It is a small point about the 'smallest room' but one that has long miffed me. As a company we provide public bathrooms for our customers, please note the 'for our customers' phrase here, because that point seems to have become lost in the mists of time and in most stores, and certainly mine it has become the 'convenience of choice' for shoppers from almost every outlet for miles, any passers-by, kids out of school, truck drivers, in fact every man and his uncle!
This we can live with, it may be a little annoying to have hordes of people trundling back and forth from the designated area without so much as noticing that they are actually in a store where strangely we hope to sell our product but what drives me nuts is the attitude displayed by so many!
Not happy that we provide the convenience they want bells on it. How many times I wonder have I spent inordinate amounts of time sorting out complaints regarding the sometimes less than perfect bathroom? and yes, I agree, it is not always a picture of harmony in there but I can't be responsible for how others behave.
Each day this 'utility' undergoes an all systems go professional overhaul and at the start of business it is pristine and pretty smelling, rarely does it last, you do not what to know the manner in which some human beings(?) behave, nor the states of disrepair and disorder that emerge over a day! How people can behave in such a fashion is beyond me but they do and that in turn results in the 'complainers'. There are those who merely and appropriately inform me that the situation is 'less than pleasant', there are those who ask why we don't provide baby changing facilities, those that whisper, embarrassed, that the toilet roll has expired and then there are those that just take the piss (no pun intended)!
Excuse me but this is a public bathroom, we do our best against sometimes incredibly unpleasant and sickening odds but it is free, we are retailers not nursemaids, we cannot and do not guarantee you that everything will be in perfect working order 24/7, we do not provide every permutation of soap, hand drying equipment, flushing mechanisms, flowers on the side, 'video while you use' options, wide ranging 'suit everyone' water temperatures and we certainly can't control how individuals behave whilst they avail themselves of the facility!
You would not (well you might if you have ever worked in retail) believe the complaints and abuse I am faced with! When will Joe Public realise that I am not a cleaner, though I do my best when forced, I am not there to run to the closest supermarket and provide you with the soap product you find most acceptable, I can't prevent those that do, and really they do, from stealing the toilet roll, I am not a plumber, heating engineer, locksmith or medical examiner (don't go there) and to be quite frank I am not your offspring's nursemaid, nor do I really care any longer if you find any goddamn thing unacceptable about the bathroom, it is not my fault, you do not have a right to shout at me, threaten me, assume I am some lesser being than yourself, order me to clean up after some less than 'fragrant soul' or talk to me like I am intellectually challenged! None of these are what I am paid to do, I will assist you all I can but if all else fails I will close the bathroom down then you can't bloody winge about it's condition! Oh, of course, silly me, you will indeed complain about just that situation for that is what you do....complain....unendingly!
FFS, please, this is a store, I am a customer service and checkout supervisor, I am not time served in any of the above listed trades, I will do what I can but you do not have a God given right for my employer or myself to guarantee you use of a perfect bathroom day and night Sunday through Monday! Deal with it! Don't like it? Go elsewhere....ah I forgot....there is nowhere else to go...ok, well go complain to someone else about it, I do not control town planning....or maybe I do!
Arghhhh!
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