1. Please, if you have employees, you must have a restroom.

Posted at 10:34AM on Jun 25th 2008 by Mel

2. I agree Mel. How about...the employee that said NO to the bathroom..not be allowed to ever use it again themselves? Sorry but that is just soooooooo wrong...if there were NOT a bathroom there, the common courtesy is to tell of the nearest one, is it not?

Posted at 10:53AM on Jun 25th 2008 by AuburnWildfire72

3. I thought public health codes specified that if you sold food, you had to also have a public restroom. This place sold chocolate? I'm sure the health inspectors would have loved to learn about feces all over their floor....

Posted at 12:15PM on Jun 25th 2008 by Kristi

4. Insurance is a big thing, many retail spaces may have restrooms, but they are located in areas that are not intended for the public and some may even double as storage space for cleaning chemicals. From the stores point of view, the possible lawsuit if the patron were injured is simply not worth it. Many stores are running on margins of 15-10%. A bump in insurance premiums can force a store to close.

I've worked plenty of retail jobs and I've had parents and people stand there and argue with me for a few minutes when they could have simply walked outside and gone to any numerous public bathrooms... all of which are clearly labeled.

People, we can't have it both ways. We can't go around suing businesses for every little thing and then expect that they're going to put themselves out there and expose themselves to additional risk for our convenience.

Posted at 12:20PM on Jun 25th 2008 by eugene

5. eugene...good to know there are still rational people out there.

that being said, there was no reason for the manager to be snarky (if they really were...only one side of the story here).

maybe stores without public restroom should just keep liability waivers on hand.

Posted at 1:01PM on Jun 25th 2008 by Mihir

6. I work in a retail store and we don't have a public restroom. We're not allowed to have people go back there for previous reasons. We have to tell them sorry but Fodd Lion has one. Sure they argue sometimes and get mad but rules are rules.

Posted at 1:03PM on Jun 25th 2008 by Ann

7. The mother should have left the soiled clothes in the store and bought a t-shirt for her daughter to wear. Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get. (Like poop in your pants).

Posted at 1:42PM on Jun 25th 2008 by Greg

8. I would have left the clothes too...or at least shook them out...

I don't go around suing and I accept complete responsibilites if something happens to me...but I understand the world we are in. If you cannot factor in compassion, at least focus on good customer service. That incident will remain in that child's head

Posted at 1:49PM on Jun 25th 2008 by Kelly

9. I have a little trick that I use when I need to use a restroom, and it's "Not for the Public."

I tell them I'm diabetic, and that I have to give myself a shot. They like the idea of me using the bathroom against the rules a lot more than they like the idea of me passing out, and maybe dying, in the middle of their store.

It always works.

Amy @ http://prettybabies.blogspot.com - who is certainly going to hell, but at least I know how to get into Hell's Bathroom!

Posted at 2:35PM on Jun 25th 2008 by Amy

10. Aw, you guys are so cute. First, I like all of you who suggest using fecal matter as some sort of weapon. That's so nice.

And I also love all of you who think a store should risk going out of business just so you can be spared the torture of walking to the nearest public restroom.

Nice to know that you place your own crap above the welfare of the small business owner, their employees and all the other people that their business supports, their suppliers, the drivers who bring them goods, the 99% of the rest of their customers who would know better then to go out shopping with a child suffering from diarrhea or who understand the difference between a public and private restroom and rather than stand there and badger some poor kid making minimum wage, would rather act like an adult and walk the extra minute to any one of numerous public fascilites.

Posted at 2:44PM on Jun 25th 2008 by eugene

11. Oooooh. That makes me so mad. I was 6 months pregnant and potty training my oldest. We were at the DOLLAR TREE in Germantown, TN on Poplar Ave and were also refused the bathroom. Both of us had to go. We were denied based on "security reasons". We ran to the Wendy's in the same parking lot, although not easy to do under those circumstances.

We actually returned to the store and loudly complained to the manager who was stocking aisles. He could have cared less. Only shrugged his shoulders. Now I wish we hadn't run to the Wendy's and just had made a mess on his floor. Although that would have been pretty embarrassing for all of us :)

Posted at 4:50PM on Jun 25th 2008 by Leslie K

12. This store did nothing wrong, other than the supposed snarky comment. It's a store, not a restaurant and how can you blame a (likely) minimum wage worker for doing their job. I've worked at plently of places where I have been told that the bathrooms are STRICKLY for employees only (mostly for insurace reasons).

I am a parent but I also realize that the world is not build to accomodate every last one of my child's needs. Accidents happen. And to those of you who suggest flinging the fecal matter and dirty clothes around the store are just plain childish. Because defecating in a store that sells food, is I'm sure, not against any laws!

Posted at 6:00PM on Jun 25th 2008 by ikate

13. I'm surprised that no one has commented wondering why this mom had a sick child out shopping in the first place. If I know my kid has the runs, which apparently this mom did, you can bet I do not venture far from home.

Posted at 6:44PM on Jun 25th 2008 by ladybarnard

14. Finally some folks with a little common sense. I read this on that stupid consumerist website and got so ticked off by the mindless idiots that responded. What really needs to happen is mom needs to take some mothering classes. The kid is 5, obviously been sick because not a lot of 5 yr. olds know enough about diarrhea to know they have it unless they have had it all day. So mom couldn't leave the kid at home and just had to go out with her friends. Then she argues with the person instead of finding another proper location. And I don't know of any 5 yr old, my own 5yr old girl included, that will even remember that incident much later never mind be scarred from it. Guess what, those stores aren't large enough for a full bathroom, and there are health codes to shut you down. Violation 1, letting a non-employee who is obviously sick behind your counter, violation 2, letting same person walk through your stockroom where the rest of your product is, violation 3 letting them use a non-code restroom. Plus you know this lady wouldn't have cleaned up a darn thing. She is the one who should be ridiculed for putting hard working folks like the owners of that store in jeopardy of loosing business in a time when all small businesses are hurting. Shame on her. and any idiot who says to crap on the floor or leave any soiled clothing in the store. Grow up people.

Posted at 11:56PM on Jul 2nd 2008 by Kevin