'Close them completely': Manager demands bathrooms are closed while cleaned, chaos ensues

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Jul 20, 2023 12:00 PM EDT

A good bathroom is an essential part of any business where food and beverages are being served. After all, there is a… certain connection between consuming things and the inevitable need to make use of one. This is especially true when you're operating a cafe—as coffee is specifically known for its ability to get things moving.

Now, a good bathroom isn't going to necessarily make a good business—but it might break one. The last thing you want your customers to associate your establishment with is feelings of discomfort and humiliation—two feelings that often result from not being able to make a visit to the room of resting when required.

This employee shared their experience of having their boss demand that the bathrooms be closed completely after a regular customer had a close call slipping on a wet floor (despite proper signage being posted.) In a controversial move, the employee maliciously complied with their boss's order and closed the bathrooms completely, causing chaos within the establishment. 

 

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  • 01
    Font - Posted by u/whosthesixth 19 hours ago Want me to close the bathrooms? MOC Okay then! (TL;DR at bottom) While I was in college, I worked as a janitor for a pretty busy cafe. It wasn't very fun (not that being a janitor would be anyway), and the boss was pretty bad at his job, but it made the money I needed. This cafe was in a pretty rural area, and we had the only public restrooms for about 3 miles. Everyone in the community knew where the other restrooms were, but it would still be an inc
    via u/whosthesixth
  • 02
    Font - Now, since I was in college, my work hours had to be fit around my college classes. For how my boss was with everything else, he was quite understanding when it came to this, mostly because he could only find other college students to hire. With the way my schedule worked, I always had to leave at closing to get to my classes on time, so I did my cleaning during operational hours. Most of this was in the bathrooms, and I would leave it open while cleaning each stall and occasionally the f
    via u/whosthesixth
  • 03
    Font - I was about four months into the job, and was into the routine by now. Boss calls me into his office before I left for the day. He tells me: "Mr. whosthesixth, I received a complaint about your bathroom cleaning procedures. One of our customers slipped on a puddle in the bathroom yesterday." "Is she okay?" "She's okay, she braced herself against the sink."
    via u/whosthesixth
  • 04
    Font - "That's good. It must have been an unfortunate accident, I always put a warning sign in front of any puddles in the bathroom while I'm cleaning them." "Well clearly it's not enough. If you're cleaning the bathrooms, keep them closed." "Close them completely?" "And don't reopen them until you're completely done cleaning." This customer was known for being a prolific spender, and Boss only saw a big pile of money going into flames if he didn't listen to her. So he did. And I complied.
    via u/whosthesixth
  • 05
    Font - Close the bathrooms completely? Okay then! The next day, I enter the cafe, a few hours after opening due to classes, and start with the bathrooms. They weren't too dirty, but I thought they ... well ... needed a very deep clean. So deep of a clean it would take me the rest of the day to clean it up, as opposed to about an hour or two. After all, Boss never said how fast I should clean them. Whenever a customer wanted to use the restroom, I would just say that I was ordered by Boss to keep
    via u/whosthesixth
  • 06
    Font - Needless to say, things went south. Over the day, numerous people complained to Boss about the closed bathrooms. Boss said he had no choice, it was for safety. Those people, knowing full well I gave adequate signage to any slippery areas, were, understandably, very confused and very angry. Luckily, the other public bathrooms were only a short drive away, but it was still a decent inconvenience for some. A few people decided that this was the last straw in Boss's incompetent management (th
    via u/whosthesixth
  • 07
    Font - "Mr. whosthesixth, you can reopen the bathrooms tomorrow." While the business didn't completely crumble, Boss lost some very loyal customers that day and his reputation took a tumble. I've heard a bit from the past few years and the pandemic combined with his further incompetence meant that the cafe was shuttered.
    via u/whosthesixth
  • 08
    Font - TL;DR: Boss orders bathrooms to be closed while cleaning even though that was never an issue, loses a few loyal customers in the process. Edit 1: So a lot of you are saying that it was extremely malicious to close the bathrooms for the rest of the day. In hindsight, it may have been better to simply cleaned in the normal amount of time. However, nobody had an accident while I did this since they could drive a few miles to the nearest open restrooms. A decent inconvenience for some, yes, b
    via u/whosthesixth
  • 09
    Font - refreshingcynic - 16 hr. ago I thought it was standard practice ti close the toilet when it's being cleaned, for privacy as well as safety Reply Share Vote 1975kilroy 9 hr. ago . Most places I visit just put up a sign saying cleaning in progress and something about the cleaner may be opposite sex than that shown on the door to the restroom. I mean, it doesn't really matter as long as there is a free stall where you can close the door. Vote Reply Share
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  • 10
    Font - LJ_Dude These are some remarkably mixed comments. 쇼 +1 · 17 hr. ago Vote Reply Share
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  • 11
    Font - ChrisHannard · 9 hr. ago. edited 9 hr. ago "They weren't too dirty, but I thought they ... well ... needed a very deep clean." Malicious compliance would have been locking the toilets while giving them the clean they needed. This is just being an arsehole. Reply Share Vote
    via u/whosthesixth
  • 12
    Organism - gomazoa93 17 hr. ago Bro you mopped the floor with them despite being put in a very shitty situation. Vote Reply Share
    via u/whosthesixth

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