Just a silly little pet peeve of mine!
If there's one thing I can't stand, it's people thinking that every store has a public toilet.
A lot of places, like both my former workplace and present, do not have public toilets. That's because lots of stores don't have insurance for customers, only staff.
At my last place, I lost count of the number of people who'd rush in demanding to use the toilet. You know they wouldn't be buying anything - they'd just run in expecting to use them.
And you'd say, 'we're sorry, we don't have customer toilets,' and they'd look at you as if you'd just admitted to beheading your own mother.
SC: 'But why?'
Me: *explains the insurance thing, and that we are not insured if their little angel happens to fall and crack their head open.*
And then, the big one, the line you've been waiting for...
I used to be nice. I really did. Until I heard this about 100 times every Saturday and just couldn't face another irate-looking customer with a whining brat thinking that we should just bow down at their feet because their kid needs to use the loo.
Not only that, but when we DID let people use the toilets (in the case of customers having to wait a while for credit agreements to go through), someone would have to escort them as the toilets were behind a locked door with a code. We just couldn't keep doing this as we'd have to take time away from our jobs.
The one time, I'd had enough. I saw this woman rush straight through the doors with a toddler in tow and straight to me. I knew what she was going to ask before she even reached the counter. She wasn't there to buy anything, just to ask -
'Do you have a toilet?'
Me: 'No, we don't have public ones, sorry.'
SC: 'None at all? Can she just use the staff ones?'
Me: 'We don't allow that as we don't have the insu-'
SC: 'But she's DESPERATE!'
Me: 'Sorry, there's nothing I can do about it. Your daughter is none of my concern. I can't leave this till. McDonalds has a public toilet.'
SC: 'But she can't wait that long!'
Me: 'Um, it's just across the road...'
*SC stamps out*
Seriously. I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR KIDS!
Is it MY fault they didn't pee before they left the house? No. Is it MY fault they now decide they want the toilet? No. Is it MY fault if they can't wait long enough for you to dash across the road to McDs taking all of 20 seconds? No. Is it MY fault I have to serve customers rather than drop what I'm doing immediately and escort you to the toilet even when you're not buying anything? No.
Yet these parents look at you as though YOU'RE in the wrong.
Granted, kids can be pains sometimes with the toilet issue. I have a younger brother, and my parents have always kept a travel-potty in the boot of the car should anything like this happen and he unexpectedly needs the loo. He's never used it, but it's there just in case.
One of these parents came into my mum's store the other week (TK Maxx) demanding use of a toilet. Again, it's a store that doesn't have customer bathrooms. Not that there's any need to HAVE any, as it's not a restaurant, or a coffee place etc.
The woman started having a go at Mum because her daughter couldn't use the loo. She then continued to rant about how stupid the place was and unfair because there weren't public toilets.
Woman: 'Right, well then, I'm just going to let her pee in the corner!'
With the lady in front of her, my mum picked up the phone, called security. 'There's a lady down here who's just threatened to let her daughter urinate in the store. Could you keep the cameras on her please?'
Security followed her the whole time.
Needless to say, the kid had to wait.
If there's one thing I can't stand, it's people thinking that every store has a public toilet.
A lot of places, like both my former workplace and present, do not have public toilets. That's because lots of stores don't have insurance for customers, only staff.
At my last place, I lost count of the number of people who'd rush in demanding to use the toilet. You know they wouldn't be buying anything - they'd just run in expecting to use them.
And you'd say, 'we're sorry, we don't have customer toilets,' and they'd look at you as if you'd just admitted to beheading your own mother.
SC: 'But why?'
Me: *explains the insurance thing, and that we are not insured if their little angel happens to fall and crack their head open.*
And then, the big one, the line you've been waiting for...
'But my son/daughter is DESPERATE!'
I used to be nice. I really did. Until I heard this about 100 times every Saturday and just couldn't face another irate-looking customer with a whining brat thinking that we should just bow down at their feet because their kid needs to use the loo.
Not only that, but when we DID let people use the toilets (in the case of customers having to wait a while for credit agreements to go through), someone would have to escort them as the toilets were behind a locked door with a code. We just couldn't keep doing this as we'd have to take time away from our jobs.
The one time, I'd had enough. I saw this woman rush straight through the doors with a toddler in tow and straight to me. I knew what she was going to ask before she even reached the counter. She wasn't there to buy anything, just to ask -
'Do you have a toilet?'
Me: 'No, we don't have public ones, sorry.'
SC: 'None at all? Can she just use the staff ones?'
Me: 'We don't allow that as we don't have the insu-'
SC: 'But she's DESPERATE!'
Me: 'Sorry, there's nothing I can do about it. Your daughter is none of my concern. I can't leave this till. McDonalds has a public toilet.'
SC: 'But she can't wait that long!'
Me: 'Um, it's just across the road...'
*SC stamps out*
Seriously. I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR KIDS!
Is it MY fault they didn't pee before they left the house? No. Is it MY fault they now decide they want the toilet? No. Is it MY fault if they can't wait long enough for you to dash across the road to McDs taking all of 20 seconds? No. Is it MY fault I have to serve customers rather than drop what I'm doing immediately and escort you to the toilet even when you're not buying anything? No.
Yet these parents look at you as though YOU'RE in the wrong.
Granted, kids can be pains sometimes with the toilet issue. I have a younger brother, and my parents have always kept a travel-potty in the boot of the car should anything like this happen and he unexpectedly needs the loo. He's never used it, but it's there just in case.
One of these parents came into my mum's store the other week (TK Maxx) demanding use of a toilet. Again, it's a store that doesn't have customer bathrooms. Not that there's any need to HAVE any, as it's not a restaurant, or a coffee place etc.
The woman started having a go at Mum because her daughter couldn't use the loo. She then continued to rant about how stupid the place was and unfair because there weren't public toilets.
Woman: 'Right, well then, I'm just going to let her pee in the corner!'
With the lady in front of her, my mum picked up the phone, called security. 'There's a lady down here who's just threatened to let her daughter urinate in the store. Could you keep the cameras on her please?'
Security followed her the whole time.
Needless to say, the kid had to wait.
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