Customer Toilet Unavailable (And The 'Social Conscience' Co Op May Be The Worst)

[Chekhov]

6 hours ago, HeHasRisen said:

Thats fine then. Tell me where your shop is, I will bring my 9 year old niece in, we will ask to use your loo and then I will get her to trip over something you have left lying around and break her leg. Lets see what happens then with your liability insurance.

Incidentally, are you saying that the Co-Op leaves stuff "lying around" without worrying if their own staff trip over it ?

[Chekhov]

3 hours ago, Al Bundy said:

The other week I popped into Gregg's at Norton retail park and needed the loo. Unfortunately they were out of use as school kids had smashed them up. The staff lady said it was a common occurrence.

TBH I am a bit cynical about what staff say as to why they do not have toilets available for the public.

This was once debated on here years ago, and I was surprised at the vehement posts almost screaming that customers should not except to use the toilets, and esp not the staff toilets. Then one poster let the cat out of the bag. She worked at a filling station and didn't want there to be any chance she'd be asked to clean it.......

 

2 hours ago, MJ01 said:

I hope there weren't any paedophiles  taking photos - they've got no shame

Good point, encouraging paedophilia you say ? So, if you are right, it would appear the Co-Op have even less of a social conscience ?

Edited May 3, 2023 by Chekhov

[ECCOnoob]

Or it could be the very sensible fact that most of the Coop stores are a fraction of the size of the average supermarket. They are convenience stores at best so it is highly unlikey there is a major demand as most of their customers will be in and out within 5 minutes and  not requiring a toilet facility.

 

If you look there are rules on certain types of place which will mandatory have to provide a toilet but we all know your attitude to rules and regulations, so who cares.... right.    Of course except if it inconveniences you personally

[MJ01]

1 minute ago, ECCOnoob said:

Or it could be the very sensible fact that most of the Coop stores are a fraction of the size of the average supermarket. They are convenience stores at best so it is highly unlikey there is a major demand as most of their customers will be in and out within 5 minutes and  not requiring a toilet facility.

 

If you look there are rules on certain types of place which will mandatory have to provide a toilet but we all know your attitude to rules and regulations, so who cares.... right.    Of course except if it inconveniences you personally

It's not the inconvenience, it's the no-convenience...

[KP Nuts]

I was in Morrisons the other day and the gents was out of order. I did consider changing my gender for 5 minutes and nipping in the ladies. Fortunately the dual use disabled toilets we available.

[Chekhov]

11 hours ago, ECCOnoob said:

Or it could be the very sensible fact that most of the Coop stores are a fraction of the size of the average supermarket. They are convenience stores at best so it is highly unlikey there is a major demand as most of their customers will be in and out within 5 minutes and  not requiring a toilet facility.

If you look there are rules on certain types of place which will mandatory have to provide a toilet but we all know your attitude to rules and regulations, so who cares.... right.    Of course except if it inconveniences you personally

You make a good point, up to a point.

Woodhouse CoOp is a decent size, as is Stocksbridge CoOp. The latter actually has a customer toilet, but it's just been out of use "for a long time" (as the CoOp employee told me).

On the subject of Woodhouse CoOp, when a 9 year old child (who looks younger...) is desperate to go to the loo, and particularly when you work for "an ethical business which cares about society and people" (which the CoOp make out they are) you let them use the staff loo. 

 

>>If you look there are rules on certain types of place which will mandatory have to provide a toilet but we all know your attitude to rules and regulations, so who cares.... right.    Of course except if it inconveniences you personally<<

 

Breakdown in communication here. I am not suggesting there should be any regulation to force shops to have public loos. Where did I say that ?

It should be about good customer service (and pure common decency if a child needs the loo). I also pointed out that the customer focussed "free market" seems to provide more customer toilets than the "socially aware" CoOp, which is somewhat of an irony.....

Edited May 4, 2023 by Chekhov

[hauxwell]

18 hours ago, HeHasRisen said:

Indeed, I dont believe there is any legal requirement for a supermarket to provide customer toilets if they dont have a customer cafe, the Co-Op at Woodhouse certainly doesnt have a cafe or at least it didnt on Sunday when I was in there. Neither does any branch of Lidl or Aldi I have been in.  I dont see the issue here, then again we know what he is like.

There is a few Aldi and Lidl shops that have public toilets in some of their shops that’s been built in the last few years. I’m not sure why they have started to do this. Unless when applying for building  permission they did a survey asking customers what they would like to see in their new shops, and toilets is one of them.  
 

[Axe]

11 minutes ago, hauxwell said:

There is a few Aldi and Lidl shops that have public toilets in some of their shops that’s been built in the last few years. I’m not sure why they have started to do this. Unless when applying for building  permission they did a survey asking customers what they would like to see in their new shops, and toilets is one of them.  
 

I am guessing with new builds it helps to get planning permission if they provide toilets for customers.

[hauxwell]

17 minutes ago, Axe said:

I am guessing with new builds it helps to get planning permission if they provide toilets for customers.

Yes that’s what I thought. They want to appear to be customer friendly.

[Axe]

6 minutes ago, hauxwell said:

Yes that’s what I thought. They want to appear to be customer friendly.

What I have noticed is in Lidl the customer toilets are not prominent and are almost hidden unlike the big supermarkets.  I think you hit the nail on the head by saying they want to appear to be customer friendly.