To think that supermarkets should have clean loos

[Biggobyboo]

Popped into Waitrose. Went to use the loo and it was disgusting! The floor was soaking wet, the toilet bowls were encrusted with poo, there was no soap. Grim.

I politely mentioned it to a passing store assistant and she looked at me like I had two heads. “Well it’s not MY job to clean the toilet.”

“I understand that but perhaps you could tell your manager so they can organise for the loos to be cleaned?”

“Well the cleaner only comes in first thing and at night so there’s nothing I can do.”

Am I expecting too much? In no way was I asking HER to clean..but surely they should know so that it can be sorted?

Ideally they should be clean. But given how many businesses are precious about people using their loos, I'm just grateful they're there and that they don't insist on seeing a till receipt to use them.

And as people have said, the only reason they are dirty is because of people. If people would use a loo tidily, flush it and pick up stray loo roll off the floor, they'd stay cleaner for longer.

Drug addicts use the supermarket loos round here.

Why do DIY stores always have loos in need or repair? I once left a Homebase loo retching, it smelled like something had died in there, not just poo smells. A manager came up to me as I was bent double and I told him the problem. His reply, Yes it's awful, we don't know what it is! You're a DIY store, you should be able to find out.

Whilst yes they will have cleaners to come in when store is closed or very quiet that us no excuse for filthy toilets. There should be something in place to ensure that areas shouldn't get this bad.
A little cleaning, even of toilets shouldn't be Beth anyone. We all use them and presumably like to use clean ones, so shop staff should step up if need be they are employed by store to aid in providing a service all public areas are provided as part of that service.

Be beneth anyone.

OP’s scenario suggests more than ‘a little cleaning’ TBF.

@Insideimsprinting I work in hospitality. I can't scrub poo off a toilet then handle food it's unsanitary.

Same with checkout staff.

I won't use the disabled toilet in my local Tesco's any more,as it is absolutely disgusting. I have complained numerous times to customer services about it,and they just say that they'll look into it. One member of staff said it was due to 'able bodied men using it,who didn't give a damn about what state they left it in'. I said that in that case why didn't they put a radar key lock on the door? I just got a blank look.

@lifeonaloop assuming there is adequate hand washing facilities of course you could. And if not you shouldn’t be operating anyway.

What do you do at home? Does no one use the loo during work hours if they work in hospitality?

Morrisons in Rotherham, near the motorway, has the filthiest loos I've ever seen, often blocked too. Hate to think what the kitchens must be like.

Presumably the general public don't have access to the kitchens so they should be fine.
Why the hell should the shop colleagues have to clean up other people's shit. Yes we would like the loos to be clean but its the general public that are making them filthy. I have yet to go in the colleague toilets at work and find shit over the seat/walls/floor

@sweeneytoddsrazor
Calm down dear

Tbf to the staff member, if they are just a shop floor worker all they can do is report it to either the cleaner or the store manager.

I work for a supermarket on the customer service desk and we have an instore cleaning team from 7am to 10pm ... if a customer reports the loos we will pass it on to the cleaner but they also have their own schedule of tasks for cleaning the rest of the store as well as any other things like customers spilling/breaking things that need to be cleaned up as a H&S issue, so they often cant drop everything to clean them immediately. I have even watched the cleaner walk out of the loos and less than 5 minutes later a customer has come to complain that they are a state because in those 5 minutes someone has been in and smeared shit everywhere. The cleaner cant be there 24/7 unfortunately.

We are not allowed to clean anything because we do not have access to the cleaning materials/gloves etc as they are kept in the locked cleaners store room and due to H&S we arent allowed to handle chemicals without the right PPE and training.

shop staff should step up if need be they are employed by store to aid in providing a service all public areas are provided as part of that service.

I signed up to work on a checkout (and now customer services) not to clean up the general publics shit.

Why should someone whose job is to stack shelves have to clean shit off toilets because the general public are disgusting and they just happen to work in the same building?

Also most supermarkets employ a cleaning company so we have no obligation to clean as it is very much not in our contracts.

The smell of the women’s toilets in almost all of the supermarkets near me is utterly foul, even if they’re visibly not filthy many times I’ve gone into a stall after someone and had to walk straight back out because my stomach is churning. And I’m not massively precious about smells or public toilets! A close friend had bacterial vaginosis once about ten years ago and I’m horrified by the number of times I’ve smelled that same smell in women’s public toilets. I’m convinced there’s a large percentage of people who just become acclimatised to smelling a certain way and don’t realise they actually have a health issue that needs addressing.

It’s really awkward atm being pregnant as I need to pee more frequently yet my stomach is still queasy, many times in the past few months I’ve gone into a toilet desperate for a wee and walked back out in pain unable to go because they’re so dirty or smelly I can’t remain there for long enough to pee, I’d rather hold it in pain than end up vomiting if I can help it.

They should have clean loos but they can’t prevent the general public from being utterly disgusting unfortunately. It does wind me up though how so many don’t bother with any ventilation or even air fresheners, empty soap dispensers, taps that only run while you’re actively holding them down with one hand so you can’t wash properly.