- “Monday, July 2, 2007
Catherine W.
[redacted]
Darrell Webb
Jo-Ann Stores, Inc.
5555 Darrow Road
Hudson, OH 44236-4054
Dear Mr. Webb,
On Friday, June 29th at approximately 2:15 pm I was shopping in the Jo-Ann Fabrics store in Logansport, Indiana. While shopping, I suddenly experienced unexpected and intense diarrhea. I approached an employee and asked her if I could use the rest room. She said she was not allowed to let me use it. I discreetly explained my situation to her and she said I would have to speak to the assistant manager…”
I approached the assistant manager, Carla Cogswell, and again requested to use the facilities. She said no and I told her I was experiencing severe diarrhea as we spoke. She again said no and quoted a recent policy change regarding the rest room facilities not being up to code and that they were not allowed to let customers use the rest room. I told her I understood but that this was an extreme emergency. I again told her I was experiencing diarrhea as we spoke and she again refused saying she could lose her job if she let me use the rest room and that there was nothing she could do.
At this point I was becoming extremely frustrated and feared that the diarrhea was going to run down my legs and drip onto the store floor. I was in tears, desperate for some assistance with my embarrassing and humiliating situation. I told Carla that I could not control what was happening and that the diarrhea was happening right now and that I was afraid it would run down my legs and onto the floor and that I was not going to be the one to clean it up if that occurred. I was put in a situation where I could no longer be discreet and was begging to use the facilities and by this time two other store employees and some customers were listening to our conversation. The assistant manager was extremely insensitive and rude to my personal emergency and directed me to go to the Rural King store next door.
I had to walk to the Rural King and all the way to back to the corner farthest from Jo-Ann Fabrics with my pants stained, dripping and smelling badly and do my best to clean up. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this was the most embarrassing and humiliating experience of my life.
I understand that you have a policy that customers cannot use the rest rooms but is it also your policy to refuse to assist customers whom become ill in your stores? Is it your policy to put your employees in a situation where they may have to clean up a customer’s bodily fluids if they become ill in the store and are refused access to the rest room?
What happened to me was out of my control, I didn’t choose to get ill in the store and I certainly didn’t enjoy having to beg to use the facilities or having to walk through another public place in front of even more people to take care of my problem. If I had been allowed to use the rest room in Jo-Ann Fabrics the problem would not have been as bad, I could have cleaned up more easily and not have had such a mess and avoided the added humiliation of walking through a large department store to the back to find the rest rooms.
I will never shop in that Jo-Ann Fabrics store again. I was publicly humiliated in front of the staff and customers both at Jo-Ann Fabrics and in Rural King. Carla was rude and insensitive and was more concerned about her self than showing me even a shred of respect and human decency.
I hope that in the future, if any Jo-Ann Fabrics customers become ill in one of your stores and needs assistance that they receive better treatment than I did.
Catherine W.
Wow. That’s really disgusting. Almost as disgusting as this joint’s disregard for common decency and courtesy. Yeah, so your guest bathroom isn’t up to code, which you confirmed for us when we called you just now, but that’s no reason you can’t let her use the employee bathroom?
We would love to read the reply letter from Mr. Webb’s office. Don’t think there’s a form letter for that one.
(Photo: jeffooi)
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I felt incredibly outraged by this until I remembered that there are a surprising number of stupid assholes in the world. Carla sounds like one. If she didn’t want to let Catherine use the bathroom (which is pretty shitty), she could have just said, “I’m so sorry! Our bathroom is broken. The Rural King is just around the corner. Do you need help?” (Because it might have actually been a very serious medical emergency). “Here’s something to wrap around your waist!” And then try to hustle Catherine out the door towards the Rural King. Instead, she was rude and made the situation way more degrading than it should have been. I really hope she felt powerful in that moment while she was making another person beg, because I’m pretty sure she’s paying for it right now.
There is a lot of crap going on at Joann’s and management always blames Corporate.
Did you know that before any employee leaves the premises they all have to wait off the clock for the manager to come and look into they bags and purses? Yes, and if a manager is busy doing something, the “off the clock” employee has to wait until he/she is visually searched. Sometimes waiting as much as 20 minutes before they can leave.
When we were hired they told us that we would be terminated for discussing wages. Well that was a red flag for me but I needed a job. I waited until I knew my co-workers well enough and I asked how much they were getting paid. Well, I understand about being paid by experience (we sure are not being paid adequately) but they do not even take that into account. I mean, if we all have day jobs and we are looking for a night job, then it goes to show that maybe, just maybe we really need this job and will take what we can get and that’s what Joann’s Fabrics/Joann’s Craft Store are banking on.
Also since the minimum wage was put into affect, the “new” hires get paid .50 to .75 cents more an hour then the workers that were there before it came into play.
Joann fabrics DOES NOT give merit raises nor do they fire people that are lazy or incompetent. What they do is give the lazy people more hours while the hard working men and women get the run around. Also the employees that are on welfare get a lot of the hours because the State pays half their wages. The way JoAnn’s looks at it, its free labor for them.
Oh and if you want a few days off, you have to request 3 weeks in advance (which is understandable) but when you come back don’t expect ANY hours or even your old schedule back. I heard it many times from other employees that it makes them feel like they are being punished for asking for time off.
Managers contently talk about how they have to run/clean the store with a skeleton crew but yet they cut hours because payroll is down and send the lazy folks home first while the employees with good work ethics work like dogs to hurry up and clean the store for the new day. A little common curtsey and respect would be nice a long with some much deserves greenbacks.
@dwayne_dibbly: Actually yes. When I was hired they said if anything happens to someone, i.e. kid falls out of basket hit head and starts to bleed, or something falls on someone’s head from a shelf, I CAN NOT go up to them and ask them if they are OK. That amits liability for them.
That is not in my nature to not help someone, so when and if the time comes that I am needed I will be there no matter what the emergency is. After all, no $6.75 job is going to take my humanity away from me.
I work at a joann’s store. We generally direct people to the next-door supermarket to use their public bathrooms, unless it’s an emergency (in which case we escort them to the employee bathroom). What happened to that woman was not the fault of a great big evil corporation but the fault of some stupid, uncaring people.
I too, was denied access to a JoAnn Fabric restroom. I was 8.5 months pregnant at the time. I was waiting for my mother to get her fabrics cut,whenever the urge to use the restroom came. I asked the manager if I could use the restroom – that it was an emergency. She said “the public is not allowed”. I started crying because I knew there was no possible way I could get in my car and drive to another place to use their restroom. The manager (a woman) just looked at me – no sympathy – no apology – nothing. I did wet my pants in the store while other employees and customers watched in horror and sympathy! My mom threw her material down and escorted me to the car; vowing never to go back there again. One of the employees that was working that day told my friend about the incident and said she was horrified by what the JoAnn manager did and that they just say the restroom is not in use and it’s legal policy – that it is basically up to the manager. Well…all I can say is…if wishing upon a star comes true, this nasty swine JoAnn manager at Loveland-Maderia Road in Loveland, Ohio will die of a bladder infection – and may her final days in a nursing home be laying in her own waste with a bad case of diaper rash!
@AnastasiaBeaverhousen:
I hope you never have this problem, for the people who have no sympthany for this woman, there have been many of times after suffering from cancer, that I have had to stay home because of being afraid of this happening to me. People who have never been in this situation have no idea what it is like not being able to go to a shopping center simply because of an illness. Depends don’t always work. I hope you that you never get really ill in your life.
Back to the original post…
How sad that none of the employees involved had half a brain. If i were the company owner I would have fired both of them.
As a business owner I try to hire people who can abide by rules, but, more importantly know how to use good judgement. The employees involved sound more worried about losing their jobs than using their brains. I would have fired both on grounds that they were incompetent, dim-witted and made a decision that put the reputation of my business on the line.
As far as the woman using the bathroom, finding in in poor condition and then potentially filing a suit, well, I would take that chance. Most intelligent people know that would be a case that would not even make it into court.
By the way, all the employee had to do was explain that it was against policy, the condition of the restroom, and let the woman use the toilet.
As a business owner I would have fired the employee and made them clean up the mess on the floor.
By the way.
I was shopping with my child once and had a similar situation arise. A teenage employee just shook her head and said nope, can’t help you. I handed her the stack of clothes i was planning on purchasing and told her to please tell her boss that they just lost my sale and all future sales from me, and to have fun cleaning up the piss on the floor. (my kid held it, but she didn’t know that!)
Because i live in a rural area,i have to drive several miles to JoAnn Fabrics.My friend and i usually make a day of it…We walk around in the store for a couple of hours usually.When we asked to use the bathroom at this store,we were told to go down the street to Kroger’s.HUH !
And leave our cart FULL of stuff we intended to buy sitting there ?They want you to stay as long as possible and spend your money,but learn to “HOLD IT” while shopping there..Hello Hobby Lobby !
I am originally from the south. Most stores will allow you to use their restoom. I have recently moved to Montana. Many of the smaller stores in the Missoula area state that they do not have a public restroom. Yes, JoAnns is one of them. I have asked to let my little ones use the restroom and the answer is always no. So I have taken upon my self to not ask. I just go right in and use it. I dare them to say anything to me. Especially when I have a cart load of items sitting outside the door. I will not spend money in a store if someone is very rude and inconsiderate to me, when I am the one who is spending money so they can have a pay check.
OK. got a question for all you “she argued therefore she had time” posers.
How slow do you speak? Seriously:
“Excuse me, I’m having a diarrhea attack may I use the bathroom?”
“No.”
“Look, I am crapping as we speak. Please?”
“Lemme ask my manager.”
Manager: Nope not up to code, can’t let you back there.”
“Look, no, smell that? That’s crap coming down my legs, and will soon be on your floor”
“I don’t care, go next door”.
It takes you ten minutes or more to have that discussion, you have no sense of urgency. That isn’t a ten minute discussion/argument even without the sense of urgency.
To all those who whine about cleaning up a toilet. Get a different job. Cleaning facilities is a matter of sanitation, customer or not.
All businesses are a form of customer service organization. This was atrocious customer service, period.
As far as the whole law suit crap, (yeah I said it, but it wasn’t intentional), no you don’t decrease your risk of a lawsuit be refusing this woman the public facilities the place had. Quite the contrary, the principle of least risk applies. “Normal” human feces is a biohazard. Having it on your floors is a lawsuit waiting to happen – a justified one. The diseases that can be carried in otherwise normal human feces can lead to death, not just the more common diarrhea.
By definition sudden onset diarrhea is an increased biohazard due to something upsetting the natural balance of the intestinal system. Therefore, if you are told that she has a sudden attack of it, and you refuse, and she craps on your floor, you are now directly liable for the effects of customers tracking it. Particularly true for a store with many mothers bringing young children in.
There is something about acknowledging a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. If you can be sued/lose your job for letting her use the can, that is no longer a factor. You are now free to do the right thing.
For all you self-righteous “I work in retail so I know better than you” posters: read “Do The Right Thing:How Dedicated Employees Create Loyal Customers ” and learn about doing the right thing. Customer service is crap because people like you think the customer is there to serve you, or is an annoyance, and you act accordingly. If you feel that giving quality customer service is beneath you: prove it: find a different job. Find a line of work where you have no impact on customer service. Good luck.
I really feel for the poor customer here. I also feel a bit for the Joanne’s employee. But what I mostly feel is anger and disgust for Joanne’s corporation. I’ve shopped very frequently in two of their stores for over 20 years and here’s what I can tell you from my experience: they treat their employees like cr@p and their bathrooms are always a mess.
No not just a mess, they always have something wrong with them: no tp, doors won’t lock, no paper towels or hand drier not working, no knobs on the sinks, out of soap, toilet seats loose, cracked mirror, broken tiles–it’s always something.
I think the real fault is finally down to the corporation because they don’t take care of the facilities and they browbeat and mistreat the people who work for them–given the talks I have had with a number of both short and long term Joanne’s employees, this manager could very easily have expected to be fired for letting the customer use the bathroom and could well be in trouble already because the authorities were down on them already for code violation. The company doesn’t keep up the facilities but blames the manager when they get cited for violations. According to the people I know, it is very much a corporation without a heart, profits are everything.
Also, violating code isn’t necessarily an unimportant detail here. She could have lost her job and earned the company a heaving fine (depending on history) for letting a customer use the toilet and it’s entirely possible that neither her bosses not the inspectors would have been swayed by the nature of the situation. So, I really mostly blame Joanne’s for not maintaining the facility and for the attitude they foster in their employees by putting them in the position to be unable and unwilling to respond humanely to this customer who was taken ill in their store.
I understand she had explosive diarrhea…but still.
It’s not up to the world to keep up with your digestive system.With the way that people are these days, what if she had gone in and then sued for it not being up to code?I wouldn’t want to lose my job just because some lady can’t walk over next door to use someone else’s bathroom.
As a person with frequent bladder problems, I don’t expect anyone to make things easy for me.It is MY responsibility to know my schedule.It is MY responsibility to ask for a restroom, and if there isn’t one available, ask where I COULD go to use one.
She should be ashamed to even write to management about this.If I made myself look like an idiot, I would accept it instead of looking for someone to tell me it was someone else’s fault for not providing me a bathroom.
Watch what you eat.It’s your responsibility.
@keikothemeowmeow: If they tell her it’s not up to code, she was using it at her own personal risk. If I had to go that badly, I would just be extremely grateful that I could use the facilities. I wouldn’t be nitpicking about their condition.
Like someone stated earlier, if you open your doors to the public, you need to have a public restroom.
I was just googling to find a location to one of these stores to purchase a $300 sewing machine for a X-mas gift, after reading this poor ladys situation, my money will go to Sears.
Wow, I’ve never been in a Jo-Ann’s that DIDN’T have a public bathroom. That being said, that is horrible! I feels so bad for that woman.
As a consumer I can understand the customers plight. However, as a JoAnns employee I see things from a different perspective. In my store the restroom is in the stockroom. IF an employee is available to walk a guest back and wait for them to be done, then we will do so on an as-needed/emergency basis. All others must go elsewhere to use a bathroom. As I said, our restroom is in the stockroom so it is not always safe for a guest to go back there. On our “truck days” when there are 1,000 cases of merchandise coming in the back door, rollers and ladders out…sorry but there is too great a risk of a guest getting injured in that environment. Not only could you then have an injured guest, but a lawsuit on top of it. Here is what I tell our guests…If you are not happy with the facilities, then contact the company that manages the facilities and request that the faciilities be fixed!! They are the only ones who can make the change…Jo Anns only LEASES the facilities! At our store, all it would take would be putting a door between the sales floor and the restroom since the restroom is in the corner of the stockroom against the sales floor wall. I hope this helps to see things a little differently, not that it excuses the treatment that this guest received…there is ALWAYS an exception to the rule. Now that that is defined a little better…who is going to clean these public restrooms that people destroy and have no regard for the cleaner-upper who has to wipe sh*t off the walls and unclog crap from tampons, etc…If the public uses the restroom then maybe they should be the ones to clean. After each guest uses the restroom, I will give them the cleaning supplies to clean it after their use. I bet this will ensure cleaner restrooms for public use! I hate cleaning my own bathroom at home after my kids…I SURE DON’T WANT TO CLEAN UP A STRANGERS MESS!
f thy hd lt lttl mss pp pnts s th rstrm, w’d b sng lttr sttng hw hrrbl th fclts wr. Hr’s cl fr qn brwn rvr pnts…f thr sn’t pblc rstrm thn hd t sm plc thr s n. f y wldn’t hv std thr rgng bt th mttr y cld hv md t smwhr ls n tm.
This is appalling management, not service. This woman should never have suffered like this, and the only reasons she did are:
1. No public restrooms. This is ridiculous in a chain store this size. I know they lease their facilities, but a lot of chains do, yet they insist on some remodeling before they move in. There is no excuse for there not being public restrooms in the stores and no reason they should not be up to code at all times.
2. Staff felt they would be fired if they made an exception. Unless the assistant manager was paranoid, I don’t blame the employees for this — I blame management. A store should never make its employees feel their jobs would be threatened if they took compassion on an ill customer, or even a claiming-to-be-ill customer they didn’t quite believe.
I don’t blame management for having a general policy against letting people into the staff rooms alone or letting people use bathrooms that are not up to code, but I do blame them for not avoiding a situation like this in the first place and for creating an atmosphere where their employees feel they’ll be fired if they make an exception for an exceptional situation.
The only thing to do in this situation and to combat rude and insensitive people is just to drop your trousers right there in front on them and take a shat on the floor. I would have gone a step farther and wiped my ass with
some nearby silk fabric and then smiled politely and walked out of the store. What could they do? If you are going to be humiliated at least go all out and don’t soil yourself but those who deserve it. You could have
stayed to watch the clean-up and gotten some real satisfaction.
You would have gotten a standing ovation from me and probably the rest of the customers.
I do believe you get what you give in this world so their time is coming.
I can’t beleive the nerve of that manager. I can understand company policy, especially if it is intended to protect the customer from unsafe conditions. But let’s consider the safety issues with allowing one customer to become sick in front of the other customers – doesn’t this pose an even larger safety hazard by exposing them to any bacteria/viruses? My heart bleeds for the author of the letter, and for the humiliation she’s endured. I can honestly say I’ve been in a similar situation and have never been refused the right to use a bathroom. I have IBS, and even when in a store that doesn’t offer “public restrooms”, I’ve always been granted permission to use the employees lav’s, even if it requires an escort to get there – sometimes the lav’s are near a loading area and require going past forklifts. But I have NEVER been outright refused. I can’t say I blame JoAnn’s as an organization. They’re only trying to protect themselves and their customers. But I do blame the manager of the store for having no human decency or respect for the letter’s author. May she be stricken with the same terrible ailment and no one to help her…. only may it be every time she appears in public!
That is horrid, I work at a joann fabrics, and that would have never, ever been allowed to happen in my store. Just plain stupid judgement on the manager’s part. Although I must share that the other day a person came in and had explosive diarrhea all over the womens’ bathroom and didn’t have the decency to tell us when it happened. That was disgusting, my manager was so horrified at the idea of making an employee clean it up, that she did herself. Funny.. that decency should be always required of people on both side of retail line at times…
ohh my god, that was humiliating and wrong!! i had somewhat of an experience happen to me yesterday. i thought that not too long ago it was a persons right, whether they were shoppers or not, to use a stores bathroom. i was shopping at shoppers drug mart in scarborough ontario and about 10 minutes later a sudden feeling came over me (it was not a # 1 either:( my stomache was churning but i felt bad about asking anyone if i could use thier bathroom. i waited a few more minutes and decided, the hell with it. i asked the cashier but she said they don’t have a public washroom.i thought, wait a minute,, are they not suppose to let us use it? it would be better then having a big mess to clean up eh. i continued to finish my shopping and thankfully the feeling had passed. this is not my usual shoppers drug mart but if i had been at my usual one, they would not think twice. i’m not finshed, so keep reading. i had to go shopping at nofrills supermarket after that and about 20 minutes later, guess what, that same feeling came back, but this time it was worse. i said to myself, go ahead and ask and if they say no, then they’ll have a mess to clean.i asked someone at the back of the store (i was sweating by then) and he said YES, what a relief. something i did not know was, they have let people use there washrooms ever since they had opened thier stores!!!! how about that eh?? and was clean!! thankyou nofrills. if store owners were more curtious to thier customers, we’d be alot happier!!
actually, the restroom law is different from state to state. In Indiana , where this took place, the law states that a public place that does not serve food is NOT required to have a public restroom. YES the mgr can make the decision to allow a customer to use the employee restroom. But it is NOT a law that you have to… its up to the mgmt team
I, too, have had a similar experience at the Joann’s Fabic that USED to be in Newburgh, NY.. I had been a customer for years, and NEVER could use the bathroom there! Many a trip to the fabric store had been cut short due to the “No Rest Room” policy! It made me always think twice about going to Joann’s after I had my morning cup of coffee!
I really feel sorry for what you went through. I know this is the truth because I had a similar situation, ask to use the restroom and was told no. They directed me to use another stores restroom!!!! I live in PA, are all of their restrooms not up to code? If they are too good to allow customers to use their restrooms, what right do they have sending you to another store?
This same thing happened to my sister, at a Hallmark store in New Jersey. I told my sister she just should have let it happen and then what would they do? I understand about lawsuits etc, but sometimes one must use common sense. In my sister’s case, she was a steady customer and the clerks knew her.
If I had been in that woman’s situation and had known where the bathroom was I would have used it no matter what the saleswomen said. What would they have done-called the police on her? The part about the restroom not being up to code- that’s probably just a lie they tell all their customers. And what is it with all these stores sending their customers to OTHER stores to use THEIR restrooms? That is just extremely poor customer service! The Joann’s in Athens,GA welcomes your shopping dollars- but then refuses to let their customers use their restroom.
@Paperclippe’s reply to Anastasiabeaverhousen: She wasn’t too embarrassed to post her ordeal on the internet and she’s already defaming the store and the asst manager by name! Let’s face it, she wanted to make a scene. If it was that much of an emergency, she would have left the store immediately to handle her business AND THEN come back to settle the score. I’m not losing my job for anyone. The woman didn’t have any disease… she’s just full of…
P.S. – Most retail operations have people trained in hazmat & biohazard cleanup.
@SaheliTiberius: I’m sorry, really? That’s the stupidest thing I’d ever heard. Because of course every person wants to crap themselves in front of a ton load of people just so they could have the pleasure of creating a scene.
As for defaming them, she’s not really doing that. Defaming would be speaking falsely, if it’s what happened it’s what happened. And if they didn’t feel they’d done something wrong, then they shouldn’t mind her naming them.
As for her leaving the store, clearly you have no experience with having the runs. When you have to go, you have to go. There was no leaving the store and trying to make it to the next place, some distance away. Get a clue.
As for her (the manager) losing her job, I’m sorry but she wouldn’t have lost her job for letting a woman about to let loose use the bathroom. Though she might for refusing a woman access to a bathroom in turn causing her to let loose on the floor and to subsequently lose business.
And lastly, as a business that often has crafting workshops, as a business period, it’s shameful that they WOULDN’T have a public access bathroom. And if they don’t, they need to let the public use the bathroom that they have.
A friend of mine in Falls Church, Virginia had a similar problem when she had to use the restroom at a local JoAnn’s fabric store and they refused to allow her access. We need stiffer laws.
Another incident happened in a women’s clothing store, I was in a local store and a lady with a small child asked if he could use the restroom (clearly the child was in distress and had to relieve himself desperately, he was making faces and doing things to try and hold it) and the store clerk refused. So the customer (mother) smiled and walked away towards the back of the store. As I continued to shop I noticed that she whispered to the small boy and directed him to go urinate between the round clothes rack of discount blouses. Not only did he urinate on a bunch of blouses, he sprayed the floor pretty good too. Although this was destruction of store property, I guess she figured that if he couldn’t use the restroom he had to let it out somehow. I left the store and vowed never to return after the incident. It was disgusting.
I would plain out sue the owner for damages and make this story as public as possible so, forgive me, the shit hits the fan and the business has to pick up the pieces of its reputation in the toilet.
Better yet, organize a “shit in”, have several customers come in, and each pick an aisle and bombs away all at once…smear it all over everything, then run away and have the health department around the corner run in and issue citations for toxic mess before they can clean it up.
Hey that is what they get for being cruel and inhumane.
When my daughter was small, just out of diapers, I was in a dress shop in Santa Cruz, CA with her when her little voice piped up with “Need to go pee-pee.” I asked the saleswoman if she could use the rest room and was told “No.” It was pouring rain out and she pointed to a place a block away and said we could go there. At this point my child was holding her crotch and urgently telling us over and over she needed to pee. I looked the salesperson in the eye and carefully explained “When a young child says they need to go pee-pee, they mean NOW.” And I looked at the carpet we were standing on meaningfully. She huffed, but and quickly pushed us toward the restroom. I could hardly believe she resented a small child in distress so much.
I went to the San Mateo CA JoAnns this AM. Four clerks were chatting w each other, and a woman said very loudly, “Can somebody wait on me?” A few minutes later, carrying a large bolt of fabric, I stood by the sign, telling customers to wait til a clerk was available. 3 clerks separately, came to the cutting counter, looked right at me, and walked off. Well, they aren’t the only fabric store in the world. I walked out, I will NEVER walk back in.
Joann Fabrics in Gresham, Oregon is a terrible store!
They come and go with the use of the bathroom for customers…but I have been in a similar situation as described previous.
The decor of this store is 1960′s “crapola”, dirty torn orange carpet, and interior building to match. It looks ok when they clean it up each new season, but half of the clientel treats the merchandise as bad as the store looks. I am embarrassed to shop there but have no other options in a 10 mile range, except for Michaels and Craft Warehouse, but they do not carry all the sewing products to say the least! And to top it off the customer service has been just awful in the past 8 years. I think they are finally getting a couple better clerks in there that seem to care, but still some are rude, or don’t care, and there is NEVER enough help!! I have literally walked out without purchasing, out of frustration at least 6 times in the last 4 years. Let’s hope this store gets some major overhaul in the very near future or I and others will quit shopping there as well!
I have worked retail in new england and there were stores that had posted no public restrooms. Esp. since they were part of malls. One store I worked for the employee restroom was part of the breakroom up a long flight of stairs and usually had to remember a pass code to unlock the door to gain access. Other stores sometime even the employees went to other places because there were boxes in front of them. I do agree in common decency should be used. New employees should find out the policys and legal aspect to this issue so that this doesn’t happen to them. Employers should regularly update their employees on this matter.
As I was reading this, several things came to mind
1) yes, this was bad customer service. It could have been handled better.
2) if a restroom is not up to code, no one should go in it, except to fix it, and it should be fixed as quickly as possible.
3) based on the number of people who would have vandalized and/or made this store as a whole a biohazard, I can understand better why corporations make some of the stupid rules that they make.
I do work at a JoAnn’s part time, and also teach school. I currently work in a “small” store, and have worked in a large store previously. Whether the customers like it or not, whether the employees like it or not, there are certain rules that we have to live with. Customers get mad at our store because they aren’t allowed to bring in pets unless they are service animals, because JoAnn’s sells food by the cash registers. It is not a JoAnn’s rule, it is the health code- if you sell food, no pets. Restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores have to follow it too. I understand, you like taking your lizard everywhere you go, but it’s not legal.
I had another customer gat angry today because she wants to sell the things that she makes in our store, because she bought the supples to make them at the store I had to explain to her that it wasn’t possible.
I’ve had customers yell at me for asking their children not to roller skate in the store, or not to seat their children on the cutting counter. I’ve had to clean pee off the counter in the store because it leaked throught the diaper. I’ve seen kids almost fall off the counter, because their parents weren’t paying attention.
It’s not about me wanting to be mean, or rude, or nasty. I genuinely like the majority of our customers, but it’s the same thing I tell my students at school. Yes, we live in a society with a lot of freedoms, but it’s not a free-for-all. I would love to drive my car down the freeway, as fast as I can, wherever I want, but there are traffic laws that I have agreed to follow as part of society. If you yell “fire” in the theater when it isn’t on fire, be prepared to be arrested for endangering public safety and get sued by the families of those injured or killed.
JoAnn’s isn’t perfect- no company is. They know they’ve got problems with their reputation in customer service, and they’re working on fixing it, but at the same time, don’t be the person who goes in and poos on the bathroom floor! It’s not corporate people who clean it, it’s the person working their second (or third) job, trying to make ends meet. The person who’s in danger of losing their job if the store gets closed down for violating health codes, or if corporate decides it’s not making enough profit because theft rates are up.
Get real. Keep in mind, you’re dealing with a corporation that is so scared of offending customers employees can be fired for not getting from one end of a store to another in five seconds or less to assist a customer.
Find a trash can.
Pull down pants.
Sit.
Let it happen.
I have shopped in Joann’s In WNY and I also was denied access to the bathroom and I felt also that it was an emergency. This was a long time ago and since then I have used it. It wasn’t a pleasant place for sure but I was thankful to be allowed to use it. As far as our digestive system being our responsibility, I think that is a ludicrous statement. We tend as best as we can to our individual situation and accidents do occur. I have broken the “rules” at previous jobs and only explained that it was excellent customer service. I am so sorry that this happened to you at all, to know that you can have had help in the situation and was denied was a heartless act. I wouldn’t go back at all either. There should always be the expectancy of someone needing restroom facilities in a customer service environment! Where there are customers, then provide all of the service. I would have helped regardless. If they are aware of the feelings of others then I wouldn’t want to work for them anyway!
I am sorry this happened to this lady. I do know they use to have 2 bathrooms…one for employees, one for customers. Customers would destroy the bathroom time and time again. At one point they would have it open, another time it would be closed to customers. They even tried the key on the stick thing.
Update on the store…it IS closing…not much in the store at all.
I for one have such extreme IBS that I would never have been able to walk to wherever she had to walk to. When I need a rest room I need one fast. I could not have argued or asked a second time. It would have been all over. Everything. It should be a law and I think it is in Washington to stay in business you MUST offer a public rest room. To top it all off my husband has chron’s and I think I am worse then he is.
I just got on this site to look fro material and saw this, I may boycott JoAnns
While I am just seeing this post from 2007 and the joann fabric bathroom incident. I too had a very similar and humiliating situation of somewhat the same degree. I too became ill and needed use of a bathroom, tears in my eyes, pleading to use the bathroom. Was directed to use the Office Max bathroom – quite a way up the sidewalk – walking with buttocks pinched, having to stop intermittently so as not to lose it and by the time I got to Office Max I had soiled myself.
I called corporate and spoke with a Regional Manager in Hudson Ohio and was told that I should have been able to use the facilities considering it was an emergency. She offered me a 20% discount on my next purchase and I told her she could keep it as I was never going to purchase from Joann Fabrics again….and I haven’t. This was approximately 2 years ago.
What goes around comes around and some day I will cross paths with the ignorant people from Joann Fabrics and be able to watch the humiliation on their faces and same happens to them.
That poor woman–I’m with the majority that she should have found an aisle or corner and let ‘er rip–wiping on the velvet selection would have been fun. Had a similar situation with my 82 yr old Mom who needed to urinate badly while we were shopping in the Watertown, NY store, she was refused and told to go to another store in the plaza. We left our purchases in the store and raced for another store–never returning. We have shopped in the Liverpool, NY store and have been graciously led to a bathroom there. I wrote a complaint letter to the company (no response) about our experience at the Watertown store.
Those who are talking about yard sales, etc.–not even on the same page. Big companies like Jo Anns should offer facilities to their customers–they still have the right to refuse people who are not customers–but if you want our business, you should change your ways. We HAD been customers for over 25 years.
Again, I am so sorry for the lady who had it worse off than us. I would have been sure they remembered me by leaving them something to think about!