This Person Taught Their Boss a Lesson About Why It's Important to Warn Customers About Closing Time

It’s closing time!

Today we have an interesting story from Reddit about a worker who taught their manager a lesson that they’d be wise to heed in the future.

Take a look at this story and how folks on Reddit reacted.

Start now!

Proved to my manager that it’s better to warn customers of closing time

“I used to work at a store that was open until 2AM every night of the week, so as you can imagine, when 2AM rolled around I was always ready to get out of there.

Around 1:45AM, I would walk around and let each customer know individually that the store was closing in 15 minutes, and ask them if they needed help finding anything before then. I did this for about 4 months working there and never had a problem, other than the occasional super rude customer who would completely ignore me and keep shopping until like 2:30/3 or whatever.

Or occasionally, especially on weekends, drunk people would come in after 2AM and just ignore that we were closed, because we weren’t allowed to lock the door or turn anyone away.

Usually I was alone by 1:45 since business really slows down, but one night my manager was still there. When she saw me go and tell customers the store was closing in 15 minutes, she was p**sed. She told me I could NEVER tell a customer the store was closing. She said it was incredibly rude and put too much pressure on them.

Fast forward to a few weeks later. I have still been giving customers a 15-minute heads up, because frankly I don’t think it’s rude to tell someone your store is about to close, especially at 2AM. Here is when I see my opportunity.

A woman had come in around 12AM. She seemed pretty out of it, and was wandering around the store aimlessly this whole time, but occasionally bringing something to the counter, asking me to hold it, then coming back and asking me to put it back because she changed her mind.

I had the feeling she could spend all night wandering around the store, so I decided that this would be the one customer I wouldn’t warn about closing. 2AM rolls around and I say nothing, and I proceed to say nothing all the way until 4:45AM when she finally leaves the store.

I literally got a call at 8AM the next day from my manager, furious that I had closed the store almost at 5AM. I innocently told her that the woman was still busy shopping the whole time, and I remind her that it’s extremely rude to tell a customer that the store is closed.

The next night when I went in for my shift, they had made the 15 minute warning a universal rule. We were all supposed to warn customers the store was closing, PLUS we were supposed to turn people away if they showed up after 2AM. Score!

Afterward I admitted to my other coworkers I had done it intentionally to show management how dumb their decision was, and I’m glad I did it because we never had to let another drunk teenager into the store after 2AM again.”

And this is what folks on Reddit had to say about this person’s story.

This person thinks they did a good job…and it’s always been a good idea!

Photo Credit: Reddit

Another reader argued that the manager’s behavior in this situation is just plain odd. I think I agree. And there’s a safety issue to think about, too.