Poll of the Day > A customer today pissed me off so bad...

(+) Yeah! (+)

Like, harmless, but I was just left fuming like a motherfucker.

It's 10:59 and 25 seconds, and a person pulls on my door handle, which was locked. I open at 11 today, and generally at_11_. The customer them proceeds to knock on the door, like it's a house and the dang door bell didn't work.

I should have waited the 30 seconds until actually 11, for you see, my watch is radio synced with NIST, giving me the actual, literal time. But I did open the door, and the customer goes "Are you open? Your clock says 11"

I said "uhh, yeah" and let them in. I was too dumbfounded because I never look at that clock, so I didn't even realize what clock she meant, and I had no idea you could see it from the outside. But man was I so fuckin' mad afterwords. I should have not answered the door until actual 11AM, or better yet held my arm out, standing in silence for 30 seconds until the hourly chime on my watch goes off, only to then be like "Well howdy ma'am, yes we are! Thanks for stoppin' by, let me know if you need anything!"

argonautweakend posted...

I should have waited the 30 seconds until actually 11, for you see, my watch is radio synced with NIST, giving me the actual, literal time.

This may be the nerdiest thing I've ever heard anyone say on this site, which is an incredible achievement.

The average person doesn't sync their time devices down to the nanosecond with an atomic clock. They just go by whatever the phone or watch sets itself to, or what the voice on the radio or TV says, or by whatever else looks right. Because the average person doesn't need pinpoint precision, they just need to be "close enough". Odds are by their watch it was already 11 - and even if it wasn't, being less than a minute off would fall under "Ehh, it's close enough" to the vast majority of humans who don't have crippling OCD.

It's in no way rude or unjustified for a customer to knock if their watch says it's time for a store to be open and they can literally see someone inside. Especially if they're polite about it. Even more so if they can see into your store and literally see you have a clock that says it's already 11.

Now if they were like "Hey asshole, open up! You're wasting my time you lazy fuck!", then yeah, sure, they're the asshole. Otherwise they were 100% in the right.



argonautweakend posted...

I should have waited the 30 seconds until actually 11, for you see, my watch is radio synced with NIST, giving me the actual, literal time.

If you'd have done that, you'd have been 100% the asshole. And they probably would have given you shit for it. That's straight up passive aggressive bitch behavior.



argonautweakend posted...

or better yet held my arm out, standing in silence for 30 seconds until the hourly chime on my watch goes off, only to then be like "Well howdy ma'am, yes we are! Thanks for stoppin' by, let me know if you need anything

And if you'd done this, you'd have gone from being the asshole to being a massive piece of shit. You'd also better be the owner of your business, because this is the kind of behavior that gets people going to your manager to complain about how much of a cocknozzle you were to try and get you fired.

Stories like this are why I've always hated "Not Always Right" as a site. People there will always post stories about how bad their customers were, but they'll never acknowledge that employees can be just as bad when it comes to being impolite, ignorant, entitled assholes. And a lot of times, asshole customers are being assholes because they're dealing with asshole employees. Not that the employees would ever admit that - it's always someone else's fault.

I worked in retail when I was younger, so I've definitely seen both sides of the coin. People can be assholes regardless of which side of the counter they're on.

I'm with you man. If it was past 11 it's cool to knock but if it's about 11 I'd give them a minute.

When I worked at a retail computer store I learned very quickly to leave the metal gate closed until the moment I open the store, and then close it as soon as I lock the front door in the evening. If the gate is open, they will assume the store is open, no matter what the clock says or whether the door is locked. If the gate is closed, they don't even bother with the door.

anger management would help with that

That's what made you so mad? My Dude,...you need to relax.

My one place use to close at 8 people would be banging on the door at 8:15 asking if we were still open

You can always tell who has and who hasnt worked customer service / retail whenever these kinds of topics pop up.

I would say it's acceptable to be waiting by the door and perhaps looking in hopefully.

Outright knocking at 10:59 is obnoxious, though.

NinjaGhosts posted...

My one place use to close at 8 people would be banging on the door at 8:15 asking if we were still open

Dude I work at a place that closes at 8 and we've had people try and open the door around 11:30 at night. People are weird.

Anyway you guys have clearly never worked retail. Sometimes it's just the way things happen that can irrationally annoy you there is no logic of justification behind it. It's just the weird entitlement of someone showing up seeing the door locked and going "hey I know better than you do when you open!"

I do not own my own business but I am the GM of a store. If a complaint is made to me, well, I don't care, generally(I've never gotten a complaint but if I did I would look inward, but generally I wouldn't care, because there is a great chance it is a lie or an exaggeration. These cockamamie
schemes hardly ever come to fruition, and I really am not an ass. I am friendly to just about everybody). If somebody calls corporate(I work for a state run liquor store so customer complaints aren't like they would be at a Wal-Mart), for a one off, i don't think anything would happen but a "stern" warning from my DM.

I was annoyed and PO(heh)'d when it happened but I kinda had that comical pissed off energy, like a cowboy throwing his hat on the ground when somebody gets one over on him.

Most of the time I do not entertain people before the store opens. This time I did because of the knock. The real thing here is the knock. I feel like that's kind of entitled and rude, but IF the customer did not know we opened at 11 and assumed 9 like a lot of my other locations it makes a little sense because they'd be wondering why the door is locked two hours past opening.

For sure if my store is closed I will not entertain a knock unless one of my employees needs back in, because there is zero chance it is anybody from my business. The other side of it is, I am a nice guy, and if somebody is walking up I don't shut the door in their face, remind them they need in and out in a minute and then lock the door so nobody else gets in, and then I let them out when done.

I don't really need to calm down. This is a comical story from my POV now.

wpot posted...

I would say it's acceptable to be waiting by the door and perhaps looking in hopefully.

Outright knocking at 10:59 is obnoxious, though.

This. Maybe they'll open a bit early if they see people waiting. If they don't, shut the fuck up and wait thirty seconds.

However, getting seriously upset about it is something I don't get. It was just an annoying customer.

If the clock inside said 11, Id probably open Or say hold on for a second and move some stuff under the counter But Id probably open. I do remember one time during the summer, I worked in a store where the AC was busted for a little. So at night, wed leave the door open until we were about to leave. But had the lights in front off, and closed sign was up, and all the clothes racks were
Im front of the door But a lady still thought we were open and was trying to shove her way through the racks, and possibly crawl under. We just told her we were closed and laughed about it later

Another time, we were opening. And the door was still locked.
Someone came about 10 minutes early, and started puking on the door a bunch. And after a while, it just popped open. They said out door was stuck. But we told him we were actually closed. So, he apologized and left

LinkPizza posted...

started puking on the door a bunch

I have questions about this unrelated to the start time.

Pulling*

My questions are answered.

You're upset the customer was going by your clock in your store? Lmfao. Fool

Get rid of the clock and lighten the hell up