Retail employees will not complete tasks

I have the same problem with my retail stores. The one, absolutely hated flaw of the game is the talking. They ALL need to shut their yappers! All they do is flap their lips incessantly wherever they are. Who goes to a store and yammers for 5 hours? The customers talk more than they shop. They hardly pretend to even browse. You just end up with a circular Sim-pile and all of your active Sims and workers are pulled into the vortex of conversations.

Fix the talking and retail issues, give me lockable doors and the ability to assign beds - and I will be a happy camper.

Edited to change 'plummed' to 'pulled' since the censors are touchy about certain verbs...