Management Demands Customers Have to Wait No Longer Than 15 Seconds, Employees Comply and Nothing Else Gets Done

Anyone who has ever worked retail knows how stressful it is handling a constant stream of customers while you're trying to do inventory or stock shelves. It's a total mind destroyer that seems to tear your brain into two as you repeatedly try to swap between talking to customers and then refocusing on your task—before being, again, forced to handle the next customer. As the minutes and hours pass, you begin to realize that you're not making any headway on restocking today and finally submit to being stuck at the front counter. 

Some types of retail require constant handholding, and so, as long as there is a customer in the store, you will need to be directly at their side. Other retail types are a little different, and customers are happier to browse on their own; this seems to be the type of location described in the story, which was shared by u/BobertGnarley to the r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit.