Imagine owning your own fireworks tent. That could be a pretty interesting business!

And there would obviously be certain times of year where business would really be booming.

What would you do if it were closing time but there were still lots of customers who wanted to shop? Would you stay open for them or stick to your predetermined closing time no matter what?

Let’s see what the fireworks tent owner in this story decides to do when faced with this decision.

Closing time is a relative term when you own the place [Tales From a Fireworks Tent]

BACKGROUND: I own and operate my own retail store. It’s actually a seasonal fireworks tent, but not like any fireworks tent you’ve seen before.

It’s 2400 square feet of fireworks heaven, where the party, and the insanity, climax at midnight on the 4th of July and New Years Eve.

STORY: As you can imagine, we get crazy as hell the closer it gets to the 4th of July. I try to staff accordingly, but of course things never go as you plan them.

July 2nd should have been a very busy day for us. What it actually turned out to be was a madhouse, and we did almost twice the business I had forecasted.

I’m not complaining, there were a lot of high fives given that day, but after being on my feet for 15 hours, I was damn tired.

They worked late.

We had closed the store at 10pm, an hour after we were supposed to.

I had sent home the cashiers around 9:45pm, since they were supposed to be back at 7:30am the next morning, and the only people left were, my dad, one of my employees, and me.

We turned off the lights, lowered the sides of the tent and locked up the fence.

I was walking to my car with the cash drawer when a car pulled up.

He decided to help his friend out.

The guy was a regular customer and a friend. He was having a party and wanted to grab just a few things.

I felt bad for him, so we unlocked the fence, and walked back inside.

He started running around and grabbing the stuff he wanted while I put the cash drawer back in the register.

Again, he tried to be nice.

Of course, two minutes later, a group of 5 people walk into the tent.

I told them we were closed, and that they had five minutes to shop, figuring that’s about what it would take my friend to finish.

And then the human tsunami hit…

Looks like the tent is open for business.

I don’t know where the hell they were coming from, but people started pouring into the tent.

This is a tough situation.

First, I’m there to make money, but I was tired as hell, I still had to swing by the bank for a drop, and I didn’t really have the staff to handle the crowd.

I sucked it up, and started ringing in sales as fast as I could.

He just wants to go home.

Around 10:45pm, I announced to the few remaining shoppers that they had 10 minutes left.

At 11:10pm, I’m trying to get the last two people out of the damn tent. They’ve obviously been partying, and they’re just taking their time browsing.

At 11:20, they’re holding maybe $10 of stuff in their hands, and just laughing and stumbling around.

I finally can’t take it anymore. I walk up to the couple and tell them that we’re closed, and that they need to check out now if they want to buy anything.

The owner decides when the store is closed, not the customer.

The guy immediately gets an attitude, and tells me that they’re not done shopping yet.

I get an attitude and explain to him that yes, in fact they are.

He drops his stuff on the floor in front of me, and heads for the door.

As the couple is walking out, a truck pulls up.

He couldn’t handle one more customer.

I’m tired, hungry, and ready for a shower.

As the guy is stepping out of the truck, I don’t even bother to look up, and just call out, “We’re closed”.

GUY: Come on man. I want to pick up some stuff.

ME: We were supposed to close at 9pm. It’s 11:30, and I’m ready for bed. You’ll have to come back tomorrow. We open at 8am.

Money talks.

GUY: Yeah, but it’s going to be busy tomorrow. I don’t like shopping when it’s crowded.

ME: It’s going to be a madhouse tomorrow. I’d get here early if I were you.

GUY: Can’t you just let me get my stuff now? A friend of mine told me about your place, and said you guys could just put a package together for me. I want to spend around $1500.

ME: Welcome to . Come on in, we’re open.

It has to be hard to run a store like that where there are literally customers begging to buy from you, but you’re exhausted and really just want to go home.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person can relate to this situation.

Another person has encountered customers who think they’re above the rules.

Here’s a retail employee who loves working on the days leading up to the holidays.

Here’s a suggestion to change the tent’s hours.

It’s hard to close when so many customers want to shop.

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.