This Coffee Shop's Restroom Policy Is Extremely Subtle
We were talking about pay toilets and restroom policies yesterday, which we can only assume is what prompted reader Stephen to share this photo of a sign he noticed at a coffee shop in Denver, CO. Stephen thinks it's a "real thirst whetter." We couldn't agree more.
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Comments:
I would go into this coffee shop specifically because they have a poop reference on their door. Awesome.
(no not a coprophiliac or anything, I'm that highbrow sort that things all things poop are funny)
Gross.
Ha! But what if you're about to get sick? And need a restroom? They should add No Puke. And that begins with a "P" as well. So it all fits in.
So, if you don't do any business there, you can't do any business there?
Do I have that right?
I guess their lucky their print shop didn't mess up the order. Hijinxs may have ensued.
Coffee shops usually hire artsy folks that rock the daily menu boards.
I'm highly upset this sign lacks beautiful chalk or neon marker artwork.
"Ink" coffee? Eek, I'm sure their restroom is well-used if the coffee is like ink.
@NameGoesHere: Precisely. You can't drain your weasel unless you drain your wallet first. No plinking without drinking. Buy their drinks or hold your sphinx.
Okay, back to work now.
A coffee shop named ink! ?
Print shop - name good
Coffee shop - I confuzed
Maybe "poop" and "pee" refers to their coffee.
Sometimes I just don't understand this policy. I think that a $1 fee for non-customers would make more sense. Cause let's be honest, if you need to go bad enough, you'll plop down (pun totally intended) whatever the amount for the cheapest menu item is.
Yep, that is gross. It sure makes me want to buy a coffee right away! Less tacky if it stated "No Pay, No P and P" "Restrooms for Customers Only" I think we can all figure it out.
Why do they have to be so pissy about it?
/ducks yet again
The sign seems to indicate that you can pay to poop or pee, even if you don't buy coffee.
@GenXCub: "Poop" is one of the funniest words in the English language. It doesn't need any context - just say it, and most people will automatically giggle.
I've never been to a coffee shop patronized exclusively by Kindergartens students. That's an interesting niche.
They probably had too many Cornholio types around in the 90's. "Are you threatening me?!!"
Sorry, but I just don't approve of this sign.
It would flow much better if it said, "No pay. No poo. No pee."
See, that extra consonant just is an irritant. Also, my way is much more symmetrical.
No, you are all getting this wrong. This is an advertising message. Remember when Dunkin Donuts gave away free coffee?
Free coffee (No Pay)
Unlike most coffee, ours doesn't make your run to the bathroom (No Pee)
In addition, our coffee contains fiber to reduce frquent evacuations (No Poop).
No pay no poop and no pee. . . .hmmm I guess nonpaying "customers" can still come in and use the restroom for quickies! After all the sign doesn't forbid it. :-P
Or perhaps this is a "Help Wanted" sign for their BIP (Barista Intern Program).
They have barista interns who work for free to gain valuable experience. Of course as a condition of their internship, bathroom breaks are not allowed.
I was formulating a 2 girls 1 cup reference, but I myself just ate
Fast Times reference appropriate here: No Shoes, No Shirt, No Dice.
Personally, I think this sign is great, stylish, and funny. Gives the coffee shop some personality.
Also, businesses are only required to have restrooms for customers, not the general public.
@basket548:
I have many times purchased a beverage from an establishment for the sole reason to have an excuse to use their loo. Even at places where such a policy is not advertised or enforced.
I can always enjoy a fresh soda beverage, and I avoid any confrontations or dirty looks.
Are we forgetting the story about the little girl who shat herself in a Joanne's fabric store? Aren't there usually state laws which require businesses to allow patrons to use the restrooms?
Either way, what if you had to go before you ordered a drink/sandwich? Would they let you do that? And what happens if they let you, and you bolted out the door? What then?
I have so many questions!
I wonder if Ink's coffee is made from buzzard puss...
Anyone? Anyone?
Wow. This sign could've put a whole different spin on that whole "Murky" Coffee fiasco.
Get it? Murky? because poop.
As a person with a medical condition which can leave me in urgent need of a bathroom without much warning I am 50/50 on this one. I understand the need for limiting use of the toilets to customers and am happy to buy a little something in return for use of facilities...after I have used them.
If I am with OH or someone close who knows I can send them to the counter for me, but if it is busy and there is a queue, am I supposed to stand for 5 minutes bent double in agony and then take my purchase into the loo?
I'm just so happy the pix snapper wore pants this time.
@mgy:
My thoughts exactly. When I enter an establishment I usually go first to get that out of the way so I can enjoy my meal. Do they mean that they won't let you unless you buy something first? It would be funny if someone did use the restroom and then bolt out the door. I can picture them chasing someone down the street shaking his/her fist, screaming "You lousy free restroom user! You violated our policy!"
Personally, I think that policies like this are pretty chicken-shit. If you gotta go, you gotta go! How stingy of them.
A shop with this sense of humor is a place I would like to go. (Yes, deep down, I really am a 5th grader.) Now I'm on a mission to find where in Denver this place (and this sign) exists.
First, no shirt no shoes no service, and now this? Let me guess what comes next: No customers, no employees, no business?
I'm waiting for some kind of Starbucks bathroom reference. My buddy who used to deliver flowers found that all Starbucks have a nice bathroom that he would soon destroy. And it's free.
We own a retail store (design) and the bathroom is hidden, so we just don't tell anyone except clients that it is actually there. It's amazing what moms let their kids do and then not clean up after them (yes in the bathroom)
Implimenting a policy requiring non-customers to pay to poo or pee in their toilets would very likely result in poo and pee in other places besides their toilets. People can be vindictive that way. Just sayin'.
@organicgardener: If someone knocked on your door and asked to use your bathroom, would you let them? If not, you're stingy.
@nffcnnr: If I owned a store, and someone other than an infant or codger defecated in my establishment, you'd better believe they wouldn't get away with it
@Ein2015: Cite the law you're referring to and where it specifically says "paying customers", please.
@Roy Hobbs: For me, "poop" is number two on my list of funniest words (pun intended). My number one funniest word though is "crotch".
I wonder if they would refuse someone who had IBS?
... ahhha ....
This post made me giggle the most :-)
as an organic gardener myself I would probably tell you to go take a dump in my compost bin ... ( grin )
I would like to go to the Subway in Idaho every day, and never go to this coffee shop.
@The Count of Monte Fisto: For the hundredth time (because you know that this comes up with every post about businesses opening their toilets to the public), homes and businesses are different.
No, really, they are.
Seriously, though...
So everything is free and they don't shit or piss in the food?! OMG, Starbucks is so screwed!
Around here coffee shops tend to attract a cliet base that lingers around, and are staffed by just one or two people at a time. So, the bathrooms become very popular among local homeless people who know if they go in while the one working employee is busy that they clients won't even look up from their laptops or books.
So the bathrooms usually end up looking, well, like homeless people of questionable sanity have been bathing in the sink.
I suspect it's just to give themselves an out so they can ban people who are known to come in for just that reason.
Well, it's more creative than a printed Times New Roman sign or scraps of paper taped to the door.