Do you offer a public restroom? Why or why not?

It depends on the type of business and local code. Most businesses are required to provide restrooms for employees but not necessarily for the public. Often there are requirements that restrooms be handicapped accessible.

Anyone who has ever owned a business will tell you what happens in restrooms provided for the general public, or even for employees. It is never pretty. It is always expensive to repair and clean up.

The only term that is accurate is "predictable".

No. Liability.

Three levels:

• Employees
  
  
• Employees and customers
  
  
• Public (anybody)

The further down the list you go, the more disgusting the results.

The reason I ask is we had a "customer" get pissed that I wouldn't let her use our bathroom. I own a gun store we just moved and storage is at a premium as we "get settled". Bathroom has stuff in it some serialized. I do allow the occasional WELL known to me customer use it. Trying to frame a response to her review. I transcribed the audio from the interaction.

Customer: "do you have a bathroom I can borrow? I don't mean borrow that I can use?"

Employee: "technically we do not have a public restroom"

Customer: "how the f*** do you not have a public bathroom"

Went pretty much downhill from there.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

Public (anybody)[/LIST]The further down the list you go, the more disgusting the results.

There is a reason 'older' service station restrooms are accessable from the side or back. Keep the public out of the business. No heat. Easy to hose out if necessary.

Crossing the country along interstates I've come across a few rest stop stalls where the user squatted over the seat and dumped liberally everywhere but the bowl. On one occasion I saw a guy exiting the bathroom who was likely the doer. A true Hater of America, making his living driving a rig on our highways. That was in Tennessee, I think.

People abuse 'free'. I sweep the gutters, they drive by throwing trash. I've even had crap thrown from a passing car window within feet of me.

One of my former clients in a *nice* area of Old City, Philadelphia, had to begin locking their bathrooms. Heroin users were shooting up. Two hour visits to the 'loo ...

It doesn't take many restroom OD's to make an owner wary.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodman:

One of my former clients in a *nice* area of Old City, Philadelphia, had to begin locking their bathrooms. Heroin users were shooting up. Two hour visits to the 'loo'

Many of my customers are Ace Hardware Stores. One of them began locking the restrooms, now have to get the key from the cashier.

I asked whether it was because people had been leaving the place filthy. Nope, it was because they were finding used needles in the restroom.

Nope. We use to have one open to customers but stopped due to abuse. People are pigs and we tired of cleaning up after them.

The last straw was a delivery driver that wiped feces on the wall.

I worked at a gas station in a beach town.
During the summer season, the tourists would use the restroom.
After each visitor one of the employees would have to clean up.
Some of the guests were so disgusting the clean up guy quit rather than do a cleaning.

It was horrible.

quote:

Originally posted by southernmaninla:
The reason I ask is we had a "customer" get pissed that I wouldn't let her use our bathroom. I own a gun store we just moved and storage is at a premium as we "get settled". Bathroom has stuff in it some serialized. I do allow the occasional WELL known to me customer use it. Trying to frame a response to her review. I transcribed the audio from the interaction.

Customer: "do you have a bathroom I can borrow? I don't mean borrow that I can use?"

Employee: "technically we do not have a public restroom"

Customer: "how the f*** do you not have a public bathroom"

Went pretty much downhill from there.

The bathroom for employees is in a secured area of the facility. Our insurance carrier will not allow non employees to be in that part of the facility without be accompanied at all times, due to liability concerns.

Why not reply with something similar?

I recall a few State of Montana interstate rest rooms. Concrete block building with a steel door for each side. Fixture for only one user at a time. The entire inside of each was stainless steel with a larger floor drain so it could be cleaned with a firehose if necessary.

One thing is for certain, if your clientele includes a lot of 60-something and over men, you need to have a place for them to pee...

When we had our business, we did not offer public access to bathrooms. We told them our insurance didn't cover them walking through the production area. I don't know if that was actually true, but it seem to satisfy most. However if a customer was having a emergency we'd escort them back on a special exception basis.

Point if interest. If we are traveling in Texas on the I35 or I45 corridors, we always plan our bathroom breaks to stop at a
Buc ee's. They have the cleanest, well maintained bathrooms I've ever seen at a road side stop. 10+ stalls and urinals, all sparkling clean. Plus we can pick up some beaver nuggets to munch on.

If you tell them it's out of order. That satisfies most people. But it generally ticks some people off (including myself) if there isn't a public restroom and I'm a paying customer. IF it's a store/place that customers are only expected to spend 10 minutes in, then not having a restroom is not a big deal generally. However, if it's a type of business where people generally spend an hour in, then I can see customers getting ticked.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodman:
There is a reason 'older' service station restrooms are accessable from the side or back. Keep the public out of the business. No heat. Easy to hose out if necessary.

Saw a few of those in Oklahoma on the turnpike. Made for a quick pee and then I was on my way. Kinda scary in some of those but I supposed they did what they're intended for.

quote:

Originally posted by NavyGuy:

If we are traveling in Texas on the I35 or I45 corridors, we always plan our bathroom breaks to stop at a
Buc ee's. They have the cleanest, well maintained bathrooms I've ever seen at a road side stop. 10+ stalls and urinals, all sparkling clean. Plus we can pick up some beaver nuggets to munch on.

Ah, Texas beaver, the best!

Speaking from a customer perspective, if I need to use the restroom and find you don't have one available I'll be very understanding but it will be the last time I try to spend money in your store.

Last car dealership I worked at before retiring was a premium domestic car franchise. The public restroom was on the main floor, closest to my department.

You don't want to know, some things seen cannot be forgotten.

Our maintenance man had a bad habit of pushing waste paper in the wall mounted trash can down with his hand. I walked in one day and advised him of the possibility of used syringes and the potential for Hep and HIV exposure from both legal and illegal usage in there not to mention that we did have some foreign customers and they may or may not dispose of used toilet paper in the commode.

Next time I saw him in there he used a cut off broomhandle for that task.