To be Angry with b&q

[Pregbabe]

Hi I am 31 weeks pregnant and yesterday was in b&q doing some shopping. I was bursting for a wee so asked the female staff member if there were any toilets, she said staff ones only and I couldn't use them. I had run across to Morrisons on the other side of the retail park.

King the problem is that the rule is "no customers in employee areas" not because companies are trying to be mean but because they are covering their own arses (pun unintended) due to the compensation culture that has developed nowadays.

In a case of diarrhoea, it would be unfortunate but I am not risking my job and or taking the personal liability of taking a customer off the shop floor for anything, and by the time I had got authorisation the customer would have been better off going to one of the other stores in the retail park that did have public facilities. The customer could genuinely be in need but they could also be just as easily trying to scam the store or employees.

In our store, to get to staff toilets you have to go through the warehouse, through a security corridor, up two flights of stairs, through staff locker rooms and then to the loos (both of which do not have cameras).

So when it comes to liability the customer: could get hurt in the warehouse either by tripping over something or having something fall on them, they could see things like security systems/alarm set ups (if their intent was to scam/rob the store then this can be useful information), they could fall down the stairs, they could have access to staff belongings in the locker rooms and will be with a colleague in the loos alone. Without cameras covering the locker rooms and toilets, the customer could take things from bags/coats and/or can make accusations against the employee of inappropriate behaviour and it is their word against the employee's (and equally they could do/say something to the colleague that they would have no proof of).

In an ideal world you can trust that every customer request is genuine, but I have been in retail too long to do that - I have seen the most angelic looking teenage girl get pulled aside and be found to have £150 worth of stolen make up, perfume & jewellery in her bag, I have seen the most unassuming little old man go out of his way to deliberately run over a colleague with his in-store mobility scooter and have had the most vile insults and threats come from an elderly lady who wasn't getting her own way, and have had more customers than I care to remember straight out lie to my face about petty things (when I know for a fact they are lying) so it is not out of the realm of possibility that the customer "desperate for the loo" may not be being entirely truthful.

I get the cameras/ no witnesses issue but would have thought this would be minimised by an escort.

The injury stuff doesn't really wash because the same rules apply to employees. Traffic routes shouldn't have things for employees to fall over anyway - if a customer could fall over it, so could an employee - so the liablity is there anyway.

I still would be pretty disgusted if I read a DM article about something like this happening (rear end + illness attack) but I understand the reasoning.

I think in a genuine case it would be inhumane to be all "thems the rules".

king Do you really think shops have lots of staff at a loose end waiting to escort people to the toilet?

If someone came to your house, would you be happy to let them use your loo if they were needing the toilet?

How can you tell it's genuine until/unless it's too late, though?

Nick

There's no need to exaggerate. It doesn't need an army of unemployed staff. It only needs one person though and it won't take long. Most big stores like B& Q have a floor manager.

yes I would let someone who said they were about to have a diarrhoea attack use my toilet if I thought they were genuine and there wasn't a public toilet nearby. Why wouldn't you? What kind of person would let someone have to soil themselves in the street?

The insurance is completely different King.

Insuring employees and random members of the public are two different things.

And surely anyone with an attack of diarrhoea that imminent would shit themselves anyway, whilst waiting for a free member of staff to be located to escort the customer to the toilet?

Unless you think a cashier is going to jump off the till and run to the loo with them?

I work for B&Q, we have a public toilet in our store (no cafe).
We have a lot of dangerous things in store, and behind the scenes- explosives, sharps and heavy duty lifting equipment to name a few- you would have to walk directly by all of these, then by staff rooms with personal belongings, cash office etc. to get to staff toilets.
It's not worth the risk to yourself, to us as employees and to the company. She should have handled it much better but it is out of our hands unfortunately.
Thank God for Morrisons!

YABU they don't have public toilets, end of - they can't bend the rules for one person.

How's it an exaggeration? How many times have you been in a shop and struggled to find a member of staff for help, never mind escort you to the loo and wait outside.

And that's great you would allow a complete stranger in your house. I sure as hell wouldn't.

And that's a good point about the cash office Whosamawotsits

How do you know you're not escorting someone intent on robbing the place?

Staff only entry doors are there for a reason.

How many times have you been in a shop and struggled to find a member of staff for help, never mind escort you to the loo and wait outside.

Honestly in a big conglomerate shop like B&Q or similar never. These sort of stores you can't be alone for 2 seconds without someone going "can I help you? are you finding everything you need today?". It's irritating.

They always seemed overstaffed to me and there is usually a floor manager type floating around as well as a duty manager.

Stores have public & employee liability insurance, the public liability does not cover the non shop floor areas of the shop. Most shops run in bare minimum staffing - taking an employee of the shop floor loses sales & increases the likelyhood of theft. Shops are there to sell things, they don’t have to provide toilets. If you really expect a stranger to risk their job just do you can use the staff loo you are very unreasonable indeed.

Staffing aside, I totally agree for staff use only. You have no way of knowing who is genuine the security of the staff and store has to take priority.

king And you B&Q is completely different to anyone I've ever been in then.

Overstaffed at B&Q? Which branch? I can never see staff in my local one!

My mum needed the loo in B&Q the other day and the customer assistant said they had staff loos. She escorted us there and waited to escort us back to the shop floor and was lovely about it.

I think it was a bit mean of them to say no considering you were desperate.

It’s not mean it’s risking their job. Do people that work in an office let the public in off the street to use the loo? What about banks? If a pregnant woman knocked on your front door would you just let her use the toilet?

Thinking about where I work

If I had to take a random member of the public to the staff toilets, I would have to take them through 3 doors that need an entry code.

We might has well just put a sign up saying "Please feel free to tie us up out the back and rob us".

I mean what's the point in having an entry code system at all?

Regarding B&Q/Wikes/Homebase, in my area it's frustratingly annoying trying to locate any member of staff on the shop floor.

My mum needed the loo in B&Q the other day and the customer assistant said they had staff loos. She escorted us there and waited to escort us back to the shop floor and was lovely about it.

And there you go. Humanity at work.

I'm not saying this should be for every tom dick and harry feeling like they need a quick slash but for a genuine emergency -

How do you judge a genuine emergency? How do you check someone genuinely needs a wee?

Some ridiculous people on this thread

Toilets through a warehouse do indeed mean dodging a forklift.... but also, to comply with H&S legislation, to be out in that yard at all you are required to wear both s high viz jacket and steel toe capped safety boots first!!!

B&Q have had members of the public killed in their stores......hence strict H&S

And there you go. Humanity at work. - 'Humanity' or a spare member of staff at that particular moment?

I'm not saying this should be for every tom dick and harry feeling like they need a quick slash but for a genuine emergency - So you can tell the genuine customers from those who are intent on getting a lone member of staff to give them access to the doors that are entry coded, so they can rob the cash office?

Interesting. You should work for the police force.

worra I work for the police and have for a long time. I still can't tell who needs a pee genuinely.

I need to find out what training course king went on.

Nicknacky, must've been the 'Mystic Meg guide to humanity'

worra I'm ordering it from Amazon as I type!