Denied a basic human right????

[PawnPrincess Ardra]

bg: I run a small pawn shop. Most often, I work alone, which is fine by me. This happened about an hour ago, and I'm still angry. Damnit! /end bg

A woman comes in to browse the shop with her husband. Nothing new there. It's nice out, customers have been swarming the shop all day. About 10 minutes into their "visit", the woman comes up to me and asks to use our washroom. I calmly explain that we don't have a public washroom, unfortunately. I explain to her locations of a couple of public washrooms, and she doesn't say much, just keeps browsing for a few more minutes. Her and hubby leave, I think nothing of it.

Fast forward 10 minutes, and in comes the woman, and she looks PISSED.

Angry Woman (AW): You know, all I asked was for a washroom. You denied me a basic human right!
Me: I'm sorry, I just cannot -
AW (interrupting): You have to let whoever needs it use a washroom. What you did is illegal!
Me (thinking, no... we are not required AT ALL to provide a public washroom, and it even says on a couple of signs around the store that our telephone and washroom are not for public use) : I apologize ma'am, but we have customer belongings including fi-
AW: Never mind! My rights have already been violated. I'm not going to be back.

Okay. So now I'm venting, because this irritates me to no end. There is no way I would ask to use a small business' washroom unless it was a dire emergency (this woman did not by any means leave immediately after finding out she couldn't use ours), let alone COME BACK into the store after finding facilities elsewhere to yell at any employee denying use of that business' washroom.

Not allowing a customer in the back to use our washroom is a security issue, it is NOT a denial of a basic human right. We have people's possessions back there - including but not limited to firearms and jewelry... also MY possessions including my wallet!

Just... wtf. Thank you for listening

[Pixilated]

You're welcome and vent away!

I have to wonder what kind of life that woman leads that she felt she had to come back to your shop to yell at you.

And of course we have here another streetcorner lawyer -- "That's ILLEGAL!!!" Shame people don't make any attempt to familiarize themselves with what is and is not legal -- it would keep them from looking like idiots.

I believe that *some* businesses are required to provide washrooms (e.g. anyplace selling food) but otherwise ... no. The thrift shop I volunteer at has a washroom in the basement, but for safety reasons we do not, ever, let patrons use it (visions of somebody tumbling a$$ over teakettle down those stairs ....) We generally point them to city hall and the library across the street.

[PawnPrincess Ardra]

Funny thing too... She and hubby were cruising about in their business vehicle. With the business name and phone number clearly marked on the side. Said vehicle was parked RIGHT outside the (glass and bar) door of our shop. Wish I'd grabbed more than the B&B name though, I can't find it! I'd like to though, and maybe write them a note on their website? LOL

[Redbeard]

If she comes back or someone else tries that, just say calmly "No, we're not required to provide the public with a restroom. Anything I can interest you in today?"
Throws them off gear, and when they say "No" they just gave you leave to go elsewhere.

[Chanlin]

A quick google search for the USA (couldn't find anything about Canada yet) shows that laws vary by state but: Food serving establishments can not deny restroom access to the public in most cases. Beyond that it depends. Some states require that if a patron can show proof of a medical condition then they may not be denied, and some states laws vary based on the size of the establishment.

All business must have a washroom at least for employees.

[PepperElf]

simple answer when they say "it's illegal".... "No it's not."

as long as you specify that your washroom isn't for customers you can deny them as much as you want. Hell if it was illegal then you'd be legally obliged to have a washroom and not all stores do.


but yeah sucky customers often like to invent their own laws. and then threaten you over "breaking" those pretend laws

[PawnPrincess Ardra]

There's a washroom here for staff, but it's clearly stated that we don't have one for the public to use. Sadly she probably won't be back, the business phone number is definitely not a local one.
I'm kinda happy that I made such an impression on her that she needed to go out of her way to come back an yell at me LOL jk :-)

[Merriweather]

"No problem, have your lawyer send us a letter on their letterhead citing the specific law that states this, and we'll run it thorugh our lawyers, and see what we can do".

Or

"Perhaps you have mistaken us for a tearoom? As you can see, there are no tables set for tea, no cute little china cups, not even any sugar or cream, and nary a teabag in sight. We are a pawnshop. Therefore, by law, we are NOT required to have a public washroom. Will that be all today?"

I have never seen anywhere that requires all businesses to have public facilities, only those serving food - not even grocery stores, in most places, just any place with an actually dining room area.

[MoonCat]

She obviously wasn't in much of a hurry, since she continued to browse for while.

[XCashier]

I get that frequently at my place of business. We're a fabric store, not a restaurant! In fact, there are several restaurants around us, all of which have restrooms, but noooo, the sucktomers have to scream at us because we don't have public restrooms!

[kansasgal]

My Daughter in law has a medical card that states she needs to use a restroom whether public or private; she has used it in some stores and been granted access (although they walk her back and stand by the door to walk her back into the store), but other then that it is not a basic human right..

[Teefies2]

Last time I checked, "right to use a restroom wherever and whenever I want" was not in the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution. So sad for her!

[KatherineB]

According to one of the people who complained about our building regulations, by not allowing him to building his house exactly where he wants it, the size he wants, etc regardless of the impact he will have on his neighbours is also denying him his basic human right.

I'd really like to read his version of the constitution...

[Little Retail Rabbit]

When I was at Peacocks, we weren't supposed to let anyone use our toilets, but for some reason one of the older managers was ok with a former employee bringing her small daughter into our store to pee. And because we really couldn't let her mother out back (as a non employee) it was usually down to me to take the girl by the hand and take her to the loo. Obviously, I waited outside the cubicle although there was a really awkward day when the poor kid had actually forgot to undo her jeans before pulling them down and had trouble pulling them back up so I had to undo them for her again >.< I'm not the most comfortable around children, I don't hate them, but I generally feel awkward around them, so it was a weird day. The little girl was always good about washing her hands though, and I'd help her reach the soap and taps, which was cute

But then under new management, this had to stop, which I think was only fair tbh, because we were having to turn down other customers who wanted to use our loos, but the EW former employee was still allowed. She had a bitch fit the day I told her we weren't allowed to do it anymore, and yelled loudly about how her daughter was just going to have to piss herself, to which I sighed, took kidlings hand and took her out to pee. Fortunately, I saw very little of EW after that (she only worked there for about 4 months, but had this sense of entitlement despite that...and she was a nightmare to work with, and actually walked out of her job, leaving her colleague alone in the shop, because she was 3 months pregnant and didn't like getting told off for doing nothing but sitting on a stool all day bossing us around!).

We've made a couple exceptions since then, but only for children. A little boy was in our shop crying his eyes out and in pain because he desperately needed a poo but the public loos were locked for some reason. My manager took pity on him and took him out...she said he was crying and sniffling in the cubicle and knew it would have been cruel to send him away.

There was this one time when a lady approached me, and told me very snottily that I had to let her daughter use our toilet by law, and then produced some sort of lanyard thing that stated that she had a medical condition or some sort. So I said sure (no idea where that attitude had come from though!). I took the kid out, but disturbingly enough, despite the fact she clearly needed to go due to a medical condition, she didn't bother washing her hands

[South Texan]

You are not a food service. No law requires you to provide a washroom/restroom/toilet for a customer. She only thinks it is "the law" because some stores provide such things as a courtesy to their customers, so in her little mind, she now expects it from every store she enters.

And since she never bought anything, I am sure her threat never to return to your business is making you quiver in fear.