Was my boyfriend wrong?

patman99

My take would have been to ask the customer what part they needed, then whatever they asked for, I'd tell them "sorry, that part is out of stock and no more are due in until Monday".

proactive

whatever the rights or wrongs of it, what's done is done and can't be changed.

if i was your boyfriend i would just stick to the facts, his shift ended at 12:30 and the hours of business came to an end at 12:30. The customer turned up at 12:45, 15mins after closing and 15mins after your boyfriend stopped getting paid.

yes the customer was upset and made a complaint, but customers will do such things at the drop of a hat, and despite the old 'customer is always right' mantra they are quite often not. making a complaint doesn't necessarily mean that they are in the right.

at what point does it become unreasonable not to serve said customer? 20mins after closing? 25mins? 30?

plenty of us have turned up at a shop after closing and seen the staff on their way out the door, but i for one wouldn't expect them to turn around, switch the lights and computers back on, open the safe and so on.

if he has to have a disciplinary meeting just say that your shift had ended 15mins earlier and the hours of business had also come to an end 15mins earlier so the customer was, unfortunately too late to buy whatever articles he wanted. the bosses will probably disagree but what the hey, that's bosses for you. just smile and accept what they say and leave it at that.

and lock the door next time when the shifts ends to stop it happening again!

dark_lady

TWDgirl wrote: »

I am asking this on behalf of my boyfriend, he is at work right now and called me and briefly told me whats going on.

He works fulltime, and that includes every second saturday from 8-12.30.

On saturday 12.30 arrived and he started to turn off all the computers, turn off all the lights and lock up all the doors and windows as he usually does.

Once he had finished it was about 12.40 so work had already finished for the day and everyone else apart from one other person had gone home.

He went to his locker upstairs and got his coat etc then made his way back down and was about to leave (12.45) when the other guy who was there came to him and told him a customer had just showed up and was waiting for him at the front desk.

My partner told the customer that everything had been turned off/locked up and that the place closed at 12.30 (it was now almost 12.50) the customer went mad and gave my partner a few choice words then stormed out.

Boyfriend got into work this morning and was taken to his managers office, manager told him the customer had made a complaint about him, that he was not pleased at all and that my partner was to expect disciplinary action because he should have served the customer.

The customer came in through the main entrance, which has a sign up with the opening times, went to the front desk and nobody was there as they had gone home, the only lights on in the place was in the service dept where the other guy was still turning his computer off.

My partner does not get paid for overtime at all, and there is nothing in his contract about having to stay behind after closing time etc.

Was my boyfriend wrong? Should he have turned everything back on, unlocked everything, started up the computers again to place an order for the customer?

An ex boyfriend of mine used to work for 1car1 (car hire company) and they were like this and had this attitude too. They went bust two and a half years ago.

Caroline73_2

Am I the only one amazed that he is being disciplined for not serving a customer and not for the security issues?

Hammyman

TWDgirl wrote: »

What I dont get is the cut off time to place orders is 10am on saturdays so even if my partner had served him he still couldnt have placed the order until monday anyway.

He works in a car firm in the parts department.

It may come as a surprise to you but parts departments do hold stock you know, especially service items, parts that are common repairs plus a good healthy supply of trim clips, nuts and bolts etc. Most of the time I've got bits from my Ford dealer, they've been from stock and not ordered in.

Firefox1975

His colleague should never have dropped him in that situation. He should have informed the customer the department closed at 12.30 and not passed the buck knowing the department was closed.if the customer ranted at him he would have been perfectly safe saying it wasn;t his department. I would ask the same colleague into the disciplinary and ask him why he thought it was his decision to continue trading outside of agreed working hours.

Acc72

TWDgirl wrote: »

My partner does not get paid for overtime at all, and there is nothing in his contract about having to stay behind after closing time etc.

I don't think that your boyfreind was wrong - as somebody else said earlier, 12:30 is the cut-off point (otherwise what if a customer walks later - what is reasonable ? - 12:45 / 12:50 / 12:55 ??).

One thing I would say is to focus on the positive - i.e that it was 12:45 (any CCTV ?) and that all systems had been closed down, cashed up, and ready to close etc. (it is not as if it was 12:20).

Also that despite receiving abuse from the customer (is the other employee a witness to this ?) your boyfriend remained calm and professional at all times and explained to the customer that they would re-open on Monday in the hope of keeping their custom.

I would not go down the road of "I don't get paid for overtime" etc. as this is not what the employer wants to hear.

LudaMusser

I don`t think your b/f is in the wrong at all. The closing time is 12.30, it had passed this time when the customer came in so therefore the customer was told so and was`nt served. Simple

I`ve worked at a number of car dealerships in the past, I can imagine exactly what it`s like. The customer will probably be hoping for a discount off the parts as way of a sorry, that`s why they complained even though they were in the wrong. Laughable

magenta22

If it was 12.35 then I would agree that perhaps he should have served the customer but when they turned up 15 minutes after closing time then they should expect to get 'sorry we are closed' our opening hours are xx and xx Not all shops are 24 hour opening!
His colleague should have also told him that they were closed.

I think the manager should also they should be thinking of the safety element, do they keep cash on site? If so, should he have then been serving someone on his own?

DCFC79

Caroline73 wrote: »

Am I the only one amazed that he is being disciplined for not serving a customer and not for the security issues?

im also thinking its a bit OTT, according to the OP the reply given was "they closed at 12.30 and everything was locked up and the computers had been closed down already" but it didnt warrant the few chosen words(again going on the info given by the op) given by the customer