Store supervisor demands employee keep working beyond closing time to “show commitment to the company”, employee refuses, leaving supervisor to handle customers alone: ‘My shift has ended’

Why would anyone choose to work more if they are not getting anything in return?

You can love your job, love the people you work with, love the hours, and love the money, and still not want to be there a minute longer than you're supposed to. A job is, at the end of the day, a job, and it takes more than enough of your time as it is. There is no reason to give it any more than what you are required to do.

Especially if you are not getting anything out of it. We can excuse employees who agree to stay an extra hour or two at work if they get paid overtime for it–money is a great incentive. But if the only reason to stay longer after your workday is technically over is that you should "show your commitment to the company," then we highly recommend getting out of there as fast as you can.

That is what we would have told the employee in the story below. They work in a gaming store alongside their coworker, who is also the store's supervisor. Every single day, when the store's closing time arrives, the coworker decides to ignore it and allow customers to keep shopping past it. The coworker's reasoning for this is that she believes it is the employee's responsibility to increase the store's sales however they can, even if it means keeping the store open past the closing time. It shows commitment and loyalty to the company, according to her.

The other employee, however, firmly disagrees. He is not getting paid for the time he stays past closing, and he spends more than enough time at work as it is; what reason does he have to stick around for longer than he should?

So he didn't. When his last shift had come to an end, and he saw that the supervisor was still letting customers in the store, he decided to simply leave. It's not his problem that she wants to keep working, and he does not intend to make it one. 

After he left, the coworker became overwhelmed with customers, which led to an unfortunate accident… An accident that the employee who left is now being blamed for.