What Time Do You Close?
Posted: Friday, December 26, 2008
by Michael Ramzy
delusionthread.com
The signs were posted the day after Thanksgiving: "Open Christmas Day, 9-6".
All o
f the customers were told, for the past few weeks, the store would close at six in the evening on Christmas Day.
All of the employees knew we would close at six in the evening on Christmas Day. They all made plans. I had plans, yet I knew I would stay until around seven-thirty to clean up. My main concern, once I locked the doors at six, was to get the employees out as fast as possible so they could enjoy a little Christmas.
So. The signs are posted. The customers knew. The employees knew. I knew. What could possibly go wrong?
It went something like this:
5:00pm: First announcement over the paging system: "Folks, we will be closing at six pm today. We will reopen at seven tomorrow. Thanks for shopping."
A couple, who had just entered, came running up to me. "But we have to do our Christmas shopping!"
"Okay," I said. "You still have an hour."
"But we don't want to be rushed."
"I don't either," I replied. "But we've been open all day."
"I know, but we had to sleep in."
"Of course."
"So we just don't want to be rushed."
"Who's rushing? You have an hour."
The couple walks away to shop. Muttering under their breath, of course, at how the world is unjust.
5:15pm Second announcement. Same as the first. No problem . . .
Except I notice there are more customers in the store now. We have been open all day, and of course we are getting the brunt of the business in the last hour. Go figure. I toy with the idea of closing the store right now, yet that would not be compatible with my future income. I then wonder if I might need to get a bat to keep the customers at bay, then thought that would not be compatible with my future freedom. I then laugh at my strange wit.
I know, clever I am.
5:45 pm Third announcement. Same as the first two. More people are streaming into the store, which is making me wonder if the signs are still posted with our Christmas hours. I go outside and sure enough, they are plastered on the front doors. I look up at the Readerboard, that magical message board all Walgreens have, and the hours are posted there as well. I walk back inside and immediately am accosted by an older lady.
"I absolutely need to find a Sham Wow," she says breathlessly.
"Sold out."
"You don't have any?"
"No ma'am. We sold our last one last night." I had the good fortune to work the closing shift the night before, only the busiest night of the year. It would be an understatement to say I was utterly exhausted.
"That's unnacceptable," the lady says. "Find me one."
Find me one?
"Um, ma'am, we are out of stock. There are none to find for you." And then, of course, this: "I apologize about that."
She walks away fuming, muttering how unjust the world happens to be at this particular moment.
5:50pm Forth announcement. Same as the ones before, except I notice a little shudder in my voice. There are now forty people in line to check out, and all three registers are humming along.
A man catches my eye and yells, "Hey buddy, how about opening another register?"
"I only have the three, sir," I say, walking over to the front doors and locking the entrance door. I adjust the other one so it remains open, then stand in front of it to prevent anyone else from entering. When I turn, I notice the man saying something to me, but I can't hear him.
"Excuse me?" I ask.
"I said, it's bad planning to only have three registers open right now."
"Sir, I only have three registers period. They've been open all day. We've only had a line for the past hour or so."
"Still," he continued, petulantly.
I just nodded and smiled. I had this sudden image of the man running from a pack of wild dogs. I shuddered, yet in the back of my mind I predicted he would be the one, just as in the commercial, who would write a check and hold up the line.
6:00pm Final announcement. I locked the other door, still with customers inside, and had two employees check the restrooms. Miraculously, everyone in the store was now in line to check out. Usually it happens a straggler or two would be wandering aimlessly not knowing (or perhaps knowing and not caring) the store is closed.
A banging on the front door caused me to turn around. There were perhaps ten people outside looking at me hopefully. "Hello," I said through the door.
A young woman asked if we were closed. "Yes miss, we just closed at six."
"Since when do you close early? You're always open until midnight."
"Well considering it's Christmas, we close early."
"But I just need cigarettes."
"The gas station is open," I said helpfully. I even pointed across the street to it.
"I'm not buying cigarettes at a gas station," she replied.
And yet you'll buy them at a pharmacy? "Sorry, I can't let you in." I unlock the door to let some people out.
"I just need milk," someone else yells from the back of the now-growing pack outside the door.
"Sorry, we closed at six. There's another Walgreens three blocks south on -"
"But we're here now! What time did you say you were suddenly closing?"
"We're not suddenly closing, ma'am. We close at six pm every Christmas. We even had signs up for the past month."
"I don't read signs," the milk woman said, as if saying I don't put my head in mud.
"Wow." Then how do you drive? I wanted to ask.
I turned around and now there were only around ten people in line. The man who suggested I magically buy and install another register was writing a check, of course, and the others in line all had this look of . . . I don't know, disgust on their faces. I don't know if they were mad at me for having to close, or mad at themselves for waiting until the last second to do their shopping. Regardless, we in the retail and service industry pay for it.
6:40 pm No announcement. The last customer leaves and as he does he wishes me a Merry Christmas and thanks me for being so patient and light-hearted about the whole thing. I wish him a Merry Christmas and quickly lock the door after he leaves. The employees finish cleaning and they are let out around seven, and I stay until seven-thirty or so. When I leave, there is one woman who is just getting out of her car. She asks me what time the store closes. I turn around, notice all of the store lights are out, and want to answer "We're closed! Where were you this morning? Yesterday? Why can't you tell time?"
Instead, I tell her politely we closed at six.
"You're kidding," she says, walking up to the front door. She actually tries the door. When it doesn't open for her she looks at it peculiarly. I stand there and watch her, somewhat amazed and then more amazed at my amazement. I still think humans are smarter than I give them credit for beng, and yet sometimes I am shown the error of my way of thinking.
"What time did you close?" she asks again. Once again, with extra-patience, I tell her six.
"Well that's just ridiculous," she replies. She walks back to her car, jumps in, and peels out of the parking lot.
Another Christmas, I think as I drive away. As I wait for the light on the corner, though, I see a couple of cars pull into the lot and some people get out. They walk up to the door, look at the sign, and shake their heads. I too shake my head as my light turns green and I start to move. In my rearview mirror I notice the cars in the lot and the people still there, not moving. I wonder what could be going through their minds at that moment.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Hi Michael.Well you certainly pegged it. Been there. Done that. When did we go from being grateful for what we have to wanting everything we want, whenever we want it and cursing those who thwart us? When did children stop growing up? Where was their compassion for the people who had to work on Christmas Day? Had to sleep in ... OMG.My sympathies,DianneIt's funny how adults act so much like children, and children (try to) act so grown up. It's also funny that out of the 1500 or so customers yesterday, only a few wished me a Merry Christmas. Some said Happy Holidays, but most were just rude and irritable. Such is life.I appreciate your comment and believe it or not, I truly had fun. It's times such as yesterday which test all of us. Thanks for reading.
Working retail before I know the feeling. They seem to forget you are a person and are only there for them. As for business, well they know we are not people, just an expense item. Good job.Thanks very much. Sometimes, not often, I wish I could videotape someone acting rudely and then show it to them, just to see their reaction. They would either be aghast or not care at all. Regardless, I enjoy my job and realize working with the public is all in the way you look at your place in their world.Thanks for reading and commenting.
hi michael,you deserve a lot of credit for being so patient and courteous. i wonder how many of those people will learn to shop earlier next year? or figure out that the employees aren't the owners, and don't make the rules, they just go by them so they can earn a paycheck, just like them. thanks for sharing,best regards,sue thomThanks. It's not that people need to shop earlier necessarily, I just wonder why we in retail and service are to blame for their . . . um . . . error. That's the real rub. I mean, we all make mistakes, and I know we've all at some time or another rushed out to someplace right before it closes to make a purchase. Yet I can't remember all of a sudden blaming the establishment for keeping their posted hours. It's really hilarious when I think of it here at home, and at work I just nod my head and keep going, and of course realize we are all not as perfect as we think we are.Thank you for reading and commenting.
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