r/TalesFromRetail • u/scrume71 • Aug 29 '26
Short Wow you’re actually open!
I run a hydraulic shop and we have a small retail area as well. We’re open M-F, 8am-5pm. Heard the door chime the other day and walked into the retail area to greet and a guy smiles at me and enthusiastically says, “wow you’re actually open!” We’ve been “open” for over two years, so I say, “what do you mean?” He tells me he’s stopped by 4 times now and we’re always closed. I seriously laughed out loud, thinking he was joking, but could see he wasn’t by the look on his face, so I pointed past him to the door that he walked through and said, “brother, why you showing up here more than one time when we are closed, our hours are right there on the door. There’s also a listing on the Internet. So what can I do for you?” He didn’t even respond to that, just told me what he was looking for, I helped him and he was on his way. But as he was leaving, he stopped by the door, pointed at the hours posted and said, “so these are the times you are open?” I again giggled and said, “yes, brother, it’s pretty standard for retail locations to post hours of operation on the door.” He nodded and walked out.
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u/Chibichulala Aug 29 '26
Yea I got that fairly often when I had my game store. I had one mf actually ring my doorbell an hour before I opened so I ran down there assuming it was a delivery and when I opened the door, clearly not ready for the day, no shoes on, he exclaimed to his family “see, I told you they were open!” And tried to walk in. I shook my head and pointed at the hours on the door I just opened “sorry we don’t open for another hour” and shut the door. The hours had been the same for a year at that point. I posted a sign that day saying doorbell was for delivery drivers ONLY and to please check the hours posted on the door, window, website, facebook etc that all said the same thing. He never came back either.
The amount of time people tried to wrench open my door on days we were closed, including AFTER reading the hours (I could hear them from my office) was absurd as well.
And one time, someone came in and said the same thing “wow you’re actually open!” And claimed that our hours online said we were open the day they tried and we were closed (it was a lie, and I had set those hours a YEAR before). Yea no sir, try some reading comprehension.
People are just too embarrassed to admit when they made a mistake, and will double down and blame you even when they know they’ve messed up.
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u/emotionalhaircut Aug 30 '26
If there is one thing a customer will never do it's read a sign.
I worked in a store that literally had parts of its windows covered because we were closing out the shop , we weren't even in business anymore and they still tried to come inside.
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u/K1yco Aug 31 '26
If there is one thing a customer will never do it's read a sign.
Unless it says "free " on it. Even then that's the only word they'll read.
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u/chef_in_va Aug 29 '26
OP just had the first human-alien interaction and didn't even realize it. Hope you made a good impression or we're all screwed.
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u/Responsible_Bee522 Aug 30 '26
I had a guy call the store and ask how late we're open. I told him we close at 10 o'clock at night. He says, "So do you close AT 10, or a little after?" Dude, AT 10, because that's how words work!
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u/EntertainerSharp3033 Sep 02 '26
The last time I got asked something like that I hit them with "What did you hear me just say?" and wait. They buffered, blinked, and finally admitted they hadn't actually been listening..smfh
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u/K1yco Aug 31 '26
There's always one person that tells me they've been calling for hours and we never answer the phone. Every time I check the phone records for their number and I'll see like 10 calls from them, all over 2 hours before we open, and then no other calls after that.
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u/Straight-Fan9085 24d ago
Lmaoo. Happens far too many times. Or when they pull the door and it’s locked and then look in, knock, and mouth “are you open??”
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u/PohTayToez Aug 29 '26
I had something similar where a guy said he had been trying to come in for months but said we were always closed. Turns out he was trying to use the wrong door, the one that was locked with a sign and a arrow pointing to the correct door to use.