Customer who came in minutes before close tells employee to 'stop being lazy;' AITA?

Anyone who has worked in retail or the service industry is familiar with the dread of having to fake-smile for customers when the clock is ticking toward the last minute of the shift...

So, when a frustrated young bank customer decided to vent to the moral compass of the internet otherwise known as Reddit's 'Am I the As#hole' about whether or not he was wrong to scold an employee for closing early, people were ready for the juicy tale.

AITA (Am I the As%hole) for telling a bank employee to stop being lazy?

I [21m] was going to the bank today to look at something in a deposit box. The bank in question closes at 5:00. I was there at 4:30, and finished up by 4:45.

As I was walking out, one of the employees told me to please come earlier because they were going to close up when I showed up.

I pointed out hours are until 5:00, and it wasn’t like I showed up at 4:55 either. By the time I was done, there was still 15 minutes in the work day. He told me that usually they just close up early and weren’t able to because I showed up.

I just rolled my eyes and told him to stop being lazy and do his job for the entire time he’s supposed to, because like I said, the bank was supposed to be open until 5:00 and he’s complaining about having to work the amount of time he’s supposed to.

He got angry and called me an AH who doesn’t understand what it’s like. I told him I understand he’s pissed at me for making him do the job he’s supposed to instead of leaving early and that’s on him for signing up for a job that goes to 5:00 when he doesn’t want to work until 5.

Overall, really weird encounter. Was I TA here?

Here's what the jury of internet strangers had to say about this mess...

Bosh77 said:

NTA if they don’t want people showing up half an hour before close then they should close half an hour earlier.

Aggressive-Mind-2085 said:

NTA. Report him to corporate, let them handle this.

sheeplewatcher said:

NTA. If there is a problem with customers rightfully accessing their safe deposit box prior to closing, he should bring it up to management, not b$tch to the customer.

Effective_Job_4492 said:

You did nothing wrong till you called them lazy and told them how to do their job. That's just unnecessary.

JaggedLittlePill2022 said:

YTA. No way you turned up 30 minutes early. They wouldn’t have gotten mad if you left well before closing time. My bet is that you turned up at 4.45pm and left after 5pm, or turned up even later and expected to get what you wanted.

boredoutof_mymind said:

Soft YTA Employees are usually only scheduled to the opening hours I know the store I work at opens from 9-5:30 and my hours are exactly that which means yeah i have to open a couple minutes late and close a bit early to get everything done within my hours.

I'm full-time and salaried so I'm not getting paid when people stop me from being able to do that and I have to stay behind to finish the closing. If the employee said it exactly as you stated they weren't rude then you kind of unreasonablly bit their head off by calling them lazy and having a go at them.

So, there you have it...

While the opinons were fairly divided for this one, most people agreed that this customer crossed a line by calling an employee lazy for wanting to skip out slightly earlier.

While the bank might've been technically opening until 5 on the hours posted online, the human in front of this customer was saying a different time. Always trust the human, entitled customers!