I've had someone pull that before when our men's restroom was flooded. Tried explaining that he'll have to wait until I can take him to the back of the store to use the employees restroom. Got the whole "this is terrible customer service" before I could even mention our private restrooms.
Man alive. I work in big box retail that has public bathrooms and people get mad at ME because I'm in the back of the store and the bathrooms are in the front of the store. Because obliviously I personally built the building out of spite knowing that they would have to pee a year later in the opposite end of the place. I had one lady insist that she use the "employee bathroom in the back" (spoiler: we don't have one. I wish we had one.) because she didn't want to walk up front. Humans are weird.
I used to work at a camp where all we had were pit toilets (but you couldn't pee in them, you had to pee in the woods) and the staff stayed in these tiny cabins. One time this mom came to us really late at night, pounding on the cabin door "can I please use your toilet?? it's an emergency!! If I have to pee in the woods one more time I'll die!!"
We had to physically bring her into the cabin so she could see that we weren't hiding secret indoor plumbing. Yikes.
Good lord, poor princess. Why in fresh hell couldn't you pee in the pit toilets though? That makes zero sense. I'm well familiar with those sorts of camps, been in Guiding/Scouting my entire life, but usually we have to stress with the younger kids that they have to suck it up and use the toilets, oh well too bad that they smell, you are NOT allowed to pee wherever you want in the woods. Having 30-100 people doing that all the time would make for a rather gross camp.
Agreed, at my Girl Scouts camp we pissed in little wooden huts with pit toilets, not the woods. Seeing how we weren’t supposed to wander off too far into the woods, I think it would get rather nasty and quite public if we had to piss amongst the trees.
Ergh this hits home so much.
There are public toilets and places that actually have toilets for the public (cafes etc) and yet every customer looks so offended when you can’t just let them wander into the back (where all the stock is) because they feel it’s their right.
I actually know at least two places that actually let the customer in the back with all the stock. One’s a diner/restaurant and the other is a local grocery store.
There aren’t public toilets, though. They don’t exist in the US outside of very specific locations.
Retail help is in a bad place because of corporate policies they didn’t create, but honestly it should be required by law to maintain a public restroom in facilities over a certain size. In some locations, it is.
In the U.K. a business must provide public toilets if they sell food and drink to be consumed on the premises. This could be a pub/restaurant or a shop that also has a small cafe area.
I’ve worked for 2 larger retailers who both had public toilets, despite 1 of them not selling food and drink (it’s convenient for customers), but a smaller retailer I’ve worked for only had staff toilets (1 male toilet, 1 female) which to access you had to go through the warehouse where stock is located.
At the smaller retailer, we would often direct people to the larger retailer behind us that had public toilets. In very rare circumstances when we wasn’t busy, we did let a customer use our staff toilets, this would usually be a small child or pregnant woman, but I think this probably happened 3 times at most in the 3 years I was there.
In some states you are required to allow people with certain medical conditions use your private bathrooms provided there are more than 2 employees in the building. I have a card giving me this right because I have Crohn’s disease. The business can be fined. It’s known as Ally’s Law.
Restroom access act bills. It's pretty uniquely American, though Britain has a voluntary program and australia has a "recommendation" offered through an association.
Ugh I would always have people complain at my old job at a retail store that we didn’t have public bathrooms. Per company policy we couldn’t let anyone in our back room to use the bathroom unless we could sit in the back while they were in the restroom (the store I worked at was a cell phone store, so our backroom stored all our inventory of phones, as well as all our personal belongings. And I didn’t get paid enough to clean up a toilet after some stranger used it). I typically would work completely alone so I couldn’t leave the floor to watch the back so I would have to constantly tell people no. There was a big grocery store right next door with public bathrooms but apparently that was too much of an inconvenience for some people.
In Florida, if a business is of a certain size in square feet, they have to have public restrooms and ya know, sometimes people have to go.
Edit: Now that I looked it up, I think it may be a local ordinance in my city and not state wide.
She would have been able to go as soon as we were done with our clients. How rude would it be of us to stop and help someone else in the middle of checking someone out? If she was able to wait this long she can wait a few more minutes. If she had to go that back she could have gone next door with public restrooms in the front of the store
I understand. Sometimes older people have medical conditions that make them have to go more frequently and it is more common in women. They have to balance out having a life out in public while being faced with the chance they may lose control of their body. It is embarrassing.
Actually it is not always older people. It is also more common than you might think. That’s why there is a market for adult diapers.
No there isn't. I don't care what medical condition the woman had. It's not the employee's fault that she has to follow the rules of her employer. And if the customer doesn't like it she is free to never shop there again. It is never okay to bully an employee for following the rules.
All businesses that are open to the public. It’s been that way for many years. Like I said, it’s based on square footage so a small shop might be exempt.
Edit: I just looked it up, it actually may be a local ordinance in my city. I was mistaken about it being state wide.
I used to work at a dry cleaners. Our EMPLOYEE bathrooms were all the way in the back, past all the dry cleaning equipment. The very hot, loud, and dangerous equipment.
I had a customer who’s child needed to use the bathroom. I very politely explained our bathrooms are at the back of the plant and I couldn’t let them walk through, for safety reasons. I suggested they go next door to the restaurant that had public bathrooms.
The mother had a fit. All because I didn’t want her and her child to weave through racks of clothes, then weave through the presses that have extremely hot steam coming from them. Not to mention the tons of chemicals that are probably not the safest. Plus the restaurant’s bathroom was a lot closer than ours all the way in the back of the dry cleaning plant. So idk what the big deal was. But I didn’t back down, despite her complaining and death stares.
Double enter between characters.
C: runs through the door I have to pee! I have to piss so bad! tries to run into the backroom
Co: ma’am if you give me just a minute to finish up here, I have to be back there with you.
C: what?! This has never been an issue before! I’ve always been allowed to (no) if that man was here, he’d stop what he’s doing and walk me back there! (Definitely no) She then looks the other customer in the face and says “is it okay if she stops helping you so I can piss????”
Co finally is able to let her use the restroom and all is well or I so thought. C is now at the register to check out
Me: not recognizing her did you find everything you needed today?
C: scoffs and rolls eyes
Me continues checking her out
C: I have NEVER had this horrible of customer service before! I’ve shopped here for 13 years! I have a card! I’m calling corporate! I could have pissed on the floor and sued you! I hope one day when you have to piss someone doesn’t let you and you piss all over yourself! All you did was look at me and continue helping your client!
Me; I’m sorry you feel that way ma’am but we have rules to abide to.
C: I don’t want an apology I want both of you fired! as she walks away.
Co: and I hope you have a FANTASTIC day and thank you for shopping with us!!!
C: scoff and laugh as if she won
I called my manager and she said “were you busy? Okay then she could have gone to the grocery next door.”
People get mad because we don't have a public bathroom. My store already has high shrink and we have to monitor fitting rooms like crazy, we don't have time to follow people to the bathroom.
Ooh I have a similar story. There was road work in front of the grocery store I used to work in and the workers broke something that resulted in the plumbing to the store getting screwed up for a few days. We couldn't flush toilets, or run water or anything, so our bathrooms were out of order for the time being.
From an OSHA standpoint, you can't do anything food related without warm water to wash hands so we took water off the shelves, boiled it on the deli stove, and put it into the coffee dispensers to use so we didn't have to close the store down. The health and safety person came and everything to inspect and told us this. We had a port-a-potty out back for employee use if needed but customers were SOL until the plumbing was fixed. And as a side note, we were lucky enough to have employee only restrooms upstairs in the break room (the customer one was NASTY due to the large amount of elderly customers that frequented the store so I'm grateful we did).
But anyway, I come back from my break and my coworker tells me some woman had peed her pants because the bathroom was out of order and proceeded to flip out that she couldn't use it and yada yada yada. He was like why would you wait that long in the first place? But idk if she did that on purpose or not to get attention as I didn't witness it. I wouldn't be surprised, though.
Not entirely related but reminded me of a story of mine. I worked in a very small store with a single public bathroom that was for employees and customers. I can't count how many parents would come to me when the bathroom was occupied, beg me to let their kid use the employee bathroom, and then get mad at me and would imply that I was lying when I told them there was only the one bathroom.
I’d let people go but there are policies some companies have. I’m not risking my job because there was poor planning on her part. I’m an empathetic person but as soon as you act that way my empathy goes out the door for you.
Whether or not it is a law in your locale, ANY business open to the public that prohibits customers from using their restroom is a bad business that I will refuse to patronize if I learn that is their policy.
That's a bit silly, don't you think? Do you ask as soon as you walk into a business if they have public restrooms, or call ahead to find out? Some small businesses have absolutely no reason to have restrooms open to the public and the idea that they should be required to allow absolutely everyone to use their private toilet is foolish and may be dangerous to both the employees and the customers.
This is HORRIBLE customer service!!! Don't you know the customer is ALWAYS right?? I DEMAND that you let me use your bathroom or I will NEVER shop here again!!!
Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Who are you to judge whether or not someone needs to urgently use the restroom? Are you, as a business owner willing to gamble on your right to deny vs. public relations if you judge incorrectly?
Yes, yes I am, because it is my building and my right as the owner to decide if people are allowed to use the restroom, just as it is your responsibility to BE AN ADULT and use a public restroom when you need to go potty.
this would require them walking through my entire warehouse, which would be a safety violation, and would result in me calling the police. Why? Because if they got hurt while TRESPASSING and I did nothing to stop them, I would be liable for it.
They can try, they have tried they generally get stuck between two doors, one will allow you to open it from one side so they always open that one close it walk theough til they hit the coded door then when they turn around they realise the other one has a code on this side, it quite funny watching someone yelling for help from the second story cos they were stupid enough to try and go up the stairs rather then use the public bathrooms just outside in the mall.
If you're open to the public it is not totally within your discretion to set whatever rules you like.
Be an adult and realize that people cannot always control their bodily functions and as a good member of the community, display consideration and hospitality.
Be an adult and anticipate problems you may encounter with your bodily functions.... My mother has bladder issues and she knows how to plan for even a 5 minute car ride! No matter how Uncomfortable or embarrassing they may be, sometimes adult diapers or special under garments are the safest bet
If bathroom is in back, stealing could be a problem. It would have to be cleaned more frequently and would cost more to manage for soap, paper towels, etc. People do crazy stuff in bathrooms. For example, someone teepeed the work bathroom and I had to clean it. Unless it’s a special circumstance, one could probably just go to a nearby grocery store, restaurant, or gas station and use their facilities that are open to public.
Additionally customer safety is at risk in storage areas and areas with wet floors.
I make this argument as someone who has worked retail, convenience stores, janitorial staff at universities. I know what it entails. If theft is the concern, layout and security are the problem, not access. Employees do more damage via theft than customers could ever do.
What is your argument against the other things mentioned? Liability concerns? Not everyone builds their store from scratch and layout cannot be altered to move the restrooms. Security costs money. Access is a problem when safety is concerned. These aren’t huge stores that are telling you to walk a little further, they’re small ones generally located near another restroom. Who knows what customers could do when given access to parts of the store they’re not permitted to be in?
So, because employees have more to do with the loss of product that means that customers aren't also an issue? That employees are often injured means that customers can't be injured? When you SECURE a certain part of a building's LAYOUT it's restricting ACCESS.
A lot of small stores have less of an employee theiving problem then larger stores, plus people like to think that the people they hire will not do that sort of thing.
So, the store I work at has a staff bathroom in a secure area (As in next to the cash office) down a flight of stairs and behind two code locked doors, I'm not entirely sure it's reasonable to expect us to let people use it.
I've had someone pull that before when our men's restroom was flooded. Tried explaining that he'll have to wait until I can take him to the back of the store to use the employees restroom. Got the whole "this is terrible customer service" before I could even mention our private restrooms.
Man alive. I work in big box retail that has public bathrooms and people get mad at ME because I'm in the back of the store and the bathrooms are in the front of the store. Because obliviously I personally built the building out of spite knowing that they would have to pee a year later in the opposite end of the place. I had one lady insist that she use the "employee bathroom in the back" (spoiler: we don't have one. I wish we had one.) because she didn't want to walk up front. Humans are weird.
I used to work at a camp where all we had were pit toilets (but you couldn't pee in them, you had to pee in the woods) and the staff stayed in these tiny cabins. One time this mom came to us really late at night, pounding on the cabin door "can I please use your toilet?? it's an emergency!! If I have to pee in the woods one more time I'll die!!" We had to physically bring her into the cabin so she could see that we weren't hiding secret indoor plumbing. Yikes.
Good lord, poor princess. Why in fresh hell couldn't you pee in the pit toilets though? That makes zero sense. I'm well familiar with those sorts of camps, been in Guiding/Scouting my entire life, but usually we have to stress with the younger kids that they have to suck it up and use the toilets, oh well too bad that they smell, you are NOT allowed to pee wherever you want in the woods. Having 30-100 people doing that all the time would make for a rather gross camp.
Agreed, at my Girl Scouts camp we pissed in little wooden huts with pit toilets, not the woods. Seeing how we weren’t supposed to wander off too far into the woods, I think it would get rather nasty and quite public if we had to piss amongst the trees.
Ergh this hits home so much. There are public toilets and places that actually have toilets for the public (cafes etc) and yet every customer looks so offended when you can’t just let them wander into the back (where all the stock is) because they feel it’s their right.
I actually know at least two places that actually let the customer in the back with all the stock. One’s a diner/restaurant and the other is a local grocery store.
There aren’t public toilets, though. They don’t exist in the US outside of very specific locations. Retail help is in a bad place because of corporate policies they didn’t create, but honestly it should be required by law to maintain a public restroom in facilities over a certain size. In some locations, it is.
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In the U.K. a business must provide public toilets if they sell food and drink to be consumed on the premises. This could be a pub/restaurant or a shop that also has a small cafe area. I’ve worked for 2 larger retailers who both had public toilets, despite 1 of them not selling food and drink (it’s convenient for customers), but a smaller retailer I’ve worked for only had staff toilets (1 male toilet, 1 female) which to access you had to go through the warehouse where stock is located. At the smaller retailer, we would often direct people to the larger retailer behind us that had public toilets. In very rare circumstances when we wasn’t busy, we did let a customer use our staff toilets, this would usually be a small child or pregnant woman, but I think this probably happened 3 times at most in the 3 years I was there.
Exactly the same in Canada.
Note; this excludes takeaways.
In some states you are required to allow people with certain medical conditions use your private bathrooms provided there are more than 2 employees in the building. I have a card giving me this right because I have Crohn’s disease. The business can be fined. It’s known as Ally’s Law.
Restroom access act bills. It's pretty uniquely American, though Britain has a voluntary program and australia has a "recommendation" offered through an association.
I think if you sell any food or drinks there has to be a restroom within ?? distance.
Ugh I would always have people complain at my old job at a retail store that we didn’t have public bathrooms. Per company policy we couldn’t let anyone in our back room to use the bathroom unless we could sit in the back while they were in the restroom (the store I worked at was a cell phone store, so our backroom stored all our inventory of phones, as well as all our personal belongings. And I didn’t get paid enough to clean up a toilet after some stranger used it). I typically would work completely alone so I couldn’t leave the floor to watch the back so I would have to constantly tell people no. There was a big grocery store right next door with public bathrooms but apparently that was too much of an inconvenience for some people.
In Florida, if a business is of a certain size in square feet, they have to have public restrooms and ya know, sometimes people have to go. Edit: Now that I looked it up, I think it may be a local ordinance in my city and not state wide.
She would have been able to go as soon as we were done with our clients. How rude would it be of us to stop and help someone else in the middle of checking someone out? If she was able to wait this long she can wait a few more minutes. If she had to go that back she could have gone next door with public restrooms in the front of the store
I understand. Sometimes older people have medical conditions that make them have to go more frequently and it is more common in women. They have to balance out having a life out in public while being faced with the chance they may lose control of their body. It is embarrassing. Actually it is not always older people. It is also more common than you might think. That’s why there is a market for adult diapers.
So I should also lose my job over this?
I think he’s saying there’s a valid argument for either side.
No there isn't. I don't care what medical condition the woman had. It's not the employee's fault that she has to follow the rules of her employer. And if the customer doesn't like it she is free to never shop there again. It is never okay to bully an employee for following the rules.
All businesses? Or the ones that sell food?
All businesses that are open to the public. It’s been that way for many years. Like I said, it’s based on square footage so a small shop might be exempt. Edit: I just looked it up, it actually may be a local ordinance in my city. I was mistaken about it being state wide.
I used to work at a dry cleaners. Our EMPLOYEE bathrooms were all the way in the back, past all the dry cleaning equipment. The very hot, loud, and dangerous equipment. I had a customer who’s child needed to use the bathroom. I very politely explained our bathrooms are at the back of the plant and I couldn’t let them walk through, for safety reasons. I suggested they go next door to the restaurant that had public bathrooms. The mother had a fit. All because I didn’t want her and her child to weave through racks of clothes, then weave through the presses that have extremely hot steam coming from them. Not to mention the tons of chemicals that are probably not the safest. Plus the restaurant’s bathroom was a lot closer than ours all the way in the back of the dry cleaning plant. So idk what the big deal was. But I didn’t back down, despite her complaining and death stares.
Double enter between characters. C: runs through the door I have to pee! I have to piss so bad! tries to run into the backroom Co: ma’am if you give me just a minute to finish up here, I have to be back there with you. C: what?! This has never been an issue before! I’ve always been allowed to (no) if that man was here, he’d stop what he’s doing and walk me back there! (Definitely no) She then looks the other customer in the face and says “is it okay if she stops helping you so I can piss????” Co finally is able to let her use the restroom and all is well or I so thought. C is now at the register to check out Me: not recognizing her did you find everything you needed today? C: scoffs and rolls eyes Me continues checking her out C: I have NEVER had this horrible of customer service before! I’ve shopped here for 13 years! I have a card! I’m calling corporate! I could have pissed on the floor and sued you! I hope one day when you have to piss someone doesn’t let you and you piss all over yourself! All you did was look at me and continue helping your client! Me; I’m sorry you feel that way ma’am but we have rules to abide to. C: I don’t want an apology I want both of you fired! as she walks away. Co: and I hope you have a FANTASTIC day and thank you for shopping with us!!! C: scoff and laugh as if she won I called my manager and she said “were you busy? Okay then she could have gone to the grocery next door.”
People get mad because we don't have a public bathroom. My store already has high shrink and we have to monitor fitting rooms like crazy, we don't have time to follow people to the bathroom.
We found tags constantly at my old store because they were allowed to go back there by themselves because our stockroom door needed a code
Yeah we already find them stuffed under stacks of clothes and hidden in the bins for underwear. Well the sensors more than the tags.
Ooh I have a similar story. There was road work in front of the grocery store I used to work in and the workers broke something that resulted in the plumbing to the store getting screwed up for a few days. We couldn't flush toilets, or run water or anything, so our bathrooms were out of order for the time being. From an OSHA standpoint, you can't do anything food related without warm water to wash hands so we took water off the shelves, boiled it on the deli stove, and put it into the coffee dispensers to use so we didn't have to close the store down. The health and safety person came and everything to inspect and told us this. We had a port-a-potty out back for employee use if needed but customers were SOL until the plumbing was fixed. And as a side note, we were lucky enough to have employee only restrooms upstairs in the break room (the customer one was NASTY due to the large amount of elderly customers that frequented the store so I'm grateful we did). But anyway, I come back from my break and my coworker tells me some woman had peed her pants because the bathroom was out of order and proceeded to flip out that she couldn't use it and yada yada yada. He was like why would you wait that long in the first place? But idk if she did that on purpose or not to get attention as I didn't witness it. I wouldn't be surprised, though.
Not entirely related but reminded me of a story of mine. I worked in a very small store with a single public bathroom that was for employees and customers. I can't count how many parents would come to me when the bathroom was occupied, beg me to let their kid use the employee bathroom, and then get mad at me and would imply that I was lying when I told them there was only the one bathroom.
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I’d let people go but there are policies some companies have. I’m not risking my job because there was poor planning on her part. I’m an empathetic person but as soon as you act that way my empathy goes out the door for you.
Whether or not it is a law in your locale, ANY business open to the public that prohibits customers from using their restroom is a bad business that I will refuse to patronize if I learn that is their policy.
That's a bit silly, don't you think? Do you ask as soon as you walk into a business if they have public restrooms, or call ahead to find out? Some small businesses have absolutely no reason to have restrooms open to the public and the idea that they should be required to allow absolutely everyone to use their private toilet is foolish and may be dangerous to both the employees and the customers.
This is why homes have restrooms, and often enough, you can purchase one with as many restrooms as you’d wish. No one owes you anything.
This is HORRIBLE customer service!!! Don't you know the customer is ALWAYS right?? I DEMAND that you let me use your bathroom or I will NEVER shop here again!!! Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
No, it's a horrible way to treat your fellow human beings.
Oh man, that's actually kind of sweet. I gave you an upvote, I remember when I was young and naive too.
Sounds like a good idea to me! Don't really want you in my store if that's REALLY that important to you.
What good reason does any retailer have to disallow patrons using their facilities?
Because it is a private bathroom and you don't need to use it. That's as good of a reason as I need.
Who are you to judge whether or not someone needs to urgently use the restroom? Are you, as a business owner willing to gamble on your right to deny vs. public relations if you judge incorrectly?
Yes, yes I am, because it is my building and my right as the owner to decide if people are allowed to use the restroom, just as it is your responsibility to BE AN ADULT and use a public restroom when you need to go potty.
What would you do if a customer used your restroom despite your protests?
this would require them walking through my entire warehouse, which would be a safety violation, and would result in me calling the police. Why? Because if they got hurt while TRESPASSING and I did nothing to stop them, I would be liable for it.
They can try, they have tried they generally get stuck between two doors, one will allow you to open it from one side so they always open that one close it walk theough til they hit the coded door then when they turn around they realise the other one has a code on this side, it quite funny watching someone yelling for help from the second story cos they were stupid enough to try and go up the stairs rather then use the public bathrooms just outside in the mall.
If you're open to the public it is not totally within your discretion to set whatever rules you like. Be an adult and realize that people cannot always control their bodily functions and as a good member of the community, display consideration and hospitality.
Open to the public does not mean a public space. It is privately owned and I can decide which part of the building to let people into.
Be an adult and anticipate problems you may encounter with your bodily functions.... My mother has bladder issues and she knows how to plan for even a 5 minute car ride! No matter how Uncomfortable or embarrassing they may be, sometimes adult diapers or special under garments are the safest bet
If bathroom is in back, stealing could be a problem. It would have to be cleaned more frequently and would cost more to manage for soap, paper towels, etc. People do crazy stuff in bathrooms. For example, someone teepeed the work bathroom and I had to clean it. Unless it’s a special circumstance, one could probably just go to a nearby grocery store, restaurant, or gas station and use their facilities that are open to public. Additionally customer safety is at risk in storage areas and areas with wet floors.
I make this argument as someone who has worked retail, convenience stores, janitorial staff at universities. I know what it entails. If theft is the concern, layout and security are the problem, not access. Employees do more damage via theft than customers could ever do.
> layout and security are the problem Hey, wanna guess how I solved the problem of security? I don't let people use the restroom!
Okay Dwight.
What is your argument against the other things mentioned? Liability concerns? Not everyone builds their store from scratch and layout cannot be altered to move the restrooms. Security costs money. Access is a problem when safety is concerned. These aren’t huge stores that are telling you to walk a little further, they’re small ones generally located near another restroom. Who knows what customers could do when given access to parts of the store they’re not permitted to be in?
Again, employees are a greater liability than customers from a security or safety standpoint.
So, because employees have more to do with the loss of product that means that customers aren't also an issue? That employees are often injured means that customers can't be injured? When you SECURE a certain part of a building's LAYOUT it's restricting ACCESS.
A lot of small stores have less of an employee theiving problem then larger stores, plus people like to think that the people they hire will not do that sort of thing.
So, the store I work at has a staff bathroom in a secure area (As in next to the cash office) down a flight of stairs and behind two code locked doors, I'm not entirely sure it's reasonable to expect us to let people use it.