For those who don’t already know me, I’ve worked in a gift shop attached to a restaurant for about two years now. Because of the restaurant aspect, my experience in retail is unique.

This past summer I was the main closing person, which meant at or a little before closing time the sales floor associate would go home. I would stay and manage the register and floor until the last customer leaves the building. This proved to be very difficult at times, since customers were allowed to linger way past close. Which meant I often only got to go home over an hour past close, at midnight. We also aren’t allowed to turn away any customers wanting to dine in until 2 minutes before close, and MANY regulars take advantage of that and come in for a full meal, dessert, coffee at that time.

We of course are not allowed to say anything, and even when they clearly see the servers bussing tables and sweeping they don’t get the hint. However, some other retail stores announce over the loudspeaker when it’s time to close and get everyone in the building to check out quickly. Some restaurants also came up with policies that the grill closes at a certain time even if the restaurant is still open.

My questions for you are:

-do you think customers are within their right to linger after a business has closed?

-should more businesses implement policies that prevent their workers from having to stay way past their shift ends?

-is it the responsibility of the customer to realize when they should leave or is it the business’s to inform customers it’s time to go?