When you’re working in retail and you’re ready to clean up, close the store and go home, something very frustrating usually happens; a flood of customers typically enter the store, make a mess, and wind up spending so much extra time recovering from it.
It is something that has struck me as intriguing for years, similar to the feelings described in “The Closing Sense.”
Why is it that people have to shop immediately at closing time, when they can easily come back the next morning (and sometimes wait at the door before the actual opening time)?
And to add insult to injury, most of them know when stores are closing. Typically for strip malls and outlet stores, it’s 9pm, and 9:30pm for shopping malls.
Apposing the anticipation customers have before a store opens, they seem to hold similar feelings when a store is closing.
It’s a peculiar concept to consider because many a customer have come in to a store right before (or at) closing, and intentionally make messes. This can be exacerbated to another degree when the shoppers are families, all intent on finding something to purchase.
Granted, the needs of businesses are to ultimately help their bottom line, thus increase sales as much as possible. However, in doing so, should they be compromising on rules and regulations just to help customers happy and make money?
This predicament still exists and continues to amaze me, as it should others.
quarterlifeinretail 