When I was visiting in San Francisco, I was feeling really ill and desperately in need of a bathroom. I went into a bank and they would not let me use it, stating liability reasons. I went across the street to a coffee house, and there was a sign saying you had to be a customer. I went in anyway. Needing to go back shortly thereafter, I entered after a bum looking guy used it. Sure enough he stopped up the toilet something awful.
Pee everywhere was the most common, as others have related. Not really a biohazard, but just try convincing your 17 year old minimum wage employee that urine is sterile and he should just grab some paper towels and clean it up.
Worse were the feces smearers, and their cousins, the menstrual blood artists. That shit is disgusting, and actually does run the risk of spreading disease.
Then there were the junkies who left their needles behind for kids to find. That was always a fun time apologizing to their parents. And then four hours later the junkie would come back looking for her needles and scream at me because I didn’t save them for her.
Then there are the paper-towel flushers, the mirror breakers, and the wall hole punchers. Those are the expensive ones to clean up after, and I’ve got to shut the bathroom down entirely until the plumber or contractor can get there to put things to rights. That means that even I, the manager, can’t use my bathroom, and when I have to pee, I have to kick everyone out of the store so I can lock up and go across the street to Subway, who doesn’t really want me to use *their *bathroom unless I buy something, for the exact same reasons I didn’t want to let non customers use my bathroom!
I’m so glad I’m out of retail.
I’ve gone back and forth with bathroom use for customers. My business is in a rural area. Nobody just stops in to eliminate. We have a bathroom for “employee use only” currently. I’m not the one cleaning the bathroom, so I allow my employees (who share the chore) decide.
The last straw a few years ago (we allowed anyone to use it back then) was some woman who allowed her five year old son to use it by himself. For some reason the kid pissed all over the place. Everyone decided at that point to switch to “employee use only” with “insurance regulations” as the “explanation”.
I used to manage a property that did weddings and receptions. If you think they’re bad in a retail setting, just get them drunk in high heels and formal wear.
I think the low-flush laws went into effect in the mid-90s, so it wouldn’t surprise me if 4.5 gallons is still more typical. I have no real data on that, I just chose the higher number for a conservative estimate. My workplace’s urinals are 1/8 gallon / flush, so obviously your cost can fall quite a bit with better equipment, since it’s mostly driven by sewage costs.
This. Especially the “I’m so glad I’m out of retail” bit.
Some people seemed to try to make the most disgusting mess possible, even people who were ordinarily quite nice and polite to your face. They’d splash water everywhere (apparently they felt the need to take a sponge bath in the bathroom), they’d splash urine everywhere, smear everything with feces and menstrual fluid. Oh, it’s time to fix our hair! Great clumps of hair all over the place, and it’s a wonder that some of them didn’t burn themselves, because they’d use a ton of hair spray and then have a smoke. No, we DIDN’T allow smoking in the shop.
And, of course, there were the people who would steal stuff, either merchandise or store supplies and fixtures.
And then there were the parents who ignored their kids…until the kid is peeing right now. Yeah, it’s a pain to take a kid to the potty, but you need to do it on a regular basis and tell the kid to try. Don’t drag a kid around for six hours without food or a potty break. You’re asking for a meltdown.
In my area the local council has set up a Community Toilet Scheme where businesses, in practice mostly pubs, restaurants and larger stores, are paid an annual allowance to make their facilities open to the public during business hours. This was in response to the public outcry over the closure of municipal toilet facilities which were becoming increasingly expensive to run and subject to vandalism. I can’t be 100% certain but I think the amount was £600 or roughly $1000 per year. That may give an idea of how much it costs.
You also have to consider this:
Employees might have to stay overtime to clean.
So, like four dollars a day to clean a bathroom? I’ll pass.
There’s got to be a win-win situation somewhere, where the junkie cleans up in exchange for her needles back. And the smokers only being allowed to smoke in the bathroom if they scold any hoverers. 
But kidding aside, wow. I can imagine you’re glad to be out of retail. There’s bound to be some problem makers in any large group of the public.
I didn’t read the rest of the thread, but I think that’s the answer.
We’ve had people shit on our walls. ON THE WALLS. Like, took the crap out of the toilet and wiped it on the walls. This happens, maybe once every five years or so. On a regular basis, we have to deal with pee all over the floors, clogged toilets, dirty underwear hidden somewhere between the toilet and the store (one stall bathroom in the backroom), why, I don’t know, but it happens, toilet paper all over the place, having to refill the soap more often, having to refill the toilet paper more often, and all kinds of other random stuff. Think of the gross things you do at home that you say ‘eww, gotta clean/wipe that up right away’. Then think about the fact that most people don’t clean it up when they’re at a public bathroom. Dropped your old tampon on the floor by accident. No big deal, just leave it and walk out.
We don’t have a ‘customers only’ policy, but I can certainly understand it. The unwashed masses are pretty gross. At one point what we started doing is after someone used the bathroom we’d go and check it and if they did something ‘gross’ we’d go get them and make them clean it up. Crap all over the toilet seat. Fine, clean it up yourself. Here’s a rag.
My favorite was when we called a guy out for pissing all over the toilet seat and he said ‘that wasn’t me, I, uh, took a dump’ and the employee said ‘You took a shit?’ and he replied ‘yeah’ and the employee said ‘so you sat in that?’ (he was lying).
Honestly, of all the reasons I’m glad to be out of retail, bathrooms aren’t even high on the list. People suck in general, bathrooms habits are just one facet.
It’s bad enough when customers make a mess in the bathrooms, it’s ever worse when they use the dressing rooms as bathrooms. The most gross thing that I remember was when someone took a dump on a piece of paper and then put the piece of paper & the dump on top of the mirror. ( The mirrors were in the corner and there was a triangular piece of wood up there to hold it in place. )
“It’s a period piece.”
I know that in some European countries, there are pay toilets. Has anyone tried that in other places, especially automated ones which wouldn’t require ticket sellers? They could be made minimalistic and easy to hose down. I think the problem with public toilets is much the same as with public parks; without the labor intensive option of someone to supervise it constantly, it’s treated badly.
I think a good business model for someplace like NYC would be to have a subscription bathroom service. You pay a monthly fee for a key fob which would provide access to a bunch of public toilets (and maybe showers) scattered around Manhattan. The income pays for upkeep of the toilets, and if one of them gets particularly feces-smeared, they would be able to find out who did it based on the key fob info.
Kind of like the Citibikes, only for shitting.
We’ve had people use our elevator as a bathroom. :eek: The entrance is on the sidewalk by the building. It goes up to a large open walkway that circles the building with classrooms and offices.
We’ve had to call housekeeping numerous times for piss in the elevator. AFAIK no steaming shit piles. But it’s not something I asked about either. yuck.
I happened to have worked in the same type of establishment. I worked in a gas station/sandwich stand/tourist trap/grocery in the Florida Keys. We had to hide the bathrooms each an every time the Lobster “Mini-Season” rolled around. Owner #1 refused to tolerate the clean-up after some of the new tourists that had never before seen such a contraption as a toilet.
Boy, reading this makes me sad. I have always, always tried to ‘hold it’ till I got home, though if I drink a whole pot of coffee before leaving the house, I really have no alternative but to use a rest room. The restroom at the gas station down the street is behind and to the right of the cashier! The door opens up right there in front of the blunts and chewing tobacco shelves! Such close proximity to the public would scare me away, I mean, everyone in the store sees you go in and come out.
At least they did it on paper so it was fairly easy to clean up. My college roommate worked at a clothing store in the mall our senior year, and neither of the dressing room poopers she encountered bothered with such niceties. They just let fly on the carpet. At least the tampon changers put it on the easily disinfected melamine bench, and the dirty diapers were self-contained.
There was a nice, clean mall bathroom complete with garbage cans and Koala Kare stations 20 feet away from the store entrance. The mind simply boggles.
As other people have said, it’s not really about the cost but about not wanting their bathrooms to get public restroom syndrome. I’m a germophobe who avoids public restrooms like the plague. They’re filthy and disgusting and if I was a business owner I would be offended if my store became the public piss pot.