Stores With "No Public Bathroom"

[BadPinkTink]

However, I do think more people should take responsibility for their own selves, & I do get tired of the "entitlement" attitude -

"I know the restroom's not for the general public, but you should let me use it because I'm special."

"I know what the rules are, but the rules don't apply to me."

Do I mind the OP's DIL asking the storekeeper if she could use the restroom? No. But, when she was told that she couldn't, that should have been the end of it.

HIGH FIVE all the points 1000 times yes but especially the bolded part

 

[Hrhpd]

So, my question is, do you think small stores, places of business, etc. should be able to tell paying customers that they can't use their restroom? I think a paying customer should be allowed to use it.

All restaurants have public restrooms, large department stores have them, stores in malls have them, even the library and grocery stores have them. What makes smaller stores so different that they feel they can refuse their bathroom to their paying customers?

After rereading the first post, the OP is actually griping that all stores, no matter the size, should allow customers to use their bathrooms, not just that her daughter was refused.

No, I do not agree that a paying customer has the right to use a bathroom at any store at any time. As many have posted, there may be liability issues in some instances that preclude allowing customers to use the bathroom.

Smaller stores are different and have much different liability issues than larger stores. And it really doesn't matter, their store, their rules.

 

[Mrs Eeyore]

DH is in sales and of necessity knows where to find all the public bathrooms in his territories. I would expect anyone with a job on the road to make themselves familiar with bathroom availability. Even in an unfamiliar town you would know the donut shops.

When I was a student I worked in a medium-sized supermarket where the bathroom was so unappealing that even employees used it only in emergencies. It was at the far end of the basement past skids piled with stock. It was dark and creepy. There's no way a customer would ever have been allowed down there. And when I worked in a theme park, employees used the same bathrooms as the guests. No one ever believed me and often tried to persuade me there was a secret bathroom hidden at the back of my store. Nope. Walk straight out the door and turn left at the fence, just like we all do.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

When mine had to go and I got flack from the clerk I just said this. "Look. I'd love to stand here and waste another minute arguing with you, but I don't have that luxury. It's coming and I can't stop it. Either it goes Bawoooosh into your toilet or Bawooooosh all over your floor. Make your choice." They wisely chose toilet.

 

[mom2rtk]

When mine had to go and I got flack from the clerk I just said this. "Look. I'd love to stand here and waste another minute arguing with you, but I don't have that luxury. It's coming and I can't stop it. Either it goes Bawoooosh into your toilet or Bawooooosh all over your floor. Make your choice." They wisely chose toilet.

Did that happen often?

 

[Hrhpd]

When mine had to go and I got flack from the clerk I just said this. "Look. I'd love to stand here and waste another minute arguing with you, but I don't have that luxury. It's coming and I can't stop it. Either it goes Bawoooosh into your toilet or Bawooooosh all over your floor. Make your choice." They wisely chose toilet.

Rules don't apply to you?

I don't think it can be called choosing wisely when they are threatened with a biohazard. I cannot imagine being told no and then threatening some poor cashier to get them to break the rules just to get my way.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Did that happen often?

Nope. Never happened when I was a kid. My state required public restrooms. The state I am in now does not, but most businesses have them. And kid's not giving much warning didn't happen often with mine.

 

[mom2rtk]

Nope. Never happened when I was a kid. My state required public restrooms. The state I am in now does not, but most businesses have them. And kid's not giving much warning didn't happen often with mine.

Gosh, I have 3 kids and never once had to do anything like that in a store.

I guess we were just lucky.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Rules don't apply to you?

I don't think it can be called choosing wisely when they are threatened with a biohazard. I cannot imagine being told no and then threatening some poor cashier to get my way.

So choosing to let a kid that absolutely has to go use the toilet isn't wise? Your definition of wise must be quite different than the norm. Also threat is the wrong word. I simply laid out the facts.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Gosh, I have 3 kids and never once had to do anything like that in a store.

I guess we were just lucky.

Psssst I have a secret. Once is not all that much different from zero in the grand scheme of things.

 

[mom2rtk]

So choosing to let a kid that absolutely has to go use the toilet isn't wise? Your definition of wise must be quite different than the norm. Also threat is the wrong word. I simply laid out the facts.

I can see anyone having an extenuating circumstance happen.

Your post just sort of made it sound like your standard way of dealing with it.

 

[Luvchefmic]

When mine had to go and I got flack from the clerk I just said this. "Look. I'd love to stand here and waste another minute arguing with you, but I don't have that luxury. It's coming and I can't stop it. Either it goes Bawoooosh into your toilet or Bawooooosh all over your floor. Make your choice." They wisely chose toilet.

Actually there was a 3rd choice that the clerk felt too intimidated to choose. If I was that clerk, especially if the rule was no public in our bathroom, I would have said take your kid out of here and we will gladly hose down the parking lot.

 

[Mkrop]

When mine had to go and I got flack from the clerk I just said this. "Look. I'd love to stand here and waste another minute arguing with you, but I don't have that luxury. It's coming and I can't stop it. Either it goes Bawoooosh into your toilet or Bawooooosh all over your floor. Make your choice." They wisely chose toilet.

It is not "flack" as you call it, it is just the facts as well, it is the store policy for whatever reason. And once again, why are you "arguing"...it is the store policy, they were not arguing with you, they stated facts.

Once again it is called anticipating your needs, my kids rarely surprised me, we took frequent bathroom breaks so this could be avoided. And if and when they did surprise me I would be asking kindly to use it as it was an emergency, but I certainly would not fault them for following store policy...I would be blaming myself as a parent for not getting them to the bathroom timely.

This would be your problem not theirs.

 

[Allison]

When mine had to go and I got flack from the clerk I just said this. "Look. I'd love to stand here and waste another minute arguing with you, but I don't have that luxury. It's coming and I can't stop it. Either it goes Bawoooosh into your toilet or Bawooooosh all over your floor. Make your choice." They wisely chose toilet.

How often did this happen? Seems odd that it happened enough to have a regular response to it.

 

[Hrhpd]

So choosing to let a kid that absolutely has to go use the toilet isn't wise? Your definition of wise must be quite different than the norm. Also threat is the wrong word. I simply laid out the facts.

I would have asked politely. And yes, it would have been preferable to use the store toilet. However, if the clerk said no, I wouldn't interpret it as 'flak.' My choice would not have been to use additional minutes to harass and threaten the clerk who was just trying to follow the store rules. I would and have swooped up my child and hurried to my car where the accident would happen on my property or on me while I carried them, where it was on me to clean up. And if I had "bawooosh" on me, then my shopping would be finished and we would go home. (I always had a change of clothes for the kids in the car in case of accidents when they were young.)

But then, raising 3 kids, I never had an accident so bad that it would be all over the floor. I have had blowouts that were all over the underwear, surrounding clothes, and down the leg. I have held my child where urine or diarrhea got soaked into my clothes and into my arm that was holding them under the butt. But I don't see any reason to threaten anybody that your child is just going to stand there and go ahead and "bawooosh" all over the floor.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I would have asked politely. And yes, it would have been preferable to use the store toilet. However, if the clerk said no, I wouldn't interpret it as 'flak.' My choice would not have been to use additional minutes to harass and threaten the clerk who was just trying to follow the store rules. I would and have swooped up my child and hurried to my car where the accident would happen on my property or on me while I carried them, where it was on me to clean up. And if I had "bawooosh" on me, then my shopping would be finished and we would go home. (I always had a change of clothes for the kids in the car in case of accidents when they were young.)

But then, raising 3 kids, I never had an accident so bad that it would be all over the floor. I have had blowouts that were all over the underwear, surrounding clothes, and down the leg. I have held my child where urine or diarrhea got soaked into my clothes and into my arm that was holding them under the butt. But I don't see any reason to threaten anybody that your child is just going to stand there and go ahead and "bawooosh" all over the floor.

I did ask politely first. Moreover, I didn't harass, nor threaten the clerk. But by all means, keep trying to make up stuff that you wish to claim I did or claim I could have done when you weren't even there so you can argue some more.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

How often did this happen? Seems odd that it happened enough to have a regular response to it.

That question was previously answered. The answer is once.

 

[Mkrop]

I did ask politely first. Moreover, I didn't harass, nor threaten the clerk. But keep trying to make up stuff that you wish to claim I did so you can get out of joint and put your nose in the air.

Your words say differently when you use terms like flack and arguing. And you stated a threat...in their toilet or on their floor.

Words mean things and reading comprehension is a wonderful tool.

 

[Hrhpd]

I did ask politely first. Moreover, I didn't harass, nor threaten the clerk. But keep trying to make up stuff that you wish to claim I did so you can get out of joint and put your nose in the air.

You asked politely first? That implies that you were not polite in second and further statements.
You were told no.
You called it flak.
You didn't accept the no.
You told the clerk that either s/he let you use the toilet or you were going to let your child crap/pee on their floor.
Sounds like a threat to me. Any statement that has an "or else" part to it is a threat. Can be a politely worded threat, but a threat all the same. Again you told the clerk, "Let me use the toilet or else I am going to let my child crap/pee on your floor."
You had a choice to accept the "no" and to pick your child up and go elsewhere.

 

[declansdad]

When mine had to go and I got flack from the clerk I just said this. "Look. I'd love to stand here and waste another minute arguing with you, but I don't have that luxury. It's coming and I can't stop it. Either it goes Bawoooosh into your toilet or Bawooooosh all over your floor. Make your choice." They wisely chose toilet.

And here is your mop?

Nope. Never happened when I was a kid. My state required public restrooms. The state I am in now does not, but most businesses have them. And kid's not giving much warning didn't happen often with mine.

And what state was that?