No public bathroom!

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Our bathroom is connected to our stock room, you know, where we keep thousands of dollars of stock. Our bathroom is also not public. I am not in a state where businesses must allow use of their bathroom, even in an emergency.

Of course this pisses off customers constantly who think it's so unfair that their little angel can't use the bathroom even though she "really really has to go". Sorry moms and dads, not my problem. Seeing as how I could easily get fired if I allowed someone to use our washroom, I won't risk it. Also, as a general note to my customers, no about of bitching/moaning/whining/pleading/bribing/etc will get me to change my mind. We even had one guy call corporate because we wouldn't let him use the bathroom.

On another board a post was put up about how someone with a digestive disease had an "accident" in a store that would not allow her to use their (employees only) bathroom. In this particular the case the manager was apparently an ass about it, but I responded to the post saying I would have done the same thing in my store (sans the whole asshole attitude) and politely told the customer she couldn't use the facilities.

Shockingly, I then got trashed by other commenters for being "inhumane", not caring about the disabled and generally just being a dick for refusing to allow anyone who really needed to go to use the bathroom.



So what's your take on this CSers?

[Geekus Rex]

Well... I could kind of go either way about this.

On one hand, I know all too well that an employee at any business has rules they must follow, and that if we make an exception for one person, we have to make an exception for all people.

On the other hand, as a father of three small Geeklets, I have been on the other side of the issue... and when a just-trained Geeklet says the dreaded words "I have to go" then things get a little murky.

Of course, when I travel with the Geeklets I do make sure that I am as near as possible to an available public restroom...

[MergedLoki]

I'd say if it's your company's policy and you could be fired for NOT upholding it then you'd be in the right to refuse bathroom useage.

Also.. You work at a game store correct?

So I'm going to assume that you aren't in some windblown field all by your lonesome as EVERY game store I've seen is usually in a mall (public washrooms) or in a chain of stores one of which is usually a dept. store or a grocery store (again.. public/customer washrooms).

I've never seen a game store on it's own with NO other store (therefore no other bathroom) in sight for miles around :P

I guess my point is that if these people have to go THAT badly there's gotta be another store somewhere within walking distance that DOES have public facilities.

[onein6billion]

You could always tell them that you would be happy to let them use the bathroom as long as they sign a paper saying that they'll financally support you 100% when you get fired from your job.

[Aislin]

I think that I have gone into a store with no public bathroom, been told no, and moved on to someplace required to have a public restroom (aka and eating establishment). And used the restroom AND purchased something there because that was how I was taught. No one should be required to give me a free bathroom. If you have a disorder you should PLAN for an issue. Piss poor planning on their part does not make an emergency on your part. There are other places to go and being a bitch or asshole doesn't change the rules. I have had a family member with digestive issues. He plans for what might happen.

[Spork4pedro]

There was an issue about this in one of our local malls. A lady was having an emergency and due to the employees not letting her use the facilities she crapped in her pants (and not in the haha funny way)

I've worked in places where there is both public and non public restrooms. In the non public restroom ones there was always a bathroom within a 5 minute walk that customers can use (another store or along a mall) So i would probably tell her no initially, but if it was a true emergency (and this was a medical issue not just that the lady couldn't hold it) I think I would have let her use the facilities. But i don't think that the lady should have thrown a fit that the manager wouldn't let her use it. She probably could have gotten to the bathroom elsewhere in the time she took to argue. Either way it's not the store's responsibility, it's the customers.

[sylvier]

We have no public restroom in our store, but I used to make exceptions for elderly people or little kids. One day an elderly woman flushed who knows what, and I landed up with an extremely disgusting sewer backup problem to deal with. Since then, no exceptions, old ladies and little kids all have to walk over to the gas station (not far) to use their facilities.

[Aethian]

I wouldn't let them use it but would do the whole, "The closest public restroom is at *blah*"

We've had people try to use our restroom before at the office and so far that I know of, let a few people use it. One was a elderly gent whose caretaker didn't listen and he wet himself. Another was a Mother of twins who got the dreaded dance from both children. In both cases an employee walked with them and stayed in there before walking them back out. And the path taken doesn't allow mail to be seen or touched but just around the corner is the whole floor.

[finlayfox]

well, there is this thing called ulcerative colitis, and it's bedfellow crohn's disease... which i happen to have both. This means that my colon hates me, will randomly make me explode fecal matter from my rectum with a minimum of warning. i try to time my going out into the world with relatively "safe" times, IE - haven't eaten in the past day... but this tactic does not work all the time. I have shat myself in public.

It is one of the most humiliating things i have ever experienced.
in some states there is a law that if you have a bathroom then a person with digestive disease of this nature can use the facilities, but not many states, though other Crohnies are lobbying to make it into a federal law(which i don't see happening).

Now, I have had people tell me that my disease, it isn't a disease,, that i am making it up, that it is just, "my problem," and try to write it off like most guys write off a woman's period(when some women have really hard periods that will completely debilitate them) when she complains of cramping.

I have literally almost died from a tear in my colon that starting leaking into my system sending me into septic shock... that was an interesting month in the hospital.

Now, this also being said, that most times i do have ample enough warning to try to find a lavatory... but not always. Sometimes i get that punch in the gut(and yes it does feel like someone hits me in the colon) that tells me to evacuate now and it doesn't care... at times like those i have anywhere between 30 seconds to one minute to find a place, or my place will have been found for me.

Sometimes, making an exception is better than having someone shit themselves... and sometimes it is better to say no to someone that is going to do coke off the lid of the toilet. it is all a matter of balance, and figuring out the situation before making the call.

[Samaliel]

I guess that it's something pretty hard to decide, especially when people will argue with you long enough for them to, ah, let it go right there and then. I guess I'd rather have them use the bathroom than have them being humiliated in public, let alone having to clean after them...

But in the OP's specific situation (i.e. the washroom being connected to the stock room), I understand that it's a huge liability. In this case, I fully understand why the store policy is set that way, and would be very firm about enforcing it.

[ralerin]

I usually make an exception for young kids or for people who absolutely HAVE to use the facilities now (like one woman who was ready-to-pop pregnant-in fact, she was scheduled to have a c-section in about an hour or so from there). But our policy is that same sex employees have to go into the back with them and we have to stay there. We used to let people in the restrooms whenever they wanted, but since stuff mysteriously started disappearing () we stopped that really quickly.

Oh, since my Aid of Rite is on Main St. when there's parades, NO ONE is allowed to use those restrooms, not even in case of dire emergency. Reason being is that usually parades are on Sundays and we don't have many people then. If we let one go then that one person will tell their friends and there will be an endless stream of people. Since there's only 2 cashiers and 1 manager on Sundays, if one cashier is tied up on bathroom duty, then it keeps everyone else from doing their work on prepping for the week.

[technical.angel]

At the last store I worked at, we had to keep stock IN the bathroom. NO ONE was getting back there except staff.

[tamezin]

If it is company policy, I don't see the problem with upholding the rule. Bathroom access is such a tough subject though.

My second job is a part time job working with handicapped adults. One of my guys has a serious bathroom issue. Like some small children, he must use the bathroom in every store we go to when we go shopping. This isn't a, oh he'll be ok if he misses one, this is a ... if he isn't allowed to, he will piss his pants.

Knowing this, I won't take him anywhere there isn't a public restroom. While none of the people I work with have a ton of money, they do like their shiny gadgets. One store's loss is another store's gain.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Here's my expanded take on it.

Most people should have the common sense to realize not all businesses have public restrooms. Addtionally, in just about any decently populated area, a public bathroom/gas station is not that far away, regardless of where you are. If you have a digestive condition, you should take the above into consideration and carry adult diapers and whatever else you need with you should an accident occur. Remember, even if you can't make it to a bathroom in time, it shouldn't take you too long to find one to get cleaned up in if an accident happens.

My particular store has a fast food place in the same parking lot, and a restaurant a few doors down in the same plaza.

Just because I have to enforce the policy doesn't mean I agree with it, and, like you guys, I can see both sides of the argument. What it comes down to is that my company is very strict on this policy and so I must be too.

[Dark Psion]

As I posted in the other thread, don't expect everyone to be familiar with every possible disorder and disease in the world. I had never heard of Crohn's till I read the other story.

On the other hand, I wish our bathrooms were private sometimes. Sunday I allmost had to call an ambulance because someone clogged the urinal and poured in some Foaming Pipe Cleaner.

When I tried to clear the clog with some acid, it foamed out like a Volcano-science experiment and unleashed chemical fumes.

My Eyes, Throat and Lungs were burning for an hour.


On the plus side, the floor is very clean.