In saying that my house is not a public loo for people on the local Jumble Trail

[MercedesDR]

Sold a few things outside for a local Jumble Trail which was a lot of fun and I made a bit of money too. What I didn't like was being asked by a few people if they or their child could use my loo. My reply was that my home is not a public convenience! Well perhaps I was a bit more polite than that in making my point, but I will not allow anyone I don't know in my house.

Was it unreasonable to direct them to a nearby cafe?

Leaving aside the genera hygiene and hand washing issues, what happens if a jumble trail visitor slips and hurts themselves badly in your bathroom?

They are not there as private guests of yours and this is not a private event. Do Jumbletrail events have pubic liability insurance?

It would be worth checking if your household insurance would cover you against this sort of incident. Same goes for food poisoning. For instance, if you sell home made cakes at a Jumbetrail event and people start falling ill and want to sue the organisers, are you liable in any way?

I know these risks are tiny but it is just something to flag up.

Is it come to this?

Gudrun it sounds like you have enough to manage - that's a different thing to most people just wanting their own space, so don't feel bad about it.

And crikey tigermoth, you sound a barrel of laughs. Would I be right in thinking you don't hold many parties?

I'd have let my kids piss in your front garden instead.

Thank you Annie, that helps x

Not really a joke, no. If you are involved in running or trading at a public event, public liability insurance is a very useful safety net and may be essential.

I am not trying to be all gloom and doom about letting people use your loo, but IMHO it would be worth checking how your home insurance would cover you if you were part of a Jumbletrail event, allowed the public to use your loo, someone slipped on your bathroom floor and (for instance) broke their leg, couldn't work for six months and tried to sue you.

Op yanbu at all.
I have health problems including ibs and i think you are totally in the right!
I wouldn't let a random child, adult or pregnant woman in my house!
I don't know them, they're not coming in.
I would never even ask!

Of course you don't let strangers off the street into your house to use the toilet. Sometimes I think MNers live in lala land.

I'm sorry but we need to hear more about the EGG SCRAMBLING VICARS WIFE!!

ginslinger
Someone came and slept in all our beds and then ate the porridge.

No, I wouldn't let ransomers into my house to use the toilet. But then I'm nervous around people.

Totally agog at the brazen egg scrambler!

Hello MNers, back again. Was just dealing with a random infant defecating in my rose bushes.

The other thing i remember about the dreaded vicar's wife was when she came for christmas drinks and her DC stripped the Christmas tree of baubles and crushed them under foot. I seriously considered shoving a bauble where the sun don't shine.

DC of the vicar and wife was a dribbler and nose picker, dreaded it if they came to call and she had a cold, grollies agogo hanging in strings

i have a 7-year old with a very serious bowel condition, meaning it is always liquid and she has to go urgently. Previously, she had a stoma bag (bag like a colostomy bag). You can't tell by looking at her. I know the location of every public toilet locally and in the car we have a travel potty with bags which we can use in an emergency, so I don't often have to ask people if I can use their toilet, but sometimes I do.

I honestly don't understand how all the healthy people out there can't understand that although they maybe able to 'hold it' for hours on end, that many many other people can't for many many reasons (my father currently has bladder cancer & needs to go very frequently, as well as my daughter's condition & since I last had a baby I have been treated by the continence clinic too) and we would all live VERY restricted lives if we had to always plan to be near a public toilet at all times, even when things didn't go according to plan in the day.

I often have to give a very hurried explanation (and try not to embarrass my daughter too much) along the lines of 'My daughter has a bowel condition and needs to go urgently, could we possibly use your toilet please?'

Of course, it is up to the OP if she wants to let people use her toilet or not, but please everyone, realise that just because you don't need to go urgently and can plan, not everyone else can, because it's just not like that for lots of people.

Your home. Your call

No way would I allow a stranger to come into my home and use my loo. Also if they were alone in your house who knows what they could do in that time especially if you leave bank statements or letters lying around with your details on. Or if they just saw something that took their fancy. People can be lovely and usually are but there are a small few that spoil it for the rest of us.

I wouldn't let a stranger use the loo in my house. Before I read about it on Mumsnet I would have been gobsmacked if anyone had asked to use it. But obviously it's not that unusual - this is the third thread I've read about people doing this.

Not sure i've ever even thought of asking to use someone's home loo unless i was an invited guest! Even then i'd try and wait till i got home. Asking randomly (even if it is a jumble trail or similar) wouldn't sit right with me. I'd feel i was being cheeky. However i would (if it was my child) ask if they knew where the nearest toilet was and if they did offer their own i would be surprised but very grateful and probably ask if they were sure and them make sure i left it as it was found. To all those saying that a child, someone pregnant or someone with health issues should be allowed to use your private toilet... I'd be worried (and i am a little ashamed that i feel this way) that they might take something and although i would not refuse someone who asked, i would feel that i would need to escort them to and from my loo. To be fair, i do think someone has knocked on our door and asked to use our phone (this was when i was a child at my parents before mobiles came in) and that was a non issue - they let them in immediately and gave them privacy to make their call.

Just a few weeks ago a couple with a small child knocked on an old lady's door and asked if the child could use the loo urgently. The child stole the old lady's bag with quite a lot of money in it.

I have a downstairs loo off the hall so I might allow a child to use it whilst I stood in the hall - but not keen really.

www.rossendalefreepress.co.uk/news/local-news/handbag-93-year-old-haslingden-woman-snatched-9383025

I have IBS and am always worried I'll need the loo when I'm not near a public toilet! When I need to go sometimes I only have a few minutes to find a toilet and there is not many about. Once I was so desperate I knocked on a door and asked and luckily the person said yes, I was so embarrassed but didn't know what else to do as u was at least 10 minutes walk away from any pubs and it was evening so the toilets and shops were closed!

I think you are being uptight and I am surprised at how little folk seem to think of others. I'd let someone in my house for a wee, it's just the decent thing to do. Yes there might be a one in 1000 chance of someone stealing your diamond ring of the side, but I'd rather risk it then be a cunt to the other 999. It's a jumble trail ffs, not a rave.

Actually I hope you piss yourself.

Bit harsh arse!

When someone robs from you at, least you'll be happy you let them use your loo

miaowroar it's a well known trick.

How near is the cafe you direct them to OP?