I work part-time at a small, specialty retail store, that closes at 9pm.
Usually, a customer can easily spend 30 minutes at my store, so they can get the help they need. I’ve seen some customers take only a few minutes, while some can take up to an hour and even longer.
Tonight, a customer came in around 5-10 minutes before we closed. As I talked with them, it became clear to me that it would take some time to figure out what they would need. I offered two solutions, and the customer seemed satisfied with the second one, but still wanted to see other options and do more research. At this point, it was two minutes until closing. I politely told them that I won’t be able to help much since we close in 2 minutes, but our hours are 9am-9pm tomorrow. They were understanding and left.
My coworker, (not my manager, and the only other person in the store) who was in the back, came out to the register and asked if the customer bought anything. I told her no, that the customer was interested in a product but still wanted to see other options, but we ran out of time.
She gave me a weird look and said “You should never do that. You just lost a sale”. She was relatively polite about telling me, and I told her I wouldn’t do that again. (Side note: the vast majority of the items we sell are <$200)
I’m a little worried though, since she works with my manager tomorrow evening. I don’t think she’ll tell her, but I don’t know what to expect from her or how my manager would respond.
There’s nothing about handling this situation in our training pamphlet, and I’ve never closed with my manager before so she hasn’t exactly told me the “official policy”. Some of my coworkers are willing to help customers after closing, while others will make sure we close on time.
Did I handle this alright? What should I do if my boss confronts me about this? Any general advice for me?