The Easter Dummy

I work retail, not my dream job, but it pays the bills and doesn’t involve any real danger. Our hours are 8:30–5:30 every day apart from Sunday (10–4). These are posted prominently on our door. With Easter coming up, our holiday hours have been added to the door at eye level, printed in bright red and unmissable. Or so you’d think.

Two days before Easter, a customer walked in at 3 PM.

Me: “Hi there! Are you looking for anything specific?”

Customer: *Waves me off.* “Just browsing.”

He then proceeds to spend the next two hours going round the showroom, measuring the dimensions of everything on display. My coworker and I check in on him repeatedly, only to be waved off.

At 5:20 PM, I inform him that we close in ten minutes, and again ask if I can help. He asks about a specific requirement he has, so I show him an item which meets his needs, explain its benefits, and even offer him the show model which we had just put on sale to clear the space.

He asks a handful of questions that we could have answered in the last two and a half hours. My coworker has already brought in the external signs, and I can hear him printing the end-of-day receipts. I stand with the customer while he weighs up his options, explain the different versions of the same model in our brochure, and remind him again about the floor model.

He seems happy with the floor model, but wants a concession on the price as it has some wear and tear. It’s already reduced by 60%. I explain:

Me: “It’s sold as seen, and any additional discount would need manager approval. My manager isn’t in, and the other managers I could have called will have finished thirty minutes ago. What I can do is take your details and ask my manager if there’s anything more we can knock off the price.”

My manager has already said that he wants the display gone, so I’m sure that would be fine, but I have no authority to reduce the price myself.

The customer finally relents to give his details and come back the next day. I explain that we have Sunday opening hours, but my manager will call him in the morning.

By the time he leaves, it’s now fifty minutes past closing.

The next morning, we walk in to find three missed calls and a voicemail left at 7:45 AM, complaining how inappropriate it is to ignore customers. When my manager calls back, he gets no response. The whole day goes by, and the gentleman doesn’t turn up.

At 4:10, I’m sat in my car scrolling my phone and generally decompressing before I have to sit in traffic when the customer knocks on my window.

Customer: “Is your manager about? I want to discuss the sale price.”

No, weird stranger, my manager is not in my car and not in the unlit showroom!

Customer: “What time will your manager be in tomorrow?”

Me: “Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. We’re closed.”

He seems very confused and says he’ll still call back in the morning.

Retail should include hazard pay!