Imagine working at a brand new store that hasn’t opened yet. Your job at this point is to get the store ready to open by helping set everything up.

What would you do if a customer wandered into the store assuming the store was open and started shopping?

That’s what the employee in this story encounters, and the manager has to step in to help.

Let’s read the whole story.

We’re Not Open Yet Lady

Back in high school I was part of a team that helped set up a brand new hardware store in my small hometown.

The construction of the store was about 90% finished. We were in the process of setting up and stocking shelves, creating aisle ways and generally planning the layout of the store.

During this time: Only about half of the light fixtures were ever running at a time in order to save money during construction.

Even though there were checkout lanes constructed, the registers were not yet installed.

There was nothing about the store that made it look like it was open.

The only way to enter the building was to manually push open the automatic sliding glass doors in the front of the store.

Nobody was required to wear any sort of store uniform.

Absolutely nothing about the appearance of this store would hint that we were open for business.

There was a lady she didn’t recognize.

So one day I’m stocking some shelves in the home and garden department and I’m approached by a lady I didn’t recognize. We’ll refer to this lady as “OL” for “Oblivious Lady.” She was carrying a few boxes of stuff in her arms (because we had no carts yet).

OL: “Where is the camping section?”

Figuring she was just another new employee, I made a small introduction before pointing her to the general location of our camping section.

OL: “Do you mind walking with me, I get lost easily” (in hindsight this should have been my first clue something wasn’t right).

She started to realize that something seemed off.

On the way there, I noticed that the boxes she was carrying did not belong in the camping section.

Me: “Actually, I think that hot plate belongs in the appliances section…”

OL: “Yeah, that’s where I got it from.”

Me: “Ok… why are you moving it to the camping section?”

The employee had more questions and finally asked the question that solved the puzzle.

OL: “I’m not. I need this stuff for a camping trip.”

Me: “Is [manager] ok with that?”

OL: “Who’s that?”

Me: “Wait. You work here right?”

She was clearly a customer, but not a very observant customer.

OL: “No, I’m shopping for stuff for my camping trip.”

Me: “We’re not open for business yet.”

OL: “But I need this stuff!”

Me: “I don’t think you understand. We have no way to sell any of this stuff to you. The grand opening isn’t for another week.”

The customer and employee both finally understood the situation.

OL: “I’ve been shopping around for a half hour and nobody told me you weren’t open. I need this stuff and you’re telling me I can’t purchase it?”

Me: “That’s correct.”

OL: “How Rude!”

Me: laughing “Hold on, let me get my manager.”

The customer never really did seem to get it.

I grab my manager from his office and tell him the story. We find the lady in the camping section pulling items off the barely stocked shelf.

Manager: “Um… I’m sorry ma’am. I’m going to have to ask you to leave. This store isn’t open for business yet and you’re trespassing on our property.”

OL: “I’m just trying to buy stuff for my camping trip!”

We finally had to walk her to the front of the store and point out that the registers were not even installed. Then we walked her to the sliding glass doors, pushed them open and told her to have a nice day.

Wow. I can’t imagine wandering into a store with half the lights off, barely stocked shelves, and registers that aren’t hooked up yet, but yet you assume the store is open.

Let’s see what Reddit had to say about this story.

Here’s a glimpse at what the customer must have been thinking.

Always make sure you lock the door!

Even a locked door may not work.

This makes a lot of sense.

Maybe they should put a closed sign on the door.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.