Imagine working in a store when a customer comes in with her bicycle and wants to park it inside the store while she shops.

Would you be fine with that, or would you tell her she has to leave the bicycle outside?

In this story, one employee was in this situation and wasn’t sure how to respond, so they went and asked their manager.

Keep reading to see how the story plays out.

“Can I Park My Bike in Here?”

I work in an athletic wear store in a strip mall. The other day, this woman on a bike rolls in, gets off her bike, and leaned it against the front window.

Biker: “Can I park this here? I don’t have a lock.”

Me: “Uhh…I’m not sure I’ll go ask someone. Stay right there.”

I’ve literally never had anyone request that before, and we work at an athletic wear store, so I really had no idea. I went to the back of the house to ask my manager who was on break.

The manager suggested the bike rack.

Me: “So, there’s a lady out there who’s asking if she can park her bike in here, can we do that?”

Manager: “Um…no? Did you tell her there’s a parking rack?”

Me: “She said she didn’t have a lock.”

Manager: “Yeah we definitely don’t do that.”

The customer seemed to assume the answer would be yes.

We all laughed at the ridiculousness for a sec, then I went outside to tell her.

I ran into her roaming the store as if I already told her she’d be fine to park it there.

Me: “Alright so I’ve just been told that we can’t allow bikes in the store, I’m so sorry.”

Biker: “Even for just 5 minutes? It’s not gonna be there for that long.”

No means no.

Me: “I’m sorry we just can’t allow you to park it in here.”

Biker: “Well then I’m just not gonna shop here if I can’t park my bike in here.”

Me: shrugs “Sorry”

She turned around, scoffed, and then quickly walked out the door with her bike, never to be seen again.

It could’ve played out differently.

Concluding thoughts:

1 – If she had just been like “I don’t have a lock, can I leave my bike outside and could you keep an eye on it?” I would’ve said yes. Thankfully I get paid enough to be that nice, plus the storefront is just windows and you can see the storefront from anywhere in the store.

2 – Why do people think it matters if they shop there or not? Most people who walk in the store just end up looking and not buying, so you just happen to be one of those people. Go you, being part of the majority.

I can’t imagine assuming it would be okay to park your bike inside a store.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person would’ve let her leave the bike inside the store.

Here’s a similar comment.

Apparently, a lot of stores would be okay with this based on the previous comments.

It’s true. They couldn’t have stopped a thief.

This is a good point.

Next time she goes shopping, she needs to bring a bike lock.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.