Weird Supermarket Experience

[Joe]

I was over at Target last night using their wi-fi. They close at 11 pm. So I drove a short distance to Kroger Supermarket, arriving at perhaps 11:10 or 11:15 pm. Kroger is open until midnight.

Kroger has two sets of sliding doors, one marked "In" and the other marked "Out." There are some sort of sensors above the doors that open them automatically as you approach. The doors are maybe 20 or 25 feet from each other.

I approached the "In" doors--and nothing happened. The doors appeared locked, but I thought maybe the mechanism had broken.

So I came in through the "Out" door and approached the first employee I see, who is named Kevin.

The following dialog ensues:

Me: Were you aware that the "In" doors are locked?
Kevin: Yes, I locked them myself, as I do every night at 11 pm.
Me: Why?
Kevin: Because I am the only one here after 11.*
Me: This is very inconvenient for the customers.
Kevin: That's their problem.

(* I failed to ask him how locking the "In" door would make things easier for him. I don't really see any logical connection.)

By the way, despite Kevin's assertion that he does this all the time, I am often at Kroger just before it closes and this is the first time I've encountered locked doors.

If a store is open until midnight, it should not lock any doors before midnight. And the least they could do, if they are going to do this, is post a sign on the door asking people to come in though the "Out" door.

 

[Second Summer]

I agree, locking the entrance doors long before closing time seems weird and must be bad for their business. It probably takes a while to get the remaining customers out when they close, but that should be part of their calculation.

 

[beancounter]

He's trying to discourage customers from coming in...

Not everyone would have the initiative or the idea to check the out door.

 

[Cerebellion]

It depends on the layout of the store. If he was the only one there, then the exit door is closer to his position than the entrance is. At least that's the case at the Kroger by my house.

 

[ledboots]

Some stores lock all doors except one at night to deter theft.

 

[Calliegirl]

The Vons near me only leaves one set of doors open at night, but they do put a sign in front of the others letting you know they are locked and to use the other door.

 

[Joe]

Sunset on Saturday was at about 7:30 pm, so it was dark by 8:30. If that is what you mean by "night," then they'd be locking all the doors but one at 8:30 pm, not 11 pm.

 

[Clueless Git]

At a company I once worked for we had a 'Customer Care' initiative.

It was an initiative started because our customers didn't give a sh*t about our primary objective of relieving them of their money with the absolute minimum of minor inconveniences being caused to us in the process.

Purpose of customer care, basicaly, was to educate the customer as to how they could, and should, care for us a little better.

Some customers actualy thought that us having a customer care initiative meant we cared for them.

We all found that quite funny.

 

[Tom L.]

Maybe Kevin was a Led Zeppelin fan, and wanted to see people going "In Through The Out Door".

(Nope- I'm not gonna give up my day job for stand-up comedy.)

Actually, I agree with Ledboots- with few staff, thieves might try to take advantage of the situation.

 

[kibbleforlola]

Some stores lock all doors except one at night to deter theft.

Not only that, but it allows the one person working to keep an eye on everyone that comes and goes, as a safety precaution. Not just theft, creepy dudes will hide in the back and try to "escort" you to your car if you are the lone night worker. Making it easier to keep an eye on the comings and goings of every one in the store is a good safety precaution.

That, and it discourages people from dashing in the in door five min till closing, for " just one thing", then wandering the isles for half an hour. That gets old fast.

 

[Andy_T]

I still fondly remember a lesson in customer service I had some 25 years ago, when I hurried up on a Friday night to visit a food shop and make it by 17:55 (all shops closed by 18:00 by law then), to buy some much-needed last-minutes foodstuffs for the weekend dinner.

The friendly shopkeeper (actually he was an employee of a chain store) beamed at me and exclaimed happily "Well, luckily we are CLOSING RIGHT NOW" ... over shelves of unsold, perishable food items.

The watch in the shop, of course, clearly showed that it was still 5 minutes until closing time ... anyway.

 

[FreakyFreekeh]

Hmmm yes, about a week ago I went along to the Indian mini supermarket for food and got there at 8:50pm (they close at 9pm) , got some dates and was looking for nuts so I could make nut stuffed dates (because I have just been diagnosed with diabetes and this is something sweet which I can actually eat for a change) when the store girl said "excuse me but we are closing now so you will need to leave"

... So at 8:52pm I checked out my dates, then promptly went along to Lidl (less than 5 minutes walking away) and bought £10 of different types of nuts.

#customerservicefail


For comparison, Lidl are perfectly accustomed to me arriving at 9:50pm and doing a robust sizable shop in the space of 5 minutes due to knowing what I want and where it is (usually lots of fruit and veg which are in the same section so easy to grab loads of different types very quickly) then getting the hell on with collecting it, then getting everything through the checkout and in my bag at rocket speed; and thus are perfectly happy to let me in and do my thing without protest.

#quidsin