I was recently asked by a friend who works for a national retailer about a situation they encountered. I outline the situation here here for your comment.
Five minutes after their shift ended one day recently and after the store had closed for the day, as as this person was exiting the business from the front door, they were confronted by a shopper who wanted access to the shop. They denied the shopper access, knowing that store managers were counting cash at the registers.
They left and thought nothing more of it.
A few days later, the store manager issued a formal warning to the employee saying that they provided poor customer service by not allowing the shopper to enter.
I was surprised by the approach being taken by the retailer. The employee was off the clock, knew the day’s takings was exposed and knew there was no one on the floor to monitor the shopper. I would not have issued a warning in this situation.
What would you do?
had the person left their purse or wallet in the shop or something similar?
In this day and age of rampant scams and crooks about robbing and looking to commit some sort of scam or crime, the person did the right thing, the store was closed. If they had left something in the shop surely ether the staff could have looked for it themself, taken 5 mins, or the customer could, should then have come back when the store was open.
I wonder what the management of the store would have done or felt had the staff member let the person into the shop, someone was bashed, assulted and the store robbed.
They wanted to shop.
I’d always thought that once the registers were in a cash balancing mode/state, you can’t transact a purchase even if it’s a cash sale.
So why is the manager wanting people in the shop after closing/logging off the registers.
Once the shop is closed, its closed.
We often get customers turn up looking for a Paper on weekends. I usually take their money at the door and get item for them but no one gets in the door. I did get the living day light scared out of me one Saturday afternoon when a man called out from the front of the shop. I had not locked front door properly.
I had a knock on the door once, a guy asked if his mate could buy a mag as they had a wait until the next train. As I was doing some work I said no worries and he and his mate came in and bought 3 mags. His mate by the way was Pat Cash.
On the issue though, I let people in to get something if a)no cash is on display and b) they are a regular customer. It is part of being a local business.
Have a read of the Townsville Bulletin about the Charters towers newsagent getting robbed because he opened the door after he had closed for the night ..