To be shocked by what DD told me about her workplace?

[whatinthenameofcrapisthis]

DD(17) has a part time job at Greggs around her college hours. She told me today that they (the staff) regularly find used needles in the toilets from people injecting drugs, and that it's well known that particular people spend a long time in the toilets doing that. The same people also often shoplift sandwiches and drinks. I asked DD what the policy is for dealing with this, ie do they contact the police, and she said "we don't ring the police, we just report the drug use via a specified number", ie a drug hotline for Greggs itself (?), and that some staff have protective equipment to pick up needles. I was so baffled by this.

Surely used needles being left in toilets is a matter for the police? Greggs staff are not paid enough to have to deal with this surely? I told my daughter she should not be doing this.
Granted it's not the best area where the store is that she works at, lots of poverty and crime etc, but still... This has really shocked me!

AIBU to expect my teen daughter who is paid minimum wage in Greggs not to have to handle used needles?!

I was told by a police officer it isn't illegal to take drugs, it is to be in possession of them 🤷🏻‍♀️

There isn't anything for the police to do, they need to lock the toilets if they don't already and make them customer use only. As long as they have been trained in safe disposal, and she isn't being expected to remove them it's out the training, there isn't anything else to be done. I've not been in the UK in a few years, but here (AUS) they have needle disposal bins in the toilets in high risk areas, and they are cleaned out by a company like sanitary bins are. Maybe something like that?

Sorry But that’s what they are. What would you call them?

People are just disgusting.

They need to lock the loo and only make it available to customers who ask when buying food.

My 17 yr old DC and friends aren’t dealing with this. They work in supermarkets with no public toilets, tutoring companies and swim teaching. DC has one friend who works in a Greggs but they are going to med school so maybe they don’t care.

I’d encourage her to find a new job fast. I used to clean in a few hotels, never saw anything like this and I preferred cleaning the bathrooms to changing bedding.

Well, now you know how the other (lower) half live.and what they have to put up with on a day to day basis.

But thank goodness you live on the other side!

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

This is reality if you work in hospitality. Not just Greggs.
The risks of disposing of needles is small anyway. You use a litter picker and put it in a sharps bin. You never touch the actual needle.

I was coming here to say exactly this.

Our 2 local ones have closed both were taken away only after opening a bigger premises with a cafe and toilets. We also have a newish 1 about 10 miles away with a cafe toilets and drive through. In the same town there's a smaller one with a few tables and chairs but they don't have to provide toilets.

I remember someone doing this in B&M it was a woman. She wiped her arse on some baby clothes.

When I was about 15 a friend of mines sister left her partner. She stayed with her parents until she was offered a flat. So we went round to help her clean and decorate and found a used needle under the sink. Luckily her DC weren't there. They were only about 2 and 4. We absolutely stripped that place to bits to make sure there was no more.

hopefully they have proper needle disposal containers for those who are diabetic or take other injectable medications.
and yes janitorial staff or those with janitorial duties should have education on how to discard of items not properly disposed of, how to close the injectables container, how to store the container and when biohazards are picked up etc etc etc.

my son worked for a large factory bakery and the lunch room was fully stocked with pastries/bread etc so that the staff didn't need to take product.
related but not, the public toilet down the hall from my workplace office was a known meet up spot for sex.

I work in a library, this is a huge issue there. We do have sharps bins in the toilets, and many do use them, but not all.

Many people working in libraries, and it seems all the people working in the differernt government departments and charities, seem to take the view that this needs to be accommodated because addicts are marginalized. The area around the church I attend has a needle exchange nearby and so we find them all over - the workers will come out to do clean-ups periodically but of course it's never enough.

I feel sad for the addicts, I'm not unacquainted with what a burden it is, and I like many of the ones I see regularly as people - but increasingly I feel like non-addicts just living their lives, wanting to have their kids play in the neighbourhood (or even at the library, where we found a needle that had fallen out of someone's stuff in the children's area,) are given zero consideration by those making best practice recommendations, or creating services.

Being an addict absolutely makes many people, who would not otherwise be arseholes, into arseholes.

I don't know why you're so shocked and surprised.
You can't even use the loo in our local library any more and it had UV lights...
It's not just about jacking up its crack smoking etc.
Have you not noticed the blue lights and sloping cistern covers in pub bogs at all over the last 30 years?

This greggs needs to offer the local police freebies or huge discounts. Then they'll never be out of there.

Surely sharps containers would make everyone’s employment safer…

Town centre locations with higher levels of crime and antisocial behaviour often have crime and disorder reduction partnerships schemes where shops and businesses input information to an app to help identify repeat shoplifters so that multiagency plans can be put in place to tackle their offending and the underlying needs that are driving it. This is probably the Greggs online reporting tool she is using.

This is needed because of the law and prosecution thresholds mentioned further up (e.g. it allows offences in multiple locations to be considered)/because the law makes it hard to prove some of the things OP is talking about (e.g. coming out of a toilet that had no needles in prove cannot prove drug use within the toilet so there) AND because supports like drug treatment legally have to be entered into voluntarily and helping to show a homeless person a pattern of their behaviour and its impact can help them to make those choices.

Staff handling needles should have been risk assessed and given training and personal protective equipment (or the employer could face a lawsuit if there was contamination and injury) - and ime this is valuable work and life experience for your DD on an issue which is becoming more and more serious and prevalent I'm very sorry to say.

Wishing DD the best of luck and hope she feels able to continue in the role.

Also as without more resources to tackle issues (not just policing but backlogs in courts, overcrowded prisons, underfunded health care which is where addiction would be treated) - businesses are left to take responsibility.

This means they need put enough staff on duty to monitor goods (so they don't get nicked) and or put security guards.

For Contextual, can you imagine Arkwright in Open All Hours letting someone get away with shoplifting?

We've moved to a consumerist culture where we want things on show and fast-yself service (or where business prioritise cheap prices or profits over having more staff) and then complain about the consequences!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HVFtyGAYaEw

I worked as a waiter when I was younger in a very expensive two star restaurant, needs in the toilets were common place, toilets in nicer places are often more popular as you’re less likely to be caught etc.

They just need to go in a sharps bin, most places of work will have them.

My brother worked in a library and had the same problem. They also used to have sex workers using the toilet as a place of work and had to play the fun game of ‘is it water or urine on the seat?’

My hairdresser’s DD works in a Greggs in the city centre (their largest one in the county) shopping centre. They wear body cams yet the one about 7 mins walk from me - the staff don’t.

i agree with the code on the door changing or lock it at all times but unlock it when someone purchases something or collects a TooGoodToGo bag.

As it’s a customer toilet, not a public toilet.

The supermarket where I work has a toilet- don’t have a cafe. Many years ago we kept it locked unless a customer requested it. As a woman used to drink vodka and wine in there, leaving the empties. It was a combination of booze nicked from other shops (had competitors name on label) stuff she nicked from the store. Unsure what happened to her - died, rehab, moved away (own choice or forced by courts), prison etc.

Subway in the area of shops where my work is keeps their toilet door locked.