Parting With Some Closing Comments

(I work at a well-known furniture franchise part time while attending college. Since I have classes during the day, I usually get stuck doing the closing shift. The store is supposed to close at nine – however, many nights, the office staff is stuck late due to the sales associates and their customers.)

Me: *over intercom at ten to nine* “Attention [Store] customers, the store will be closing in ten minutes. If you have any questions, please see your nearest sales associate. Thank you!”

(Ten minutes go by.)

Me: *over intercom* “Attention [Store] customers, the store is now closed. Please see your nearest sales associate if you have any further questions. Thank you!”

(45 minutes later, the customer and sales associate FINALLY get to the desk. Whilst finalizing the transaction, the customer makes this comment:)

Customer: “What time do you guys close?”

Me: “We close at 9.”

Customer: “Oh. But it’s 9:45.”

Me: “Yes, well, we have to stay open to serve customers.”

Customer: “Yeah… that announcement over the intercom is pretty rude. You guys shouldn’t do that.”

Me: *trying not to scream* “Well, I apologize if it reads that way. However, without the announcement, some customers will stay hours past closing to finish shopping.” *pointed stare at customer*

Customer: “Yeah, but who shops for furniture that late anyway? You shouldn’t make those announcements. They distract people.”

(She finished paying and left. I ended up having to stay until 10:15 to finish closing out the front desk, since everyone else already went home.)