This happened to my sister recently in HiLo. It demonstrates the utter lack of courtesy generally extended to customers in Trinidad and is a sad commentary on the state of consumer affairs.
We had planned a trip to Tobago and so at around 9:30pm my sister found it necessary to get to HiLo for some last minute supplies. She arrived well before closing time however by the time 10pm rolled around she had not finished getting all the items she needed. That's when the trouble started. First the manager came rudely over to announce that they were closed, as if my sister wasn't aware of that by just looking around. Then they proceeded to stalk and harass her and at one point even attempted to prevent her from getting something that she wanted, because they wanted to hustle her to the cashier to cash out.
My sister was very troubled, needless to say and disturbed by the treatment, both verbal and silent dished out to her. She didn't forget to tell them what she thought of it, but they were heedless and stubborn, never once apologizing for their treatment of her.
She would like to say that she wouldn't go back to that grocery, but there aren't many choices in our area, so more than likely she will have to go there and so will we.
Now, I understand that grocery staff need to leave as soon as or soon after the clock strikes closing time, fair enough, but surely the situation could have been handled with a little more finesse, and a lot more courtesy, whether or not my sister is a frequent customer there, which by the way, she is. For one thing, the store needs to have a stated policy about what happens from 15 min before closing time if it is indeed their hope to leave exactly on the hour that is stated on the door. Although, clearly that ideal is impossible anyway. However for argument's sake, let's assume that is what they want to do. Then they should close the door at 9:45pm and not at 10:00pm. Leaving the door open means that anyone can come in, and should be allowed to shop until they are satisfied they have all they need, UNLESS a specific policy is stated and known to the customers about closing time, or unless, an announcement is made to kindly inform shoppers that closing time is in 15 minutes and they need to bring their items to the cashier immediately or within 5 minutes or something like that. If they do not state this, they have no business harassing any shoppers to hustle them out of the store. Yet even, for argument's sake, let's say they did announce this, and a shopper did not heed the announcement...maybe they were hearing-impaired, you never know, then what should have been done, is to kindly let the customer know that closing time was announced and ask them if there was any way they could be helped to complete their shopping in a timely manner. This way, the shopper does not go away with the idea that this store does not care about its customers and the store personnel can get home as early as possible. Antagonizing a customer will only prolong the torture for both parties, since they are more likely to stand and express their discontent, thus spending even more time in the store than they would normally have, and then they also may take longer to finish because they have been harassed to the point where they have to think longer about what they need to get etc etc. So, clearly, everything points to the management adopting a more proactive approach to ensure both the customer and the store personnel remain happy. I wonder if any business in T&T will ever get it right? We can always hope.
