Customers Freak Out On Workers One Minute Before Closing Time

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Still from TikTok video of Cold Stone Creamery customers berating employees
TikTok | @sillygeorgie

How far would you go to get your hands on some delicious ice cream?

Well, in one incident, a couple caused an absolute scene at a Cold Stone Creamery. It's just the latest viral ice cream-related meltdown captured on video, and it's a doozy.

The video, posted by TikToker @sillygeorgie, has already racked up hundreds of thousands of views. In a rare example of internet unity, virtually everyone thinks the customers were in the wrong.

Dateline: Cold Stone Creamery, one minute before closing.

Exterior of Cold Stone Creamery inside a mall
Wikimedia Commons | Hans Olav Lien

Whether you're a customer or an employee, you know the drill: one minute before closing, or even five minutes before closing, means that the store is mostly shut down. While there might still be stuff available for sale, it's likely that the employees are consumed with their closing duties.

A couple comes into the store and wants to be served.

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TikTok | @sillygeorgie

After being informed by employees that they couldn't get any ice cream because the store was closed, the couple proceeded to raise hell. Things truly go from zero to a hundred. It's a safe bet that they really, really wanted their ice cream.

The situation escalates.

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TikTok | @sillygeorgie

The man threatens an employee, implying that he wants to take things outside to settle the score. His partner piles on, picking up where he left off by angrily yelling and gesturing at the employees.

Again, this was all over ice cream.

That's really all there is to it.

The video includes a conspicuous 'part two' label, but part one has been taken offline. User @sillygeorgie, who posted part two, says part one "was just a black screen and them screaming the same thing."

It provided an opportunity for service workers to vent.

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TikTok | @sillygeorgie

While the Cold Stone meltdown might have been an extreme example, it's still something that happens all too often in food service. Commenters on the TikTok video shared their experiences with dealing with angry customers around closing time.

You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.

The video, which had already gone viral on TikTok, was given a second life when it was posted on Twitter by user @TheGoodLife_32. Much like the TikTokers, most Twitter users were on the side of the employees — although, as always, there were some contrarians.

Should the employees have just served the customers?

On the surface, this is a reasonable argument. After all, in principle, customers should be able to get goods and services from a store right up until closing time. That said, most people seem to understand that in practice, closing time starts before a store officially locks its doors for the night.

How would you handle this?

Vats of ice cream
Unsplash | Erwan Hesry

If you've worked customer service jobs, especially in food service, we want to know your opinion. If a customer walks in one minute before closing, would you drop everything and do what had to be done to serve them? Would you tell them the store is closed? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.