Target stores are the absolute WORST...

[Philadisney]

i didn't get a chance to read this whole thread but did want to add (sorry if someone said it already) that i worked a retail job in high school, and by state law anyone under 18 could not work past 10pm. our store closed at 10, and we were not a place that pushed people out the door, but as a previous poster said, some nightly duties cannot be taken care of until all customers had left (like closing the registers). if the under-18 employees had to leave at ten and there were still people there, it would take the managers even longer to be able to go home because they had less help.

 

[Mskanga]

I told DW Lauri about this thread and she said the worst part is they get stuck with these people that will come in 5 minutes til closing, browse until 15 minutes after closing and then LEAVE without buying a single thing!

Yep , that has happened to me more times than I could say. My old job used to only pay us until 15 minutes past closing time and we had people 'knocking' on the window and say but I have no cigarettes or gas , well while I felt sorry for them , our store was open from 6 am till 11 pm , if they had no time to go shopping during those hours , I have no time to wait for them past 11 pm.

 

[cinmell]

I worked in retail for a while in college and I hated when people would come in a few minutes before closing or just shop like they had all the time in the world when it was closing time.

Despite "warning" announcements they would just go about their business, taking their time. Some days I would be sheduled 8 or 9 hours (1pm to closing or 2pm to closing) so I was always there at closing time. We would have to wait for the last customers to leave before we could count down the registers, sweep, face the aisles so they would look good in the morning, etc. Sometimes we wouldn't get out until an hour after closing which stunk.

 

[ericamanda01]

I have worked in one form of retail or another for the past 15 years. For the most part the reason for the announcements IS to get the store cleaned so everyone can go home. But another factor is safety. There have been cases where people will wait until a store is closed to rob them, or they will hide out in the hopes of staying until the employees leave and then try and steal as much as possible. But really there is SO much more to closing than just counting money and cleaning up a little. Retail employees, especially those at the larger stores, Target, Walmart, ect. have alot of things to do before they can even think of going home.

I can understand the OP's frustration, but I just hope the OP can think about the employees frustration as well.

 

[Annette_VA]

I work for a local grocery chain. I can't even begin to count the number of times when I was still working in the stores when I had to stay late because of oblivious shoppers.

Our chain is huge on The Golden Rule, which means we basically bend over backwards to satisfy the customer and never do anything which might even slightly offend them. So, no "we're closing soon" or "we're now closed" announcements were allowed. It sucked! We basically just had to let them do their thing & wait around for them. I hated those people!

 

[Good Ol Gal]

I work in retail and I really can't stand it when customers linger at closing time.

they wander around pulling clothes off the shelves, holding it up then stuff it back in... shelf after shelf.. I then have to go back and redo all the clothes they just played with or try on.

We had one lady who "popped" in last week 5 mins before closing.. she was looking for some jeans. Now come on lady... every woman knows it takes a LOT longer than 5 mins to find a good pair of jeans! 20 mins later (15 mins after we closed) she comes out of the dressing room with 12 pairs of jeans in her arms... practically throws 8 pairs of them at my co-worker says "I don't want these" and heads to the register... My co-worker rushes to get them hung up and put away.... I rush into the room she just came out of that has other stuff she didn't want in it on the floor, inside out, etc... She then comes back to the fitting room and asks "Where is that other girl with my jeans?! I wanted those jeans!!" Uh.. no you didn't!

we have to go find the jeans she put away and the customer has the nerve to announce that "This is such a burden and inconvience!!"

I was sooo mad at that lady!!! She finally checked out 30 mins after we closed. Come on lady, I want to go home too. I do have a dh that I haven't seen all evening b/c I leave when he gets home and would like to see him before he goes to bed.

 

[Maleficent13]

So everyone on hold who called in before 5pm got disconnected at 5? Never heard of a company doing that.

Just FYI, every health insurance company on the planet does this. You can call in at 4:30pm, sit on hold for 25 minutes and at 4:55pm you are disconnected. When you call back, you get the "Our business hours are" recording.

To address the OP, I agree with shortbun. The world does not revolve around me.

 

[SueM in MN]

When a store like Target is open 14 hours a day-that is plenty of time to shop. The store is not being rude-the customer is. I worked retail and that was the number one pet peeve. Also-in many cases with rotating schedules-the person closing at 10:00 is the one opening at 8 the next morning.

My DH is in retail and I wanted to just mention that the person closing at 10 (at least the management person) is probably not going to be out of there for another hour, by the time they do all the close down things that need to be done. And, if that person is the one opening at 8 the next morning, that might mean getting there at 6.

I worked in retail when I was in college and saw the same thing happening. After announcements at 5 minute intervals, starting 20 minutes before closing, we still had people waltzing up to the register 5 minutes after we were supposed to be closed saying "Oh, are you closing?"
And, a lot of the late-checker late leavers were just browsing, like some posters mentioned, but some had a cart so full it was a wonder they could still push it and then there were the ones who said "I want this dress, but it didn't have a tag on it, so I brought this one so you could get the price off it." And we would have to find a semi-tactful way to say that we couldn't ring the dress up because the only thing the 2 dresses had in common is that they were dresses.

 

[Rex Rules]

This bugs the living cr** out of me! How rude, insensitive and disrespectful of others.
The hours are posted. If closing time is 9 pm, then your behind needs to be out of the store then.
I have worked retail - and there are people who stroll in the store at 5 minutes to closing time, get a cart and STROLL leisurely through the aisles. The people working at stores have a life outside the store, too. They should not have to wait on sorry people who can't follow the rules and understand the hours of the store!

 

[gradtchr]

How "absolutely" rude of Target to have POSTED hours which state they close at ten. How even more rude of them to respectfully remind shoppers what time the store closes and the fact that the time is closing in. How absolutely horrible of the employees that they want to go home, or enjoy their own lives. I mean they must want to only serve you and to bow down to your every beck and call. In fact they must not have lives they must live at the store.



Sorry but I disagree totally with you OP-if a store has posted hours it is up to YOU to respect them and to respect the employees who want to go home after a long shift. The employees are doing what they have to do at the end of the day and you should respect that-which you apparently didn't.

I've worked retail and it is awful what some people do at closing. I'm very familiar with the come in two minutes before closing oh I just have to get one item shop for 30 minutes (even with encouragment and lights being turned out) and leave with nothing.

 

[DwarfMaster]

I worked retail once.....there was this customer who was warned many times prior to the store closing and she was asked to proceed to the checkout several times after closing. Eventually my manager told us to go ahead and shut down, clean & lock up....when she finally got to the front, he told her he was sorry but the checkouts are all closed she would have to leave her items & exit the building. Boy was she mad.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

I don't mind a voice over loudspeakers reminding me at 30 mins till and 5 mins till, but the ones near me go "The time is now 9:55pm and all registers will be closed in 5 minutes". So tonight when 10:00pm arrived, an employee came up to me in my aisle and told me they were closed and that I needed to bring my stuff up to checkout now.

This really bugs me, especially for a company that prides itself on quality customer service. Most stores will lock their doors at 10pm, but at least give those already in the store a few extra minutes to finish up. Is that too much to ask Target?

I can't believe how you can expect the store to stay open while you "shop".
The store closes at 10:00 and that means even for you! It's very rude how you think they should cater to you.
Maybe they should have opened an hour earlier the next day to make up for your inconvenience

 

[diznygirl]

You want rude? I worked with one girl who would close up her register and walk away with the drawer at 9 p.m. SHARP even if there were still customers in line!

If the OP was complaining about what my former co-worker did, then she'd have a case. But I think the OP is out of line here - it's standard procedure in most stores to do a sweep and count customers who are still in the store when the doors are locked and give them a reminder that they should check out.

 

[WDWMom]

when it comes to pressuring their customers at closing time. I don't mind a voice over loudspeakers reminding me at 30 mins till and 5 mins till, but the ones near me go "The time is now 9:55pm and all registers will be closed in 5 minutes". So tonight when 10:00pm arrived, an employee came up to me in my aisle and told me they were closed and that I needed to bring my stuff up to checkout now.

This really bugs me, especially for a company that prides itself on quality customer service. Most stores will lock their doors at 10pm, but at least give those already in the store a few extra minutes to finish up. Is that too much to ask Target?

They gave you a 5 minute warning, what more do you want?

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

I can't agree - if you know they close at ten - you should be at the checkout before that - not milling about in the aisles. I wouldn't expect the employees to have to wait for me - that just seems too rude. If I HAVE to be in a store that close to closing time I do what I have to as quickly as possible in order to be considerate.

 

[Chicago526]

I don't think I've ever been in a store when it closed. I don't like being out late (10 PM is my bed time! )

But if I ever was in a store when it closed, I'd make a bee-line for the check-out. I worked at Target for 2 1/2 years, those workers want to clean up and go HOME. I can't remember anyone holding us up more than 10 minutes, but then it was about 10 years ago!

Sorry OP, you've got no grounds to complain!

 

[skiwee1]

I think it is rude to stay after closing time. I remember working retail and absolutely hated anyone that walked through that door 5 minutes before closing and grabbed a cart. You just knew they weren't going to be finished! Good for Target. I knew I loved that store!

 

[HoneyPooh]

Why in the world would someone complain that a store closed when it was scheduled to close (with 1/2 an hour of warnings to the shoppers)? I've never worked in retail and even I can see the problem with this one!

 

[SC Minnie]

I worked retail too and at one store I worked I had to make those closing announcements. We were always in the store at least 30 minutes sometimes and hour after 'closing'. The employees want to go home for goodness sakes. We used to have someone stand at the door at about 5-10 before closing and let people know that tried to come in that the store would be closing in X minutes.

If you have to go to a store near closing get what you need and get out. If you want to browse then go during longer opening hours.

 

[LoraJ]

I was once a cashier at a store that closed at 9pm. Most of us were still in school and would have to get home to work on our homework. I hated it when people lingered around because once we got them all out of the store I would have to return all of the items that they no longer wanted back on the shelves. Plus I think we had some other duties to do. I usually didn't get home until around 10pm, later if people decided to linger to their hearts content.