My Mother and I stopped into the Dollar Tree in Niagara Falls, New York (on Niagara Falls Blvd) at about 9:40pm on Monday, July 8th. There were 2 customers in the store, us and an elderly lady. When we walked into the store, the first thing we heard were the two employees (older women, probably in their 40s, did not catch names) chatting loudly about "The customer is not always right. Most of the time they're [excuse my language] a-holes", etc. This didn't bother me because I've worked in retail for 7 years, I know what it's like to be frustrated with customers or to be having a bad day and what not. We could NEVER say things like that in the store but I understand the frustration. I'm always lenient with workers for that reason.
My Mother got what she needed quickly and finished just as they were making the 10pm "we're closed" announcement at 9:45pm. We were almost to the front when I heard one of the women confront the elderly lady (she was maybe 70,75) in the next aisle that she needed to bring her things up and cash out. The woman, very nicely, said "I'm on my way up right now, I just need 2 seconds". She was already about 15 feet from the registers and seemed a bit flustered. The employee could not even give this woman two seconds. She automatically said "I said we're closed, you have a cart load of stuff and you need to get up there NOW". Very nasty tone and completely unwarranted. This lady apologized, was nothing but nice to them and they were so ignorant and inconsiderate, I couldn't believe it. That made us drop what we were about to purchase and walk out.
If I had the money and the time, I would've personally shopped and paid for everything that woman had in her cart at another store so that she wouldn't have to do her business at the Dollar Tree being spoken to like that.
As I said before, I've worked in retail, there have been times that we stayed 20-30 minutes over our shifts to ensure that everyone was taken care of RESPECTFULLY. These employees weren't even being asked to do anything extreme like that. I looked at my watch when I walked out of the store, it was 9:53pm.
My family and I shopped at our Dollar Tree quite a bit but after witnessing that, we won't be going back. I'd rather pay a little more than give any business to a place that has that kind of attitude. If you close at 10pm, the smart thing to do might be to lock your doors at 9:30pm or 9:40pm, give "warning" announcements that you're closing in 10 and 15 minutes or employ people that aren't so disrespectful to customers. Thank you for reading this.
Info For This Store:
Dollar Tree
Niagara Falls Consumer Square - Store #566
7206 Niagara Falls Blvd
Niagara Falls, NY 14304
(716) 283-1283
Day & Time This Occured: Monday, July 8th between 9:40pm and 9:50pm.
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