There are few topics as hotly contested in society as the expectations of employees in the service industry.
Customer demands gave rise to the term Karen, one forever seeking validation from the manager over perceived slights committed by entry-level workers granted no authority for conflict resolution, which seemed to present the case that the relationship between employee and consumer was not symbiotic, but combative.
So, when a video of customers growing hostile at what appears to be a Cold Stone Creamery went viral after they were refused service, the debate over who was in the right raged across social media.
In the video, there is a dispute over whether the customers entered at closing or one minute prior. That point alone was enough to fuel both sides of the argument.
Warning: Language
He recording like we was gone be on his side I just bust out laughing https://t.co/7ypX8X3sqh
— HOOD VOGUE is tired of poverty (@keyon) June 10, 2022
Like the initial post says, “As customers.. don’t walk into a place 1 minute before closing .. just dont.”
This is the perspective of many low-level service industry workers, particularly in food service where equipment needs to be cleaned before shifts can officially end.
You don’t come in 1 min before a store close. As someone that worked in fast food night shift breaks everything down a little bit before close so it can be cleaned. If we supposed to get off @ a certain time we’re gonna make that time.
— Nas (@FoolishxPridex) June 10, 2022
People who agree w/ him have never worked retail/fast food & it shows. You have to clean the store, count the till which usually cant be done until the doors are locked & we would get in trouble if we didnt clock out on time. Late customers drag that shxt out. Like just dont.
— ayo, jaynee… (@ayojaynee) June 10, 2022
they’re not trying to get out early, they’re trying to get out on time. you clearly haven’t spent any meaningful time working in food service
— Austin Robertson-Buccowich (@austinrobu) June 10, 2022
And even the user who reposted the video captioned it by stating, “He recording like we was gone be on his side I just bust out laughing.” He went on to add, “Now you look silly over some icecream you could’ve got throughout the day.”
While the employees lament how “We want to go home,” in the video, the irate customer was even willing to concede that he may have walked in at the closing time of 8:30 p.m. and not one minute prior at 8:29 p.m. For some, that “one f*cking minute” as he put it, shouldn’t make any difference on whether he received service since he was ale to enter the retail location.
Anyone who disagrees has never held a position higher than employee. Your business will fail if you think it’s wrong he walks in 1-2 minutes before closing. “Unwritten rule” or not the employees are in the wrong.
— Drew (@D_Kidd) June 10, 2022
Are u open at 9:59 yes or no yes then its your job to serve I get people wanna go home so it’s annoying for the worker …..plus it’s fucking ice cream this rule is more for a restaurant that takes actuall time to make their food
— paperrrr (@pap3rr) June 10, 2022
If you left the door open… do your job
— Speedy2ReaL (@RockStarCruzz) June 10, 2022
Exactly. Buddy was a little extra but I’m definitely on his side.
— Acquired Taste (@AmbitiousGurl_1) June 10, 2022
What fewer observers of the viral exchange seemed to acknowledge was the fact that both parties had the capacity of being wrong. There was at least one who recognized that a line had been crossed by the customer when he passed the point of civilly disagreeing with the employees over whether or not he should be served and he proceeded “threaten a kid” as one can be heard saying in the video.
Two things –
If he walked in at 8:29, and they didn’t serve him, they can be upset.
That said, once he raises his voice like that, he’s getting thrown out and the cops called.— Adrian (@aztec9887) June 10, 2022
Maybe…but they're well within their rights as paying customers. The store closes at 8:30, not 8:29.
Regardless, the overreaching point is that the way they acted is unacceptable. I wouldn't have served them at noon with that sort of shit.— Adrian (@aztec9887) June 10, 2022
The bigger miss in all of the back and forth was that this is the battlefield upon which the Fight for $15 is waging. Both customers and the employees believe that they are entitled to something they haven’t earned. It is unclear if management defended their staff after this altercation was made known or if disciplinary action was taken for their failure to satisfy their customers.
What is known is what famed economist Thomas Sowell made clear in his book, “Basic Economics: A Citizen’s Guide to the Economy.” In that work, Sowell laid out his premise on the reality of the minimum wage that applies to situations like this, “Unfortunately, the real minimum wage is always zero, regardless of the laws, and that is the wage that many workers receive in the wake of the creation or escalation of a government-mandated minimum wage…Making it illegal to pay less than a given amount does not make a worker’s productivity worth that amount–and, if it is not, that worker is unlikely to be employed.”
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Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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15 thoughts on “‘Do your jobs’: Viral video sparks debate over customers entering store minutes before closing”
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If the doors of the business are unlocked or open after posted hours, then that business is still open. The exceptions apply if or when equipment has to be reassembled, restarted, or completely transformed to accommodate a patron or if the assigned workers have left for the day. Another exception is when the door is open but the business is scheduled as a non-open day.
On one hand a small shop like that should be open until the sign says closed. In defense of the employees the owner may well be an owner screaming no overtime, close on the dot and get out but dont leave until all cleaning etc is done.
Personally I avoid restaurants within about an hour of closing knowing the staff there want to get out and I dont want to piss off anyone handling my food.
Common sense and Common Curtesy. Which this Idiotic customer lacks. “ Do unto others as You would have done to You.”
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Sounded like this couple was told that they were closed and refused to leave. Also a manager or a clerk in charge could have resolved it and given them what they wanted and had them on their way.
The customer threatening to punch an employee didn’t help their case. It’s freaking ice cream not baby formula.
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I have worked in retail customer service for over 40 years, if the doors are open, the business is OPEN and the customer gets service. Once the doors are locked, then it’s too late. I can’t believe any business owner would be upset with employees treating customers with respect. I in NO WAY excuse the behavior of the customer. Common sense, and minimal courtesy are sorely lacking in today’s world.
The biggest problem with your defense is ”40 years”. customers are not the way they were 40, 30 or 20 years ago. Corporate rules, time stamp video and rudeness curtail much these days. We’re closed means WE’RE CLOSED! You don’t get to disrespect and threaten to get your f’n smoothie. Your experience while commendable means zip.
With that said, I witnessed a similar situation inside a convenience store that has a subway inside that closes at 11:00 pm. I had just left a celebration of life for a dearly departed friend of mine, on my way home stopped in this store to get a drink when the same nearly exact situation erupted while I was choosing my beverage from the store cooler. A punk and his ho started insisting a young girl open everything back up to make them sandwiches. Mind you it was nine minutes past closing instead of exactly 11:00. Regardless imo. They were loud, obnoxious, threatening and had the young girl in tears. I was in no mood after my earlier engagement and lit into both of them. I started with stfu! and ended with gtf out of the store! I was also threatened and returned the kind gesture. I told these hoodrats to wait outside if that is what they insisted. I paid for my beverage and was treated like a hero for standing up to a bully. I walked out and a deputy was pulling in. I didn’t have to get dirty, bloody or slap some foul mouthed twat in the head.
Every situation is different but this was nearly the same. give or take 7-9 minutes.
That customer was a full blown narcissist…no concern for the worker, just his own wants…disgusting!
You stop taking customers when the door gets locked. All customers inside before the door gets locked are to be served. Period.
Not once they start talking like that and making threats they don’t. They get arrested for trespassing after you ask them to leave once and they refuse.
But the door was unlocked. He didn’t break in. They should not have refused to serve him to begin with.
I worked fast food as a teen. While we did do some prep clean up as the minutes were counting down it was understood by EVERYONE, in pretty much every fast food joint in the country that every item on the menu was available to every customer who walked in the door during business hours.
You are posted to work past closing for a reason. You can work hard to speed up the cleanup if you want to leave earlier but not at the expense of the customers.
I worked at Cluck Robin (censors won’t allow the actual name) Ice Cream. At 9pm we locked the doors and then continued to serve the last minute customers. WHATEVER THEY WANTED. Anyone who showed up at 9:01 and encountered the locked door just shrugged and walked away. In those days it was understood by everyone, customers as well as employees, that 9pm meant 9pm.
Sometimes, if there was just one person or especially a family, with no new arrivals in the parking lot, the manager would let them slip in for their before bed snack. It was the exception, not the rule. That’s called good business sense.
The whiny little punks raised today have absolutely no clue about the proper work ethic, the proper way to treat customers and all the rest.
Now, with that said I will also point out that during the last 20 years or so it has become clear that many customers have also been raised wrong. The abuses and attacks by culturally challenged customers has become epidemic. The cure for that epidemic is harsh, swift public justice with offenders given serious prison time (covered on prime time news)
Just look at that moron. Somewhere, a Silverback is looking for it’s ‘son’.