Tacky church boutique behavior!

[Cyndi]

My mom is helping with the church's Christmas boutique(took place tonight and then will reopen tomorrow, I'd be helping, but I'm still sick as a dog) and she came home almost two hours later than she said she would because of this one person:

Exactly one minute before the boutique was to close up for the night, a woman came in with four kids and spent an HOUR!!!!!! wandering around. My mom says this woman knew everyone was waiting on her and took her time anyway. Then she left without buying anything. And in the time it took this woman to make her time-wasting round, her kids played with as many toys as they could, leaving a mess on the floor. A mess that my mom and the other cashiers had to clean up. During the cleanup, my mom discovered one of the children had dumped his soda into the back of a toy dump truck.

TACKY!!

Any of you out there have this kind of idiocy happen to you?

[Alida]

Can't those there simply say, at closing time, "I'm sorry, but we're now closed.  We'll be open again tomorrow if you want to return" instead of being subjected to this woman's bad manners?

[freakyfemme]

Can't those there simply say, at closing time, "I'm sorry, but we're now closed.  We'll be open again tomorrow if you want to return" instead of being subjected to this woman's bad manners?

Pod.  And no wonder her kids are brats, look at the example they have to look up to. 

[Cyndi]

Can't those there simply say, at closing time, "I'm sorry, but we're now closed.  We'll be open again tomorrow if you want to return" instead of being subjected to this woman's bad manners?

Unfortunately, the rules say they have to stay open because sometimes people drive in from across town just to come to our boutiques, so "come back tomorrow" isn't always an option(our boutiques can be like mini Rummage Sales if we get a lot of Christmas-type donations). But my mom and the other cashiers did make hints that it was time to leave by closing up the coffee and donuts, rattling around the cash boxes and shutting off some of the lights. This rude lady just did NOT get the hint.

[sammycat]

Tacky doesn't even begin to describe it!  That is one of the most amazingly rude things I have read in a while.  I hope this woman doesn't ever come back.

[freakyfemme]

Can't those there simply say, at closing time, "I'm sorry, but we're now closed.  We'll be open again tomorrow if you want to return" instead of being subjected to this woman's bad manners?

Unfortunately, the rules say they have to stay open because sometimes people drive in from across town just to come to our boutiques, so "come back tomorrow" isn't always an option(our boutiques can be like mini Rummage Sales if we get a lot of Christmas-type donations). But my mom and the other cashiers did make hints that it was time to leave by closing up the coffee and donuts, rattling around the cash boxes and shutting off some of the lights. This rude lady just did NOT get the hint.

But, if they made plans to drive across town for the boutique, couldn't those people also plan to come during the scheduled boutique hours?  Besides, if you stay open for Dora Didn'tknow from across town, you'd also have to stay open for Eddie Entitled from next door.

[Clara Bow]

People believe that people who are volunteering their time have nothing else to do. I think I could have handled her taking her sweet time, but I would have had to say something to her about letting her children run wild. There surely isn't anything in the rules that says that the volunteers have to allow children to act like the spawn of the devil!
I would have politely said "Excuse me ma'am, but the children are creating a disturbance. If you cannot control them then we will have to ask you to leave." There is no excuse for that kind of behavior.

[Chocolate Cake]

Years and years ago, when I was in my early 20's, I worked retail in a mall.   About 8:50pm or so, two wealthy women in their 40's (judging by their clothes and jewelry), strolled into my small boutique store.   They started in the front and looked over every piece of clothing in every rack as they moved towards the back.  One of them eventually tried on a few outfits about 25 minutes after the store had officially closed (I shut the doors so no others could stroll in).   Twenty minutes after that, one FINALLY looked at her watch and laughed, "Oh, Majorie!  We closed out the mall again!"    Ten minutes or so after that, (now five minutes until 10:00) they finally wandered out without buying anything.  I still had an hour of closing to do, plus a walk through the deserted parking lot in the dark, and a 20 minute drive home.

I wish I could have said something to them along the lines of, "Sorry, ladies, the store is now closed"  or what I really wanted to say, "The world doesn't revolve around you!  Get the hell out you selfish *****", but I couldn't per store policy.  

With regard to your Mom, I don't think it would hurt anything if she told the customer directly. "We're closing now!  What can I help you with?" paired with generally making a nuisance of herself by stationing herself on the customer's heels so she can't shop in peace.

   

[RuneGuardian]

I second that your mom could have politely reminded the woman the boutique was closing. There's no harm done in that. I know I once went into a store about ten minutes before it closed, and I had no clue what time it was and was looking for something particular. Very small store, so I didn't need any help. Then the cashier politely told me the store was closing in five minutes and she had a bus to catch. I paid for my stuff and got out, and I didn't feel offended or that the cashier was rude. If a store or business is open for ten or twelve hours or what-not during the day, why do people insist on coming in right as the doors are being closed? I understand the possibility of avoiding floods of people during certain hours, but there is no excuse for aimless wandering and window shopping when those running the store are ready to go home. I know stupid people figure those who volunteer must not have lives, families, or anything to worry about...I have a feeling the woman in question probably believed this.

I have a feeling that maybe the woman may have also been looking for a few minutes of free babysitting, hence the release of the wild brats.

[grinningcomb]

MANY stores, the one I work at included, are not allowed to announce when they are closing or say anything at all to the customers once they are closed unless the customer asks us directly.  This is a corp. rule.   It is awful because we will have people in till 9:30 at times (we close at 9) and there is nothing that we can do about it and all 6 associates are still on the clock because of it. 

However, something could definatly have been said about the unruly children.  The mother didn't have any right to let her kids run rampid like that. 

[MadMadge43]

UGH! Been there many times. My trick was always to turn the music way up, then turn it off with the lights in one fail swoop. If they didn't get that, they weren't going to get anything though.

[Adah]

I've been on the flip side of this situation. I needed to get a quick card for a friend and ran to our local Hallmark store. I knew store was closing in 15 minutes but knew I'd be in and out in 5 minutes. The second I walked in the door, the clerk said, "We're closing in 15 minutes so you need to hurry up." I'd never had anyone say anything like this, but I assumed she thought I didn't realize they were closing soon. I rushed off to the birthday cards and as I was quickly looking -- I actually had two in my hand and was in the process of deciding which one to purchase -- she came right up to me and told me again that they were closing very soon. I'd been in the store for less than 5 minutes. At this point, I thought she was being quite rude and I told her, "Yes, I know. I heard you the first time." As it was, I was in and out 10 minutes before she locked the doors.

There is a fine line between letting customers know that the store is closing soon and being inappropriate. What this woman customer did regarding the church boutique was beyond rude. She should have gotten the message with the cleaning up and turning out the lights. 

[extranormal]

I think it's fair to make a distinction between a corporate situation and a volunteer-run one. A polite "we'll be closing soon, so we'd be happy to ring up your purchases at the table" or something like that doesn't strike me as inappropriate.

Of course, I'm accustomed to how things work at our local Friends of the Library used book sales. One of the long-time volunteers, a teensy 79-year-old in (always -- I've never seen her in anything else) a purple velour tracksuit, claps her hands with five minutes left in the sale and announces, loudly, "We're closed in five minutes. You have five minutes left!". Then when the five minutes have elapsed, she announces that the sale is over and everybody has to pay and leave.

It sounds kind of awful, I know, but she's so charming and adorable, nobody gets upset. She moves out a room full of people with a kindergarten teacher's smiling, efficient authority. I want to be her when I grow up.

[Tabris]

Your mom perhaps couldn't close the store on her, but nothing was to stop your mom from following her around the store saying, "May I help you find anything?" every 60 seconds after she's been there for twenty minutes.

Agreed with the other, too, about the kids. Your mother would have been within her rights to tell the woman to corral her kids or leave the store.

[scattley]

I was shopping last night at a shopping complex I was unfamiliar with. I was not sure when the individual shops closed - 4.30pm, 5pm or 5.30pm. I went into one store around 4.25pm and the staff were using the vacumes to clean up and there were no other customers in the store so I assumed that they were one of the ones that closed early so I left without looking around. At 5.40pm I walked past the door and they were still open.

I do agree with giving Cues as to when you are closing but in a reasonable time frame - not like this,.