Yesterday, we wrote about a mother whose five-year-old child had diarrhea and was refused bathroom access by a local Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. She emailed us today to say she received a call from the Chief Operating Officer of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.
The mother writes:
Wanted to update you that I received a call from Bryan Merryman, Chief Operating Officer. He was apologetic, compassionate and understanding and I appreciate his call. What he did make clear and what is no doubt a challenge for him, is that this is a franchise and as such is responsible for their own policies. He made it clear that the way this franchise handled this situation is at odds with corporate. Still no word back from the owner/manager of the franchise since she hung up on me, which is disappointing because her actions are hurting other franchises who have nothing to do with this. As an apologetic gesture, Mr. Merriman offered to send some product that I refused as again, my only desire in this is that this franchise and manager adopt a more compassionate policy in the future. We’ll definitely be giving the movie theater, who graciously let us use the restroom, our business in the future but I can’t say the same about this Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory franchise. The owner/manager may think that her decision was the most sensible business-based decision, but in the end, business is about people.
In a story in the Orange County Register, the franchise owner claims she apologized to the mother, but the mother says that never happened, and she still hasn’t heard from the franchise owner since she was hung up on.
(Photo: Getty)
More From Consumerist
-
August Recall Roundup – Bye Baby Strangulation Bunting
-
Mountain Dew Debacle Shows Why You Can't Let The Internet Play Mad Libs With Your Product
-
Winter Is Coming, And This Year It’ll Be Cold Enough To Increase Your Home Heating Bills
-
Dude, Where Are The Rockies? Pot Tourism Is Probably Coming To Colorado
-
JCPenney To Require Structural Inspections Of Factories In Bangladesh
I was just going to post the same message. This owner is sueing RMCF, so there is no love between them, and corporate. They are also trying to sell this store, so this should help lower the price.
@laserjobs: Agreed. I may have taken a different approach, but I would still make sure I launched the best smear campaign ever!
@testsicles: I’m sorry that you are fat, bald, and have a small penis.
@Pro-Pain: Oh yeah? Well I had sex with your wife!
I read the article at the link and the comments posted there, and there are some seriously ignorant assholes out there! Going on about how the woman was stupid for feeding her kid, how she shouldn’t have posted the manager’s home address and asked people to harrass her (she didn’t do that, did she?), how she just wants to sue (she isn’t, is she?). Wow. HATERS AHOY!!
I was shopping with my mom after she had knee surgery, she had to go, I asked the store clerk. They told me it wasn’t public, I pointed out her limp, they let her use it. No drama, no laughing, no sueing. Why is it so difficult for people to just BE NICE?
By now, quite a few of us have seen maps of the place… There were public restrooms available. Why did the mom insist on using the Rocky Mountain one?
This company is getting burned at the stake because a mother lost her bearings and didn’t keep track of where the public restrooms were.
This whole story and the “outrage” that Rocky Mountain Chocolate is having to deal with is a load of crap.
While I feel for Corporate RMCF I don’t think they did enough. They have more abilities to persuade a franchise owner to take care of their customers. Until that franchise owner is brought to face their inhumanity then the whole chain is tainted. And for all you libertarians who are siding with the business, yes they have a right to be d**ks but I also have equal rights to boycott and spread the word about the incident.
About three years ago, I ate some bad fish. Some really bad fish. I felt fine as I was walking along the sidewalk late at night, then had a couple moments of dizziness, then instantly knew I had to vomit a lot and soon. It came on that fast. I ran into the nearest coffee place, which was closing up. The guy said, “We’ve closed the bathrooms.” I didn’t say anything, but my stomach cramped, and I think I turned green. The guy immediately said, “Next door on your left.” I did what I had to do, did not leave a mess and apologized profusely as I left. The guy said, “Everybody gets sick sometimes.”
Which is true. And I’m really glad I ran into him instead of some of you pricks.
(I managed to hold myself together for a quick cab ride home, then spent the next two days not feeling so good. Beware the fish.)
The only argument I’ve seen in favor of the store that makes the slightest bit of sense is the one regarding insurance. A store that is not required to maintain a public restroom may not have proper liability coverage if a customer is injured in one of the areas that is not normally open to the public.
But even that seems to be a case of taking a sensible general policy (“I’m sorry, we don’t have a public restroom”) and bureaucratically enforcing it under ALL circumstances, including those that are rare, extreme, and warrant an exception, like this one.
@Shadowfire: Your need to go to the bathroom does not trump my right to private property.
@Bodgy: The kind of mother who would demand to use a private restroom is the kind of mother who would not clean up after her kid.
@Prions: If you want the store to let you use their private washrooms
It never ceases to amaze me how many people think that businesses are (or should be) allowed to do pretty much any damned thing they want, because it’s “private property”.
A retail store is NOT private property. The land and building may be privately owned, but the retailer is a public corporation, operating with a retail sales permit, engaging the public in a commercial activity – therefore acting as a public entity. Once the doors are open and the public invited in, the argument of “private property” won’t cut it.
I’m also surprised at how many people seem to lack even one single iota of compassion. Even if they are not required by statute to have a public restroom – and I’ve seen at least one strong argument that may be so required – we’re talking about a five year old child here, with an immediate and urgent problem. We’re talking about a little bit of common fucking decency.
So please, all you people going on about how “you people always act so entitled…” and “the store has no obligation…” and “the mother should have to clean it up…”, please, just shut your selfish fucking pie hole and go buy a book on how to be a member of civilized society.
@Danilo Campos:
My point exactly. Except it took me three paragraphs of ranting.
+1 for conciseness and eloquence
@TinyBug: you’ll get over it.
Point 1 (Bathrooms)
Does anyone actually even know if this lady purchased anything from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory? All I’ve seen is that “she was eating outside” before said mishap and ran into a “candy store” of all places to use the bathroom. I don’t know much about RMCF, but candy stores don’t usually have tables that allow patrons to eat outside. Another thing to consider is that it does appear that there were public restrooms available to this lady and her child. Why argue with a candy store that has an employees only restroom and waste time?
Point 2 (Oh the Humanity)
Noone knows for sure what kind of correspondence took place between the manager and this lady. We’ve only heard one side of the story, and of course, the manager is going to look like a grade-A asshole.
Point 3 (Public or private?)
The fact of the matter remains that unless a full-fledged restaurant is the matter of discussion, I’d find it hard to believe that any private business is at the public’s beck and call when it comes to using designated employee facilities. There are those of you who tout the “it’s an emergency” and “have a heart” slogans, but the fact of the matter is liability. Anyone willing to pay out of their own pockets if either mother or child were hurt trying to get to the bathroom? Just because you say it’s not likely to happen doesn’t mean that the notion can be discounted. In addition, the interpretation of the word “emergency” can differ from party to party. “Emergency” to me, indicates someone in need of immediate medical attention. In those cases, non-action supercedes liabilities. To confound matters even more, who’s to say that this wouldn’t have been on the consumerist if the mother and her daughter had been hurt trying to get to and use the employees only bathroom?
Point 4 (Oh the Humanity Pt. 2)
The issue of vandalism (it’s not just pimply-faced teenagers) should be prevalent in the minds of anyone with a business that contains a restroom, public or private. Would anyone on this forum be willing to clean shit stuck to the walls for this candy store because they let the wrong person use the bathroom? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that mother and daughter are vandals, but they come in all shapes and all sizes.
Finally, as a parting note, for those of you who advocated that the mother pull down her daughter’s pants and “let’er rip” on store property;
-Allowing such a purposeful act can be construed as defacing or vandalizing private property
-May violate CA penal code section 640
-Would do nothing to help this lady’s daughter in the short run and may actually cause psychological damage in the long run
-Is infinitely lacking taste and intelligence
Too late for Rocky Mountain – the negative publicity they received from their lack of common sense is worth the read. The damage is done! Let’s hope other store owners learn a lesson from Rocky Mountain; somehow I don’t think it’s going to happen.
@TinyBug: Sorry bub but the employee restroom is private. The public restrooms found in the mall fulfill the “public corporation” requirements your talking about.
@dragonfire1481: Hey bud. So where is the money coming from? It doesn’t magically appear or grow on trees. You have to earn it from the public. If there is no public, there is no money. Therefor, it isn’t about the money. It is about the people as without them, there simply is no money to be had. Doof.
One thing I’d be interested in is if the owner of the offending franchise owns other franchises (Rocky Mountain Chocolate or otherwise).
If this person also owns the Wendy’s down the street, then I wouldn’t want to eat there either–same if s/he was an investor in a car dealership.
This is a case where I would want to avoid any business associated with him/her.
@EJXD2
Why don’t we just egg their house, flatten their tires, and post their information on bathroom stalls while we’re at it.
/end sarcasm
I have to really wonder if the manager ever really mocked the mother. I’m totally sure that as an angry mother who’s kid just crapped her pants I would hear it sound like a twisting knife but we only have her side of it. We don’t even know how the mother treated the minimum wagers when she asked for the toilet.
The mall restrooms are far, and I hate this mall for it. However, the sushi place and Johnny Rockets next door have restrooms she could have run into instead of insisting on going into their backroom.
As a rule, I never write to companies after their customer service disasters are reported on Consumerist – a lot of times there’s a gray area as far as guilt is concerned, or the company has already rectified the issue before Consumerist reports on it. But I wrote to RMCF after I read the original report here to let them know they won’t be getting my business – not just because they let a kid soil herself in the middle of their establishment, but because of their callous and indifferent response.
people should picket in front of that location with chocolate sauce smeared all over the butt of their pants holding signs that say “GARBAGE IN GARBAGE OUT”
Reading all the pigs who post on this site is just disgusting. I keep seeing comments about throwing human waste at the store or smearing it all over in the store. You people are honestly disgusting and are the reason we have such rules in place to this day.
This is probably the dumbest thing I have ever read and even dumber that people are rallying behind it. Ok the kid had an accident. Sucks the mother decided to go into a store with no public restrooms instead of one that does that are easily around in that area.
We are talking about high school kids working at this store. They have a store policy and they stick with it. You cannot assume large amounts of compassion from minimum wage workers. To top it off we do not really know how the phone call played out. For all we know the mother was very aggressive on the phone and could have even been threatening to the store owner/manager.
All that is truly clear is some kids working at a store with no public restrooms denied use to a customer. An accident then occurred and now we have all these immature people posting slander about the company on various review sites. On top of that we have people making threatening comments on this site just because some high school kids followed store policy. Real mature on you guys….Bravo. I hope all you internet heroes feel good at the end of the day.
@infecto: I’m honestly just happy that we’ve gotten to 120 comments without someone using the word “crotchfruit.”
Oops.
This is in my area, not surprised to see another rude business report.
@Superawesomerad: Crotchfruit sounds so exotic… It sounds like it would be lovely sliced over some raspberry sorbet.
If anyone in the area wants to help me pass out flyers, pm me.
@infecto: I agree. Its just so easy for people to be asshats and spout off in anger because of the sense of anonimity and lack of consequences.
Now where can I buy some crotchfruit sorbet?
I wish someone could take a picture of this shop – this particular one. I’m dying to see it. There are a couple shops at the mall here in town, where if someone ran up yelling “Diarrhea! Diarrhea!”, the person at the counter would practically have to draw a map to explain how to get to the back of the store where the employee restroom is located.
Is this a little tiny shop that’s essentially just a display case and counter? The one I’m thinking of doesn’t even have a way to get behind the counter unless you go down the back service hallway and in through the back of the store.
“Here! I’ll just hand her over the counter to you! Hurry!”
@infecto: Thanks for reiterating that we do not know how the phone call actually went. That is worth repeating, because I too think more people need to take her story with at least a wee grain of salt.
Given her reaction to the original incident, we can be pretty sure that she got into the phone call with an axe to grind, and some people do not come off well in those types of situations. Short of a recording, there is no way to know how either party behaved.
Well, first off, all of you who use cusswords in public posts must have the mentality of schoolyard children!
Second, I do feel sorry for the mother and her child, but the only true thing wrong is that a FOOD service business didnt have a public restroom set up AWAY from the food production area!
Since they didnt I feel bound to support their refusal to allow the mother to take her child with THAT problem right past the FOOD production area!
The mother said “she lost it all over herself and me” – well what if she had “lost it” just as the mother was taking her right past FOOD in the process of being prepared for public consumption?
I dont have the right, nor does ANYONE else, to threaten the health of others. And if somone were to get sick from food tainted because they allowed the mother to take her sick child through the food production area then the business could be sued both by the person who got sick AND by the state health board
@fair_to_all: You really like capitalizing random words.
Bless that child’s heart. I was having a some tests run as a child in the doc’s office. Nobody would listen when I said I had to go ( I was pumped massive amounts of fluid). So I screamed and I screamed……… and then I just blew all over the x-ray equipment. I wish that child was old enough to think about standing there and spinning, while she shit all over the place.
TO EVERYONE out there who has given their opinion, Wow, even I think I sound like a heartless bitch. Unfortunatly I think alot has been left out of the story or even added for theatrical effect. But until you have owned a small store like ours it is very hard to understand all of the different situations that arise. I only tonight started reading some of the comments that you all have about me. And I really hope that some of you can understand where I am coming from. First of all everyone is under the impression that the little girl actually went #2 in my store and that is absolutely false. When I spoke to this lady on the phone the next morning she told me that her Daughter had almost poopooed in her panties. And as far as me telling her to sue me, I would never tell even the worst customer to do something like that! Trust me there was no laughter this was a very serious conversation.I have appologized to her on the phone, I have appologized on tv, and now I will tell all of you I was not there when this happened. Had I been there then it probably wouldn’t have even been an issue.As some of you have noted, it’s a hard call to make. Am I supposed to risk the wellfare of my own children if she gets hurt and sues me for everything I have. Or do I enforce the use of public restrooms which are less than 50 ft away. If it makes any of you happy, I have had to clean up many peepee messes from people who never even asked to use the restroom. They just let me know as they were leaving. It’s not a big deal just one of the perks of the job I guess! I also wanted to say that my employees are not the dim bulbed bimbos that they are being made out to be. They are very bright and talented ladies who just felt thay were donig their best and protecting us from all of the weird stuff that happens here almost daily. And I have to say that this is definetly taking first prize. Not the little girls discomfort, but things like the deaththreats and phone calls and posting of my home address. So I hope that if any of you read this you can understand my point of view. I understand that many of you have made up your minds about me and nothing I do or say will probably change that. But please know that I would never purposely do anything to hurt any child or any adult for that matter.And if you don’t want to buy our product I understand that to, It’s expensive and even I can’t afford to buy it! I guess if you want to say anything else to me, you know where to find me.
@s2eb779: Wow what a mature response. I am really glad you support vandalism for something that was no ones fault.
sure hope they let prospective buyers know about their legacy…
[www.bizbuysell.com]
Okay I’ve read all 134 comments on this story and I have to say I’m so angry at the clueless people who have left their self-entitled opinions on this site.
I work in a small shop that serves frozen yogurt and we too have an employee only restroom. I have been cussed out and threatened by customers because of my refusal to let them use our EMPLOYEE ONLY restroom. The reason, It is unlawful to allow anyone other than staff near our backroom because we serve FOOD to the PUBLIC. We could be shut down because one person vomits near our products, let alone goes #2. It is a serious health code violation. I’ve directed people to the nearest restroom which is a 2 min walk from our store, mind you these people aren’t always customers, just people who seem to think every place of business should allow them to use their restroom. I have a problem with this because for some reason, people think they have every right to demand anything they feel like and treat me like crap because I’m a “minimum wage slave”. When in actuality I’m the supervisor of the store and I’m 20 years old, not 16 like some people might think. I would love for you all to think about how you treat employees because you are not entitled to anything you want because you’re giving me $3 for product. Why waste your time arguing with me about the restroom when you can walk down the way to one? because you want your way, when you want it and when your kid pee’s on my floor, you walk away and leave me to clean it up. Thanks a lot. Maybe I can come to your work sometime and pee on your copier or your desk and let you clean it up. See what the health code says about that. Or would you prefer for me to wipe you butt for you because you’ve graced me with your $3. Get a grip and start treating people like human beings and maybe I’ll have compassion for you and risk a violation to help you out, but before that happens, take a hike to the nearest restroom because I’m not letting you near mine.