'She told me I could NEVER tell a customer the store was closing': Retail employee works all night long after manager tells them to never tell customers to leave

Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor

Sep 19, 2023 3:00 PM EDT

This is one of those rules that is so obtuse, it hurts your head to think about.

Every job has some rules that make no sense. But some jobs, particularly retail work, have rules that are jaw-droppingly inane. This is especially silly when it comes to the "customer is always right" types of rules. Because, as it turns out, the customer is not usually right at all, so why should they get to determine the rules?

For example, if you want your store to close at 2AM each night, you should have a rule like in u/Ratsincorduroy's store. This OP shares that since they closed at 2, they'd start walking through the store around 1:45AM, in order to give the shoppers notice that they need to pick their items and then hurry up to the cash register. This rule would have worked excellently---if only the OP and their coworkers were actually allowed to enforce the rules.

In addition, if you let a customer determine when your store will or won't be open, you've now got a 24/7 store on your hands. Of course there's a customer out there who will need some paper towels or a quick snack at any time of the night. Is the OP really just supposed to let any customer stroll in and dictate the rules?

Check out this entire story below. Speaking of inane rules, this person's boss got mad at them because they weren't taking a phone call… during a one-on-one meeting with said boss.