Not allowing heavily pregnant woman to use a loo

I still think there is a massive lack of creative thinking - yes, the individual options I listed off the top of my head all have pitfalls, but surely situations like this should be triggers for us to think is this really the kind of society we want to be or could we tweak things?

Insurance companies and fear of litigation haven't always wielded so much power over people and I'm not sure why this can't be challenged.

@pelvicfloorisnomore

Should they let homeless people take a nap on the floor? And feed them? And let them use the loo and shower? Why not, if caring is a core value?

It's not hard to work out with basic logic skills, is it? If she'd had a car she would have been home sooner or, at the very least, not have to walk home visibly covered in urine.

I used to work for Co-op, not in the shops and honestly this was so common, people trying to get us to do things we didn’t offer because “you’re Co-op, you’re supposed to care blah blah blah” - we actually had to stop offering one product because it was so common for people to try and get us to do extra work without them paying for it. Caring doesn’t mean just doing whatever it is you want.

But then they'd have to have a multi-page dossier laying out every single value they do or do not hold and that would be ridiculous.

I genuinely do feel for you, and I do think something needs to change around public access to toilets though!

You need to stop trying to make out they are lairs because they didn't let you use a toilet and therefore they don't care for others. Co-Op has extensive community action work which meets this aim. Not letting you potentially get hurt or rob the place isn't them not caring ...
They could argue that it IS them caring, if anything, because it's them protecting you from harm which wouldn't be covered under insurance

It's not the world you live in, it's the country.
You have a problem with capitalism, enterprice and business that requires insurances because that industry is a big money maker then move somewhere else.
No point in 'seriously-ing' me!

Because some people are arseholes and would use the excuse of being pregnant to get into the staff area and steal things/cause damage. It’s a supermarket, probably a small one if it’s a Co-op, it’s not a public toilet.

See, I do kind of agree with this, but then you come up with lots of other issues, such as many stores not having the space for customer toilets or the insurance being more expensive, which means the cost of products might well go up, which isn't exactly great for people on low incomes, and many LAs simply do not have enough money to go around as it is.

Even making the policy discretionary can be problematic as you could end up with people who have hidden disabilities or who look just looks bit dodgy being refused access while the nice respectable-looking pregnant lady gets to use the toilet (and if she slips and sues, well that's bad news).

So, it's not really a lack of humanity for the most part, but more that you need to balance a lot of different factors and being kind to one set of people can be unkind to another.

There's also a difference between "customer toilets are for customers only" which stem from a store policy to deter antisocial behaviour and to encourage spending and "customers cannot access back areas to use staff toilets" which will come from insurance policies aimed at protecting both staff and customers....

I’m sorry this happened to you :(

One of the reasons pregnancy is utter shit, for the last 2 months of my pregnancy I had to wear those adult nappies as I couldn’t go out for more than half an hour without wetting myself :(

A chemist might have different insurance. The way to the toilet might not involve going through the area with controlled drugs (and if it did involve it then there's no way randoms would be allowed through it). They don't tend to have huge, heavy boxes of stock and potentially even machinery out back....

And, lone working is partly an insurance issue...

I was told 'no' in a pub... that it was for customers only.

I have never been back in that pub and it's changed hands multiple times!

Sorry this happened to you. I promise no one noticed your wet pants (the joy of being invisible over the age of 30).

This.

I'm amazed by the lack of humanity here and inability to question why society appears to be putting the (financial/legal) needs of business and insurance companies over the physical needs of a heavily pregnant woman.

Maybe, as a major retailer, the onus should be on the store to provide a toilet for customers in need? Or maybe more pressure could be put on LAs to provide more public toilets? Or maybe employers could be more compassionate and not automatically fire an otherwise good employee because they helped a woman in need? Or maybe the policy isn't good enough and needs to be re-worded? (This happens to policies a lot - they're not exactly holy scriptures).

But they haven't specifically said that their care or social responsibilty comes in the form of offering up the loos to everyone, have they? It might come in the form of selling fairtrade products or looking out for their staff. No business can be everything to everyone, although it would be nice if they could!

Funnily enough, it was only ever women who asked me if they could use the toilet. The only men who asked were asking on behalf of a child.

I probably would let a man use the unisex downstairs toilet if he seemed desperate, yes. I’d just wait at the end of the corridor near the exit door which opens on to shop floor. As soon as the man left the self-contained cubicle, I’d open the exit door, walk through it and hold it open for him. There were no staff items cluttering up this corridor, so nothing to steal except toilet paper.

That was because I thought it was a public toilet that anyone was allowed to use but the employee just wouldn't hand the code over! You do get some petty people like that occassionally.

Now that I know it's a customer-only toilet then I completely understand why they would not give the code. Like I said, my reading comprehension failed me, and I've been arguing throughout this thread that it's not the staff's fault if policy doesn't allow them to let people use the loos.

You said you "can't see any reason other than nastiness". I don't what else you might have said previously.

Our toilets were in our stock room so it was actually physically dangerous. We used to have customers shout eg ‘oh my son CAN’T use your bathroom? We have to go to the hotel?’ regularly or mention us on Facebook. I’m so sorry that happened to you op but better trying somewhere that has toilets signposted or a hotel

3 times - also done 3 lot of toilet training - 2 of whom really struggled - also now have older relatives who often need to go more frequently.

The OP doesn't know why she was refused - could be a company wide policy - could have been something like location of toilets in this building - could have been timing with few staff on or insurance reasons - she could write and see if Co-op can explain why.

Sad fact is it often very hard to access public toilets and many shops are very reluctant to let access to staff toilets for a variety of reasons many stated on this thread.

If you're the person who stands to lose their job you'd understandably make that a priority.

I agree wholeheartedly, and I've been arguing it's not the staff's fault on this thread. I misread it and didn't realise you had to buy something first! Never been in a Primark. Silly policy IMO, but you can't blame the employees if they're worried about their jobs.

People on job interviews are being invited in, will be taken through a specific route which might not be possible from the front (think the office is near a back door they are told to use) and are ultimately there as part of the company. Members of the public are not.

Staff will be told to wear closed toe, low heel shoes. They might even be issues shoes. Sandra doing her shopping might be in her best open toed heels... Closed toe will be required because of heavy items potentially falling and potentially dangerous spillages.