But I've gotta go

[hinakiba777]

So in my limited job experience I've seen very different takes on the concept of bathroom breaks. Here at the desk we don't get breaks. You eat, work, study, etc right at the desk. If you need to go the bathroom, you just get another student worker to sit in for you.

My first job was only three hours long, so I'd was expected to wait until I left.

When I worked at the grocery store my manger told me I could just go whenever I needed to go. She explained that they had no right to stop people from going when they needed to use the facilities. I was just supposed to shut down and walkf off. If I had customers, I had to tell them where I was going.

This of course shocked the stuffing out of me, especially considering my second job expereince.

At the movie theatre if you worked more than five hours you got to choose your break. You could either had a paid fifteen or an unpaid thirty. Being the poor college student I am, I'd usually take the fifteen. One night I was working 6 to 11. I'd had my break at 8:20 and it was just turning to nine when I realized I had to go. I had at least two hours left of work, and no more breaks to look forward to, so I just asked my supervisor if I could go.

SS= Stupid Supervisor
Me= The amazing hinakiba

Me= Hey, SS. The rush is over. I was wondering if I could duck out for two minutes to use the ladies.
SS= Did you have your break?
Me= Yeah
SS= You should have gone then
Me= But, SS, my break was forty minutes ago and I didn't have to go then.
SS=You'll have to wait until your shift is over.
Me=SS, I have two hours of scheduled time left. You know that clean up always runs late. So I'll proably be here an extra hour. On top of that, if I don't leave before midnight then I'll have to walk home. That means that I'll have to wait until one in the morning.
SS= I don't get what you're getting at.

This continued for about fifteen minutes until finally he called the GM. The GM told him to let me use the bathroom, but I would be docked 15minutes for taking an extra break. I really hate that place.

So what are the bathroom rules at your places of employment?

[CanadaGirl]

I work at a small retail card shop, and our 'bathroom' is in the small back room, so I can pretty much go whenever I feel like it. :P

[crazylegs]

When you gotta go, you gotta go!

Thats the only rule really, short of taking a dump in the middle of the street, if you need a loo break, take it, one of the joys of working for the government I suppose.

[Dreamstalker]

No real rules at the game store, except that taking a potty break means leaving the counter and register completely unattended (isn't that bad?) so the unspoken rule is be quick about it. I usually lock the register and take the key with me in that case.

[gunsage]

My rules are...shaky at best. Okay, here's the deal. Preferentially, you should only be going to the bathroom on your breaks. Ah, but there's a problem, of course. I get two breaks and one lunch. The lunch is unpaid, so technically the shift is 9 hours long, but no biggie. I am constantly drinking tea and soda, where it was coffee and soda, but I'm feeling kinda sick, so there you go. I've heard mixed opinions on the matter, but essentially, here's what I've been told/has been done.

- Advised that I should put myself in idle, as it's not actually a break and I'm clearly not going to be out for 15 minutes.
- Advised that it's a "bathroom break"...sooooo...put myself in break.
- Advised that I should put myself in wrap, which is similar to idle, except it's supposed to denote that that's the amount of time I'm using to "wrap up" the end of a call wherein I code out the ticket, etc.
- Advised that I should "hold it." Yeah...I tried for another five minutes then ignored that one.
- Put myself in idle as I've been told to do, went to the bathroom, came back, and found that THE TEAM LEAD (not a supervisor) had CLOCKED ME OUT INTO BREAK. His reasoning? "Well, I didn't know what you were doing...I figured you were just going on break." Yeah, right. Ass.

What I am doing is the initial comment...I'm leaving myself in idle. You might think that plays hell on my stats, but really, no. But yes, I've worked at former positions where they play the control game when it comes to your bathroom breaks. Those are the kinds of positions where you're afraid to even drink anything as you may end up pissing yourself hours later when no one's willing to relieve you or whatever.

[Gerrinson]

Where I am now, as an administrative employee, I can go whenever I like. Yay!

At the grocery store, you needed to get a supervisor's permission and then usually check out all the customers in your line first, then you could go.

At the paper mill, if you could find 5 minutes, you could go. But normally, you didn't have the time. Of course, with all the sweating, it wasn't that hard to skip it except on the 12 hour shifts...

[Bright_Star]

A lot of times, depending on what you've eaten or drank, then you have no choice but to go-rules be damned!
Say you gotta go #2-are you really supposed to hold it for hours on end simply cause someone tells u to? You hold it long enough & your body is liable to say "Fuck this shit" & just go whether or not you want to or if you're close to a toilet...lol.
I think it's juvenile having to ask someone to go simply cause it may or may not disrupt their job.

[Saydrah]

I've never really had an issue with bathroom breaks at work- all of my jobs have given me the chance to go when I gotta, so to speak. But I do have a doozy of a story about a coworker who wasn't so lucky. A new manager was imported from Texas to the Bouncing Ball Mart where I was a pet food demonstrator. I didn't have to deal with him since I worked for the pet food company, but the actual store employees hated him. Walked in one morning and found out why.

SM: Sucky Manager
CG: Cashier Girl

CG: "Hey, SM, could you cover me for five minutes? I need a bathroom break."

(Note: Store policy is exactly this- call backup cashier to cover you for five minutes, if there is not a backup cashier, call MOD)

SM: "No."

CG: "What do you mean no? I gotta GO!"

SM: "There's no backup cashier."

CG: "So can YOU cover me then? I have to PEE!"

SM: "No. You will stand right there until a backup cashier comes in."

(A line is building up of customers wearing the face)

CG: (a very loud whisper) SM, I have my PERIOD, I have to go right now!"

SM: "I don't care. You're a cashier, so cashier until someone else can cover you."

CG: "Do you want me to pee my pants?"

SM: "Just hold it." (stomps away to the back room)

CG: (turns to the customers in line, and says LOUDLY) "If I pee on anyone's foot, I apologize in advance, and the manager on duty to complain to about being peed on is in that office RIGHT THERE."

She got her break.

[Becks]

I can go whenever I need to.

Almost always have, except for at Goodwill (when cashiering) and the gas station.

[CaroPhoenix]

Haven't managers/people in charge heard about "kidney infections"? What is worse, letting your employee go to the bathroom OMGRIGHTNAO or having to deal with an employee who has a kidney infection because they had to hold their pee in too long (and then the employee has to be out for a day or two, go to the doctor's office, get medicine, etc., etc.).

But then again, I forget, if it makes sense, it's not allowed.TM

Oh yeah, at the Gaming Store, I work with one other person, so I just say "C" I need to use the bathroom, and he's like, "Ok." And he watches the cash register/store.

[WanderingSaint]

No one has ever tried to deni me bathroom breaks. Or at least not after I explain I have inumerable digestion problems O_o. Plus, them being audibly able to here my stomach churn over the store music and going really pale usually makes them let me go...

I'm an itty bitty thing, but do not get in the way of me and my porcilin throne. You WILL be mowed.

[hinakiba777]

CG: "Do you want me to pee my pants?"

SM: "Just hold it." (stomps away to the back room)

CG: (turns to the customers in line, and says LOUDLY) "If I pee on anyone's foot, I apologize in advance, and the manager on duty to complain to about being peed on is in that office RIGHT THERE."

She got her break.

Wow that is just not cool. I don't think anyone should have the right to tell you whether or not you can use the washroom. My elementary and secondary years of school were filled with a lot of arguments with the teachers about bathrooms.

I wonder how they would have reacted if they had been banned to use the washroom. They probably would have striked

[Parrothead]

I don't have rules about it. I just go between playing with dogs.

[blas]

A lot of times we don't go to the bathroom on our breaks because we don't HAVE to. We drink and eat ON our breaks. Therefore, we have to pee LATER.

As long as I don't catch anyone just wandering the hallways or making trouble, I don't care if someone has to go to the bathroom between breaks.

[fma_fanatic]

I'm sure that the other ladies here will agree that when it's that time of the month and you gotta go, you gotta go.

Since I'm up at the reception desk, I have two breaks and a lunch. Yes, I'm supposed to take my bathroom breaks then, but if I have to really go, I either run real quick or I call my relief for the day and ask them to cover for me. They're all pretty cool about it.