"I'm really desperate!" ...then stop arguing with me!

[Phantasmagoria]

I've just been looking at PFB and noticed how many complaints seem to relate to customers not being allowed to use the toilets in the store for employees only, and it reminded me of when I used to work in a shop in a railway station. There wasn't an employee toilets, there was "the back" (wherein, naturally, wonderous items were hidden from those who wanted to buy them ), a small staffroom, and an office. If you needed to go, you had to go to the public toilets on the platform.

This conversation, in various forms, happened so often I lost count, but one woman in particular still stands out, just because of the absolute incredulity and outrage on her face.

I was tidying up the shop, when the aforementioned incredulous woman (IW)rushed up to me.

IW: Excuse me, where are your toilets?
Me: There are toilets downstairs, on both platforms, if you go through the gates over there *pointing*, or there is a cafe just next door to the station if you turn left out of the doors
IW: But I'm really desperate!
Me: Oh they aren't far, it takes about a minute to get to either of them
IW: But can't I just use yours?
Me: I'm sorry? *confused*
IW: Can't I just use the ones you use?
Me: I'm sorry, we don't have any in here, we have to go down to the platforms too
IW: But you must have some in the back! Why can't I use those?
Me: I'm sorry, we only have a stockroom back there, we have to use the public ones on the platform (I'm not dumb enough to tell a stranger where we keep the cash and our personal property, even to make a point!)
IW: Well this is ridiculous! I'm really desperate! I can't believe you won't let me use your toilets!
(N.B. I was surprised she didn't wheel out the "I'm a customer!" line at this point, but she held back. Also, she could probably have got to the toilets by this time if she'd just gone when I gave her the directions)
Me: I'm really sorry, the staff here have to use the platforms ones, we don't have our own in the shop. You can go to the platform ones, or the ones at the cafe next door.
IW: Well this is absolutely ridiculous!

Then she marched off, still muttering about how ridiculous it was and how unhelpful I was being. I'm still not sure why she thought I would lie to her about a toilet, and what she expected to achieve by arguing about it instead of going to the ones I directed her to, if she was really that desperate...

TBH having seen the state of the staffroom fridge, I'm not sure I'd have used staff only toilets even if we'd had them!

[MournBlade]

If you aren't despaerate enough to try squatting on a garbage can sister - you can make it to the public toilets.
Shame you guys and your magical bac kroom for not immediatly fulfilling her deepest desires - your only excuse might be if the pixies were on strike that day...

[thehuckster]

Everyone knows every backroom is a gateway to Narnia and Narnia obviously has a bathroom SOMEWHERE in there.

[dalesys]

Just don't get lost in L-Space. Those books are enchained for a reason!

[emax4]

It would have been funnier if you would have paused every so many seconds and talked slowly, then repeating what you said to make sure you said it right...

[Bright_Star]

In the time she argued about it she could have gone to the toilets you mentioned & taken care of business. I swear, some people make a simple situation more complicated than it needs to be!

[Lace Neil Singer]

In the time she argued about it she could have gone to the toilets you mentioned & taken care of business. I swear, some people make a simple situation more complicated than it needs to be!

This. XD

I've also had customers try and argue the point; we generally tell customers we don't have staff loos cuz it's just easier than saying "We have a staff loo but you're not allowed to use it cuz blah blah". However, that doesn't stop some people from arguing the toss. In the time you've spent bitching at me, you could have easily walked accross the road, used the public loo, and be on your way home by now!

We have our food and drink stocks out there, our cigarette stocks, the office containing the safe, computer etc and also the staff money box. We are not about to let customers run riot out there; in fact, even if there wasn't any of that out there we still wouldn't cuz customers wouldn't be covered by our insurance. Just man up, and walk accross the damn road.

[Pixilated]

Everyone knows every backroom is a gateway to Narnia and Narnia obviously has a bathroom SOMEWHERE in there.

Just don't get lost in L-Space. Those books are enchained for a reason!

You should've told her your Room of Requirement had, alas, been hexed and wasn't functioning ....


We have a similar problem at the thrift shop where I volunteer: we do indeed have a staff bathroom but it's in the basement. For liability reasons we absolutely cannot allow customers to use it. People are generally pretty good about it, and we feel genuinely bad about pointing them across the street to city hall (especially in bad weather), but ... it sure beats some of the possible alternatives.

[XCashier]

We have exactly the same problem at the fabric store. It's in a sixty-year-old (at least) strip mall, built before the current codes, the loos are in the back room and letting customers back there is a risk for all kinds of theft and potential injuries, and our insurance company wouldn't be too happy about that. There are several fast food places within walking distance that have public restrooms, and the dollar store at the other end of our short strip mall has public restrooms as well.

The conniption fits people pitch when we tell them we don't have public restrooms...oy! I've posted about this before, so I won't repeat myself, but people, don't scream at us over something we can't control, look around and find an alternative!

Word is, we'll be moving to a newer building later this year. The new store will have, amongst other amenities, public restrooms. Yay, no more bitching! Now we'll have to clean up after assholes who trash the bathrooms...you can't win.

[MoonCat]

For some people, it's all about winning the argument. They just want to be able to force you to do what they want.

What I don't get is why anybody would go into, say, a fabric store, looking for a bathroom? If I'm at a mall I look for the food court because usually that's where the restrooms are.

[Mr Hero]

Did this happen today? I'm sure you could have made some snarky comment about the SC being desperate on Valentine's Day.

[Ironclad Alibi]

IW: But you must have some in the back! Why can't I use those?

Me: "Very well. I will take you back and show you where they are."

Escorts IW through the back to the rear door, and out the door onto the stair landing.

As I point down the stairs I say: "Just go down these stairs, down the alley to the end of the building, turn left, go the length of the building, turn left again, and walk about halfway down to the restrooms. But it would have been quicker and shorter just to go the way I said the first time."

Then I shut and lock the door, and return to the sales counter, leaving IW to her quest for relief.

[dalesys]

Escorts IW through the back to the rear door, and out the door onto the stair landing.

P.T. Barnum: "This way to the EGRESS!"

[XCashier]

What I don't get is why anybody would go into, say, a fabric store, looking for a bathroom? If I'm at a mall I look for the food court because usually that's where the restrooms are.

It's not a regular shopping mall, like the Mall of America. It's a strip mall, aka shopping center, a long building with all the stores in one row with a sidewalk out front. There's no food court.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I always wonder why people come into the petrol station looking for a public loo; round where I am, there's just one petrol station in the area that has a public loo... and that petrol station is also a supermarket.