In Before the Lock....
The other day I went with a friend of mine to get an ice cream cone from Baskin Robbins. The store said it closed at 6 pm and we arrived at 5:50.
This was on Saturday and while I admit my Saturday nights aren't the most exciting now that I am 32 years old and a daddy of two, that was obviously not going to be the case for the two teenage girls running the place because....they had already locked the door!
I was there before the door was supposed to be locked. They just waved and smiled and said sorry. I pointed at their store clock and it said 5:50 and the schedule on the glass showed that they close at 6:00 pm.
I let it go and just went to Albertson's and bought some regular ice cream to take home but those girls were rude because I was in before the lock. I was clearly there before the closing time of the store.
Has this ever happened to you?
Have you ever been "in before the lock?"
Nick
This was on Saturday and while I admit my Saturday nights aren't the most exciting now that I am 32 years old and a daddy of two, that was obviously not going to be the case for the two teenage girls running the place because....they had already locked the door!
I was there before the door was supposed to be locked. They just waved and smiled and said sorry. I pointed at their store clock and it said 5:50 and the schedule on the glass showed that they close at 6:00 pm.
I let it go and just went to Albertson's and bought some regular ice cream to take home but those girls were rude because I was in before the lock. I was clearly there before the closing time of the store.
Has this ever happened to you?
Have you ever been "in before the lock?"
Nick
Comments
thats truly 'in before lock'
Yes, this has happened to me several times and the WORST example has been Subway. I went to one and they were supposed to close at 10pm and it was about 9:40. They'd already turned the neon "OPEN" sign off, but the doors were still unlocked (imagine that). Anyway I go in and they've already put nearly everything back into the freezer (the tuna, the veggies, etc.). On top of all that, these were - without a doubt - the two most surly, slack-shouldered, marble-mouthed examples of late-teen/early-20's humanity I have EVER encountered.
I tried being cool, asking for stuff that I saw was still left out (I came there for tuna but saw that it was already put away so I thought "I'll just get something else I guess...") and the guy was literally taking slow, little baby steps and was fumbling through the bread. I felt myself getting angrier because a) it was 20 minutes until closing and NOTHING good was available and b) these two were such shitheads about everything.
Finally - in a move TOTALLY uncharacteristic of me in public - I just said "you know what, jackball? Never-f***ing-mind. I'll go to Burger King so you and your boyfriend there can get to the skateboard park on time. GREAT customer service. And comb your $#%@ hair!"
I walked out, jerked the door open and shut it as hard as I could, mumbling - loudly - all the way. I didn't even look back into the store because, at that point I, had I saw them making gestures or otherwise provoking me, I might've gone back inside and killed them with a piece of hardened foot-long wheat bread.
I had a guy once TOSS my change back at me. Not in a bouncy friendly way like some people have done it (I don't mind that if it fits the mood/style of the restaurant and that particular employ). This was done in a "I'm young and tortured and can't be bothered to actually hand you your money...plus I listen to Avril and this is how she'd handle the situation".
If you lined up all the teenage and early-20-something fast-food employees I've been tempted to choke or beat with a tire iron over the years, the line would stretch across Colorado and New Mexico, I'm sure.
It's kinda rude to show up right before a store or a restaurant closes and demand to be served. I work in a restaurant and you have to be shitting me to think you'll get seated at 11:50 when we close at 12:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. You unnecessarily hold up the people who happened to put long shifts in for the day. You don't necessarily give them ANY incentive for staying late just to serve your lazy ass. They've already been there for hours upon hours and probably have even more work to do before they go home for the night... Do you think they're going to stay ever farther past closing time for you?
Go to Perkins or some 24/hr place if you want food that badly and stop unecessarily holding the employees up. You're just being rude.
Originally posted by ShawnPatrickJoyce
Employee's Perspective
It's kinda rude to show up right before a store or a restaurant closes and demand to be served. I work in a restaurant and you have to be shitting me to think you'll get seated at 11:50 when we close at 12:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. You unnecessarily hold up the people who happened to put long shifts in for the day. You don't necessarily give them ANY incentive for staying late just to serve your lazy ass. They've already been there for hours upon hours and probably have even more work to do before they go home for the night... Do you think they're going to stay ever farther past closing time for you?
Go to Perkins or some 24/hr place if you want food that badly and stop unecessarily holding the employees up. You're just being rude.
Bzzzt.... sorry try again. You are paid on the clock past the close for clean-up. I worked as a closer at Wendy's "back in the day" myself and while you can prep certain things early, you should be willing to serve people up to the closing time or change that time.
Nick
Originally posted by trumptman
Bzzzt.... sorry try again. You are paid on the clock past the close for clean-up. I worked as a closer at Wendy's "back in the day" myself and while you can prep certain things early, you should be willing to serve people up to the closing time or change that time.
Nick
It's not wrong. It's just an employee's perspective.
I think you're totally disrepectful to the employees who have to stay even further past closing time. You don't give a shit. It's all about you... Well, no, in a restaurant it takes time for people to sit down, get acquainted with the menu, order food, cook food, eat food, and finally leave. We're talking about not just one person, but a whole host of people who have to stay past closing time just to serve you.
...And then comes their usual cleanup time which is now at a ridiculously later hour.
Like I said, go to Perkins or some 24/hr place and have consideration for someone other than yourself.
I think you're totally disrepectful to the employees who have to stay even further past closing time. You don't give a shit. It's all about you
well, what else do you expect when you work in a service industry.
of course it's about the customer, that's why you have a job. as for closing and people showing up near closing time? if it's a serious concern, bump the hours back 30 min. and you'll get out when you want to.
if the store says it's open, you should expect to serve people. it's stupid to bitch because people walk into the store during regular business hours.
as a side note, there's a subway around here that stops serving hot subs HOURS before they close. something like after 10pm they no longer serve them. morons.
as a kid, i recall visiting a Denny's whose sign proclaimed "Always Open"
as we entered, i noticed locks on the doors and asked the manager why,
if you're "always open" can you even have locks and not be called for false advertising?
manager said "we close on Christmas and if the kitchen power goes out"
me: "but then your sign is lying... you are not Always Open"
manager: "complain to head office. you want ice cream or not"
misrepresenting service is bad
dissing customers when they call you on it is worse
There's a huge difference in walking into, say, Outback, at 5 minutes until closing and ordering a bunch of stuff and dawdling, talking, relaxing for an hour or so. Personally I would never do this because...well, I just wouldn't. I don't want people hating me or putting their scrotum on my baked potato as a little "kitchen staff joke to the asshole at table 17". But guess what? It's legal, within the rules and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. Other than quit, I suppose.
But going to a Subway 20 MINUTES before posted closing time to just get some tuna slapped on to some bread and put it in a bag and I'm out the door in THREE MINUTES and being confronted with what I encountered? Horseshit!
No, that's wrong on THEIR part. The reason I KNOW this? Because a week later I talked to a manager about it (another location, so no one got into trouble) and she totally thought they blew it and saw it my way.
"Twenty minutes?!?! Are you serious? Man...".
I've worked retail and food/restaurant. The posted closing time is for CUSTOMERS. I never once entertained the idea that "well, we close at 10pm, so I'll click off the lights, flip the sign and lock the door on my way to my car at 10:01."
As if...
Working in that environment, you know that - depending on the type of restaurant or store it is - you have anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour (or more) of "closing" work to do. Yes, it sucks when some bonehead comes in and wants a steak 10 minutes until closing. I'm not arguing on that because I myself would feel kinda cheesy for doing it.
But, fact is, he's really not breaking any rules. Sit-down establishments aren't really what I'm talking about because those DO require more people staying: waiter, carrier, busboy, dishwasher, cook, bartender, etc.
But a Subway? Or an ice cream joint? Sign says "10pm", you stay open (and SERVE) until 10pm.
It's THAT simple.
If you don't like that, then a) request earlier shifts or b) pursue employment in another field.
I took, as part of the job, that even though we were "closed" at 10 or whatever, my butt was there cleaning this, prepping that, emptying this, washing that for another hour or so. I always just said to myself "I really get off at 11:00...".
Shawn, your post on this is wrong because, cheesy as it may sound, yes...it is indeed "all about me", as a paying customer. You're in a service industry. Provide "service" or work elsewhere.
Ain't rocket science.
Not saying you have to like it (and I'm not even saying it's "right" or "fair") just saying that's HOW IT IS. And I didn't make the rules so don't get all over me for it, okay? Don't invest time in some big "jump on pscates" post to counter the above because we're right, you're wrong on this.
Originally posted by Defiant
xionja: that's a cool store! I'd like to know a store like that here...
Same here. Actually it seems like xionja is living close to the cool laid back liberal intellectual north-eastern US life you only see in films and old "the real world" reruns.
That's what I talked about.
No one's arguing against the "legality" of regular business hours. Although I suspect business owners may close up shop at their whim. What I am saying deals more with having consideration for someone other than yourself. What I am saying is that maybe, just maybe, it's rude, disrepectful, and ignorant to expect to be served right before closing time.
On the flip-side:
If you don't like it, don't come to the restaurant again. The restaurant certainly doesn't depend on fringe-patrons like yourself to do business. Most of it is hotel-event related. In fact, you might be costing the restaurant extra money to stay open just for you. So it's certainly not making any more money.
I think the problem is that we abuse our service industry. There's no consideration for the person who has to clean up your piss after you miss the toilet, or the person you blow smoke into their face while he or she delivers that mushroom appetizer to your table.
There are many things that we can do. But should we?
"It's perfectly within my rights as a citizen of this great country to show up at 11:59 and expect service. It's a God-given right!"
A little more consideration for people other than yourself is what I am going for here.
Originally posted by pscates
I
I took, as part of the job, that even though we were "closed" at 10 or whatever, my butt was there cleaning this, prepping that, emptying this, washing that for another hour or so. I always just said to myself "I really get off at 11:00...".
Same, but nobody is served after 10:00.
Originally posted by ShawnPatrickJoyce
If you don't like it, don't come to the restaurant again.
And I generally don't. After about three repeats of the same sort of thing at that particular Subway (half a mile from my house), I finally took to driving 2 miles in the other direction for a Subway that, for whatever reason, never seemed to be plagued with this sort of behavior and attitude. That's the great thing about choice, competetion, freedom, etc.
Yeah, I had to drive a little further, but I never got yanked around or angered. That's worth it.
There are many things that we can do. But should we?
Of course not. And I think I say - or allude to - that quite a bit. It just so happens that it often runs counter to yours and others' way of seeing the world: like, we CAN lie in the street and block traffic to protest a war. But SHOULD we?
You know, silly, simple stuff like that.
Originally posted by pscates
Of course not. And I think I say - or allude to - that quite a bit. It just so happens that it often runs counter to yours and others' way of seeing the world: like, we CAN lie in the street and block traffic to protest a war. But SHOULD we?
You know, silly, simple stuff like that.
Exactly, I suppose.