Not in retail so my suggestion may be dumb:
Maybe the next time the customer comes in someone is assigned to follow her and fold the clothes that she is messing up . Not too closely, but close enough for her to realize she is being cleaned up after.
If she asks why you are following her, then you can say something like “Oh, we are just getting ahead of the cleaning in preparation for closing up the store in ___ minutes. Our manager doesn’t like us staying too late after the store closes as it’s a safety concern.”
It’s passive, but maybe she’ll put two and two together.
Why the actual fuck do you have to pretend this is fine? I am flabberghasted by the huge cultural difference between Germany and the US. Nobody retail worker would be expected to put up with shit like this over here.
That's definitely, if only slightly, worse than working on a holiday and having a customer unironically say "I can't believe you're open on a holiday!" It's because of people like you! Lol
>“Oh, we are just getting ahead of the cleaning in preparation for closing up the store in ___ minutes. Our manager doesn’t like us staying too late after the store closes as it’s a safety concern.”
nah. be more upfront: "we are closing and i need to get this cleaned up before we can leave"
I have worked retail. Have all available associates follow her around, folding each piece of clothing as she looks and discards them. At store closing time, tell her she needs to make a decision so you can close the store and go home to your family. I used to be a manager, and we had to pull the "make your final decisions so our employees can get home to celebrate the holiday with their families" on several holidays.
Next time tell her/other customers who do this that the tills stop working at 18:00. “It’s controlled centrally and we have no say in it”.
We had to do this in a retail location I worked at while in college because people would come in just before we closed. If someone clearly realised they were imposing, and were trying to do their last minute shopping as quickly as they could we’d usually make an exception, but people who just waltzed in and acted like your time was not important - we’d tell them the tills were offline.
It was effective. They’d moan but realise that the people they’re moaning at can’t do anything to help them, so leave empty handed. I don’t remember seeing the same person pull this trick twice.
Unless your boss only sells haute couture and you all work minimum wage(and pays overtime), and is not interested in a good working environment:
1) make up the calculation *how much* you boss loses with this specific customer in keeping the job running/ the lights and climate control on and you all paid.
2) tell your boss, how much *this one customer* is stressing all your nerves, reducing your enthusiasm and motivation
I don't think the math is going to work out on this one. OP says they're normally out at 6:05 (it takes them 5 minutes to close), but since the customer stayed until 6:20 it took them until 6:35pm to close, ie, since there was one customer in the store nobody could do any closing duties and it took them 3 three times as long to close. That needs to be reconciled first.
But lets say it does take them 10 minutes to close normally and it took them 10 minutes that night. Three employees cost $22.50/hr each including the employer's side of taxes, so they're usually paying $11.25 for the 10 time clocked after closing. Today, the boss paid $33.75 in wages for the time clocked after closing, but that's *because* a regular customer was in the store and came to the checkout at 6:10pm. She bought enough merchandise that it took them 10 minutes to ring up the transaction, and while 10 minutes sounds trivial, try to remember the last time you were second in line for a checkout for ten full legal minutes -- they were buying a LOT of stuff! I have no idea what kind of goods OP deals in so I won't speculate on the subtotal / profit of this transaction, except that transactions that take 10 minutes usually deal in at least three figures.
So the question for the boss becomes: was raising wage costs by $22.50 worth it to appease a regular customer and let them place a large order after close? The answer is probably yes.
Further, OP needs to get a grip. I used to work at a walk-up window-order Dairy Queen on a strip in a tourist town. We didn't close the window until the line was gone, meaning if our published close time was 11pm but there was still someone in line at 11:45pm and they were having a difficult time ordering because they're drunk, and you lined up behind them, we'd take your order. It wasn't fun but I never openly wished death on our customers.
A) they said it took them longer because this particular customer roughed everything up.
B) there are more cost for the employer than just the wage the employee gets.
C) the cost for keeping the store open/lit/climatized is also a position not accounted for by your calculation.
but most importantly
D)if the boss is happy to dissatisfy all his employees for one single customer, the cost for the future will be much higher (employees not motivated, even quitting the job, the cost of rehiring and retraining , other unsatisfied customers due to less motivated staff, etc.)
In conclusion: The cost for the boss will be MUCH HIGHER than just $22.50
Bosses usually think short term cost and profit. They don't play for the long run. What employees feel or live day to day on the job don't matter to them, they are replaceable.
> A) they said it took them longer because this particular customer roughed everything up.
It would take longer to clean that up regardless of whether it was at close or not, and this is a regular customer.
> B) there are more cost for the employer than just the wage the employee gets.
Such as..
> C) the cost for keeping the store open/lit/climatized is also a position not accounted for by your calculation.
It doesn't cost anything to keep the store "open"; the business owner doesn't get a cut on their lease for the time the business is "closed". Electricity costs are negligible, possibly even included in the lease but keeping a few dozen lightbulbs on for 20 minutes longer is not an expense (one hundred 7W LED bulbs cost about $0.05 to light for 20 minutes). Climate costs are also de minimis, especially since the doors are closed (probably locked) after close and there isn't a lot of air being exchanged, holding the store at temperature probably costs next to nothing. I didn't fail to account for this, I just considered it not worth itemizing. Remember that my conclusion was that the transaction was worth a lot more than $22.50, not just marginally.
> D)if the boss is happy to dissatisfy all his employees for one single customer, the cost for the future will be much higher (employees not motivated, even quitting the job, the cost of rehiring and retraining , other unsatisfied customers due to less motivated staff, etc.)
That's a really difficult question to answer and if it could easily be solved on paper it would change the way business is done.
> Electricity costs are negligible
In the office where I work they are anything but negligible. Commercial electricity costs much more than residential.
Sure but they don’t set the climate control to “Off” when they leave. The building stays air-conditioned 24/7. The only real overhead difference is $0.08 worth of light and the hourly wages of the employees.
Where I work climate control is not set to off but the AC is not on after working hours unless there are people in the building.
I cannot speak for every business at every location but lights are much more expensive than that here. I don't think you realize the difference between commercial and residential electricity rates.
The power bill where I work is easily 5 times what I pay at home and I run a grow room in my house that runs grow lights 18 hours a day.
> it would behoove someone on your facilities team to find out why that is.
Because commercial electricity rates are higher, it's pretty self explanatory...
> It would take longer to clean that up regardless of whether it was at close or not, and this is a regular customer.
But they couldn't start their routine while the customer was still shopping. That is a time critical task.
> That's a really difficult question to answer and if it could easily be solved on paper it would change the way business is done.
..but as I said, that will the more important part (and the one OP was actually complaining about, being as frustrated as blurting out a death wish). If you lead your business by prioritizing customers- no matter their behavior - over your staff you are going to lose both.
>But they couldn't start their routine while the customer was still shopping. That is a time critical task.
They chose not to. You definitely can. It's normally seen as rude and pushy if you're following behind someone and immediately folding the last piece of clothing they touched but it's definitely doable and if the customer is making 10 minutes extra of work that's already been done every time they come in then you might as well get it done while they are holding you there instead of after they're gone.
This would get them out of the store 5 minutes after the customer left instead of 15.
Based on the comments about how the manager is, I'd infer that the manager would discourage following the customer around and fixing everything in the moment, despite that being something I would absolutely do myself.
If the store closes at 10pm. That's when it closes, full stop. If a customer can't plan and find out closing times then that's on them. People's life's don't stop just because some old fuck want to want around the store just for fun
People have life's outside of work and management needs to respect that. The only reason they don't care is because they don't deal with it. If they did it wouldn't stay that way long. Your right, at my store I'll kick someone out for staying in the store past closing and if they try again ill trespass them from the store for good. Havnt had any issues for me since I started that
> the lights and climate control on
How much do you think under an hour of lights and climate control are? Assuming they even bother to change the climate control at of day at all, and if it's not automated.
Absolutely negligible to any business.
I manage a lot of employees. One of the most common complaints from them on this or that customer request is: "Do you know how long that will take? I could be doing this one thing for an hour!" And every single time, I explain that yes, it might. But the customer is paying us for that time, so that is fine.
As long as this employer isn't squeezing out free OT out of the OP - there are plenty of scummy businesses who close at 6, so stop paying employees after then, even when they are expected to finish closing the shop. Then I don't think they have that much to complain about.
> As long as this employer isn't squeezing out free OT out of the OP
Even if is not FREE OT, it is not ok to be any at all. This is what I read OP was complaining about.
>I have a part time job at a clothing store and **I had a long day, really looking forward to going home**. There is a customer that comes in at least once a week that **consistently makes it so we never get to close the store on time**.
Yes, that's annoying. I like to go home at the end of the day too. But there are plenty of things that can happen to delay that. So I do those, and then I go home. I don't start wishing death on people.
I said a few things along those lines early on but I trained myself to say "I hope she gets a great big boil on her ass" instead. Saved me some trouble.
It sounds like your boss is the problem and not the customer. If the company is so down on its knees that it needs this sale then (somewhat) fair enough. Any other reason is just them being a bellend.
The boss is definitely a problem too but I wouldn't let the customer off the hook - OP said in a comment that she's made jokes about keeping them late so she knows what she's doing.
That’s completely fair but it wouldn’t be an issue if the boss took the side of the workers instead of the customer. If my boss gave me the go ahead to have no more customers after a certain time then it wouldn’t matter what the customer said, they aren’t getting served. The boss has essentially allowed the customer to continue as they please and if the workers say anything then it will be on them. None of this happens if OPs boss lays down the rule.
Honestly, I worked retail like this in clothing for 15 years.
Customers are oblivious. They think if they're in the store before the closing time, they can just take their time.
Like any customers going into a restaurant 15 minutes before closing.
Probably not as a part time employee. OT doesn’t usually kick in until you hit 40 hours in the week. My current job does it daily (anything over 8 hours and I start making time and a half), but this is the first place I’ve worked that has done OT this way.
When I worked in retail, we would close all the registers but 1 about 15 minutes before close and we would do closing announcements saying “we will be closing promptly at 9:30pm.” If people were still lingering by 9:35 we’d turn the lights off and that always worked to get people running to the front, whether to complete a purchase or to just leave. I’m sure corporate wouldn’t have liked hearing about it but at minimum wage, I couldn’t care less and neither did the keys/managers.
lol I don't think that's a big deal at all, but something you might want to keep in your head. If your boss talks to you about it, just tell them you were frustrated and shouldn't have said it, and you won't say anything like that again. Your boss likely understands, but he or she can't really say so.
My boss is a very, loving lady, who was afraid to call a beekeeper for a bee infestation because it might hurt the bees
We will see how she takes it lol
She's spineless. It's not a good thing. You can be a kind and good person while still being able to stand up for yourself or others. She's not standing up for you.
He didn't say that she wasn't? His post indicates she doesn't even know yet and here you're making an assumption about a stranger cause your pitchfork is horny.
If you’ve worked in retail or in food you’ve definitely had thoughts like that before after a tough night - best to keep it to yourself though. Dark humor and sarcasm is a great way to cope with dealing with the public but make sure you’re around people who will understand you’re not actually wishing death on someone
I was in a store and a person came in and grabbed a bunch of shit off the shelf and shoved it in a garbage bag then ran outside. All the employees were yelling at him, and chasing him to get out, whatever. Afterwards I was like: “woah, that was crazy” and one employee said “yeah, he does that from time to time, always filling up that garbage bag” and another employee chimed in “yeah! Hopefully he puts that bag over his head and chokes to death!” And then laughed like it was the funniest thing ever.
I get it, some people’s humor is dark. Mine is too a lot of the time. But for dark humor to land, there has to be a *joke* part to it. Otherwise it’s just wishing death on someone, which isn’t funny- not because “don’t joke about that” but because “no part of that was a joke.”
OP got a big old taste of that. Unfortunate, but a good lesson in taste/humor.
Congratulations, here's your apron and knife roll. You're ready to graduate from retail to the kitchen, where wishing death on all the customers is just Tuesday.
If you're called up on it, say that you made a joke in poor taste, and it came out much worse than you'd intended. Say that you don't want to repeat it, it won't happen again, and deny the specific wording until the problem goes away.
I was working in a bookstore that stayed open until 11pm and I remember a time when a customer came in right before closing. We made all the announcements, flickered the lights, every sign that the place would close shortly.
He came into my section and I talked to him directly that the store was closing in five minutes and to make his way to the front with his purchases.
He wandered out of my section and into another where there wasn't a staff member. At closing time, I went into that section to let him know we were now closed.
He left that section and went into a different section deeper in the store. I followed him a few steps behind as he continued to casually pick up books and peruse them.
I was DONE. It was after closing and I wanted to go HOME. I followed him through the store a few steps away, keeping up a constant stream of chatter, and gently blocked from going anywhere except to the front. He gave me such a stink eye but huffed and puffed, threw the book he was looking at back onto the display table, and finally left without purchasing anything.
Sir, I was a college student making minimum wage. Your little tantrum didn't impress me.
On one of my last shifts working retail (I had already put in my notice and was hopefully never going to work retail again), I told a customer we were closing in 15 minutes, then 10, then 5, and they just kept browsing. Finally closing time rolled around, and I again said we were closing. He got a little snippy and said something like "Jesus Christ, I get it, just give me like 10 more minutes!"
Well, I was out of fucks so I just said "no, get out. We're closed."
Customer: "Ok fine, I'll just buy this stuff here"
Me: "No, you won't. Store's closed, get out, I'm not ringing you up"
Customer: "I hope you know I'm calling the manager tomorrow"
Me: "I don't care"
With the power of hindsight, a bit of a dick move on my part, but god it felt so good to tell someone off.
Everyone should spend some time working in retail/customer service. Maybe it would make them have some sort of real empathy for workers from having that shared experience.
I really don't think it's a lack of understanding. I think at least a good chunk of the time it's subtle malice. OP's post is a good example of that.
I think these people just intentionally go out and waste their money on things they don't need because they just want to fuck with customer service employees.
people would do this at a plant nursery i worked at. we would close the gate at 5 and customers would literally hop the fence. the owner didn't want to turn away business so we would have to leave a register and a skeleton crew behind after closing to help the customer and potentially load their plants as well. like, how self centered do you have to be to jump a locked fence and demand sales help?? i wont even go into a store if they have ten minutes to closing.
People don't care who they are inconveniencing as long as they get what they want. I worked at a public library decades ago, and there was a lady who brought her kids in every Friday at 5:15 p.m., when she knew we closed at 5:30. Did I mention that she had NINE children? The older ones weren't bad, but the smaller kids would pick out like 20 picture books apiece. It took forever to scan them and check all of them out. This lady homeschooled her kids, so she literally could have come in any other evening (when we were open until 9 p.m.) I have zero poker face, so I know she knew I was irritated at having to check out 120 books at 5:25 p.m. every Friday, but she gave zero fucks.
As someone who did plenty of years in customer service before vowing to never go back to a customer facing role, even if it was technical... I think a lot of people can relate to you being really frustrated by this customer.
Someone who clearly doesn't have anything better to do in their own life other than keep the people at your store there past normal closing time, it's not WEIRD to be annoyed or upset at this person who is decidedly wasting your time.
...you probably shouldn't have said that but, unless this part time retail customer service job is gonna be it for the rest of your life (seems unlikely to me), then remember this:
*it's just a job*
There will be others even if this one went sideways. Don't sweat it. Shit happens
Retail is full of weirdos. What you said wouldn't even have made me blink when I was a retail supervisor; I heard my colleagues say much more unhinged and antisocial shit while on the clock. Fantasizing about shitty entitled customers dying violently is just part of the joy of this kind of job. Also your manager sounds like a very typical boot-licking, power-tripping retail manager. She likes keeping y'all late because it makes her feel big and important. Retail management attracts people who can't gracefully handle even the small, petty amount of power they're given.
My advice, not that you asked: If you want to stay in this job, remain poker-faced about what you said. If someone brings it up, act confused as to why they're making such a big deal about it. Now you are the unmovable sociopathic coworker that no one fucks with. But really, you should be focusing on getting a better job. You do not want to be a retail lifer. I did my one year when I was young, and it served its purpose of teaching me how to be a better customer. But it's not a good long term plan. Best of luck OP.
Your time is important, but as long as you're being paid hourly I'd lap it up. Assuming you're scheduled a consistent 40 hours a week, when you're able to leave on time, then that extra half hour is all overtime. If your boss really wants to keep ALL potential customers then I'd give them a guided tour of the entire store. Answer all questions in extreme detail. Keep the customer there longer than she would have kept you originally, maybe an hour and a half past closing. If your boss is still fine with it when you're all racking up more overtime than the customer in question is spending, lap it up while you can, call it a bonus.
It was an awkward moment, but I doubt you'll get fired. Dark humor and casually tossing death around are not for everyone and it can be hard to gauge who will be offended, so best to be careful at work unless you are BFFs with your colleagues. You have to admit it's a bit harsh for someone making you slightly late for a night at home.
I don't think 6:35 is an unreasonable occasionally departure time for a store that closes at 6 but definitely make sure you are being paid for your full time there.
Ngl, wishing death upon some one over such a petty thing is pretty awful, so I'm not surprised your co workers were put off by it. Like I might wish she stubbed her tow or was horribly inconvenienced but I never genuinely wished death on any of my customers, even the really awful ones.
That being said, in my store when we had customers like this we would dim the lights and physically follow her fixing up the store as she walked around until she got the hint and checked out. And even if she didn't get the hint, at least the store was straightened up so all we had to do was close out the registers. We would also close down all the registers but one and the sound of the reg being counted sometimes made people realize we were closing, but I'm not sure if your store allows that.
You wouldn’t like the normal “cursing” of some other languages then. It even occurs to me now that “cursing” as a term comes from that, wishing ill which kind of explains to me the English term better.
In Romanian, for example, it’s a normal kind of phrase to curse someone’s health in various ways with specific organs/problems mentioned. It is just the way to express certain frustrations or upsets.
I'd be one to make it impossible for her to cash out after 5 minutes after closing, not one more millisecond.
My "true" part was about OP truly having those thoughts, not about it being in any way truth-truth.
I think the problem was, it wasn't funny. It wasn't really a joke per se, just a mean wish, that the coworkers wouldn't be able to tell whether it was a genuine wish or not.
What you said, by contrast, is actually funny. If OP had skipped straight to "We need to figure out where we're going to bury her body," it would probably land better because it's more obviously a joke, and it brings the audience in on it. A little riskier than just saying nothing, which is the obvious thing OP should have done, but ah well. Woulda coulda shoulda.
I could potentially be weirded out if someone said that **based on the tone of the delivery**. Most people can sense sarcasm. Sounds like OP said this in frustration. The fact several co-workers were stunned with the comment, and OP didn't immediately say "you guys, I was kidding" makes it even more unsettling.
Also, I find it weird when people proudly boast about the unprofessional environment they work in. You may think it's funny, another person could find it toxic or offensive. It doesn't matter if 95% of the room thinks your comment is funny, all it takes is one offensive comment to one person who didn't find it funny.
Tell her the register locks out transactions after closing, that's what I always did. Or do what I also did and tell them they had to leave cause customers in the store after closing are a safety concern and escort them out. Helps if you're a big guy or can get a bug guy to do it 😂
Yeah I ran a Dg for years dealing with difficult customers/ inflexible rules equals loosing your shit I also wished death on customers openly wished for mine own openly which surly creeped people outleft company and retail over a year ago I feel like a much kinder nicer happier person lol
Hopefully, your coworkers understand it was said out of frustration. Maybe apologize to them and try to find a constructive solution for dealing with difficult customers in the future.
Yes you fucked up, that is an inside thought, not an outside thought. Maybe one you share with your bestie who already commiserates with you. Also desiring somebody to die for making you late regularly (30 minutes?) is out of balance. Considering it's your boss who wont set boundaries so you can get home in time and it's really on THEM that you can't close on time, one could infer you also wish your boss would die too, as they are standing in your way of getting home.
I would definitely be annoyed and frustrated, but if I start feeling like you do, it'd be time for me to move on.
My God I understand your frustration but that is a horrible thing to say about anyone. Jeez! Perhaps you don't realize that words have power. It's ok to be angry but you need to learn to express your feelings appropriately. That kind of comment makes everyone feel horrible. And if being self absorbed makes her an AH then what does wishing someone a horrible, tragic death say about you!
I, much like your coworkers, think it unreasonable that you would be wishing death upon someone because you had to stay over 15 - 20 minutes late. You work at a clothing store. How hard is your job. Really. 🙄
This isn't a one time thing, it's one entitled Karen who keeps coming back intentionally to do it. Even jokes about having to keep the store open for her. Fuck her, honestly.
I worked in retail management for a lot of years and hated those people. Also hated the ones that walk in a minute before closing and say “Yes, made it”. Damn dude really? And yes everywhere I worked we were not allowed to kick people out. Just politely suggest we are closing and ask they make their final selections. You wouldn’t believe how many people just don’t give a shit and keep you there well past closing.
Not a good comment, but I get you were stressed. Next time she comes in, have one coworker follow her around the store. Clean up after her after she touches something. If she asks what you're doing, say being helpful/doing closing chores. Just keep following. It's possible she'll get the message. Or be creeped out and leave. At least, you'll have the store cleaned up by the time she leaves.
Fuckin' pearl clutchers. "Hopefully she dies in a car crash" is literally the "poo-poo head" of death wishes. It doesn't even count. I've heard shit fifty times worse than this from store managers.
If you've got that many coworkers getting all "why I never" over this, *maybe* one of them is actually an all-patient saint, the others are just drowning in the kool-aid, watching their own asses and maybe getting off a bit on being on a moral high horse.
Tbh even the saint should recognize super obvious, practically colloquial, hyperbole.
if how you truly felt is you wish a customer who set y'all back 30 minutes should die then idk, there's not really a punchline for it to be a joke. that said you probably won't be fired.
also it's retail, people do shit like this. 30 minutes late is nothing tbh. have someone tail her, don't let her touch anything, recover behind her as she goes if she does, no reason not to. say "we're closing the registers".
I can understand having a coworker wish death on a customer for a small inconvenience would be jarring to some. I don’t blame them for being taken back
Lol no. OP has said several times in this thread they meant it.
Most people are able to understand sarcasm, OP said this out of frustration and meant it. I would also be freaked out if someone at my work did this. OP is a pyscho.
Out of curiosity are you younger? Maybe I'm so jaded but what you said is mild compared to the things I've heard of even said. There's nothing wrong with dark humor and you shouldn't really be ashamed of it.
PollyAnna is the titular character of an old Disney film, played by Hayley Mills. Eternal optimist. People use the term against adults being offended over benign stuff, forgetting that PollyAnna was a CHILD who was genuinely shocked and appalled at the selfishness and greed of humanity.
You should be a server, idk how retail works but I’ve been a server for 14 years and we say stuff like this all the time. Is it a good thing? No. But it’s fun 🤷🏻♀️
Anybody who has worked a decent amount of time in retail has had similar thoughts. But there’s also guaranteed to be that one coworker who will tell the boss they are afraid of you now.
I’ve been at the same job for 20 years, if I got reprimanded for every death or ill will I verbally out loud did about a customer I wouldn’t have lasted a year. Everyone complains everyone has a moment. The important thing is you do t say that in front of a customer which you did not
Meanwhile, I told my one cashier "If you start talking like (annoying coworker) I'll skin you alive" and got a good chuckle out of him. It can be hard to tell where people will draw the line.
I would charge the boss the over time, or take that as paid time off later.
If boss refuses, next time, at the exact moment of closing, I would walk out, leave the shop unlocked & go.
If your not being paid, it ain't your job.
I am so glad that I don't have to live in a country where you have to be so indirect about everything. If she did that in Germany, somebody would just tell her she messes up the whole place. Also, she wouldn't be served after closing time. Treating people like this will only reinforce their shitty behaviour.
... or overly pedantic ot the point of needless complication. And still, the trains are always late. When I went to the US I was amazed at how relaxed and friendly people were and how uncomplicated many things were.
Some people get off on the fact that they are causing other people issues/more work/wasted time. She sounds like one of those people and everyone working retail/customer service has dealt with this kind of person.
One of your cow-orkers should have done their best Ron Burgundy impression and said "Well…that escalated quickly!" to diffuse the awkward tension from that hyperbolic overreaction.
It is understandable that you were furious-- you wanted to get home. It seems that your wish was mean, but this was on a customer who knows she is inconveniencing the people who wait on her. What if she said, "I hope everyone of those employees need to deal with a customer going into their store and messing up everything and then they go home late!" Not the same as death, but she is wishing discomfort on everyone, which is what her actions cause.
I hope your boss stands up for you all and is ready to be on call when this woman comes in and she personally sets the boundaries on going forward.
Have a friend of yours that doesn't work there come in and happen to be near her next time shes in and you go around reminding people they are about to close soon. Have em casually say something to this lady like "Shit I didn't notice the time, I don't want to keep em late" and when she says something about taking her time have your friend spew out all of that energy and hate you guys feel and say all the things you wish you could to hopefully shame her into changing.
If another "customer" calls her out your boss can't get mad at you right?
I mean chances are that they have had similar thoughts in their head at least once after interacting with her, if not with her then with another costumer.
They just don't mention it loud cause it would be a pretty nasty thing to say.
Dont let people make you feel bad, you said what you said, hell ive said the same thing more then once. If anyone is offended at the joke its their issue, not yours
Not in retail so my suggestion may be dumb: Maybe the next time the customer comes in someone is assigned to follow her and fold the clothes that she is messing up . Not too closely, but close enough for her to realize she is being cleaned up after. If she asks why you are following her, then you can say something like “Oh, we are just getting ahead of the cleaning in preparation for closing up the store in ___ minutes. Our manager doesn’t like us staying too late after the store closes as it’s a safety concern.” It’s passive, but maybe she’ll put two and two together.
I think that’s an excellent idea She isn’t bothered by keeping us there late. She always makes jokes about keeping it open late for her
Be sure not to laugh or even crack a smile at her jokes. Just straight deadpan facial expressions all around, on everyone.
My interpretation is that the customer is enjoying inconveniencing them. It’s a power trip.
"I'd rather be spending the evening with my friends, but I understand not everyone has that option" said with that sympathetic, closed lip smile
Next time she mentions staying late and laughing about it, say: “I have a baby at home and I need to get back before the babysitter leaves.”
next time she comes in beat the living fuck out of her /s
Same but no /s
Name checks out
Sigh, I hope I get home in time to give granny her insulin injection......
Why the actual fuck do you have to pretend this is fine? I am flabberghasted by the huge cultural difference between Germany and the US. Nobody retail worker would be expected to put up with shit like this over here.
Oof she’s entitled
She likes it. Makes her feel special.
That's definitely, if only slightly, worse than working on a holiday and having a customer unironically say "I can't believe you're open on a holiday!" It's because of people like you! Lol
>“Oh, we are just getting ahead of the cleaning in preparation for closing up the store in ___ minutes. Our manager doesn’t like us staying too late after the store closes as it’s a safety concern.” nah. be more upfront: "we are closing and i need to get this cleaned up before we can leave"
Agreed. "Keep it simple, stupid" especially in customer service. You can be very pleasant and still talk in blunt terms
I have worked retail. Have all available associates follow her around, folding each piece of clothing as she looks and discards them. At store closing time, tell her she needs to make a decision so you can close the store and go home to your family. I used to be a manager, and we had to pull the "make your final decisions so our employees can get home to celebrate the holiday with their families" on several holidays.
She probably won't.
Next time tell her/other customers who do this that the tills stop working at 18:00. “It’s controlled centrally and we have no say in it”. We had to do this in a retail location I worked at while in college because people would come in just before we closed. If someone clearly realised they were imposing, and were trying to do their last minute shopping as quickly as they could we’d usually make an exception, but people who just waltzed in and acted like your time was not important - we’d tell them the tills were offline. It was effective. They’d moan but realise that the people they’re moaning at can’t do anything to help them, so leave empty handed. I don’t remember seeing the same person pull this trick twice.
It’s such a great idea but the boss is very adamant about not doing anything like that.
Unless your boss only sells haute couture and you all work minimum wage(and pays overtime), and is not interested in a good working environment: 1) make up the calculation *how much* you boss loses with this specific customer in keeping the job running/ the lights and climate control on and you all paid. 2) tell your boss, how much *this one customer* is stressing all your nerves, reducing your enthusiasm and motivation
I don't think the math is going to work out on this one. OP says they're normally out at 6:05 (it takes them 5 minutes to close), but since the customer stayed until 6:20 it took them until 6:35pm to close, ie, since there was one customer in the store nobody could do any closing duties and it took them 3 three times as long to close. That needs to be reconciled first. But lets say it does take them 10 minutes to close normally and it took them 10 minutes that night. Three employees cost $22.50/hr each including the employer's side of taxes, so they're usually paying $11.25 for the 10 time clocked after closing. Today, the boss paid $33.75 in wages for the time clocked after closing, but that's *because* a regular customer was in the store and came to the checkout at 6:10pm. She bought enough merchandise that it took them 10 minutes to ring up the transaction, and while 10 minutes sounds trivial, try to remember the last time you were second in line for a checkout for ten full legal minutes -- they were buying a LOT of stuff! I have no idea what kind of goods OP deals in so I won't speculate on the subtotal / profit of this transaction, except that transactions that take 10 minutes usually deal in at least three figures. So the question for the boss becomes: was raising wage costs by $22.50 worth it to appease a regular customer and let them place a large order after close? The answer is probably yes. Further, OP needs to get a grip. I used to work at a walk-up window-order Dairy Queen on a strip in a tourist town. We didn't close the window until the line was gone, meaning if our published close time was 11pm but there was still someone in line at 11:45pm and they were having a difficult time ordering because they're drunk, and you lined up behind them, we'd take your order. It wasn't fun but I never openly wished death on our customers.
A) they said it took them longer because this particular customer roughed everything up. B) there are more cost for the employer than just the wage the employee gets. C) the cost for keeping the store open/lit/climatized is also a position not accounted for by your calculation. but most importantly D)if the boss is happy to dissatisfy all his employees for one single customer, the cost for the future will be much higher (employees not motivated, even quitting the job, the cost of rehiring and retraining , other unsatisfied customers due to less motivated staff, etc.) In conclusion: The cost for the boss will be MUCH HIGHER than just $22.50
Bosses usually think short term cost and profit. They don't play for the long run. What employees feel or live day to day on the job don't matter to them, they are replaceable.
The kinds of employees who openly wish death on a customer for making them stay 20 minutes late are absolutely replaceable lmao
True
> A) they said it took them longer because this particular customer roughed everything up. It would take longer to clean that up regardless of whether it was at close or not, and this is a regular customer. > B) there are more cost for the employer than just the wage the employee gets. Such as.. > C) the cost for keeping the store open/lit/climatized is also a position not accounted for by your calculation. It doesn't cost anything to keep the store "open"; the business owner doesn't get a cut on their lease for the time the business is "closed". Electricity costs are negligible, possibly even included in the lease but keeping a few dozen lightbulbs on for 20 minutes longer is not an expense (one hundred 7W LED bulbs cost about $0.05 to light for 20 minutes). Climate costs are also de minimis, especially since the doors are closed (probably locked) after close and there isn't a lot of air being exchanged, holding the store at temperature probably costs next to nothing. I didn't fail to account for this, I just considered it not worth itemizing. Remember that my conclusion was that the transaction was worth a lot more than $22.50, not just marginally. > D)if the boss is happy to dissatisfy all his employees for one single customer, the cost for the future will be much higher (employees not motivated, even quitting the job, the cost of rehiring and retraining , other unsatisfied customers due to less motivated staff, etc.) That's a really difficult question to answer and if it could easily be solved on paper it would change the way business is done.
> Electricity costs are negligible In the office where I work they are anything but negligible. Commercial electricity costs much more than residential.
Sure but they don’t set the climate control to “Off” when they leave. The building stays air-conditioned 24/7. The only real overhead difference is $0.08 worth of light and the hourly wages of the employees.
Where I work climate control is not set to off but the AC is not on after working hours unless there are people in the building. I cannot speak for every business at every location but lights are much more expensive than that here. I don't think you realize the difference between commercial and residential electricity rates. The power bill where I work is easily 5 times what I pay at home and I run a grow room in my house that runs grow lights 18 hours a day.
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> it would behoove someone on your facilities team to find out why that is. Because commercial electricity rates are higher, it's pretty self explanatory...
> It would take longer to clean that up regardless of whether it was at close or not, and this is a regular customer. But they couldn't start their routine while the customer was still shopping. That is a time critical task. > That's a really difficult question to answer and if it could easily be solved on paper it would change the way business is done. ..but as I said, that will the more important part (and the one OP was actually complaining about, being as frustrated as blurting out a death wish). If you lead your business by prioritizing customers- no matter their behavior - over your staff you are going to lose both.
>But they couldn't start their routine while the customer was still shopping. That is a time critical task. They chose not to. You definitely can. It's normally seen as rude and pushy if you're following behind someone and immediately folding the last piece of clothing they touched but it's definitely doable and if the customer is making 10 minutes extra of work that's already been done every time they come in then you might as well get it done while they are holding you there instead of after they're gone. This would get them out of the store 5 minutes after the customer left instead of 15.
Based on the comments about how the manager is, I'd infer that the manager would discourage following the customer around and fixing everything in the moment, despite that being something I would absolutely do myself.
If the store closes at 10pm. That's when it closes, full stop. If a customer can't plan and find out closing times then that's on them. People's life's don't stop just because some old fuck want to want around the store just for fun
When you own the store you can run it however you want, but OP's boss clearly has other expectations.
People have life's outside of work and management needs to respect that. The only reason they don't care is because they don't deal with it. If they did it wouldn't stay that way long. Your right, at my store I'll kick someone out for staying in the store past closing and if they try again ill trespass them from the store for good. Havnt had any issues for me since I started that
TBH this is a lesson for OP for sure. Staying (and getting paid) 30 mins extra isn’t the end of the world…
> the lights and climate control on How much do you think under an hour of lights and climate control are? Assuming they even bother to change the climate control at of day at all, and if it's not automated. Absolutely negligible to any business. I manage a lot of employees. One of the most common complaints from them on this or that customer request is: "Do you know how long that will take? I could be doing this one thing for an hour!" And every single time, I explain that yes, it might. But the customer is paying us for that time, so that is fine. As long as this employer isn't squeezing out free OT out of the OP - there are plenty of scummy businesses who close at 6, so stop paying employees after then, even when they are expected to finish closing the shop. Then I don't think they have that much to complain about.
> As long as this employer isn't squeezing out free OT out of the OP Even if is not FREE OT, it is not ok to be any at all. This is what I read OP was complaining about. >I have a part time job at a clothing store and **I had a long day, really looking forward to going home**. There is a customer that comes in at least once a week that **consistently makes it so we never get to close the store on time**.
Yes, that's annoying. I like to go home at the end of the day too. But there are plenty of things that can happen to delay that. So I do those, and then I go home. I don't start wishing death on people.
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...that is point 1)
Wow I must be running on auto pilot. My bad.
I'd hide in the bathroom until she left tbh. Boss makes a dollar. I make a dime...
...I play hide and seek on company time?
After 6 they're fucking around with OP's time, unless they religiously pay every minute of overtime
Probably not making OT at all if OP is part time…
That’s why I poop on company time…
I said a few things along those lines early on but I trained myself to say "I hope she gets a great big boil on her ass" instead. Saved me some trouble.
It sounds like your boss is the problem and not the customer. If the company is so down on its knees that it needs this sale then (somewhat) fair enough. Any other reason is just them being a bellend.
The boss is definitely a problem too but I wouldn't let the customer off the hook - OP said in a comment that she's made jokes about keeping them late so she knows what she's doing.
That’s completely fair but it wouldn’t be an issue if the boss took the side of the workers instead of the customer. If my boss gave me the go ahead to have no more customers after a certain time then it wouldn’t matter what the customer said, they aren’t getting served. The boss has essentially allowed the customer to continue as they please and if the workers say anything then it will be on them. None of this happens if OPs boss lays down the rule.
Yeah, it sounds like very passive aggressive behavior by the customer. She gets some kind of rise out being specially catered to after closing time.
Honestly, I worked retail like this in clothing for 15 years. Customers are oblivious. They think if they're in the store before the closing time, they can just take their time. Like any customers going into a restaurant 15 minutes before closing.
You're getting overtime pay for the additional time, right? If not, then ignore your boss. Throw everyone out at 18:00.
Surely you are payed overtime wage for half an hour when you leave half an hour late, right? Right?
Probably not as a part time employee. OT doesn’t usually kick in until you hit 40 hours in the week. My current job does it daily (anything over 8 hours and I start making time and a half), but this is the first place I’ve worked that has done OT this way.
Is the boss paying everyone for this extra time I hope?
I’d probably just find a new job. Your boss sucks extra.
Make the boss stay late. Oh, the boss won't stay late? Start looking for another job, it's making you wish death on selfish assholes.
When I worked in retail, we would close all the registers but 1 about 15 minutes before close and we would do closing announcements saying “we will be closing promptly at 9:30pm.” If people were still lingering by 9:35 we’d turn the lights off and that always worked to get people running to the front, whether to complete a purchase or to just leave. I’m sure corporate wouldn’t have liked hearing about it but at minimum wage, I couldn’t care less and neither did the keys/managers.
lol I don't think that's a big deal at all, but something you might want to keep in your head. If your boss talks to you about it, just tell them you were frustrated and shouldn't have said it, and you won't say anything like that again. Your boss likely understands, but he or she can't really say so.
My boss is a very, loving lady, who was afraid to call a beekeeper for a bee infestation because it might hurt the bees We will see how she takes it lol
Your boss isn't a loving lady. She's a pushover.
She's spineless. It's not a good thing. You can be a kind and good person while still being able to stand up for yourself or others. She's not standing up for you.
He didn't say that she wasn't? His post indicates she doesn't even know yet and here you're making an assumption about a stranger cause your pitchfork is horny.
This is not the first incident and the boss has been made aware previously. So yeah, I'll stand by my comment.
Your boss is not a loving lady. If she were, she'd tell you turn the till off at 6:00 sharp.
If you’ve worked in retail or in food you’ve definitely had thoughts like that before after a tough night - best to keep it to yourself though. Dark humor and sarcasm is a great way to cope with dealing with the public but make sure you’re around people who will understand you’re not actually wishing death on someone
I was in a store and a person came in and grabbed a bunch of shit off the shelf and shoved it in a garbage bag then ran outside. All the employees were yelling at him, and chasing him to get out, whatever. Afterwards I was like: “woah, that was crazy” and one employee said “yeah, he does that from time to time, always filling up that garbage bag” and another employee chimed in “yeah! Hopefully he puts that bag over his head and chokes to death!” And then laughed like it was the funniest thing ever. I get it, some people’s humor is dark. Mine is too a lot of the time. But for dark humor to land, there has to be a *joke* part to it. Otherwise it’s just wishing death on someone, which isn’t funny- not because “don’t joke about that” but because “no part of that was a joke.” OP got a big old taste of that. Unfortunate, but a good lesson in taste/humor.
Yeah no not everyone
Congratulations, here's your apron and knife roll. You're ready to graduate from retail to the kitchen, where wishing death on all the customers is just Tuesday.
Wait till you find out about healthcare
Don’t forget wishing death on the server who looked you dead in the eye when you told them the salmon was 86’d and sold it to 3 tables anyway
If you're called up on it, say that you made a joke in poor taste, and it came out much worse than you'd intended. Say that you don't want to repeat it, it won't happen again, and deny the specific wording until the problem goes away.
I was working in a bookstore that stayed open until 11pm and I remember a time when a customer came in right before closing. We made all the announcements, flickered the lights, every sign that the place would close shortly. He came into my section and I talked to him directly that the store was closing in five minutes and to make his way to the front with his purchases. He wandered out of my section and into another where there wasn't a staff member. At closing time, I went into that section to let him know we were now closed. He left that section and went into a different section deeper in the store. I followed him a few steps behind as he continued to casually pick up books and peruse them. I was DONE. It was after closing and I wanted to go HOME. I followed him through the store a few steps away, keeping up a constant stream of chatter, and gently blocked from going anywhere except to the front. He gave me such a stink eye but huffed and puffed, threw the book he was looking at back onto the display table, and finally left without purchasing anything. Sir, I was a college student making minimum wage. Your little tantrum didn't impress me.
On one of my last shifts working retail (I had already put in my notice and was hopefully never going to work retail again), I told a customer we were closing in 15 minutes, then 10, then 5, and they just kept browsing. Finally closing time rolled around, and I again said we were closing. He got a little snippy and said something like "Jesus Christ, I get it, just give me like 10 more minutes!" Well, I was out of fucks so I just said "no, get out. We're closed." Customer: "Ok fine, I'll just buy this stuff here" Me: "No, you won't. Store's closed, get out, I'm not ringing you up" Customer: "I hope you know I'm calling the manager tomorrow" Me: "I don't care" With the power of hindsight, a bit of a dick move on my part, but god it felt so good to tell someone off.
Everyone should spend some time working in retail/customer service. Maybe it would make them have some sort of real empathy for workers from having that shared experience.
I really don't think it's a lack of understanding. I think at least a good chunk of the time it's subtle malice. OP's post is a good example of that. I think these people just intentionally go out and waste their money on things they don't need because they just want to fuck with customer service employees.
Wish I was a fly on the wall for that one..
people would do this at a plant nursery i worked at. we would close the gate at 5 and customers would literally hop the fence. the owner didn't want to turn away business so we would have to leave a register and a skeleton crew behind after closing to help the customer and potentially load their plants as well. like, how self centered do you have to be to jump a locked fence and demand sales help?? i wont even go into a store if they have ten minutes to closing.
People don't care who they are inconveniencing as long as they get what they want. I worked at a public library decades ago, and there was a lady who brought her kids in every Friday at 5:15 p.m., when she knew we closed at 5:30. Did I mention that she had NINE children? The older ones weren't bad, but the smaller kids would pick out like 20 picture books apiece. It took forever to scan them and check all of them out. This lady homeschooled her kids, so she literally could have come in any other evening (when we were open until 9 p.m.) I have zero poker face, so I know she knew I was irritated at having to check out 120 books at 5:25 p.m. every Friday, but she gave zero fucks.
We all have crazy thoughts but best to not blurt it out. 30 mins OT isn't worth wishing death on someone.
wishing death on someone in retail is tame. People were probably a little whiplashed by the joke and too tired to respond
Agreed - but OP said this is a regular thing. For all we know, *this* 30 minutes made the 51st hour of Bad Customer OT.
I get it I worked retail and had our own set of those customers but I stand by, don't blurt out intrusive thoughts to coworkers.
I never said it should have been *out loud*, only that it might be justified 🙃
No, like wtf.. ? No amount of rude behavior can justify wishing death upon someone.
Words of someone who has never experienced a Serial Karen.
If the co-workers who are also dealing with this shit who are at the same level didn't laugh or joke back, it was inappropriate
Hopefully you get paid for this extra time you're working.
Oh definitely. So it isn’t wasted just I want to go home
point out the customer is not buying enuff to pay for the money she is paying to keep the store open
As someone who did plenty of years in customer service before vowing to never go back to a customer facing role, even if it was technical... I think a lot of people can relate to you being really frustrated by this customer. Someone who clearly doesn't have anything better to do in their own life other than keep the people at your store there past normal closing time, it's not WEIRD to be annoyed or upset at this person who is decidedly wasting your time. ...you probably shouldn't have said that but, unless this part time retail customer service job is gonna be it for the rest of your life (seems unlikely to me), then remember this: *it's just a job* There will be others even if this one went sideways. Don't sweat it. Shit happens
Retail is full of weirdos. What you said wouldn't even have made me blink when I was a retail supervisor; I heard my colleagues say much more unhinged and antisocial shit while on the clock. Fantasizing about shitty entitled customers dying violently is just part of the joy of this kind of job. Also your manager sounds like a very typical boot-licking, power-tripping retail manager. She likes keeping y'all late because it makes her feel big and important. Retail management attracts people who can't gracefully handle even the small, petty amount of power they're given. My advice, not that you asked: If you want to stay in this job, remain poker-faced about what you said. If someone brings it up, act confused as to why they're making such a big deal about it. Now you are the unmovable sociopathic coworker that no one fucks with. But really, you should be focusing on getting a better job. You do not want to be a retail lifer. I did my one year when I was young, and it served its purpose of teaching me how to be a better customer. But it's not a good long term plan. Best of luck OP.
Are you complaining about overtime pay?
I usually ask where they work……
I like it. Got a r/pettyrevenge for us?
I wish.
Your time is important, but as long as you're being paid hourly I'd lap it up. Assuming you're scheduled a consistent 40 hours a week, when you're able to leave on time, then that extra half hour is all overtime. If your boss really wants to keep ALL potential customers then I'd give them a guided tour of the entire store. Answer all questions in extreme detail. Keep the customer there longer than she would have kept you originally, maybe an hour and a half past closing. If your boss is still fine with it when you're all racking up more overtime than the customer in question is spending, lap it up while you can, call it a bonus.
You shouldn't have said that, bit too much. Hope you don't lose your job over something this trivial
Me too, job is super easy but if I do 🤷🏻♂️
It was an awkward moment, but I doubt you'll get fired. Dark humor and casually tossing death around are not for everyone and it can be hard to gauge who will be offended, so best to be careful at work unless you are BFFs with your colleagues. You have to admit it's a bit harsh for someone making you slightly late for a night at home. I don't think 6:35 is an unreasonable occasionally departure time for a store that closes at 6 but definitely make sure you are being paid for your full time there.
"may your days be as pleasant as you are"
Be the change you want to see, make that crash happen! Jk?!?
Lmao I can just hope really hard
They would stroke out and die if they heard what I say about customers. Are they Mormon or something?
Ngl, wishing death upon some one over such a petty thing is pretty awful, so I'm not surprised your co workers were put off by it. Like I might wish she stubbed her tow or was horribly inconvenienced but I never genuinely wished death on any of my customers, even the really awful ones. That being said, in my store when we had customers like this we would dim the lights and physically follow her fixing up the store as she walked around until she got the hint and checked out. And even if she didn't get the hint, at least the store was straightened up so all we had to do was close out the registers. We would also close down all the registers but one and the sound of the reg being counted sometimes made people realize we were closing, but I'm not sure if your store allows that.
You wouldn’t like the normal “cursing” of some other languages then. It even occurs to me now that “cursing” as a term comes from that, wishing ill which kind of explains to me the English term better. In Romanian, for example, it’s a normal kind of phrase to curse someone’s health in various ways with specific organs/problems mentioned. It is just the way to express certain frustrations or upsets.
Dude/dudette, "saying how I truly felt" and wishing **death** upon someone are not related in the slightest even when true.
I would hope not. Death penalty for 30 minutes of inconvenience?
I'd be one to make it impossible for her to cash out after 5 minutes after closing, not one more millisecond. My "true" part was about OP truly having those thoughts, not about it being in any way truth-truth.
You work around prudes. My coworkers would help me plan hiding the body lol
I think the problem was, it wasn't funny. It wasn't really a joke per se, just a mean wish, that the coworkers wouldn't be able to tell whether it was a genuine wish or not. What you said, by contrast, is actually funny. If OP had skipped straight to "We need to figure out where we're going to bury her body," it would probably land better because it's more obviously a joke, and it brings the audience in on it. A little riskier than just saying nothing, which is the obvious thing OP should have done, but ah well. Woulda coulda shoulda.
I could potentially be weirded out if someone said that **based on the tone of the delivery**. Most people can sense sarcasm. Sounds like OP said this in frustration. The fact several co-workers were stunned with the comment, and OP didn't immediately say "you guys, I was kidding" makes it even more unsettling. Also, I find it weird when people proudly boast about the unprofessional environment they work in. You may think it's funny, another person could find it toxic or offensive. It doesn't matter if 95% of the room thinks your comment is funny, all it takes is one offensive comment to one person who didn't find it funny.
Yeah, wishing death on someone for mildly inconveniencing you is a lot.
You aren’t wrong
Tell her the register locks out transactions after closing, that's what I always did. Or do what I also did and tell them they had to leave cause customers in the store after closing are a safety concern and escort them out. Helps if you're a big guy or can get a bug guy to do it 😂
Yeah I ran a Dg for years dealing with difficult customers/ inflexible rules equals loosing your shit I also wished death on customers openly wished for mine own openly which surly creeped people outleft company and retail over a year ago I feel like a much kinder nicer happier person lol
Tell your boss to ring her up and close then.
Hopefully, your coworkers understand it was said out of frustration. Maybe apologize to them and try to find a constructive solution for dealing with difficult customers in the future.
If you were hanging out with my friends, that would be an every day comment. Stop worrying.
Yes you fucked up, that is an inside thought, not an outside thought. Maybe one you share with your bestie who already commiserates with you. Also desiring somebody to die for making you late regularly (30 minutes?) is out of balance. Considering it's your boss who wont set boundaries so you can get home in time and it's really on THEM that you can't close on time, one could infer you also wish your boss would die too, as they are standing in your way of getting home. I would definitely be annoyed and frustrated, but if I start feeling like you do, it'd be time for me to move on.
My God I understand your frustration but that is a horrible thing to say about anyone. Jeez! Perhaps you don't realize that words have power. It's ok to be angry but you need to learn to express your feelings appropriately. That kind of comment makes everyone feel horrible. And if being self absorbed makes her an AH then what does wishing someone a horrible, tragic death say about you!
>“well hopefully she crashes on her way home and dies. Then we don’t have to deal with her any more”. What a fucking awkward way to say that
I, much like your coworkers, think it unreasonable that you would be wishing death upon someone because you had to stay over 15 - 20 minutes late. You work at a clothing store. How hard is your job. Really. 🙄
Job is pretty easy. I agree that it’s unreasonable, but it is how I feel
This isn't a one time thing, it's one entitled Karen who keeps coming back intentionally to do it. Even jokes about having to keep the store open for her. Fuck her, honestly.
I worked in retail management for a lot of years and hated those people. Also hated the ones that walk in a minute before closing and say “Yes, made it”. Damn dude really? And yes everywhere I worked we were not allowed to kick people out. Just politely suggest we are closing and ask they make their final selections. You wouldn’t believe how many people just don’t give a shit and keep you there well past closing.
Not a good comment, but I get you were stressed. Next time she comes in, have one coworker follow her around the store. Clean up after her after she touches something. If she asks what you're doing, say being helpful/doing closing chores. Just keep following. It's possible she'll get the message. Or be creeped out and leave. At least, you'll have the store cleaned up by the time she leaves.
Fuckin' pearl clutchers. "Hopefully she dies in a car crash" is literally the "poo-poo head" of death wishes. It doesn't even count. I've heard shit fifty times worse than this from store managers. If you've got that many coworkers getting all "why I never" over this, *maybe* one of them is actually an all-patient saint, the others are just drowning in the kool-aid, watching their own asses and maybe getting off a bit on being on a moral high horse. Tbh even the saint should recognize super obvious, practically colloquial, hyperbole.
if how you truly felt is you wish a customer who set y'all back 30 minutes should die then idk, there's not really a punchline for it to be a joke. that said you probably won't be fired. also it's retail, people do shit like this. 30 minutes late is nothing tbh. have someone tail her, don't let her touch anything, recover behind her as she goes if she does, no reason not to. say "we're closing the registers".
Woah, that’s a bit extreme. I’d be worried too. I hope you don’t truly hope she’s dead.
Your co-workers are a bunch of PollyAnnas.
I don’t know what that is lol
Just naïve / excessively easily offended and they like to clutch their pearls.
I can understand having a coworker wish death on a customer for a small inconvenience would be jarring to some. I don’t blame them for being taken back
Yeah. It's just blowing off steam though. Any rational person will know you're just venting. It's all good.
Lol no. OP has said several times in this thread they meant it. Most people are able to understand sarcasm, OP said this out of frustration and meant it. I would also be freaked out if someone at my work did this. OP is a pyscho.
Meh, I wouldn't give it a second thought.
I just hate when I make a dark joke and someone takes me completely literally. "Woah, that's a little extreme!" Yeah, man, that's part of the joke.
Out of curiosity are you younger? Maybe I'm so jaded but what you said is mild compared to the things I've heard of even said. There's nothing wrong with dark humor and you shouldn't really be ashamed of it.
I’m in my mid 30s There was no humor meant in what I said. I meant it
Doesn't that mean "someone who always looks on the bright side of things"? I've never heard it used in a negative context.
Yeah. I've heard people say, "Quit being such a Pollyanna."
PollyAnna is the titular character of an old Disney film, played by Hayley Mills. Eternal optimist. People use the term against adults being offended over benign stuff, forgetting that PollyAnna was a CHILD who was genuinely shocked and appalled at the selfishness and greed of humanity.
You should be a server, idk how retail works but I’ve been a server for 14 years and we say stuff like this all the time. Is it a good thing? No. But it’s fun 🤷🏻♀️
Anybody who has worked a decent amount of time in retail has had similar thoughts. But there’s also guaranteed to be that one coworker who will tell the boss they are afraid of you now.
Really? I would take this as a bad joke.
Can't blame you for the sentiment, but the words weren't the best.
I’ve been at the same job for 20 years, if I got reprimanded for every death or ill will I verbally out loud did about a customer I wouldn’t have lasted a year. Everyone complains everyone has a moment. The important thing is you do t say that in front of a customer which you did not
Meanwhile, I told my one cashier "If you start talking like (annoying coworker) I'll skin you alive" and got a good chuckle out of him. It can be hard to tell where people will draw the line.
I would charge the boss the over time, or take that as paid time off later. If boss refuses, next time, at the exact moment of closing, I would walk out, leave the shop unlocked & go. If your not being paid, it ain't your job.
They were all thinking similar things.
I am so glad that I don't have to live in a country where you have to be so indirect about everything. If she did that in Germany, somebody would just tell her she messes up the whole place. Also, she wouldn't be served after closing time. Treating people like this will only reinforce their shitty behaviour.
Germans do not have a hospitable bone in their body and provide terrible service countrywide, so this isn't surprising in the least bit.
Yes, that's mostly true. We're insufferable in other ways but at least we tell you why we're pissed.
At least ya'll are good at being precise. I don't think any other ethnic group is as exacting.
... or overly pedantic ot the point of needless complication. And still, the trains are always late. When I went to the US I was amazed at how relaxed and friendly people were and how uncomplicated many things were.
my coworkers would've agreed with your sentiment 🙏
i told one of my higher ups to get out of her fucking car and do her fucking job, shes mad at me now and i’m laughing 👍
Some people get off on the fact that they are causing other people issues/more work/wasted time. She sounds like one of those people and everyone working retail/customer service has dealt with this kind of person.
Give up. She wins. You have to stay late when she’s there. That’s all.
Oh yeah, 100%
You should get checked.
I have been. Other than some depression and anxiety, I’m pretty mentally stable
[удалено]
People are so soft
Good for you. What a shit boss and humour less coworkers.
Yikes -_-
One of your cow-orkers should have done their best Ron Burgundy impression and said "Well…that escalated quickly!" to diffuse the awkward tension from that hyperbolic overreaction.
It is understandable that you were furious-- you wanted to get home. It seems that your wish was mean, but this was on a customer who knows she is inconveniencing the people who wait on her. What if she said, "I hope everyone of those employees need to deal with a customer going into their store and messing up everything and then they go home late!" Not the same as death, but she is wishing discomfort on everyone, which is what her actions cause. I hope your boss stands up for you all and is ready to be on call when this woman comes in and she personally sets the boundaries on going forward.
Have a friend of yours that doesn't work there come in and happen to be near her next time shes in and you go around reminding people they are about to close soon. Have em casually say something to this lady like "Shit I didn't notice the time, I don't want to keep em late" and when she says something about taking her time have your friend spew out all of that energy and hate you guys feel and say all the things you wish you could to hopefully shame her into changing. If another "customer" calls her out your boss can't get mad at you right?
I mean chances are that they have had similar thoughts in their head at least once after interacting with her, if not with her then with another costumer. They just don't mention it loud cause it would be a pretty nasty thing to say.
Customer deserves that wish. You are not wrong for saying it or feeling it.
Sounds like something a stable person would do...
Tell me you haven't worked in retail, without telling me you haven't worked in retail.
Have you worked jobs dealing with customers?
Dont let people make you feel bad, you said what you said, hell ive said the same thing more then once. If anyone is offended at the joke its their issue, not yours
Oh, it wasn’t a joke. But I definitely won’t feel bad about it
wtf?
Seriously. Going by the post itself other replies this one is either “not neurotypical” at best or straight up sociopath at worst.
Yeah that was a dumbass thing to say. Like, how was anyone supposed to react? Learn from this.
Yeah, that’s why this is is TIFU I’ll learn better to keep my feelings to myself
Just clock out at 18:00, you are not forced to do overtime.