Man, can you imagine carrying a card saying you have "an inflammatory bowel disease"?

This is good, now people will stop taking a shit in the alley downtown.

I can't tell you how glad I am that it takes a piece of legislation to do what common sense would normally provide for. Go democracy!

If I took a dump in front of them, they'd play the "Defacing property" card and get me to pay fines. :(

If only people who used the bathroom flushed and cleaned "the area" before getting out of the toilet, such legislation won't occur.

Why should the store employees clean other people's shit esp if they don't leave it clean.... pee on the toilet seat, not flushing.. anybody who's used a public restroom knows what I am talking about

@cuchanu: I've thought of making a card explaining Crohn's Disease, mainly so I don't have to explain it to every person when I tell them I have it. I do have it down to a scripted telemarketers spiel, but still it would be helpful.

That said I've not had an emergency like these before, but if*when* they have to take part of my intestines down the road I may well need one of these cards

Ok...

"Washington DC" or just "DC" is the capital of the USA.
"Washington" is the name of a state in the pacific northwest.
"Washington State" is the name of a college in said state.

Please start getting it right, Consumerist.

is this just washington? any other states have this (specifically NJ)?

I personally know of stores where they do not allow public access to the bathrooms for 2 reason: one, shoplifting is easy as hell in there as you are not permitted to install cameras in a bathroom. Second, the public ends up TRASHING the restrooms. I cannot recall the number of times I have painted the restroom at work because of "art" on the walls. A colleague of mine does have me beat though, as her store no longer allows public access to her stores restrooms after a customer complained about lack of access to one, only to find out 2 gay gentlemen had been in there for 25 minutes "taking care of business".

I'm getting my fake "inflammatory bowel disease" card now! Who's joining me?

@balilanai: Or anybody who's cleaned one. I hate having public restrooms... the amount of times I've had to clean shit off our walls is depressing.

@Kabukistar: no, "washington state university" would be the name of that college. "washington state" is used to distinguish between the state and dc.

if they'd just said "washington," there'd be even more people bitching.

Step One: Place merchandise in bathroom.
Step Two: Claim that allowing people in the bathroom with unmonitored merchandise is a security risk.

Problem solved. It's what we did at the last retail place where I worked.

@tricky1: I found a photo on Flickr a couple of years ago of a FOOT with a skin lesion due to complications from Crohn's disease. I always think about that image now when I read about the disease. I think if people who are otherwise unsympathetic could see that, they'd be able to better imagine how effed up the intestines can get.

Here's the photo. It is GROSS. Do not click if you have a weak stomach.

[www.flickr.com]

No way that would fly in my workplace. The manager's office with all the paperwork, as well as vast amounts of stock, are kept in the back with the employee bathroom. I'm sorry, go to the food court. We have enough people steal from the front of the store, I don't need to have to potty moniter someone in the stockroom of the store too.

@katieoh: Which is why people need to stop just referring to the capital as "Washington," so there's no ambiguity.

It's just like the whole "Indian" thing.

Having lived in Washington (the state) most of my life, I know how annoying it can be. Something will come on the news about something that happened in Washington, but what they really mean is Wachington DC.

@cuchanu:
Jerry Seinfeld has a card say as he may get uromysitisis and die if he can pee where ever he has to.

I just hope the next step isn't requiring homeowners to let anyone who knocks at their door use their bathroom.

Although, given the condition of my bathroom (hey, I'm a single guy who lives alone) I'm not sure anyone would be that desperate.

I remember when we had a single employee bathroom in the back of our pizza hut, people would come and want to use it. Traveling through a kitchen during busy hours is a dangerous prospect with all the hot, and sharp stuff and people running around. While the idea is commendable, this could open up liability issues on the part of the store.

My parents own a small business. They used to allow customer to use their small washroom until they got sick of cleaning the mess left behind and repainting the graffiti left behind.

They no longer let customer use the washroom.

Typical stupidity of Washington state government. Instead of worrying about education (firing teachers, larger classrooms) & health care (reducing payment to providers, not covering obviously useful generic medications), they are more interested in screwing small businesses. WA already failed with their expensive automated public restrooms, wasting money, now they are forcing this law to businesses? Expect frivolous lawsuits aimed at small businesses. Maybe the citizens should also propose a law that force government officials to clean public restrooms. It's only fair for them to serve the public, right?

shut up moron

@Kabukistar: Would you be whining as much if they had said the "state of Washington?"

@Steve Pan: Good one!

I have the same godawful dove grey backsplash tile and hunter green-ish countertops in my kitchen, courtesy of the previous homeowner... Eeeew...

@Kabukistar:

Yeah, because I know I personally refer to washington the state waaaaaaay more often than the capitol.

I'd check the bathroom each time one used it and maybe even take a photo and wait for them to come out and check it again. If they shit all over or pissed on the floor then they could clean it up.
Also what if they left no toilet paper in them? lol leave it behind the counter for employees. Sure you can use our restroom but sorry we are out of toilet paper.

@cuchanu: I suffered something similar to IBS after gallbladder removal and I tell you, I'd have happily carried a card to be assured of using the bathroom. You get in the situation where you know every bathroom in the area and shop/eat/visit accordingly. It was so horrible.

@jayphat: I shouldn't have laughed at that, but I totally did.

@tricky1: Can I hear that spiel? I'm woefully ignorant and between this post and that picture that Chris posted, I have NO idea what that diease really is, even though I hear about it all the time.

@rugman11: Ours was full of all of the cleaning supplies. Who could be trusted with all of that Windex?

The issue is not security. The issue is the Americans with Disabilities Act for any building more than about 10 years old. Once you let customer's use a restroom you have to either spend several $1,000 upgrading it to current ADA standards or face getting a $20,000 lawsuit from the band of roaming ADA lawyers that blanket entire towns with letters threatening lawsuits.

This law is a very bad idea unless it comes with some protections against getting sued over ADA. It will be interesting to watch this play out.

@Chris Walters: I really found the second comment on that photo to be quite funny:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called "does this look infected to you?", and we'd love to have this added to the group!

@skizsrodt: With the possible exception of takeout-only places, it SHOULD be illegal to have a restaurant without restroom facilities available to customers.

@rugman11: Gamestop?

I have IBS, and it really sucks. Imagine having a nice day, where you ate nice healthy food and drank nice healthy beverages, and all of the sudden your digestive system makes you have to evacuate NOW. It's horrifyingly embarrassing. I've had to run into stores begging and pleading to use the bathroom as soon as possible, and have had to ask friends, family, and cabbies to pull over to the nearest establishment so I could do so. I've had diarrhea in a subway station and on a city sidewalk in front of passersby after MTA transit employees ignored my pleas to unlock the bathroom.

The worst part is, there's nothing that doctors can do about it. My digestive system is broken. That's about it. You'd never guess I suffered this way either, since I'm a damn cute and fit 21 year old girl. Luckily, that's what's helped me sway workers into letting me into their johns.

I think that this is a fantastic idea, because now I don't have to fear living outside of NYC anymore. I have two options! Sigh. Now how do I apply for that card?

@Jeremy82465: Well if you lived here, or around here, yeah you would.

@rugman11: step 3: anonymous call to osha results in fines for your employer for having an unsafe workplace.

at least that's what happened where i worked...

@pika2000: Let me see if I remember correctly here.

The automatic public restrooms were the idea of the mayor of Seattle. It was a city project, not a state project. Seattle does not equal WA. It's a fallacy often made.

As for the first part of your rant, I agree entirely. Having been a student of the WA education system from age 4 to today, it has only gotten worse. Some of my teachers in elementary school took on extra students in their classroom just so they could get paid a little bit more. I haven't experienced the health care system too much, so I can't speak to that.

At my place of work we never have more than 2 workers in the store at a time (this is in MO) so we would get under that provision if it were enacted here, but our restroom is where we work cleaning vacuum cleaners and air purifiers (seperate sink from hand sink of course) so there's all kinds of chemicals back there so we would consider it a security risk to themselves.

We are next door to a Gamestop and we have their customers all the time wanting to use our restroom because Gamestop corporate policy won't let any non-worker behind the counter (pretty easy to steal video games vs. vacuums.)

We refuse everyone except senior citizens who are our customers.

@balilanai: Completely agree. I worked at a small shoe store a few years back and even though the bathroom was behind a door that said "Employees Only" people would sneak in there and dirty up the bathroom. Like you said, if people had a bit of consideration and didn't pee or poop all over the place then stores would be more likely to allow restroom usage without the need for legislation.

@cuchanu:
If you belong to the Crohn's & Colitis Founndation of America, they provide you with a card that has in large letters: "I Can't Wait".
I always carry mine, but luckily, I've never had to use it. There are more than enough fast food restaurants & home centers around!

@balilanai:
There are also a whole lot of employees that don't sit on a toilet, they hover & they make a huge mess!

@Eldritch: Agreed.

@RB_Bhoy:
Illinois also has a similar law: Public Act 094-0450
www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=094-0450

@madanthony: Shortly after I had my son - like, a little less than a month - I had to go back to work; couldn't afford to stay out longer than that. My boss was in the process of moving, and he paid me overtime to go to his New House on Saturday to supervise the first shift of movers, while he was still at the Old House with the second shift. The first shift were bringing all the garage, outside, junk-boxes - all the stuff he'd had packed and ready to go before hand, which was all going into the garage. He assured me he'd set the house alarm so that we could get into the garage without setting off the alarm.

About ten minutes after we got there, I had to pee so bad all of a sudden that I literally couldn't stand up straight. (My bladder got a bit jostled during the pregnancy and I was still not 100% recovered and in, ah, full control.) My boss wasn't answering his cell phone, there were no bushes or trees - in desperation I managed to get across the street and knocked on a stranger's house and begged to use their bathroom. I was so relived when she said "Sure" that I almost cried. Then I went into the bathroom, and REALLY almost cried. By the looks of things, at least three people had taken LARGE dumps over probably two or three days; none of them had flushed, and one of them had mostly missed the big hole in the middle of the toilet, so there was a large... lump... hanging on to the back there. There was also no toilet paper.

My hand to God, I dropped trou, perched on the edge of the bathtub, and peed into the bathtub; grabbed a folded (and therefore presumably clean) washcloth to use in place of TP. Rinsed down the bathtub, flushed the toilet, and left. I didn't wash my hands because I figure touching the faucets would have been a much worse health risk.

What was shocking was that the rest of the house was lovely, clean and well-appointed. That was truly the bathroom from hell - but yes, I was that desperate.

@bibliophibian: And of course I left out the important phrase, "we could get into the garage without setting off the alarm, but if we opened ANY of the other doors it would trigger the alarm." I couldn't get in touch with him to get the key (or permission to just set off the damn alarm already).

@Kabukistar: UPDATE: In addition to this terrible tragedy, there are also terrible things going on in Darfur.

@GearheadGeek: So should the local or state government pay to:

1) Have the bathroom installed as it is being used by the general public

2) Pay for supplies to keep the bathroom running (water, toilet paper, labor for upkeeping)

3) Rent seeing as how a bathroom would reduce the square footage available for the owner to use

4) All of the above

It's a courtesy for restaurants to provide restrooms (up to a certain occupancy) not a right.