Should I tell him ?

[Moralquestion]

NC because I have asked a few people this irl

Background ;
I work and live in a big , most very early mornings while waiting for a bus at a interchange I see homeless / rough sleepers / beggars and get approached almost everyday for money by the same 2 or 3 , I dont carry change with me ( metal detectors at work ) so can not give them any.

I work close to a building that has bookable meeting rooms , two permanent offices , a cafe , shared seating ( so you can take your own food in ) toilets and showers that anyone can use for free
I have used all of them facilities apart from the offices off and on .

Main Bit ,
The showers are individual cubicles, so you can have a shower get un/dressed in complete privacy , there is wall mounted shower gel . No towels .

Should I let the people that approach me know they have somewhere they can go and have a hot shower and all of there belongings are still safe while they do.

The only problem is two of the ones I see most days attitude can vary wildly , some days they are very polite and wish me a good day when I have to refuse them money , other days they are very high on drink / drugs and are threatening bus passengers / drivers / staff and causing havoc in the shops by tipping shelves over pouring milk on the news papers , knocking stuff of shelves .
There are security on but they can not stop them when 3 or come in at once then split up in the shop

I am sure in their situation I would love to be able to have a hot shower , esp in this very warm weather.

I would like to tell them about the showers but i am worried about what happens if they cause damage or get abusive / threating ?

Over to you MN

YABU - tell them about the showers and hope they behave

YANBU Dont tell them , its not fair on the staff / cleaners / owners

I would not tell them, as nice as it would be to be the person to offer that :)

The showers are surely only for people who use the bookable meeting space you mentioned? Or did I get that wrong.

I wouldn't want to be responsible for dealing with someone in a shower, high on drugs, sent there by a "good Samaritan. :-)

Thank you for your reply @Littlewiseone , It is a slightly odd set up but the showers are there for anyone not just staff or room bookings people , I should of added there is a very small fitness room , ( one tread mill , a couple of sets of free weights and I think a exercise bike ) on the opposite of the building so they use the showers too.
Your last point is my dilemma too , what happens if the cause damage or hurt someone , also I guess they could tell anyone about the showers so a much wider potential for things going wrong.

From what I've read; you have a heart of gold OP.
But, leave this alone I think. So much could go wrong, and you will have great accountability if it does.

I think you'll find the showers will be quickly for paying clients only if you do that. I'm not even sure you're meant to be using them.

dont carry change with me ( metal detectors at work ) so can not give them any. but if you give it to them it won't be a problem with the metal detectors at work! I mean there are other issues with giving cash but that isn't one of them!

Thank you @bracemyselfagain , I know what a difference it makes to me both physically and mentally to be able to have a shower when I am hot or grubby ( I dont have a shower at home ) so I sort of wanted to share the feeling
that looks weird wrote down but hopefully you get my drift

Nobody there will know its me thats sent them but that certainly does not relive me of the responsibility of sending a potential trouble maker .
I think you are both right I will leave it 🙁

If the space provider is really happy for their facilities to be used by anyone, paying or not, then suggest to them that they promote this to the homeless community. They can do some sort of publicity piece, drum up some good publicity for themselves. But I’d imagine they won’t want to, for all the reasons other posters have identified.

There will almost certainly be homelessness charities in your city which offer washing facilities for rough sleepers. I’d imagine finding out where they are and giving their details to the people you see would be of more use.

So in about a week or two after you mention this to them and the showers are locked, there are people sleeping in the shared space, the gym equipment is stolen or broken, they’re pulling overdosed people out of the toilets, and the cafe is filled with homeless people.

This would be the very definition of “This is why we can’t have nice things”

Surely this is a business of some sort, someone pays insurance, it’s meant for paying customers of the offices or bookable meeting rooms.

@darkmodeon I dont think they could change the way they operate , as they would have to close the toilets too , they are all in the same room.
and yes it is perfectly ok for me and my work mates to use them
What happens if I dont see them or they are been abusive what do I do with my change then ?

Don’t they have little trays for loose change?

Do you mean where I work? No I work within a area of very high electric power and risk of arcing so we are not allowed to carry / wear any metal and have to wear protective clothing

You want to offer something that doesn't belong to you so that you can get that lovely feeling of helping people without any of the responsibility or cost.

There are homeless shelters where they can go to have showers. You cannot offer someone else's shower to them just to make yourself feel better.

Oooh tricky one . Not sure!

I'd lay money that the owner of said business wouldn't want people with drink/drug issues using facilities and alienating his paying customers. Keep ur mouth closed and say nothing to the homeless men.

Their paying customers... Not his.

@determinedtomakethiswork , I am not doing it to make to make myself feel better , I am doing it to help a fellow human surely that not that difficult to understand?
You are right Shelter probably do have showers so I will leave them to sort it out .

If they were that available to them then they’d already know.

I’d bet good money the business doesn’t want homeless people using their facilities and people will know that.

Surely you have somewhere at work where you leave eg keys, couldn’t you leave change there?
re: the showers, can you not ask the manager of the space? I would assume the answer will be ‘no’, but the fact is it’s not your business to be making the offer, and you need to ask someone who has the right to make that decision. Ie, whoever pays.

Pop into a shop and put it in a charity tin.

Thats a good idea. They might welcome it, they might not.

YABVU - you won't spend your own money but happy to cause expense and grief to the owners.

For all them that seem to be insisting I should be able to take money into work the simple answer is it is a pain in the arse !
All metal and conducting martials must be left in the log room , this means every single item has to be signed in and out , so if you wear a watch the type brand a colour , size , has to be wrote down with me and duty staff checking the info and both signing for it .
so with change I would have to write
Moralquestion -
Item - one pound coin * *
Colour - gold & sliver

Size- 13mm -
Value £1
Is this Item needed for work ? No .

Then make a note of the automatically generated pick up code ( this takes up to 3 minuets ) which is 13 letters/numbers long and give this back at the end of my shift . I can not log on to start my shift until this is done , with a average of 12 of us queuing up to start at the same time you become very unpopular if you keep doing this !

Now back to the point of my thread .🙄
I accept that it it could cause issues for the owners/ manager's of the site so I have sent the various business a email as @AllTheChaos suggested to see if they would mind me mentioning it .
As I said upthread anyone can use the showers ( we are on a huge industrial estate ) so strictly speaking I dont think they could stop them but as it is a bugger of a place to find I very much doubt anyone without prior knowledge would find the site .

Very few shelters have showers people can use actually as many are run in church halls or other temporary spaces, so space to sleep, sometimes space for food to be made, but only occasionally are there showers available

If you are in big city I can guaranteethere are facilities.

I would be equally confident about the people asking for change actually not being actually homeless but beggars who need cash for fix/alcohol and so on. Real homeless are not looking for attention

Of course theres always the possibility that a shower is the last thing that people living rough using drugs and alcohol want anyway.