Sometimes it’s just pure obliviousness and you really need to speak up.
One of my embarrassing moments was shopping at a teacher store to supply my ex’s classroom. We were kind of enjoying the afternoon so taking our time, no big deal. Then the store people started coming over more frequently to ask if we needed help. No thank you. Eventually we make our way to the register and were shocked to discover the store closed half an hour ago. wtf, why didn’t someone kick us out, or at least stop being so damn polite and tell us they were closing since we clearly didn’t realize it? I’ll never forget the cringe of keeping people so late, and we were just enjoying leisurely shopping that could have finished long since
I worked retail at a store that had a rule that we DO NOT rush customers out if they come in before we lock the doors. We were NOT allowed to mention we were closed and we were NOT allowed to roll out merchandise to the aisles.
Corportate was confused on how our store had so much overtime when customers would regularly walk in a minute before close, stay an hour and buy nothing.
Worked at a staples store in the early 2000s and we’d make an announcement that the store was closing 30 minutes before, 15 minutes before and then another when we closed.
Nobody was rushed out by employees but we still let them know.
My favorite tactic used by several of the coffee shops near me is they start slowly turning the music louder. People naturally start leaving once it’s too loud to think or talk. Place I used to work at we’d turn off half the lights and everyone would just show up at the register no confrontation needed. People were fine with it a vast majority of the time but occasionally there would be someone who asked us to turn the lights back on so they could keep shopping
The thing is, you don’t know if the customer is just an asshole or oblivious. So, I could confront you and risk being yelled at (which I really don’t want to deal with at the end of a shift), then stand around waiting for a half hour, OR I could skip the yelling and just stand around waiting for a half hour.
I work at a restaurant inside a park. We open an hour after the park opens, and one of the store entrances is attached to the park welcome building. The doors for that entrance do not securely lock, and can be opened, with a bit of struggle, while locked. You know it’s going to be an interesting day when you have to kick people out BEFORE we open. We don’t turn the lights on until open, but every couple weeks people still manage to get in and expect to be seated.
You can hear them struggle with the door from across the room. They walk into a dark restaurant. You say “I’m sorry we don’t open for another 15 minutes”. Most of the time their response is not to apologize and leave. I’ve heard the open ended statements “Well we’re here now”, or “your doors were unlocked”, or even the more presumptuous “can we eat in the trolley?”. They are still made to wait outside and are inevitably mad about it.
I will choose to avoid confrontation anytime I can, as most of the time I don’t have a choice.
My boyfriend and I did this by accident in one of the big ass multi floor arcades in Akihabara. By default, service in Japan is so polite, and people are often very indirect, so the employees kept giving us subtle cues to leave that we were both oblivious to. Eventually, we caught on and were like, “Oh shit,” so we headed to the exit. Most of the employees had gathered to wave off customers as they left, but they all looked pretty pissed. We were the last two customers in the building, and they closed the doors behind us.
I still feel so horrible. It doesn’t help being foreigners and falling right into bad stereotypes 😭
Former cashier here: not paid enough to argue with the person who does that on purpose. Maybe they even have a semi-good reason, like “the party starts in 5 minutes”.
Sometimes it’s just pure obliviousness and you really need to speak up.
One of my embarrassing moments was shopping at a teacher store to supply my ex’s classroom. We were kind of enjoying the afternoon so taking our time, no big deal. Then the store people started coming over more frequently to ask if we needed help. No thank you. Eventually we make our way to the register and were shocked to discover the store closed half an hour ago. wtf, why didn’t someone kick us out, or at least stop being so damn polite and tell us they were closing since we clearly didn’t realize it? I’ll never forget the cringe of keeping people so late, and we were just enjoying leisurely shopping that could have finished long since
I worked retail at a store that had a rule that we DO NOT rush customers out if they come in before we lock the doors. We were NOT allowed to mention we were closed and we were NOT allowed to roll out merchandise to the aisles.
Corportate was confused on how our store had so much overtime when customers would regularly walk in a minute before close, stay an hour and buy nothing.
Worked at a staples store in the early 2000s and we’d make an announcement that the store was closing 30 minutes before, 15 minutes before and then another when we closed.
Nobody was rushed out by employees but we still let them know.
My favorite tactic used by several of the coffee shops near me is they start slowly turning the music louder. People naturally start leaving once it’s too loud to think or talk. Place I used to work at we’d turn off half the lights and everyone would just show up at the register no confrontation needed. People were fine with it a vast majority of the time but occasionally there would be someone who asked us to turn the lights back on so they could keep shopping
I like the one with turning off half the lights. That seems like an effective signal while not being confrontational.
The thing is, you don’t know if the customer is just an asshole or oblivious. So, I could confront you and risk being yelled at (which I really don’t want to deal with at the end of a shift), then stand around waiting for a half hour, OR I could skip the yelling and just stand around waiting for a half hour.
I work at a restaurant inside a park. We open an hour after the park opens, and one of the store entrances is attached to the park welcome building. The doors for that entrance do not securely lock, and can be opened, with a bit of struggle, while locked. You know it’s going to be an interesting day when you have to kick people out BEFORE we open. We don’t turn the lights on until open, but every couple weeks people still manage to get in and expect to be seated.
You can hear them struggle with the door from across the room. They walk into a dark restaurant. You say “I’m sorry we don’t open for another 15 minutes”. Most of the time their response is not to apologize and leave. I’ve heard the open ended statements “Well we’re here now”, or “your doors were unlocked”, or even the more presumptuous “can we eat in the trolley?”. They are still made to wait outside and are inevitably mad about it.
I will choose to avoid confrontation anytime I can, as most of the time I don’t have a choice.
My boyfriend and I did this by accident in one of the big ass multi floor arcades in Akihabara. By default, service in Japan is so polite, and people are often very indirect, so the employees kept giving us subtle cues to leave that we were both oblivious to. Eventually, we caught on and were like, “Oh shit,” so we headed to the exit. Most of the employees had gathered to wave off customers as they left, but they all looked pretty pissed. We were the last two customers in the building, and they closed the doors behind us.
I still feel so horrible. It doesn’t help being foreigners and falling right into bad stereotypes 😭
I’ll never forget when my wife and I accidentally entered the 15 items or less line at the grocery with a full cart. Why didn’t they say no?
What’s it like being a monster?
Like I said, I will never forget. When I realized I tried to take back our stuff but it was too late.
Former cashier here: not paid enough to argue with the person who does that on purpose. Maybe they even have a semi-good reason, like “the party starts in 5 minutes”.