The most traumatising incident at work

Today, I'm reminiscing my past jobs and reliving one of the worst moments during my shift back when I worked for this fashion retail store (that shall not be named, just for some of their privacy because this incident is unrelated to them as a brand) that I no longer work at. 

I wish I could say that this was my first time I cried during a shift, but unfortunately it wasn't (it was actually my third lol, I'm a sensitive gal). Back to the story: this particular fashion brand is notorious for putting only one staff to close up the entire store at the end of the day, even when it's during the weekends when peak sales are normally made. 

We would normally only have 10-15 minutes to close up the entire store. and the miscellaneous tasks includes ensuring the put-back rack at the changing room is left completely empty for the next person in the morning, doing a whole store tidy (e.g: rearranging clothes so they look symmetrical on the racks), sweeping/vaccuuming and counting up tills and doing a daily sales report.

Keep in mind that this was all done under 15 minutes after the store officially closes, and we are expected to still clock out the same time despite having stayed back to finish closing up because the more often we clocked out late, the more the higher-ups would be suspicious and we might get "gentle reminders" to remember to clock out on time and no later than our explicitly given shift time. 

This culture reinforced a habit in most employees, in which we would start to slide the shutter doors halfway or 3/4 closed and begin the tidying and vaccuuming process 10 minutes before the store actually closes because realistically, that's the only way you can get out in time. If you think it's just us doing the halfway closed shutter doors thing earlier than closing time, think again. I've observed the surrounding stores around me and everyone practices the same culture so that's what I would consider the norm in the retail industry.

The reason why it's necessary for us to do this is because consumers don't care/isn't aware of closing time and would happily stroll in and do a slow walk-through your store 2-3 minutes before closing and there's nothing you could do about it. The one time I was nice and didn't close the roller shutter a few minutes before actual closing time, this lady got mad when after a few minutes, I told her we're closed (she argued that she was only looking but closed is closed). She didn't forget to run her whole arm and smack almost the whole row of clothes down on the ground to express how displeased she was by me before she left the store begrudgingly. 

On this particular traumatic day, I did the usual and started to halfway close the shutter door 10 minutes before. There was only about 3 customers left at that point, so I started feverishly sweeping the floor and clearing the racks as it has been a particularly busy day and I was falling behind. At about 5 minutes before closing time, I started gently reminding the customers that they are still welcomed to browse, but to keep in mind that they only have 5 minutes left to finalise their purchase. 

This lady that came with her friend heard me and went around the back to inform her friend who was still in the changing room in a foreign language (Spanish? Italian?). I continued sweeping and all of a sudden, I turned around and almost collided with the friend in the changing room, who has apparently came out and went all up my face, shouting: "Do you know you're being very rude?"

First of all, I was just confused because I didn't even directly talk to her and she wouldn't have witnessed anything going on outside as she was in the changing room most of the time. While I was still processing all this, she yelled again, gesturing towards the shutter door: "You are SO rude, shooing as out like that. Who do you think you are?"

I explained: "I'm sorry, but I partially shut the door to stop anyone else from coming in? You could still browse but I was just letting you know there's only a few more minutes left. I'm working alone today and it's been really hectic so I'm struggling to-" She barely listened and continued berating me: "I DO NOT CARE! I do not like the way you're treating us."

At this point, there's a girl my age waiting at the checkout and as I walked towards her to serve her, it must've been apparent to her that I'm pretty shaken by that, so she turned to the woman and said: "Just leave her alone, you heard her, she's working alone today."

The woman: "I DON'T CARE! She's being SO RUDE, kicking us out the store like that." 

The girl my age just said back sarcastically: "You know, the shops aren't gonna go anywhere. You can always come back tomorrow." To which there was a silence on the woman's part as this statement is true. The young girl (my angel) whispered sweetly: "I hope you're able to close on time." before leaving.

At that point, the tears are already threatening to fall out but it officially did once she said that because I'm a sucker for people being nice to me when I'm at my lowest. I wouldn't really call the woman a Karen per se, because as soon as she saw my tears rolling off my cheeks, she laid off her anger and did a complete switch-up. With that being said, she still had the audacity to act like she didn't just scream at me, and asked me for a favour to search up if there are other branches that have the size of dress she was holding in her hands. 

I could still remember distinctly that hideous dress I had to look up the code for to check other branches, and even though I saw that there were stocks at other branches, I lied and said there wasn't because at this time a) ALL THE OTHER BRANCHES WOULD ALREADY BE CLOSED and b) call me petty but I am NOT letting this woman have what she wants because no one cares about you and that fucking $7.50 ugly dress that matched your personality.  

Her friend was clearly embarrassed throughout the whole procedure and stood idly beside her with an apologetic look on her face. By the time they finally left, it was of course, 5 minutes past closing time. 10 minutes left and the tills weren't counted, the changing rack still not empty, the store a mess. Of course I stayed back longer than I was paid for to finish up, all the while having trouble counting the coins in the till because my tears were blurring my vision. 

(And yes, I'm the type of girl that takes pictures of myself crying just because it's funny to look back on later? I definitely find this picture amusing now lol). And yes, I cried all the way on my 30 minutes drive home. 

I know it's such a small incident looking back on it, but I literally get so emotional whenever someone raises their voice at me. But looking back, I'm "grateful" for this incident because it just made me more appreciative of leaving the retail/service industry into a corporate job without dealing with other potentially difficult customers. And without this incident, I wouldn't have experienced the kindness of an stranger. I'll never forget you, angel :)