The checkout line became so long, my store manager became concerned that weaving the customers through the aisles like we were would create a fire hazard. He was thinking safe, so good on him. But his solution to the problem was completely F'ing ridiculous.
He told us to close the line. And when I say that, I mean an employee had to stand at the back of the line, and tell customers they couldn't get in line until it got significantly shorter. The back of the line just happened to be in my department, so I ended up wasting a good portion of my day trying to help the guy turning customers away from the line. Needless to say, my manager's cracked decision didn't go well. I got cussed out by so many customers, it was insane. I walked to our security guys, and asked them if they could do anything about controlling how many customers walked into the store, as we were clearly at a capacity we couldn't handle. They said there was nothing they could do. The manager refused to close the doors to entering customers, but the crowd standing near the end of the checkout line was getting larger and more unruly. Some demanded to talk to the manager. I brought the manager, and he stood by his decision to keep the line closed until it got shorter. Also, he didn't participate in any crowd control; he left that job to me, as he walked away. In the end, the huge crowd surrounding the line-end was congesting the aisles worse than a straight ever could.
I was quite upset.