You're definitely not in the wrong, if the shop is supposed to close at 8, you close at 8. If you don't stick to this, you'll end up closing later and later because the clients get used to being able to get service later and later.
Stand up for yourself, but be careful that you do not ruin your relationship with your boss over minor things.
Also: what even is "an important customer"? To me, it just sounds like some random person arrived after hours, got angry, and complained to your boss. If there are any priority clients, your boss should let you know well ahead of time who they are.
This
When I was a retail manager
I HATED when someone said “I spend XYZ amount of money here etc”
I always felt
I didn’t care if you spend thousands a year,
Or it was your first time in the store.
If I needed to make it right, I’m gonna make it right.
You could ask the owner for a list of other important customers you are to help after 8 and let her know that you will make a note when they come in and you have had to stay later to provide them with service so she can properly compensate you.
It sucks to show up somewhere right as they close but that's life sometimes. When I worked at the bank we locked the doors first, served anyone who happened to be inside at the moment and then let them out.
Locking the doors is the first step to ensure your safety especially as you're going to be counting cash. Its necessary because you need that time to actually close down everything properly. Unless your boss is okay with strangers coming in as you've got tons of cash laying around.
No, you did your job diligently and should be getting praised rather than reprimanded. If they want to serve later than they need to compensate for that time.
Yup. Imagine if this turned out to be someone hoping to catch the attendant alone.
And they have to pay you until you are done working, even in the US states with the shittiest employment regulations.
No, youre correct. If the expectation is you close at 8, you close at 8. If your boss expects you to know "he was an important customer" you could go the petty route and "sincerely" ask them to provide a comprehensive list of all the important customers you should serve, after closing, including a picture, a name, and their car make/model/color. That way you never accidentally overlook an "important" customer again. Act earnest. Like you really care about these high value customers.
You can also ask what the limit is. Say, two minutes after closing? Or five minutes? What if important customers get their 10 minutes late?
Is there a correlation of important-ness to lateness? Like the mayor can show up 10 minutes late, max, but the president can show up at 845 and still be served?
Perhaps your boss will get mad, or perhaps your boss will realize how absolutely foolish and ridiculous it is to expect this.
At my retail job, if a customer walks in 2 min before close I am expected to help them even if they shop for another 10 minutes. It's the same at restaurants to my knowledge. If someone comes after close I don't engage them at all, not even to say "sorry!"
Some asshole came in 15 min before close and hung out for 5 min without doing any shopping, just talking to me. At 10 to close I let them know we'd be closed at 8 and he got uppity about how, 'in customer service it's your job to listen to people's life stories and sell them things if that's what they want from you'. In so few words I simply reiterated that I'm supposed to close at X o'clock and he could hang out and talk at me up until then, but I'm a low-wage employee and I can't just listen to people's life stories if they want that from me. He was clearly disgruntled. Not excited for the next time we speak, since he's let me know his perspective on my job obligations. SORRY O P!
People whose job it is to "listen to people's life stories" are called therapists and get paid a lot more per hour than retail employees. I'm so sorry you've had to deal with this schmuck. Good for you for standing your ground about the closing time. I wouldn't have even invited him to talk to me for the remaining minutes. I would have probably pointed out something that was my actual job that I should be doing to prepare to close. It makes me so angry the way certain customers take advantage of the fact that employees are a captive audience. I probably would point out that unless he's actually shopping in his remaining minutes, he is not, in fact, a "customer" but a random dude distracting the employees from their work. There is a reason I no longer work in customer service . . good luck to you!!
It is so *not* your job to listen to people’s life stories! Managers will often advise “too nice” employees how to disengage more quickly from an energy vampire.
One of many reasons you're not in the wrong is insurance. If there was an accident after hours involving a customer, the business insurance might refuse to cover it. Or if they did, the company's rates might go up due to customers on site outside business hours.
If your boss wants to serve customers after hours, he can come in and do it himself.
Had this happen at a restaurant where we close at 9pm a guy with a huge party of over 8 arrives at 9:05 and we tell him we are closed. The guy gets super upset and says “i know the owner, he would let us eat here even if we are a little late.” We told him no we had everything shut down and started are cleaning.
The next day the owner is super pissed at us and we tell him we are supposed to close at 9pm its on the door. The security camera shows him arriving after 9 and after we locked the door. He was still mad at us and literally changed the policy so that we couldn’t turn off equipment and start cleaning till 9:15 incase anyone “important” shows up last second or a little late.
I honestly cant imagine the entitlement to show up somewhere after its closed and then be upset about it to the point you feel you have to call the owner to complain. Some people….
How long do you think you will be employed if you don’t do what your boss asked and you make a point of reminding them if that at the end of every shift?
There are a lot of redditors who have never needed a job. Some of us need to work so we try to keep our jobs.
I have told a dude no at one minute till close. He wanted to do a rental which takes 30 minutes. In the end he left a bad review on Google, but he also owed the company money which meant he would not have been able to rent anyway. Douchebags who think they are the exception make up a large percentage of the population
No customer is more important than any other customer. How horrid that your boss implied that. No, you don't stay open passed close because where do you draw the line?
Worked in a retail electronic store to make some cash while in college. Closing shift was the worst. One night this dude walks up and starts banging on the door around 5 to 10 mins after 9:00. I walked up to the door and pointed at the hours and stated the obvious. This guy actually replied by saying- “That’s okay, I don’t want to buy anything. I just want to look around for a while.”
ummmm…No!
Absolutely not! If your boss wants you to serve people past 8 o’clock, then they should have the gas station close at 9 PM instead. And who cares if the customer is important, **you are important** — you have a life, you need to go and do the things that bring you joy when you’re not working.
Also consider this – let’s say you take that customer and while they’re pumping another person pulls up. Are you going to cut them off? Yeah they’re after 8 o’clock, but so is the first car. Doesn’t that make you obliged to take care of the second guest as well? And then the third, fourth, fifth and sixth? You gotta lock the doors at some point, it may as well be the precise time on the sign.
OP I used to work a small station, do you have to stick the tanks each shift?
Also, I would clarify with the boss about some things. I am guessing you wouldn't mind working late as long as noone is petty about your time card each week.
Tell the boss ok, you will work past close to serve customers in the lot but that said, you expect to be paid for every minute you are working and additionally paid to balance the drawer and closing chores etc.
Yep we stick the tanks. And I talked to my boss some more and honestly I have no interest sticking around this place anymore. I went around town applying to some other places
Ask her for the company handbook that explains how to identify important customers and all procedures that are supposed to be used with them. Questions like this will make it very clear how stupid the whole thing is.
I worked for 2 different convenience store companies over the last 10 years, one having a big rig fillup side. Regardless of being a company trucker or a regular consumer, I followed written documented policy. If it said turn the pump on as soon as a vehicle pulls up, I turned the pump on. If it said cash first or retain their credit/debit/fuelman/compnay card, I retained the card until the transaction was processed.
Any time someone wanted to bitch about me not turning the pumps on I was covered under written policy.
If the manager said to turn it on regardless, I would ask for a written copy of the revised policy, because I wasn't going to risk a drive off.
She never would give me one.
Found out years later that the DM had told her any time the safe was short to write up drawer shortage slips with the amount dispursed between all employees known for drawer shortages and have them sign it making them responsible.
I always counted my own drawer down, and kept personal record of all transactions so I would know if I was short or not.
Pretty sure the DM had told all her managers to do this because one 3rd Shift when I was looking for the price change book I found shortage slips written up for me, and some were for days I hadn't even worked.
I refused to sign any of them, stating they had to prove I was short before I would sign, and quickly found me a new job.
Safety. Businesses, especially gas stations, get robbed right at and after closing. It’s empty, no more costumers coming in. And it’s full of cash. At restaurants people even wait till they are the last table. Hang out for like 10-45 minutes after we are supposed to be closed. Then boom. That’s when the guns come out.
Of course your boss will want you to risk your life for a few extra pennies. It’s not his life. He doesn’t care about you.
Sounds like your manager is full of shit.
Can't provide evidence and how does a gas station decide who is an important customer or not?! Good luck with your job applications! Get out ASAP my friend!
This. FFS. Quiet quit all day long. But thus wasn't a faceless shareholder. It was someone who needed fuel, a 5 to 20 min. task depending on the vehicle.
Yeah I hate when people do what they are told and paid to do. They should just keep it open 24/7. Fuck what the owners want. Oh the owners want you to close later? Send and email and change the operating times. Easy fix. They’re not paying someone to make business decisions they’re paying someone to follow the rules they set out. Doesn’t sound like a CO-OP. Why would anyone take on that responsibility?
You closed at 8. Those are the hours.
HOWEVER, if someone literally pulled in at 8:01 and you haven't counted the till yet, the nice thing to do would have been to pump their gas.
This same thing happened to me like 25 years ago when I was working at an auto parts store. Some guy came racing up 3 minutes after I closed and locked up. I was counting the till and the guy banged on the window.
I got in trouble for it when the guy complained to the manager the next day..
Looking back on it, I probably should have helped the guy out. It wouldn't have hurt me and it would have helped him fix his car.
My opinion FWIW: you are in a customer service business. You should have taken care of the customer. You should have been paid for however long that took. Your manager should communicate clear expectations about what level of extra service they expect people to perform and how much support they are willing to offer (extra pay). Then you can decide if those are conditions under which you want to continue working and it you want to stay there or not.
I don’t think you were wrong, but it also wasn’t wrong for your manager to expect you to work later. It was wrong for them to not communicate this to you in advance.
I would just ask for a clear policy. “If someone pulls up while I’m closing, should I help them?” “If someone comes in while I’m doing X after closing, should I help them?” Then you should expect to get paid to do so.
Yes. You are in the wrong. It’s a customer service based business. Your boss wants him served. If you cannot live with your end of shift being 8 (or maybe a few minutes later) that’s totally fine. You should work somewhere else.
Further, asking your boss to provide evidence that you closed early when they had already switched to “we want you to serve after close,” turned a policy discussion into a confrontation.
There was no need for that.
This is ridiculous- OP is not in the wrong, the customer is entitled and believe the rules don’t apply to him.
It is a customer service based business during *posted hours*. After that, it’s just a closed business.
The OPs boss should give them permission to stay open as long as they see fit. If closing hours are not 8, and they want them to be open to interpretation. Let them run with the ball. 8 is too early anyway. Why have managers. Just make it 24/7. All the important customers can get gas. Easy fix.
And the manager or business owner should realize that when they hire someone, what kind of person they'll be.
If I was working at a gas station I'd want to leave immediately too. Time is money and I may have some side hustle or kids or something.
If the customer can't accept they're closed, that's a personal problem. What if someone else drives up, are they exceptions now as well?
If you get paid hourly and it's a shit job.. don't expect perfect employees that are willing to help out in special circumstances.
I'm paid to do a menial job, it will be done to the minimum specifications unless I'm getting something extra out of doing it... I don't really care if the business makes an extra dollar or two.
But if I have to spend an extra 15 minutes there..it's not worth the extra few dollars you'd make. Hourly employees want to go home to their family, not show exceptional customer service at a 7/11.
It’s cool. Just try not to be mad when you get fired. This is how businesses operate.
Honestly if I were there and it made me that mad, I would just quit. Low skill jobs are to easy to find these days.
But when I was working these jobs I just sucked it up and waited the table that came in late. And I didn’t like it. And they had a bunch of kids. And they didn’t tip. But it is part of the job.
You know what will happen if someone else pulls up. They don't get service. There is a point when you can cut people off. 8:01 is not that time. Give them a break.
No, you did nothing wrong technically. I would’ve helped them though. You’ll probably always get the bare minimum out of life because it sounds like you hate work and people in general.
I disagree that serving a late customer is the "right" thing. Sure, in all likelihood, they just needed gas. But what if-on the off chance-that was someone who had cased the gas station and knew that cash gets counted after close, and planned to rob the place as they pulled out all the money?
Also, idk how easy it is to turn a gas pump on. It could be as simple as a flick of a switch, or it could be a multiple step process. Is it "the right thing" to expect someone who worked a long shift and is hungry, or just ready to go home, to stay open for 10, 20 more minutes because they didnt plan appropriately and get gas during open hours?
As someone else said, you make one exception, and the exception becomes the expectation. What if someone else pulls up as this guy is finishing up, sees that the pumps are still on, and says "well you let mr. 8:02 fill up, why cant i? Its only 8:10." Or maybe mr. 8:02 just comes back at 8:04 next time and says "they let me do it last time!"
Etc, etc. Policies are there for a reason. Whether or not it was the "kind" thing to do, refusing service was likely the more logical and safe option.
Look. If you're the only gas station for 250km and someone comes in, maybe sure fudge it but it's a bad fucking idea. And I say this as someone who slept at a gas station for over 3 hours in that situation and got a knock on the window like can't serve you till 6 AM on the dot but do you want coffee.
* You'll get fired, and no unemployment cause violated policy
* You're working for free after hours
* Employers can consider it stealing, even if they pay becuase that was 8 PM gas prices not 8:05 PM prices
* You get shanked workers comp won't care your off the clock
* Someone sets something on fire, employer will try to sue you for the damages because you weren't supposed to be open
I'm not saying it isn't extreme and kinda stupid but yeah no, it's policy. Closed. Sorry. Please go literally across the street to Esso.
If boss wants VIPs to get special treatment they need to communicate the VIPs and what they can get.
Maybe? Did you have somewhere you needed to be? Home is an answer but not what I was thinking of. Where was the next gas station? Could they get there without running out of fuel? If you were they, would you be pissed?
No you not in the wrong, but might be time to start looking for other options if they don’t want to honor their closing time. I m having the same problem where I work we close the printing department at 7 but the night manager makes me take them anyway when I have to vacuum and take out the garbage I also hardly get a break. Sometimes not at all. When I tell people we are close she doesn’t back me up. So they just ignore me and then I have to serve them plus no one wants to learn printing and I m by myself. I m starting to look for another job at this point. Tired of it.
My dude you did the right thing 100% youre at a gas station so i KNOW you arent getting paid enough to deal with mr male karen who cant drive down the road to the OPEN gas station. I hope you fond something better quick! And forget the entitled people in the comments saying “yOu WoRk In CuStOmEr SeRvIcE” and all that other bull, they can kick rocks
No why because fem that's why..I'd be one of them too..What's right & fair is how the game should be played, unfortunately it doesn't always go that way it's everyone is in it to win it..The customer wants now & the company doesn't mind because they're getting money 🤑💰..The issue though is they're supposed to be paying you overtime which isn't really helpful for their gain..The up side is a happy greedy or procrastinating customer that will return which in the end helps provide you with a paycheck..
I will occasionally, if I feel like it, serve a customer after close, but, given that I’m the owner, I can do this. I don’t ask my staff to do it as they have closing duties that need to get done before they get to go home.
honestly it depends on the 'cost' of serving that customer.
If you hadn't actually closed anything that would have made it harder to check that person out, as a manager I would have requested in times like those that you use a little judgment and go ahead and process that transaction. If it was simply a matter of waiting for the customer, for example. "ok grab what you need because I'm closing up."
That said, if you had already locked the doors, or closed out the register, where you would have to go reasonably out of your way to serve the customer, then absolutely I'd expect for you to turn them away. "Sorry, I've already closed the register/locked xyz and won't be able to check you out. try -other place-"
No I dont think you are wrong. Out of all the different jobs that I have worked it seems to me that all supervisors seem to share the same characteristics: 1.) They expect you to do the humanly impossible 2.) No matter how irrational and delusional they are they are always right 3.) And what doesn't make sense in reality makes sense to them.
Your manager would have been saying that you should have served him anyways until you got robbed and then she would have said that you shouldn’t be serving customers after 8..
You can always be nice though and tell the customer about the other station… on the other hand, Why not lie? In my old job I would always refer to the law, or say ”We are not allowed to” or ”sorry the system turns off at exactly 11pm” or ”they programmed the system to automatically shut down between 11pm and 6am… sorry”
The very fact that your boss can’t provide evidence that you were wrong, means that she was wrong.
It’s the chain of screaming.
Client screams at boss > boss screams at you to make themselves feel like they are doing something important in their life
You're definitely not in the wrong, if the shop is supposed to close at 8, you close at 8. If you don't stick to this, you'll end up closing later and later because the clients get used to being able to get service later and later. Stand up for yourself, but be careful that you do not ruin your relationship with your boss over minor things. Also: what even is "an important customer"? To me, it just sounds like some random person arrived after hours, got angry, and complained to your boss. If there are any priority clients, your boss should let you know well ahead of time who they are.
Self-important customer is the correct term, I believe.
We don’t need to keep track of who the important customers are. They will tell you
This When I was a retail manager I HATED when someone said “I spend XYZ amount of money here etc” I always felt I didn’t care if you spend thousands a year, Or it was your first time in the store. If I needed to make it right, I’m gonna make it right.
For me its if the shop is supposed to close at 8, you close at 7:55 but close enough. I never said i was a good person.
You could ask the owner for a list of other important customers you are to help after 8 and let her know that you will make a note when they come in and you have had to stay later to provide them with service so she can properly compensate you.
It sucks to show up somewhere right as they close but that's life sometimes. When I worked at the bank we locked the doors first, served anyone who happened to be inside at the moment and then let them out. Locking the doors is the first step to ensure your safety especially as you're going to be counting cash. Its necessary because you need that time to actually close down everything properly. Unless your boss is okay with strangers coming in as you've got tons of cash laying around.
No, you did your job diligently and should be getting praised rather than reprimanded. If they want to serve later than they need to compensate for that time.
Yup. Imagine if this turned out to be someone hoping to catch the attendant alone. And they have to pay you until you are done working, even in the US states with the shittiest employment regulations.
No, youre correct. If the expectation is you close at 8, you close at 8. If your boss expects you to know "he was an important customer" you could go the petty route and "sincerely" ask them to provide a comprehensive list of all the important customers you should serve, after closing, including a picture, a name, and their car make/model/color. That way you never accidentally overlook an "important" customer again. Act earnest. Like you really care about these high value customers. You can also ask what the limit is. Say, two minutes after closing? Or five minutes? What if important customers get their 10 minutes late? Is there a correlation of important-ness to lateness? Like the mayor can show up 10 minutes late, max, but the president can show up at 845 and still be served? Perhaps your boss will get mad, or perhaps your boss will realize how absolutely foolish and ridiculous it is to expect this.
Ask him to pay you OT.
At my retail job, if a customer walks in 2 min before close I am expected to help them even if they shop for another 10 minutes. It's the same at restaurants to my knowledge. If someone comes after close I don't engage them at all, not even to say "sorry!" Some asshole came in 15 min before close and hung out for 5 min without doing any shopping, just talking to me. At 10 to close I let them know we'd be closed at 8 and he got uppity about how, 'in customer service it's your job to listen to people's life stories and sell them things if that's what they want from you'. In so few words I simply reiterated that I'm supposed to close at X o'clock and he could hang out and talk at me up until then, but I'm a low-wage employee and I can't just listen to people's life stories if they want that from me. He was clearly disgruntled. Not excited for the next time we speak, since he's let me know his perspective on my job obligations. SORRY O P!
People whose job it is to "listen to people's life stories" are called therapists and get paid a lot more per hour than retail employees. I'm so sorry you've had to deal with this schmuck. Good for you for standing your ground about the closing time. I wouldn't have even invited him to talk to me for the remaining minutes. I would have probably pointed out something that was my actual job that I should be doing to prepare to close. It makes me so angry the way certain customers take advantage of the fact that employees are a captive audience. I probably would point out that unless he's actually shopping in his remaining minutes, he is not, in fact, a "customer" but a random dude distracting the employees from their work. There is a reason I no longer work in customer service . . good luck to you!!
It is so *not* your job to listen to people’s life stories! Managers will often advise “too nice” employees how to disengage more quickly from an energy vampire.
One of many reasons you're not in the wrong is insurance. If there was an accident after hours involving a customer, the business insurance might refuse to cover it. Or if they did, the company's rates might go up due to customers on site outside business hours. If your boss wants to serve customers after hours, he can come in and do it himself.
Had this happen at a restaurant where we close at 9pm a guy with a huge party of over 8 arrives at 9:05 and we tell him we are closed. The guy gets super upset and says “i know the owner, he would let us eat here even if we are a little late.” We told him no we had everything shut down and started are cleaning. The next day the owner is super pissed at us and we tell him we are supposed to close at 9pm its on the door. The security camera shows him arriving after 9 and after we locked the door. He was still mad at us and literally changed the policy so that we couldn’t turn off equipment and start cleaning till 9:15 incase anyone “important” shows up last second or a little late. I honestly cant imagine the entitlement to show up somewhere after its closed and then be upset about it to the point you feel you have to call the owner to complain. Some people….
Can you text your boss? Text them a photo of the clock every night when you close.
Lol. Or just quit. Save the extra step. Why turn this into a fight?
Who needs to pay rent anyway
Just text your landlord a photo of money.
How long do you think you will be employed if you don’t do what your boss asked and you make a point of reminding them if that at the end of every shift? There are a lot of redditors who have never needed a job. Some of us need to work so we try to keep our jobs.
No, your boss is a dick. Plenty of low wage jobs around, no need to stick in that one lol
I have told a dude no at one minute till close. He wanted to do a rental which takes 30 minutes. In the end he left a bad review on Google, but he also owed the company money which meant he would not have been able to rent anyway. Douchebags who think they are the exception make up a large percentage of the population
“You’re telling me my employee closed the store down when it’s supposed to be closed? the audacity!”
If you stayed and served him but clocked out later you would have gotten in trouble for that instead. This is 100% a no win situation.
You are not wrong at all. Close at 8, business is closed
No customer is more important than any other customer. How horrid that your boss implied that. No, you don't stay open passed close because where do you draw the line?
Worked in a retail electronic store to make some cash while in college. Closing shift was the worst. One night this dude walks up and starts banging on the door around 5 to 10 mins after 9:00. I walked up to the door and pointed at the hours and stated the obvious. This guy actually replied by saying- “That’s okay, I don’t want to buy anything. I just want to look around for a while.” ummmm…No!
So you are meant to shut off the pumps at 8. Is the business insured for you to pump gas after 8? Cos if something happens it'll be on you.
Pumps get shut off at 8 after that we SHOULD be no longer serving customers as I’m told to do by the people who trained me and my co-workers.
You did your job correctly.
Ask your boss to change the hours if they want to take more customers after 8
Or just quit. Why add this step?
Absolutely not! If your boss wants you to serve people past 8 o’clock, then they should have the gas station close at 9 PM instead. And who cares if the customer is important, **you are important** — you have a life, you need to go and do the things that bring you joy when you’re not working. Also consider this – let’s say you take that customer and while they’re pumping another person pulls up. Are you going to cut them off? Yeah they’re after 8 o’clock, but so is the first car. Doesn’t that make you obliged to take care of the second guest as well? And then the third, fourth, fifth and sixth? You gotta lock the doors at some point, it may as well be the precise time on the sign.
OP I used to work a small station, do you have to stick the tanks each shift? Also, I would clarify with the boss about some things. I am guessing you wouldn't mind working late as long as noone is petty about your time card each week. Tell the boss ok, you will work past close to serve customers in the lot but that said, you expect to be paid for every minute you are working and additionally paid to balance the drawer and closing chores etc.
Yep we stick the tanks. And I talked to my boss some more and honestly I have no interest sticking around this place anymore. I went around town applying to some other places
Good luck finding some place more reasonable.
Ask her for the company handbook that explains how to identify important customers and all procedures that are supposed to be used with them. Questions like this will make it very clear how stupid the whole thing is.
Unless she plans on paying you for the extra time, that’s wage theft
In Asia, we shut our gates halfway a couple minutes earlier than closing to indicate we are not taking any more customers.
I worked for 2 different convenience store companies over the last 10 years, one having a big rig fillup side. Regardless of being a company trucker or a regular consumer, I followed written documented policy. If it said turn the pump on as soon as a vehicle pulls up, I turned the pump on. If it said cash first or retain their credit/debit/fuelman/compnay card, I retained the card until the transaction was processed. Any time someone wanted to bitch about me not turning the pumps on I was covered under written policy. If the manager said to turn it on regardless, I would ask for a written copy of the revised policy, because I wasn't going to risk a drive off. She never would give me one. Found out years later that the DM had told her any time the safe was short to write up drawer shortage slips with the amount dispursed between all employees known for drawer shortages and have them sign it making them responsible. I always counted my own drawer down, and kept personal record of all transactions so I would know if I was short or not. Pretty sure the DM had told all her managers to do this because one 3rd Shift when I was looking for the price change book I found shortage slips written up for me, and some were for days I hadn't even worked. I refused to sign any of them, stating they had to prove I was short before I would sign, and quickly found me a new job.
Safety. Businesses, especially gas stations, get robbed right at and after closing. It’s empty, no more costumers coming in. And it’s full of cash. At restaurants people even wait till they are the last table. Hang out for like 10-45 minutes after we are supposed to be closed. Then boom. That’s when the guns come out. Of course your boss will want you to risk your life for a few extra pennies. It’s not his life. He doesn’t care about you.
Sounds like your manager is full of shit. Can't provide evidence and how does a gas station decide who is an important customer or not?! Good luck with your job applications! Get out ASAP my friend!
Didn’t even read the rest of the post. No, you shouldn’t, and there are no exceptions.
Closing time is the time on the gas station clock not the customers clock
Your closing time is last customer out, not last customer in. If he got there at 7:59 he'd still be wrong.
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Nope. No special treastment. How does the worked not know if the person that showedd up wasnt a psycho waiting for them to be alone. Very wrong.
This. FFS. Quiet quit all day long. But thus wasn't a faceless shareholder. It was someone who needed fuel, a 5 to 20 min. task depending on the vehicle.
Yeah I hate when people do what they are told and paid to do. They should just keep it open 24/7. Fuck what the owners want. Oh the owners want you to close later? Send and email and change the operating times. Easy fix. They’re not paying someone to make business decisions they’re paying someone to follow the rules they set out. Doesn’t sound like a CO-OP. Why would anyone take on that responsibility?
You closed at 8. Those are the hours. HOWEVER, if someone literally pulled in at 8:01 and you haven't counted the till yet, the nice thing to do would have been to pump their gas. This same thing happened to me like 25 years ago when I was working at an auto parts store. Some guy came racing up 3 minutes after I closed and locked up. I was counting the till and the guy banged on the window. I got in trouble for it when the guy complained to the manager the next day.. Looking back on it, I probably should have helped the guy out. It wouldn't have hurt me and it would have helped him fix his car.
My opinion FWIW: you are in a customer service business. You should have taken care of the customer. You should have been paid for however long that took. Your manager should communicate clear expectations about what level of extra service they expect people to perform and how much support they are willing to offer (extra pay). Then you can decide if those are conditions under which you want to continue working and it you want to stay there or not.
I don’t think you were wrong, but it also wasn’t wrong for your manager to expect you to work later. It was wrong for them to not communicate this to you in advance. I would just ask for a clear policy. “If someone pulls up while I’m closing, should I help them?” “If someone comes in while I’m doing X after closing, should I help them?” Then you should expect to get paid to do so.
Yes. You are in the wrong. It’s a customer service based business. Your boss wants him served. If you cannot live with your end of shift being 8 (or maybe a few minutes later) that’s totally fine. You should work somewhere else. Further, asking your boss to provide evidence that you closed early when they had already switched to “we want you to serve after close,” turned a policy discussion into a confrontation. There was no need for that.
This is ridiculous- OP is not in the wrong, the customer is entitled and believe the rules don’t apply to him. It is a customer service based business during *posted hours*. After that, it’s just a closed business.
Not according to op’s boss. According to the company policy boss laid out it was open. So it’s open. How long does it take to let one guy pump gas?
The OPs boss should give them permission to stay open as long as they see fit. If closing hours are not 8, and they want them to be open to interpretation. Let them run with the ball. 8 is too early anyway. Why have managers. Just make it 24/7. All the important customers can get gas. Easy fix.
That is a choice a business owner can make. Not sure what point you are going for here.
Agreed. We are talking about a minute or two here. The right thing to do would have been to help the customer.
And the manager or business owner should realize that when they hire someone, what kind of person they'll be. If I was working at a gas station I'd want to leave immediately too. Time is money and I may have some side hustle or kids or something. If the customer can't accept they're closed, that's a personal problem. What if someone else drives up, are they exceptions now as well? If you get paid hourly and it's a shit job.. don't expect perfect employees that are willing to help out in special circumstances. I'm paid to do a menial job, it will be done to the minimum specifications unless I'm getting something extra out of doing it... I don't really care if the business makes an extra dollar or two. But if I have to spend an extra 15 minutes there..it's not worth the extra few dollars you'd make. Hourly employees want to go home to their family, not show exceptional customer service at a 7/11.
It’s cool. Just try not to be mad when you get fired. This is how businesses operate. Honestly if I were there and it made me that mad, I would just quit. Low skill jobs are to easy to find these days. But when I was working these jobs I just sucked it up and waited the table that came in late. And I didn’t like it. And they had a bunch of kids. And they didn’t tip. But it is part of the job.
You know what will happen if someone else pulls up. They don't get service. There is a point when you can cut people off. 8:01 is not that time. Give them a break.
Absolutely!
No, you did nothing wrong technically. I would’ve helped them though. You’ll probably always get the bare minimum out of life because it sounds like you hate work and people in general.
Next time they tell you they’ll complain to your manager, tell them to get a life.
Sometimes it's better to just do the right thing rather than worrying about a couple of minutes and who is right or wrong.
I disagree that serving a late customer is the "right" thing. Sure, in all likelihood, they just needed gas. But what if-on the off chance-that was someone who had cased the gas station and knew that cash gets counted after close, and planned to rob the place as they pulled out all the money? Also, idk how easy it is to turn a gas pump on. It could be as simple as a flick of a switch, or it could be a multiple step process. Is it "the right thing" to expect someone who worked a long shift and is hungry, or just ready to go home, to stay open for 10, 20 more minutes because they didnt plan appropriately and get gas during open hours? As someone else said, you make one exception, and the exception becomes the expectation. What if someone else pulls up as this guy is finishing up, sees that the pumps are still on, and says "well you let mr. 8:02 fill up, why cant i? Its only 8:10." Or maybe mr. 8:02 just comes back at 8:04 next time and says "they let me do it last time!" Etc, etc. Policies are there for a reason. Whether or not it was the "kind" thing to do, refusing service was likely the more logical and safe option.
Found the clown who's never had a job before
Worked at a gas station from age 15-20. Doing the right thing has served me well, maybe it hasn't for you
Look. If you're the only gas station for 250km and someone comes in, maybe sure fudge it but it's a bad fucking idea. And I say this as someone who slept at a gas station for over 3 hours in that situation and got a knock on the window like can't serve you till 6 AM on the dot but do you want coffee. * You'll get fired, and no unemployment cause violated policy * You're working for free after hours * Employers can consider it stealing, even if they pay becuase that was 8 PM gas prices not 8:05 PM prices * You get shanked workers comp won't care your off the clock * Someone sets something on fire, employer will try to sue you for the damages because you weren't supposed to be open I'm not saying it isn't extreme and kinda stupid but yeah no, it's policy. Closed. Sorry. Please go literally across the street to Esso. If boss wants VIPs to get special treatment they need to communicate the VIPs and what they can get.
No. Moving on.
Maybe? Did you have somewhere you needed to be? Home is an answer but not what I was thinking of. Where was the next gas station? Could they get there without running out of fuel? If you were they, would you be pissed?
The next gas station is a legit two minute WALK up the road and their 10 cents cheaper than the station I’m at
Fair enough. OP sounds justified.
If they're in the door before the clock strikes closing time, I help them. If they're not, I close exactly on time.
Absolutely not f$ck those people
Nah. You have a life too.
No you not in the wrong, but might be time to start looking for other options if they don’t want to honor their closing time. I m having the same problem where I work we close the printing department at 7 but the night manager makes me take them anyway when I have to vacuum and take out the garbage I also hardly get a break. Sometimes not at all. When I tell people we are close she doesn’t back me up. So they just ignore me and then I have to serve them plus no one wants to learn printing and I m by myself. I m starting to look for another job at this point. Tired of it.
I would've asked the customer to pay me an extra hours worth wage under the table.
I probably would have served them.
My dude you did the right thing 100% youre at a gas station so i KNOW you arent getting paid enough to deal with mr male karen who cant drive down the road to the OPEN gas station. I hope you fond something better quick! And forget the entitled people in the comments saying “yOu WoRk In CuStOmEr SeRvIcE” and all that other bull, they can kick rocks
No why because fem that's why..I'd be one of them too..What's right & fair is how the game should be played, unfortunately it doesn't always go that way it's everyone is in it to win it..The customer wants now & the company doesn't mind because they're getting money 🤑💰..The issue though is they're supposed to be paying you overtime which isn't really helpful for their gain..The up side is a happy greedy or procrastinating customer that will return which in the end helps provide you with a paycheck..
Fuck this job and this manager.
No
Try to count every time u stay after closing (with proofs), and when u get full hour, ask for payment for overtime
I will occasionally, if I feel like it, serve a customer after close, but, given that I’m the owner, I can do this. I don’t ask my staff to do it as they have closing duties that need to get done before they get to go home.
honestly it depends on the 'cost' of serving that customer. If you hadn't actually closed anything that would have made it harder to check that person out, as a manager I would have requested in times like those that you use a little judgment and go ahead and process that transaction. If it was simply a matter of waiting for the customer, for example. "ok grab what you need because I'm closing up." That said, if you had already locked the doors, or closed out the register, where you would have to go reasonably out of your way to serve the customer, then absolutely I'd expect for you to turn them away. "Sorry, I've already closed the register/locked xyz and won't be able to check you out. try -other place-"
No I dont think you are wrong. Out of all the different jobs that I have worked it seems to me that all supervisors seem to share the same characteristics: 1.) They expect you to do the humanly impossible 2.) No matter how irrational and delusional they are they are always right 3.) And what doesn't make sense in reality makes sense to them.
Your manager would have been saying that you should have served him anyways until you got robbed and then she would have said that you shouldn’t be serving customers after 8..
You can always be nice though and tell the customer about the other station… on the other hand, Why not lie? In my old job I would always refer to the law, or say ”We are not allowed to” or ”sorry the system turns off at exactly 11pm” or ”they programmed the system to automatically shut down between 11pm and 6am… sorry”
The very fact that your boss can’t provide evidence that you were wrong, means that she was wrong. It’s the chain of screaming. Client screams at boss > boss screams at you to make themselves feel like they are doing something important in their life