out and out

funny story for you:
i walked into work today at the Other store, checking the time clock as it punched my timecard. it was just after five. i worked with the manager for an hour until the two trainees i was closing with came in. jessica took off at thata point and i was left with james and dana. james has been working for nearly three weeks, but dana is on her third day today. fun!
well, we worked through the night, and i watched the clock as it got closer to closing time - 10. we got to nine, and i started to close things down, thinking to set an example for these impressionable youngsters that happened to both be older than i. we shut off part of the lobby, took out the trash, put away food, and i was getting really excited to get out early for a change. it was five to ten and james' parents walked in to order ice cream. they talked and one of them mentioned to me that it was only nine.
'What!?' i thought, 'no, i watched the clock, i swear, it's ten.' i checked thhe clock and it still said ten - five after ten, in fact. then i realized: that wasn't the clock that i clocked in on (there's a dangling preposition for you). i checked the time clock and it confirmed my worst fears. it really was nine.
i prayed that no one would come in for the last hour, but i guess that my faith was lacking because just then we got a group. we had to pull the now cold chicken anad curry out and warm it up, pretending that there wasn't a bunch of closing materials lying around.
we did finally kick the last people out and lock the doors, this time at the Real ten, and busted out like there was no tomorrow, but i felt sheepish. i'm afraid that i was not quite the best example of a good closer for the newbies to have before they close by themselves tomorrow.