want to be able to buy steak at 11 on a Friday night. Or they can try to compete with the big guys by staying open 16 hours a day, seven days a week, and drive themselves crazy by working all the damn time and never having a chance to take a breath. > > And, as others have noted, it can often be hard to find someone honest and reliable to open and run a small business for you for just one or two days a week, especially at the sort of wages that a small business would have to pay in order to still make a profit. For some of these places, it might be worth it to lose a bit of business each week for the benefit of getting to live like a human being. So is this Walmart’s fault? The fault of consumers for wanting something outside of normal business hours? The fault of society for not forcing people to wait for stuff like they used to? A combination? All? None? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796/60 "2012-07-18T16:21:48Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > So is this Walmart’s fault? The fault of consumers for wanting something outside of normal business hours? The fault of society for not forcing people to wait for stuff like they used to? A combination? All? None? It’s not a matter of assigning blame. If you want to do that, go right ahead, but that’s not what i was doing. I was simply pointing out the reality of the situation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-retail-or-service-industry-policies/627796.md?page=4)