Shops closing early and locking the doors!

BBQ141

marliepanda wrote: »

There are plenty of graduates working retail!

I have at no point said anything about anyone being in a shop during opening times. As long as they are out by shutting, then thats fine by me. The problem is that so many people do not respect this, so shops have to curb it by stopping people entering with only a few minutes to go, as people will come in and do their monthly big shop, as many people have described.

All those media studies students have to go somewhere I guess.

My reply, which you took offence to, however was quoting someone who said they didn't go into shops within the last hour of them being open.

tom15387202

Shop workers have to put up with enough crap from the public - they closed early oh dear deal with it. ITS A !!!!ING PLUMBERS MERCHANT

Come back tomorrow or go elsewhere. What do you honestly want their Head Office to do for you because you couldn't be arsed to get to the shop in a reasonable amount of time to buy a package of 50p washers.

It really !!!!es me off when people go into shops before closing when they know its just about to close. Generally customers that do that end up hanging around longer than anyone actually wants you there because your card isn't working, forgot your wallet, till crashed, barcode isn't working or because you are just generally annoying.

Its closing time, nobody wants to speak with you, they want to go home because they are not being paid when the clock strikes.

Accept they closed and don't shop there again - why you even emailed their head office I don't know.

vyle

BBQ141 wrote: »

If you work in a service industry you should expect to offer that level of service for all of the hours that your facility is open. If I wanted to come into your store five minutes before closing and wanted to buy, for example, a PS4 then if you don't have time to serve me your company will be the ones who lose out.

I will happily go in five minutes before closing.

If you're in and out before/just on closing, then fine. If you come in demanding the display PS4 (Assuming we had one) and wanted the cables and whatnot dug out, the box found, or the goods wrapped to the extent that it eats into my personal time, then the second it becomes my time, you should pay me, because at that point my employers aren't benefiting, and neither am I. You may be, but you paid somebody who is no longer paying me to carry out your will.

But if you're in and out before that time, it's fine.

Hell, if you were to stay over closing time because one of my colleagues was being rubbish at their job, then fair enough, but if you want something that WILL take twenty minutes, and you come in five minutes before closing, then do not expect the same sort of service as you would get by coming in at a sensible hour.

BBQ141 wrote: »

If they don't like it then they should have found some other role than retail.

I'm going to assume that this insultingly ignorant reply is born of simple ignorance, rather than trolling. I can't speak for others but I wouldn't be in retail if I didn't have life situations that dictated it including, but not limited to:

Health -- I have a degenerative disease that means that I cannot work in an office. I've given up two promising careers (for which I have degrees) because being stationary is so bad for me that at 19 I was walking with a walking stick and my right arm barely functioned.

Sadly, retail is one of the few jobs that affords the correct sort of mobility that keeps my body at just about the right level of health.

family -- My condition is hereditary. I spend a lot of my time caring for older family members with the same condition which has deteriorated. Unfortunately, retail is the only thing I've come across that also affords the flexibility to tend to their needs and adjust my hours to help with hospital appointments.

So while I would love to go into my dream careers, it's not feasible. Just because retail is a low level job does not mean that the staff lack qualifications, ambition, competency or the right to basic courtesy.

prowla

tom15387202 wrote: »

Shop workers have to put up with enough crap from the public - they closed early oh dear deal with it. ITS A !!!!ING PLUMBERS MERCHANT

Come back tomorrow or go elsewhere. What do you honestly want their Head Office to do for you because you couldn't be arsed to get to the shop in a reasonable amount of time to buy a package of 50p washers.

It really !!!!es me off when people go into shops before closing when they know its just about to close. Generally customers that do that end up hanging around longer than anyone actually wants you there because your card isn't working, forgot your wallet, till crashed, barcode isn't working or because you are just generally annoying.

Its closing time, nobody wants to speak with you, they want to go home because they are not being paid when the clock strikes.

Accept they closed and don't shop there again - why you even emailed their head office I don't know.

It's certainly a view point.

But with some shops, I think they do forget that the customers who walk in the door are their business.

I'm astounded at the number of times I've been into shops recently and been advised to look online and or (eg. Currys) had them offer to order the item online for me.

It's almost as if they don't want to sell you anything.

Indie_Kid

I don't get the issue here. Would you be happy to be held up by someone coming in 5 minutes before closing time? I wouldn't be. Most workers have already been working for several hours and may need to get home for the children, etc.

vyle

prowla wrote: »

I'm astounded at the number of times I've been into shops recently and been advised to look online and or (eg. Currys) had them offer to order the item online for me.

It's almost as if they don't want to sell you anything.

Some shops...a lot of shops....consider this good practice and "multi channel retailing."

Their plan is stock their website with the full assortment, only have the shops stock best sellers, and if a customer wants something not available in store, order it online for them to remind them that

a: they have a website.

B: they could buy it online because it's so convenient.

They forget that customers who go into a shop want to take their items away with them and might want to look at them before they buy them. But that's what you get when you're run by people who have never had a shop floor job.

CKhalvashi

Indie_Kid wrote: »

I don't get the issue here. Would you be happy to be held up by someone coming in 5 minutes before closing time? I wouldn't be. Most workers have already been working for several hours and may need to get home for the children, etc.

It's not just retail, too.

I had a client walk into the office last night 2 minutes before the fleet manager went home to pick up a vehicle.

I was on hand to deal with it so she could disappear, but bearing in mind the paperwork takes around 30 minutes, I wasn't too happy to be in the office at nearly 6pm (when I wanted to go home at 5.30 having been in since 5am) to sort someone not being where they should be, when they should.

CK

prowla

vyle wrote: »

Some shops...a lot of shops....consider this good practice and "multi channel retailing."

Their plan is stock their website with the full assortment, only have the shops stock best sellers, and if a customer wants something not available in store, order it online for them to remind them that

a: they have a website.

B: they could buy it online because it's so convenient.

They forget that customers who go into a shop want to take their items away with them and might want to look at them before they buy them. But that's what you get when you're run by people who have never had a shop floor job.

Yes; in the case of Currys and the washing machine I was looking for, I told the assistant that (a) I didn't need to come to the shop to order it online, and (b) I could get a better price if I did it myself, thanksallthesame.

Next time, I probably won't bother going to the shop at all, so if I am symptomatic then there is no point of having the shop.

Gordon_Hose

Money-Saving-King wrote: »

Yes you are, you don't understand the definition of closed. It does not mean last in it means stopped trading.

I do understand completely. But then I've never said I would be in a shop after closing.

If I turn up at the shop 5 mins before closing and I know it'll take me two to buy a loaf of bread, pay, and be out of the shop, I expect to be let in. Otherwise what is the point of advertising closing hours if the shop actually shuts earlier to allow the staff to close down till etc?

Either read what I'm writing or go argue with someone else.

Money-Saving-King

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

I do understand completely. But then I've never said I would be in a shop after closing.

If I turn up at the shop 5 mins before closing and I know it'll take me two to buy a loaf of bread, pay, and be out of the shop, I expect to be let in. Otherwise what is the point of advertising closing hours if the shop actually shuts earlier to allow the staff to close down till etc?

Either read what I'm writing or go argue with someone else.

I have already said I'm fine with that. The point I was making some people do not go by this and confused closed with no more entry. They are 2 different thing. Last in is bound to happen before closing as nobody can do something in zero seconds yet. The people who often rush then are all fingers & thumbs, drop coins all over the place then build a queue or somehow manage to take longer than they expected.

If there's a large volume of people in a store logically on times when you are forced to stop trading stopping people coming in may have to happen early to clear the amount of people already in the store. All the tills may be on but if there's enough people in the store then last entry will have to happen often quite a bit earlier than closing time. As I've said sometimes this is forced by law. Customers need to understand if you leave things to the last minute then you may be disappointed.