Retail business without public restroom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some states have Ally's law for certain medical conditions. But generally no restrooms in public establishments unless they serve food. Even then they can say customers only.

I do wonder how you got this far in life without knowing this.

I don’t know where you live, but here in the DMV I shop at garden centers and other businesses where customers have access to restrooms. This GC/nursery in Alexandria sells plants at high prices and can afford maintaining one or two restrooms. Maybe the employees are not flushing the toilets and don’t want customers to complain.

NP. Like…what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if it's legal or not (I'm sure it depends on the municipality), but it's not uncommon. I've worked in a number of retail establishments that didn't provide a restaurant for customers (and definitely not one for non-customers).

The thing is, maintaining a bathroom for customers is actually a big, expensive undertaking. I worked in a retail store once that originally allowed customers to use the bathroom. But we stopped. The store was in an older building with older pipes. Despite signage and reminders, people would flush whatever down the toilet -- it backed up all the time. Those of us who worked there could be there for 8 hours, while a customer might be there for 20 minutes, but one of them could destroy the bathroom and make it nonfunctional for days until we could get a plumber in there. Also, it was a small store with a small staff -- often just one or two people there. If only one person is working in the store during a quiet part of the day, a backed up toilet means closing the store and locking the front door so that the sole employee can go plunged the toilet and clean up -- you can't just leave the cash register unattended.

You also have to keep it clean enough for customers, and I'd get people complaining about the condition of the bathroom because the person who used it before them was gross and I didn't have time to go clean it between every single person (nor did I want to!). In a larger retail store with a larger staff, including janitorial staff, it's reasonable to expect a clean bathroom. Smaller businesses do not have the bandwidth.

Also, this store was in a busy shopping district and it was clear after a short time that people had just gotten word out that we let customers use the toilet, so people would come in for the sole purpose of using the toilet, buy nothing, and leave.

So yes, we stopped letting customers use the bathroom.

+1

Everyone thinks they are special, so it ruins it.

[Anonymous]

I know in NYC, even food service/restaurant doesn't have to have a bathroom for customers unless there are a certain number of seats, which is why you see a lot of Starbucks/cafes with bars or standing room only, or very small areas for customers to come in. I can't imagine it's illegal anywhere for a garden store to not have a bathroom. If you need one, find a Target/Starbucks/something like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear you. I have family members with IBS and have been part of many family dramas when people who needed bathrooms urgently couldn't get them in a timely manner while running errands.

Also, state of Maryland, people driving on rural roads to your Civil War battlefields might need bathrooms if theyre little kids, elderly, or have IBS!!! Thanks for nothing for an especially traumatic road trip years ago when we discovered MD gas stations don't usually keep bathrooms public and have absolutely no mercy.

It shouldn't be on individual businesses to shoulder the burden, though. It's a public good. The expectation that all small businesses should maintain a restroom for public use, keep that restroom clean and in working order no matter how many people might stop to use it, is unreasonable.

There is a lot of technology now that would enable municipalities and counties to serve this public need by maintaining portable bathrooms for public use. It could even create jobs and businesses if governments invested in this, because you would need to hire people to maintain them and also more companies would go into the business if it they knew they had a customer for it. The technology would improve further (as it is, the technological advancements are largely driven by government investments in Asia and Europe, where this is viewed as a public health and sanitation issue).

But getting mad because some tiny gas station in the middle of nowhere isn't maintaining a bathroom for you doesn't make sense. I say that as a parent who has had to stop many times and been rejected from place even as my toddler literally peed on himself. It sucks. But it's not the fault of the business (nor the employee who is just following company policy).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The grocery store nearest to us recently started locking their restroom so you have to find an employee to unlock it for you. I’ll be shopping at the other grocery store a little further away a lot more now because of this.

FARTHER away

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some states have Ally's law for certain medical conditions. But generally no restrooms in public establishments unless they serve food. Even then they can say customers only.

I do wonder how you got this far in life without knowing this.

I don’t know where you live, but here in the DMV I shop at garden centers and other businesses where customers have access to restrooms. This GC/nursery in Alexandria sells plants at high prices and can afford maintaining one or two restrooms. Maybe the employees are not flushing the toilets and don’t want customers to complain.

NP. Like…what?

Yes, this response is insane. Who is more likely to behave disgustingly in a public restroom?

1. An employee who works in the establishment and will be held responsible by coworkers for their disgusting behavior, and who may in fact be tasked with cleaning that bathroom at the end of their shift?

2. A random person off the street who wants to use the bathroom without even buying anything and then never see you again?

If you are mad about stores not having public restrooms, you have to blame your fellow customers who no doubt ruined it for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some states have Ally's law for certain medical conditions. But generally no restrooms in public establishments unless they serve food. Even then they can say customers only.

I do wonder how you got this far in life without knowing this.

I don’t know where you live, but here in the DMV I shop at garden centers and other businesses where customers have access to restrooms. This GC/nursery in Alexandria sells plants at high prices and can afford maintaining one or two restrooms. Maybe the employees are not flushing the toilets and don’t want customers to complain.

Oh, I agree. Here in the DMV, rich customers should have access to a fabulous bathroom experience, separate from one the nasty employees use. People not spending a lot money should just go home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some states have Ally's law for certain medical conditions. But generally no restrooms in public establishments unless they serve food. Even then they can say customers only.

I do wonder how you got this far in life without knowing this.

I don’t know where you live, but here in the DMV I shop at garden centers and other businesses where customers have access to restrooms. This GC/nursery in Alexandria sells plants at high prices and can afford maintaining one or two restrooms. Maybe the employees are not flushing the toilets and don’t want customers to complain.

Uh, no, much more likely that entitled customers like you are hovering, not cleaning up after yourself, and the staff have revolted.

[Anonymous]

Anyone who has ever worked at a place that has a public restroom can tell you that people can be incredibly disgusting.

At my niece's food service job, a customer recently defecated in the sink, on the floor, and on the toilet but not IN it. This business doesn't have a dedicated cleaning crew so the employees basically had to draw straws. I would've quit on the spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t we demand public restrooms be available across the city? Isn’t plumbing and sanitation one of the main benefits of civilization?

Because homeless people will lock themselves in the stalls for hours/days & shoot up drugs.

[Anonymous]

When I was young, bathrooms were much less common in public.

Made it VERY hard for families with young children.

Now I think they do it (often, but not required) to keep customers shopping longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear you. I have family members with IBS and have been part of many family dramas when people who needed bathrooms urgently couldn't get them in a timely manner while running errands.

Also, state of Maryland, people driving on rural roads to your Civil War battlefields might need bathrooms if theyre little kids, elderly, or have IBS!!! Thanks for nothing for an especially traumatic road trip years ago when we discovered MD gas stations don't usually keep bathrooms public and have absolutely no mercy.

IBS and explosive poop is exactly the type of thing that all business owners and employees want to keep out of their bathrooms.

[Anonymous]

My aunt owned a small book and gift shop and I worked there in the summers. She eventually had to stop allowing customers to use the restroom because they would leave it a disgusting mess. I mean, really revolting--as if they had never been in an indoor restroom in their lives. Pee on the floor, clogged toilets, water left running, excrement on merchandise and walls. And this was a quiet little shop with a generally upscale and middle-aged clientele. I can't even imagine what a larger business would have to deal with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In some downtown areas of cities, there are basically no public bathrooms in businesses, and where there are, you must show that you bought something AND request a key or passcode for the bathroom door.

I asked an employee where the restroom was and she told me they had no public restroom, not even for customers spending hundreds on plants. Not even a restroom with passcode.
This was in Alexandria, VA.

PLEASE tell me you didn't give that nursery and I think I know which one you are talking about your money. If you did return everything. I do not support places which do not allow public use of restrooms. Plenty of people have IDB, crohn's disease, IBS, bladder issues, incontinence, menstrual issues, flooding, and life is hard enough to live without this bs. Do not support these businesses. PLEASE.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s legal, and stupid. I was at a niche type store making a similarly large purchase when my then-4yo said he had to go #2 NOW! I asked and they said they couldn’t accommodate. It all happened so fast and before we could get out the door to the car he let it all out all over the carpet. I had a boy covered in excrement and they still wouldn’t let me use the restroom. So not only did they lose out on the sale, they had a crappy mess to clean on the carpet.