This is my first year of retail after four years of fast food work. As a result, this is my first holiday season in retail specifically, but I am already used to people’s nasty attitudes during the holidays. My store is closing at four on Christmas Eve and has made it abundantly clear. My general manager even specified to shut the door in people’s faces if need be.

At 3:55, the closing manager for the evening stations me at the door to inform people coming in about when we close and to wish people a lovely evening as they leave, but mostly, I am to man the door after we close and inform folks that they can’t come in. As a stocky young lady with a voice good at projecting, I am the most intimidating choice. All is well until four hits and I power off the door so that I can manually let people out.

A lady tries to come in as I let a couple take their shopping out.

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but we are closed.”

Customer: “When did you close? I just need to grab a cheesecake really quickly!”

Me: “I apologize, ma’am, but we closed at four. I can’t let you inside now.”

Customer: “But all of those people are checking out! My son is coming all the way from Virginia, and he loves your cheesecakes!”

Me: “They came in before four o’clock, ma’am, and they are finishing up now. Unfortunately, we sold out of our cheesecakes yesterday so we don’t even have one.”

Customer: “Oh, yes, you do. I just know you’re lying to me, young lady, and I don’t appreciate your tone! I might have to talk to your manager.”

Me: “I apologize, ma’am, but as we’ve already closed, I’ll have to shut the door. If you’d like to speak with the store manager, she’ll be back on Monday morning from open until five-thirty. She’ll be simply delighted to discuss your concerns then, once we’re all back.”

And then I shut and locked the door as everyone else had filtered out during our conversation. She stood there shocked as I walked away to help my coworkers finish up closing, but she did eventually leave. Sorry, lady, but you had all week to get your dessert!

I’m working in a grocery store on Christmas Eve. The store is open until 6:00 pm. We lock entry and staff the exit at exactly 6:00 pm, but we must work through all customers waiting to check out.

One man knocks on the locked entry window and tries to force his way into the store through the exit I’m guarding.

I refuse him entry.

Me: “Sir, it’s not personal, but if I allow you to pass, I must admit the other ten people staring at me from the parking lot.”

Man: “But I only need one item! It’s vital for a recipe and my wife forgot to buy it!”

Me: “I’m sorry, but we’re closed.”

Man: “But not making this dish will ruin Christmas Eve!”

Me: “My staff and I have manned this store for twelve hours on Christmas Eve, and we deserve a Christmas, too! Our Christmas will never start if I let even one person past me!”

I work at a grocery store and we are normally open eighteen hours a day. I normally work nights because I prefer it, so I’m always part of the closing shift.

Today is Christmas Eve. We normally close at midnight, but we closed today at 10:00 pm. We had forty people in the store at 9:45, so we were forced to lock the doors at 9:50. I was outside gathering all the carts, and my God, so many people were coming in the last ten minutes and fighting with my manager over the fact we closed the door early.

This normally always happens at midnight. People come at 11:55 and we deny them. What made tonight different is just the number of people cussing and trying to force their way in. It got to the point where customers started fighting with each other — the customers that defended us and the ones that were complaining.

We want to go home; it’s Christmas Eve. We literally were open from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. Why come at 9:55 and fight us about it?

I didn’t end up leaving until 10:45, and my managers are still there closing everything. People have no idea what we actually go through. It’s ridiculous. People see the closing time and take it as a personal challenge to come a few minutes before.

My first job out of high school was working at a book distribution warehouse. This was back in the early 2000s, when Amazon was still a relatively small company and brick-and-mortar bookstores were still the main place to buy books.

At the beginning of December, we were all told that it was mandatory for everyone to work one Saturday; the warehouse was typically closed on Saturdays. I started at 6:00 am on a Saturday morning with the rest of my department. At 10:00 am, my department was done with all our stuff, so we were all sent over to work in another department, who’d started at 8:00.

By noon, people who’d started at 10:00 were being sent home because they had run out of work. My department was told to stay even though we’d originally been told we’d be there for a six-hour shift, and people who’d been there for much fewer than six hours were already going home. Most of us had not bothered packing lunches, and per company rules, we were not allowed to leave the property during work hours — not that there was anywhere that we would have actually been able to get to, get food, and get back before lunch was over — so we were stuck getting whatever cheap junk we could from the vending machines.

At 2:00, we were told to keep going. At 4:00, we were told to keep going. At 5:00, they brought in some really cheap, low-end pizza for us from who knows where. It wasn’t good, but by that point, those departments that were still there were so tired and hungry that we didn’t care. Finally, at 7:30 at night, after we’d been there for thirteen hours, we were told we could go home, which we happily did.

And to top everything off, the next week, those of us who’d had to work that extra-long shift were all sent home after half an hour of work several times to ensure that none of us would get overtime.

We’re closing early for Christmas. It is five minutes before closing on Christmas Eve.

Customer: “It’s ridiculous you’re closing early!”

Me: “It’s a holiday, madam. We want to go home to spend time with our families.”

Customer: “Your family should plan better! I have needs, too!”

Me: *Taking a moment* “What can I help you with, madam?”

Customer: “I totally forgot that the whole family is coming for Christmas dinner tonight and I need to get everything!”

Me: “Well, we close in five minutes.”

Customer: “What a coincidence! That’s also when they’re all expected to arrive. Chop-chop!”

We all left forty minutes late that day.