Not allowing heavily pregnant woman to use a loo

[pelvicfloorisnomore]

I’m imminently due my third baby and have a massive bump. Popped to the local coop post school run and as I was checking out was desperate for the loo. My pelvic floor is pretty shot from previous 2 kids, the baby had dropped during the school run walk so I was feeling like I could not wait. The store was empty bar a couple of pensioners. I asked if I could use the staff loo as desperate, there are no other loos nearby and I was unlikely to make it the half a mile home in time. The member of staff said no against policy and I soiled myself before I even made it the front door of the shop. Completely humiliating and had to walk home like that and could have been avoided if a little kindness shown.

AIBU to expect some flexibility in branch policy to accommodate for those in need? It hardly fits with the coop key value of caring for others.

It's not co-op or any other company's fault there are no public toilets.

@pelvicfloorisnomore I am really sorry that this happened to you, unfortunately I know that customers are not allowed 'back of house' under any circumstances. I have worked in many retailers across the years and this is a consistent rule across the industry.
I have even heard of women going into labour and giving birth in an aisle rather than taking the lady back of house - obviously, extremely isolated incidents and there's probably more room in an aisle than in the back rooms

@Sixteenandfourteen789 most convenience shops are around 3000 sq ft, which are the majority of co-ops, putting in toilets with such small footprints are just simply not viable as you would not get a return on this space making the shop unprofitable. Toilets are frequently put in bigger formats where there are cafes and much bigger floorplans so you can distribute the cost of the facility over a higher turnover space.
FYI, co-ops (and Waitrose) are consistently cited as the best retailers in terms of working with suppliers / farmers and paying them.

Well not everyone can afford to take the potential loss of their job so lightly.

I think you’re getting an unfairly hard time OP, what a horrible situation to be in & asking to use the toilet so you don’t wet yourself is not entitled. FWIW I also live in a small rural town with a coop, I’ve asked to use their toilet when I was heavily pregnant and was allowed to. So there might be a policy in place, I don’t know, but human kindness and a bit of sensible decision making is still possible despite what a policy says.

This! ^ What an utterly ludicrous comment @nappyvalley1992 ! As if everyone can afford to jack their job in based on their 'principals!' Principals don't pay the bloody rent/mortgage and bills!

no it's not entitled but it's also understandable that someone might not want to lose their job over breaking policy. Human kindness won't pay your bills and feed your kids. Some employers are bloody awful and supermarkets are among the worst.

what we need are public toilets everywhere. there used to be loads but people were so revolting in them that now we've lost them.

exactly, this is now again the world we live in, much like dickens England were the poor were feckless and woman just don't matter - don't show any compassion or else they might want more

ffs the lack of compassion for other woman is awful, and it is a female issue. But of course because its a female issue town planners, insurance don't give a flying fig

Judging by the comments here, who really believe what they're saying, the loss of humanity, commonsense and compassion is just mind-boggling.

I don't think it's a straight choice between letting customers use the toilet or having them piss on the shop floor.

But as has been said numerous times, letting customers use staff toilets, as well as likely violating insurance policies, involves having a staff member escort them to the toilet and be absent from their work for however long it takes them to complete their business and then clean up after them. That could be a considerable burden on a small business.

YANBU. Whatever the rationale, it's a sad day.

Too many druggies hanging around outside my local Co-Op.

No way could they allow anyone claiming they were desperate for the toilet, to disappear out the back with a staff member.

Plus, most of the shops I've worked in keep the safe out the back.

I haven't claimed to know what all the coop policies are though. I am talking about insurance not policies.

Sorry this happened Op, wishing you all the best when your new baby arrives. Don’t be too embarrassed to call back to the Co op , accidents happen.

Well I just retired from coop and we always let pregnant ladies and kids use the loo. We go with them even though they can't access the money or anything valuable. We leave that up the fucking shoplifters and their bags for life.

If it's an insurance issue, can't they create waver cards that a customer can sign to say "if i get injured, I take full responsibility etc etc,"

It is possible that the staff toilets may have been inaccessible due to narrow corridors and stock. I have worked in stores where the staff toilets are on the second floor, the stairs have been very uneven or upstairs across a roof.

It's not an insurance issue.

No because if they are desperate for the loo they wouldn't have time to read and consider the contents of the form

No, and it sounds like I’m the time it would’ve taken to do that it would be too late anyway. Plus it’s not just an insurance issue, it’s a staffing issue, perhaps the toilets aren’t easily accessible from the shop floor, perhaps they’ve had people use this tactic to steal or distract staff so their accomplice can steal before, perhaps they’ve had people go in and smear shit on the walls or use drugs before.

It’s a shame it happened but it’s not the shop’s issue to solve, they didn’t refuse to give first aid or call an ambulance, of course it’s not nice to wet yourself but you go home, shower have a little cry and get on with your life.

My local Co op often has to temporary close when a delivery arrives because there will literally be one member of staff working.
I think a lot of people don't realise how few staff are actually working in these small shops.
Can you imagine the AIBU threads if the co op closed every time they let someone use the toilet (and needs to be accompanied to the back shop)?

What a ludicrously over-dramatic post. 🙄

Nope.
You cannot lawfully exclude liability for personal injury or death.

Which involves time and hassle for staff who likely have better things to do.

One of those things where legally there is no flexibility. They only had a staff toilet, you aren't staff so they wouldn't have had the insurance for you to use their loo. They were right to say no. In fact, it would possibly have been illegal for them to say yes. If they had had a customer toilet, and said no to a pregnant women who wasn't a customer, that would have been mean, but not letting you use the staff loo was 100% the correct response.

Anyone who has worked in places with public toilets, will well understand why smaller shops don't want their toilets being used by the public. The general public are disgusting, and stupid. Amongst other reasons of course.