Some said they would deliberately shop more slowly as a way of asserting their right to be in the store. Beyond badmouthing the business to friends, they admitted to purposely creating messes for workers to tidy up or getting in the way of employees who were restocking or cleaning. In response, shoppers who felt mistreated or unwanted around closing time retaliated in a number of ways. The results of the multipronged study showed that during closing times employees used several cues - cutting the background music, shutting off parts of the store, or withdrawing from interactions with shoppers - to provide not-so-subtle hints that it was time for customers to leave. They also surveyed customers who were leaving stores about closing time and sent in mystery shoppers to assess businessesвЂ™ actual operations.Д¬losing time represents an oft-overlooked source of stress for both customers and employees.ДЄs it turns out, if youвЂ™ve ever felt around closing time that employees are stacking chairs a tad aggressively or glancing pointedly at their watch while fielding your question about a product, youвЂ™re not wrong. The authors interviewed managers and their employees at various retail businesses, including clothiers, pharmacies, and restaurants, about their operations during the final daily shift. Noble and her collaborators, the ambiguities surrounding closing time represent an oft overlooked and understudied source of stress for both customers and employees - and a potential drain on profitability if companies alienate consumers or overburden their workforce. But supervisors are usually gone when the cash register slams shut, so how can they be sure?ДЄccording to a new study by the University of TennesseeвЂ™s Stephanie M. Managers consistently claim they have a handle on the delicate balance that requires staff members to simultaneously serve customers and close out the dayвЂ™s business. Bottom Line: Although supervisors profess to have storesвЂ™ closing routines under control, consumers and employees alike bemoan the lack of consistency in related management policies.ДЄnyone whoвЂ™s worked in retail or embarked on a last-minute shopping trip has wrestled with the peculiarities of closing time - that short period when a store or restaurant still technically has its doors open, but employees have begun performing the various tasks required to shut down operations for the night.

Closing time meaning