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Are stores within their right to close before their advertised closing times?

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cvxfreak

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Tonight I looked up the website of my local Subway and their website lists closing times of 10PM Sun-Thursday and 11PM Fri-Saturday. I went to it at 9:40 and they wouldn't let me in. I wasn't really mad (just had to go to the McDonalds across the street :/), though but it left me wondering.

Now I understand it's probably not illegal and businesses can do whatever they want... but what's the point in listing the closing time as such if they can arbitrarily just close before without warning? AFAIK today there was nothing that would compell them to close early other than the lack of a consistent flow of customers... but still. I only expected such from a private business and not something like a Subway.

Oh well. Just wondering. :lol
 
Um yes. It's rude and stupid and it's a bad business practice, but you didn't ask that, you asked are they within their rights to do so, which is unquestionably yes.
 
Maybe circumstances forced them to close early? They have their own needs to attend to.

BTW, did the sign on the door match what was stated on the website?
 
Ask them what time their hours are ("...because I was here the other day and you guys were closed at 9:40..."), and if it happens again, talk to the manager.
 
It's their store, they can do whatever they want. Besides your an idiot if you order food at or near closing time. Usually they start cleaning up about 30 min before closing and then if some dude rolls in and orders stuff and they got to dirty up all their stuff again guess what happens to your food? Hahah, oh yeah. "Oh gee, I put the meats in back, let me go get them...." out of the trash lolz, etc. I thought it was pretty common knowledge that you should never order food before closing time. Now you know.
 
I don't think Subway would like to hear that their stores are not operating under advertised business hours, regardless if it is privately-owned or not.
 
Yeah, they have the right and it makes business sense too.

"AFAIK today there was nothing that would compell them to close early other than the lack of a consistent flow of customers..."

That's exactly why they closed. It's worth it to clean up and shut down so everyone can be gone ASAP rather than *waiting* until 10 PM to close down and paying staff for doing nothing.

Of course, I doubt Subway would be happy to hear that, but at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if a business closes early.

Anything earlier than 30 minutes before the advertised closing time though would be questionable IMO.
 
I went to a 24 Hour Fitness on a Sunday at around 9 pm.. finished up around 10 pm, and went to the refrigerator next to the counter to pick out a recovery drink. Locked. They told me the register was closed. I asked why and they just sort of stared at me like morons for a second, then continued chatting between themselves. ****ing jackoffs.
 
Hitokage: No closing times on their windows. I learned this from a previous visit, so I decided to check the website.

I guess my confusion comes from something like a Subway vs. Mr. Chen's Chinese Cusine. I expect the latter to close early, but for something like a Subway (even if franchised), I guess I expected them to meet their advertised store hours a little better. But clearly that's not the case.

Anywho I submitted a query to Subway customer service, and that's that. I'm gonna call them tomorrow and ask them when they really close so I know when to come if I'm in need of a late night snack.
 
emomoonbase said:
Usually they start cleaning up about 30 min before closing and then if some dude rolls in and orders stuff and they got to dirty up all their stuff again guess what happens to your food? Hahah, oh yeah.
Aren't they supposed to do that after the shop has closed?
 
Jonnyram said:
Aren't they supposed to do that after the shop has closed?

No, because those kinda places usually demand their employees be out of there by 10 or 15 minutes after closing time meaning that to get all the closing shit done they have to start earlier. Obviously you ppl never had shitty restaurant jobs before.
 
They do it because it allows them to cut back on payroll. The cost of keeping the store open that extra half hour is greater than the cost of of allowing one or two more customers in at the last minute. They aren't closing the store early because they want to be jerks for the sake of being jerks.
 
emomoonbase said:
Obviously you ppl never had shitty jobs before.
that's more like it.
sonarrat said:
I went to a 24 Hour Fitness on a Sunday at around 9 pm.. finished up around 10 pm, and went to the refrigerator next to the counter to pick out a recovery drink. Locked. They told me the register was closed. I asked why and they just sort of stared at me like morons for a second, then continued chatting between themselves. ****ing jackoffs.
:lol why the hell would they close the register in a place that's open 24 hours?
 
Ugh I worked at this upscale italian deli (Broders in Mpls) for awhile, and the local trust fund insanity case would come in like 3 minutes before closing and ask for 1/8 a pound of sliced pancetta and 1/8 a pound of sliced proscuitto. We had already cleaned and sterilized the slicer, and since he wanted it sliced really thin, we always had to take it out and cut it for him.

DON'T BE THAT CUSTOMER PLEASE.
 
sonarrat said:
I went to a 24 Hour Fitness on a Sunday at around 9 pm.. finished up around 10 pm, and went to the refrigerator next to the counter to pick out a recovery drink. Locked. They told me the register was closed. I asked why and they just sort of stared at me like morons for a second, then continued chatting between themselves. ****ing jackoffs.

sounds more like 12 hour fitness! amirite
 
tnw said:
Ugh I worked at this upscale italian deli (Broders in Mpls) for awhile, and the local trust fund insanity case would come in like 3 minutes before closing and ask for 1/8 a pound of sliced pancetta and 1/8 a pound of sliced proscuitto. We had already cleaned and sterilized the slicer, and since he wanted it sliced really thin, we always had to take it out and cut it for him.

DON'T BE THAT CUSTOMER PLEASE.

Well, 20 minutes I thought was plenty of time.

FWIW I always leave nice tips. =/
 
tnw said:
Ugh I worked at this upscale italian deli (Broders in Mpls) for awhile, and the local trust fund insanity case would come in like 3 minutes before closing and ask for 1/8 a pound of sliced pancetta and 1/8 a pound of sliced proscuitto. We had already cleaned and sterilized the slicer, and since he wanted it sliced really thin, we always had to take it out and cut it for him.

DON'T BE THAT CUSTOMER PLEASE.

What the hell are you going to do with an 1/8 pound of meat? That would barely make a decent half a sandwich. I would have told him to gtfo the slicer is broken.
 
bune duggy said:
:lol why the hell would they close the register in a place that's open 24 hours?

They aren't making transactions 24/7. If you really need a sports drink they have vending machines right next to the fridge and if you don't have money they provide you with water fountains.
 
B!TCH said:
They aren't making transactions 24/7. If you really need a sports drink they have vending machines right next to the fridge and if you don't have money they provide you with water fountains.

No vending machine at this location. I would've used it, but this was just a case of, well, if you don't want my money, then I won't give it to you..
 
sonarrat said:
No vending machine at this location. I would've used it, but this was just a case of, well, if you don't want my money, then I won't give it to you..

You could always bring a drink from home or buy it before you start your workout rather than at the end of it.

Also, they already have your money because you are paying a membership fee to use their facilities.
 
B!TCH said:
They aren't making transactions 24/7. If you really need a sports drink they have vending machines right next to the fridge and if you don't have money they provide you with water fountains.
The moral of the story is basically what sonarrat posted - he wanted to give them monies and they refused him. That's a retarded way to run a business.

desperately trying to stay away from the "quote picture of avatar to make a point" meme.
 
bune duggy said:
The moral of the story is basically what sonarrat posted - he wanted to give them monies and they refused him. That's a retarded way to run a business.

desperately trying to stay away from the "quote picture of avatar to make a point" meme.

B!TCH said:
Also, they already have your money because you are paying a membership fee to use their facilities.

.
 
emomoonbase said:
Obviously you ppl never had shitty restaurant jobs before.
No, but when I get paid for doing a job, I try to do the job properly. If you don't like working for money, don't get a job. If I get asked to upload a press release to the company's website at 5:58pm, I don't clock off 2 minutes later and say "**** it, I'll do it tomorrow." It's about realising that the people you work for are just people like yourself. You're not better than them.
 
emomoonbase said:
What the hell are you going to do with an 1/8 pound of meat? That would barely make a decent half a sandwich. I would have told him to gtfo the slicer is broken.

He's a regular customer, and it's run by a couple/not some chain. Along with the richy rich neighborhood, yeah stfo the slicer's broken ain't gonna fly; the owners would promptly hear about it, and the husband would have a second anger induced stroke.
 
B!TCH said:
You could always bring a drink from home or buy it before you start your workout rather than at the end of it.

In the future, you bet I will. So much for trying to be nice and support their business!

Also, they already have your money because you are paying a membership fee to use their facilities.

I pay $40 a year personally. At that price, they lose money every time I walk in the door - and they're throwing even more of it away by not offering as basic a service as drinks.
 
My local Taco Bell closes at 10pm on weeknights and 11pm on weekends.

It blows my mind.

What happened to the "open till 3am" or whatever advertising campaign?


Once again: THEY CLOSE AT 10PM WTF
 
sonarrat said:
I went to a 24 Hour Fitness on a Sunday at around 9 pm.. finished up around 10 pm, and went to the refrigerator next to the counter to pick out a recovery drink. Locked. They told me the register was closed. I asked why and they just sort of stared at me like morons for a second, then continued chatting between themselves. ****ing jackoffs.
does that seriously sound like "they already have his money because he paid his membership fee" to you? It sounds like there was an extra transaction required at some point for something to drink, and this transaction probably required money.

why am i arguing with nicole ritchie, anyway?
 
miyuru said:
Yeah, they have the right and it makes business sense too.

"AFAIK today there was nothing that would compell them to close early other than the lack of a consistent flow of customers..."

That's exactly why they closed. It's worth it to clean up and shut down so everyone can be gone ASAP rather than *waiting* until 10 PM to close down and paying staff for doing nothing.

Of course, I doubt Subway would be happy to hear that, but at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if a business closes early.

Anything earlier than 30 minutes before the advertised closing time though would be questionable IMO.
i'd understand that thinking if it was a mom and pop sorta thing, and even then it's ****ing annoying. But a corporately-owned establishment? GTFOta here with that noise. If it's that slow, assuming your people have been cross-trained, start letting people go home early. You're unlikely to encounter a rush or anything in that last thirty minutes or so that'll need 100% of your on-duty staff, weekends and whatnot notwithstanding.

And yes, never order food the last hour a place is open. They're breaking stuff down (especially if it's slow), they're tired, they want to go home, and even if they're the nicest person on earth, you're simply not going to get the best service possible. That's a big "if", and chances are pretty damned good you got some overworked/underpaid goon who doesn't give a **** if your food is fixed properly when they're about to leave in fifteen minutes.
 
aoi tsuki said:
And yes, never order food the last hour a place is open. They're breaking stuff down (especially if it's slow), they're tired, they want to go home, and even if they're the nicest person on earth, you're simply not going to get the best service possible. That's a big "if", and chances are pretty damned good you got some overworked/underpaid goon who doesn't give a **** if your food is fixed properly when they're about to leave in fifteen minutes.

I agree with this line of thinking, but remember that I don't expect top notch food from a Subway to begin with, and the fact I opted for McDonalds instead proves that I was in it for something to eat rather than looking for top notch quality. I went to what I perceived as the lesser of two evils. And such, I would have gone to a restaurant in the case of wanting something better. It's not everyday when I want to go to Subway 20 minutes before closing.
 
sonarrat said:
I pay $40 a year personally. At that price, they lose money every time I walk in the door - and they're throwing even more of it away by not offering as basic a service as drinks.

I pay that much per month.

They are offering as basic a service as drinks they just don't offer access to the drinks in the fridge 24/7. Just because their facilities available 24/7 doesn't mean all the services they offer are as well.

If you want to support their business, why can't you buy your drink before you start your workout?

bune duggy said:
does that seriously sound like "they already have his money because he paid his membership fee" to you? It sounds like there was an extra transaction required at some point for something to drink, and this transaction probably required money.

why am i arguing with nicole ritchie, anyway?

The reason they don't keep the register open 24/7 is because management decided it is an unacceptable security risk to their employees. They don't offer every service 24 Hour Fitness has to offer at every minute of every day and I don't understand why you would expect them to. The fridges at the 24 Hour Fitness gym I go to close at 10PM so if I know I'm going to need a drink after I'm done working out I make sure to make it to the fridge before then.
 
B!TCH said:
I pay that much per month.

I signed up for a multi-year deal, and then let it lapse afterwards. They lured me back in with a stupid low rate.

They are offering as basic a service as drinks they just don't offer access to the drinks in the fridge 24/7. Just because their facilities available 24/7 doesn't mean all the services they offer are as well.

I can understand not having personal trainers on call 24/7, but it wasn't even midnight and you're telling me I can't buy a drink? For that matter I'm pretty sure it was something like 9:58, if it was supposed to close at 10 then they still shorted me.

If you want to support their business, why can't you buy your drink before you start your workout?

I don't even know if the register was open when I started. I certainly didn't know it would be closed when I was done!
 
sonarrat said:
I signed up for a multi-year deal, and then let it lapse afterwards. They lured me back in with a stupid low rate.

I can understand not having personal trainers on call 24/7, but it wasn't even midnight and you're telling me I can't buy a drink? For that matter I'm pretty sure it was something like 9:58, if it was supposed to close at 10 then they still shorted me.

I don't even know if the register was open when I started. I certainly didn't know it would be closed when I was done!

Well now you know.

Not every facility is the same (yours doesn't even have vending machines, for example) so maybe they close at an earlier time as well. Both the locations I go to close the fridges at 10PM and have vending machines right next to the fridges so I never feel slighted at the fact that I can't get access to the fridge 24/7. Next time ask them what their policies are before you decide to get angry, it could be that you were just SOL on that day.
 
sonarrat said:
I signed up for a multi-year deal, and then let it lapse afterwards. They lured me back in with a stupid low rate.



I can understand not having personal trainers on call 24/7, but it wasn't even midnight and you're telling me I can't buy a drink? For that matter I'm pretty sure it was something like 9:58, if it was supposed to close at 10 then they still shorted me.



I don't even know if the register was open when I started. I certainly didn't know it would be closed when I was done!

And there was no fitness magazine racks nearby?
 
tnw said:
Ugh I worked at this upscale italian deli (Broders in Mpls) for awhile, and the local trust fund insanity case would come in like 3 minutes before closing and ask for 1/8 a pound of sliced pancetta and 1/8 a pound of sliced proscuitto. We had already cleaned and sterilized the slicer, and since he wanted it sliced really thin, we always had to take it out and cut it for him.

DON'T BE THAT CUSTOMER PLEASE.


Wow, I used to have the EXACT same job.
I know your pain :(
 
I used to work fast food and we would regularly close like 15 minutes early. More often than not, I'd say. I mean WTF - we were in highschool. We didn't give a shit about the customers, amirite? We were just earning beer and gas money.

Our shift was also after school, like 3-8. And I shit you not, we'd begin closing as SOON as we got there. We would literally be mopping the floor around people's feet.

In hindsight, I wonder how much business we drove away from that place :lol
 
Always a coincidence that milkshake machines "are down" within an hour of closing. Looks like someones wanting to get our early so they dont have to clean the machine.
 
tnw said:
Ugh I worked at this upscale italian deli (Broders in Mpls) for awhile, and the local trust fund insanity case would come in like 3 minutes before closing and ask for 1/8 a pound of sliced pancetta and 1/8 a pound of sliced proscuitto. We had already cleaned and sterilized the slicer, and since he wanted it sliced really thin, we always had to take it out and cut it for him.

DON'T BE THAT CUSTOMER PLEASE.

Maybe since you know what he always gets you should just have it cut and ready to go for him? Maybe the guy gets off his job with jus enough time to stop by the Deli. People wonder why we lose jobs to aliens legal and otherwise.

DON'T BE THAT EMPLOYEE PLEASE.
 
I've worked a few restaurants, some would gladly close an hour early, and some that would never refuse a customer even a bit past closing time. I preferred the former when I didn't give a damn but I've traveled out of the country since then and realized that American culture is just much lazier in general.
 
cvxfreak said:
Tonight I looked up the website of my local Subway and their website lists closing times of 10PM Sun-Thursday and 11PM Fri-Saturday. I went to it at 9:40 and they wouldn't let me in. I wasn't really mad (just had to go to the McDonalds across the street :/), though but it left me wondering.

Now I understand it's probably not illegal and businesses can do whatever they want... but what's the point in listing the closing time as such if they can arbitrarily just close before without warning? AFAIK today there was nothing that would compell them to close early other than the lack of a consistent flow of customers... but still. I only expected such from a private business and not something like a Subway.

Oh well. Just wondering. :lol

well when I worked in EB/GS and we closed at 9:30pm, we would pull the gates down half way at like 9:25 and then all the way at like 9:28pm. Usually this was done on slow nights of the week, like Monday or Tuesday, and there would always be someone who would come at like 9:31 and want to buy something, and we told them no, and then they get mad because its 9:30pm, so we told them that we were open from 10am to 930pm and that they had plenty of time to get here before we closed.

In the case with restaurant places like subway, they usually close early so they can clean up... have to scrub all the counters, and put all the food away in the refrigerator, ect... so I can understand why they closed earlier on you.
 
If it's a local mom and pop store, I think it's OK, but if it's a franchise like Subway, I don't think they're allowed to close before their designated closing time. Like someone above me said, if it happens again, you should speak to the manager.
 
I worked at a fast food place for a couple of years. We would have a month in winter when we closed 30 minutes early, which was posted on the door. We didn't veer from that schedule, though. I was always surprised by the number of people who came to eat dinner at 9:55. I guess other work shifts must end around that time or something.
 
tnw said:
Ugh I worked at this upscale italian deli (Broders in Mpls) for awhile, and the local trust fund insanity case would come in like 3 minutes before closing and ask for 1/8 a pound of sliced pancetta and 1/8 a pound of sliced proscuitto. We had already cleaned and sterilized the slicer, and since he wanted it sliced really thin, we always had to take it out and cut it for him.

DON'T BE THAT CUSTOMER PLEASE.

And no one ever figured out to cut the meat before everything was put away and set it aside for him?
 
glistenm said:
Dipshits that think store hours = employee hours.

No, it's not that. It's that they just don't care. And why should they? If they begin caring, they get home an hour later. Getting hom at 11 compared to getting home at 10, all for like $6.00 pre-tax? **** that.

That was my thinking in highschool, anyway.
 
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