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    Entitled customer demands employee to open the store even though he was warned it closed in five minutes: 'Like do some customers need to be hand held now or what?'

    Author image for Olivia Arocena
    Olivia Arocena • Writer and Editor
    Jun 27, 2026 1:45 PM EDT

    The last customer curse

    Anyone who has worked at customer service knows this: there is always a customer who arrives at the very last minute, and then makes you wait for him to finish, and you end up closing the store 45 minutes late because you aren't allowed to say you need him to go asap so you can close. I genuinely don't know where these people come from, nor why they don't seem to have any empathy or understanding of the phrase 'we're closing'. To me, it goes something like this in their minds: They see you there, they think, 'she is physically there, why wouldn't she be able to serve me for five minutes?', but they completely forget that you are a person, that you might have things to do, places to arrive at, or maybe that you have other job-related tasks you need to be doing in five minutes. That's exactly the case of the Redditor who shared this story, which is the one we'll be analyzing today.

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    • a person filling a car with gas at gas station
      via engin akyurt

      A model representing what the customer should do

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    • It's "I close in five minutes" not "I'll wait for you then close"

      I work night shift, as my business is open 24 hours. We do have a 20 minute window where the system goes down so I can run the audit, that's the only time the doors are locked. It's time sensitive to do, hence closing.
      via UnitedChain4566
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    • 20 minutes to close, a guy comes in. He wants to use the bathroom, I let him. He spends 15 minutes in there, I warn him at 1:35 "hey, we close in 5 minutes."
      via UnitedChain4566
    • a gas station in the night
      via Juan Fernandez

      A visual representation of the gas station during the 20 minutes it's closed

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    • He leaves the bathroom a few minutes later and I hear him say he wants gas and I should have said something but I thought "we close in 5 minutes" would be enough of a clue. It wasn't.
      via UnitedChain4566
    • He starts pulling on the locked door then knocked on the window and showed me his card and I just said to him "I told you, we're closed, you can pay at the pump but I can't do anything in here."
      via UnitedChain4566
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    • Like do some customers need to be hand held now or what?
      via UnitedChain4566

    • I remember I used to work at a cafeteria that opened at 3 pm on Saturdays. There was a sign at the door that said that. The cafeteria was inside one of these modern buildings that had windows all around, so people could see us from the outside. Every Saturday, before we opened the doors, we had people knocking on the windows asking if the cafeteria was open, even if the doors were clearly closed, and the chairs piled up inside, just because they could see us inside, preparing everything to start the day.



       

    • Edit: they are 24 hours pumps. Meaning that someone needs to watch them. The store closes at 1:40am until 2am and whenever I need the bathroom.
      via UnitedChain4566
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    • man in black suit pumping gas on a car
      via Krzysztof Hepner

      A depiction of what the customer finally getting the message

    • The worst part is that this customer had an alternative; he wasn’t obligated to wait 20 minutes until the gas station opened; he could pay at the pump. Back in the cafeteria, we used to call these types of customers zombies. I know I probably was one of them before I knew what working in customer service was like, so I don’t blame them, but my heart goes out to this worker and every worker who finds himself in this situation. I think people, sometimes, are moved only by their own desires, not really thinking about anyone else. I will be lighting a candle for the workers of the world today for sure!  

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    workplace-stories toxic-workplace work workplace toxic-work-environment
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