To expect them to prioritise fixing the disabled toilet!

[JustNeedToPee]

I met my friend at a local supermarket part of a large national chain. Chosen as they have disabled parking, big café area and a disabled toilet. I need that as I use a powerchair and have a bowel condition amongst other things.

When I tried to go to the disabled toilet, I found it completely locked up with a typed up sorry sign on the door!

I had to struggle into the main women’s toilet and wedge my powerchair up against a toilet cubical with the door fully open, to transfer to the toilet and despite throwing my coat over the door frame, people could see and hear me struggling to use this toilet.

I know these things happen sometimes, but the security guard said it had been broken for at least three days!

I asked the man at the customer services if he could prioritise getting the toilet fixed and consider signs on the wall outside next to the disabled parking saying the disabled toilet is broken (AKA laminated printout like the sign on the toilet) if it is broken for several days.

Because the effort needed to off load a wheelchair is draining and I would have gone else where if I had known there was no working disabled toilet. But I didn’t have time/energy to load up my wheelchair and find alternative facilities at that point.

After completing my quick brief complaint to the nice man at customer services, I turned my chair away to return to the café and a woman staff member stepped towards me and started to talking at me with an attitude, which really upset me. Apparently, I shouldn’t expect to find a working disabled toilet at their shop! There was nothing they could do, so why was I complaining.

(I wanted to say Emergency Plumber? Talk to head office? Put signs outside. Let disabled people use the staff disabled toilet, as they must have one!) But what I actually said was that she needed to watch her attitude, as the way she was talking to me was very upsetting to me. She should have more empathy for the situation I was in and not try to butt into an already finished conversation. Then I continued to turn around and went to find my friend.

Honestly the first man was brilliant, actively listened said he understood my frustration and he would feed back to the head office. That is all I expected.

The woman was a complete nightmare, so much so that I am upset hours later.

So AIBU to expect disabled toilets to be a higher priority and also to be upset that woman talked down to me like that?

It is hard enough to get out of the house, as it is! I have only been in a wheelchair for a couple of years, so all this is relevantly new to me

ps. I am not the Poo Troll. Just name changed because of the subject. Mumsnet will confirm I have been on here for years, so ask them if you don't believe me.

No you are not bu. Personally I would contact head office hell even tweet (if you have twitter) the shop itself and ask if they actively promote discrimination and explain the female member of staff and her attitude and how you feel she needs to be retrained on the equality act.

Like every place there will be a reporting system to their contractors

Then the wait for works to get to them

They don't employ outside emergency plumbers, they will have their own contractors

These contractors maybe based a few hundred miles away and are likely on a skeleton service over a BH weekend.

It's out of the stores hands once reported, it's not to annoy you

I used to report it over and over to ensure it wasn't 'missed'

Yanbu.

i would put a complaint in to the store about the staff member you encountered too.

Yes the staff member needs addressing too

Did you get a name?

I noticed the name of the nice man but not the woman, as I just wanted to get away from her.

I'm kind of on the fence here.
You had a horrible experience, and I would report the woman for being a cow. However, it's been a BH weekend, and I work for a major emergency plumber, we've been really really busy.

It kind of depends what is wrong with the toilet, it may require a part plus it's been bank holiday weekend. I'm sure they didn't want to inconvenience you.

The bad attitude of the second person is inexcusable, though toilets in supermarkets are a courtesy (though if they have a cafe the rules are different, I'm not up to date on legal requirements)

Our accessible toilet at work has been broken for 2 days while we wait for the plumber to get hold of a part.

That doesn't mean it's not a priority, it just means it can't be mended for 2 or 3 days.

You're right though, they should've made it clear from the off.

It should definitely be prioritised.

Signs on the walls next to the disabled car parking spaces was an easy fix, even on a bank holiday weekend and wouldn't have cost much. Someone already made a laminated sign for the toilet, so they have a working printer and laminator on the site!

Sigh, guess I have to ring up and check the toilets are working at my destination, when I leave the house from now on and cross off this particular location off my small list of accessible locations.

That's shocking Op and you're not being unreasonable at all. Like you say, they could have made it clear much earlier that the disabled toilet was out of action & the lady's attitude is quite simply unacceptable.

It's already well known that people with disabilities make less journeys than those without and this is one of the reasons why. You're not asking for special treatment, simply equal access to toilet facilities.

Definitely complain loudly.

As a person with a disability and a stoma bag over and above that I think you've had a bad experience but you are also bu. It was 3 days not several. There's a lot of paperwork businesses need for contractors and if there are none available because they're on other jobs then people have to take their place in the queue. Life's not always perfect and people need to accept that.

Why would you cross it off when it’ll likely be fixed in a few days?

Sure, give it a week to be sure, but it seems overkill to never go into a store again because the toilet was broken one time out of the hundreds of times you’ve been in previously.

^
This.

It's unfortunate but maybe it is being prioritised over other things, it's been broken 3 days, over a BH weekend, and likely nothing has been fixed, they will have people on call but they will be to do things like stop leaks, electrical and security issues that pose an immediate risk to people or property.

I agree totally with the signage outside to let people know, if you're expecting the facility available and it's not, it's also not easy to use another facility or go elsewhere so you could have made an informed choice before you went in but - and all credit to the bloke who listened to your complaint and was empathetic with you, (good customer service, and he might well feed back to HO but the likelihood of him being listened to are practically none, and of something changing, even slimmer.) - they'll make all the right noises and nothing will change because they're a supermarket and their goal is to make money, and this doesn't do that - it's not a popular take on it but unfortunately it's the realistic one.

(I wanted to say Emergency Plumber? Talk to head office? Put signs outside. Let disabled people use the staff disabled toilet, as they must have one!)

As said, they'll have their own contractors and protocols around their availability over a BH weekend, something that the floor staff you encountered today have absolutely no control over at all, they can't just call out an emergency plumber even if they totally agreed with you and wanted to.

See above about talking to head office, not to mention it's been a BH weekend - probably no one there to actually talk to in the first place.

And why 'must' they have a disabled staff loo? Everywhere I've worked, there's one or two disabled loos - for use by customers and staff alike, I think you're just assuming there the staff are withholding something from you for the sake of it based on your assumption they 'must' have something you don't even know they do have.

The woman could have been a lot more understanding I agree, in fact she could have just stayed out of it completely because you didn't approach her, there really wasn't any need for her to get involved at all.
But, she was right, right then there's nothing she or her colleagues in the store could do. Every single one of them might totally agree with you, but short of paying for the repairs themselves they have to wait for it to be fixed, and have people complaining and asking why it's not fixed to them, and likely not all of them as brief and politely as you did.

It's not great but it's the world we live in, where red tape strangles everything, procedures slow everything down and are a hindrance to achieving what they set out to do, common sense is ruled out by company policy and making/saving money is the ultimate goal that come above anything and anyone. Not right but unfortunately where our society is.

I'm sorry, that's terrible. Definitely a sign by the disabled parking would be a good idea.
The other day I went to a restaurant (with my walker not my powerchair as it happened as could park very close). The restaurant shares a building, and permanent ramped and stairs access, with another venue. I've been before, and the ramped access and disabled toilets etc were very good. This time there were bolted barriers and portaloos from the other venue blocking the ramped access. We asked the bouncers for the event to move things so we could enter the restaurant, and met first with blank stares, then dismissal, then anger when we pursued the matter (because we had a booking at the restaurant!). Then we were eventually let through via the other venue as if this were a special dispensation, all the while being lectured on our "attitude". Luckily the restaurant manager was very sympathetic when we got in, and went to have a word with the other venue, but despite the restaurant manager coming with us on the way out there was still significant huffing, moaning, and then another lecture on attitude when we politely suggested putting a gate in the barriers to facilitate things if it was a frequent occurrence.

Who's responsibility is it to provide toilets - disabled or non-disabled? Is it the responsibility of this shop? What about shops that don't have any toilets?

Apologies if I've misunderstood, but the vast majority of shops I go into don't have toilets, and those that do are a 'nice to have' but aren't key to the shop as they would be to a cafe where people eat and drink.

As for the attitude of the woman, complain loudly about her, she essentially chased after you yo chastise you for complaining - not okay

I work in a major supermarket and our disabled toilet has been out of order for 2 weeks now. The light doesn’t work. This is in wales.

I see what posters are saying about not being the fault of shop floor staff/ individual bouncers, but it's when they decide to put their oar in and attack us for asking for the basics everyone else gets without asking that sucks. It really affects your mental health to be talked down to or verbally attacked for just wanting to get into a building/ go to the loo/ whatever, and it happens way more frequently than I think non-disabled people realise. It's crap

From my understanding it was a cafe within a supermarket

Ah that makes so much more sense - apologies OP I misunderstood that part.

Then I think a sign outside is vital - you could've stayed in your car and driven somewhere more suitable rather than waiting til you needed the loo to find out they were out of order. Very little consideration given to the effort it would've taken for you get all your equipment in/out the car. So yes, I would complain - it's not a 'shrug and find somewhere else' for someone in your place.

This

Yanbu

Which supermarket @JustNeedToPee ?

This makes me so irate - you're not asking for a favour, you're asking for access. That should not be difficult in the circumstances you describe, so no excuse for you how were treated at all.

Morrisons