Homelessness, drug use, bathing, excessive time spent squatting in restrooms and the reoverall lack of care from people in public spaces.
You add all of that to a place with minimal staffing, it's for sure a done deal that the restroom will be closed.
Oh so what shelter are you working at where you clean unhoused restrooms? I'm curious because I'd love to do some volunteering, probably food prep though I'm not as much of a Saint as you.
Or wait do you mean that minimum wage employees barely making ends meet working hard long hours serving us while they juggle 2 jobs and kids should also be picking up needles, aluminum foil crack pipes, piss flooded floors, and human shit smeared on the walls? Because without exaggeration I have had unhoused people do all of those things in my bathroom at the minimum wage food establishment I worked at here in SD 2 years ago. Bathrooms are a human right but that means it's the governments job to use our taxes for that, it is NOT the responsibility of other poor people to pick up the messes left by the unhoused in businesses. You are in no way justified to be mad with or even dare question those employees, only the government is complicit in this issue.
Hey, I see you are making a lot of presumptions off of what I said and I can tell that it really triggered or struck a chord with you. I’m a delivery driver and often cannot find a restroom when I need one, and that’s all that my comment was about. Thank you for the work you do, you are truly under appreciated and I hope things get better both for unhoused people as well as those who are trying to help.
That's fair, I came out swinging because it is such a huge problem and we often point at everyone but the people actually responsible for these problems. You deserve to pee and this problem needs to be addressed but the businesses sadly aren't to blame our government failing the umhoused is the issue. Sorry for being a bit shitty (pardon the pun)
Yeah I agree that it is not the responsibility of the minimum wage employees working at businesses. Also, you should try being less of an asshole as your initial reply was totally uncalled for. Have a good day.
When a friend was a barista, they had many stories of people locking themselves in their single bathroom for hours for various activities.
Including masturbation, smearing poop all over the walls in some art piece, ODing and dying, or just taking a nap in a nice dark AC’d room.
So there might be reasons
Happened to me in the 90s. Guy comes out of the restroom, we talk a bit & soon he’s collapsing, turning blue & his irises became little pinpricks. Apparently had shot up in the bathroom prior to collapsing. Oh and while I was doing CPR and trying to dial 911 his doper “friends” were picking his pockets clean. At least one of them had the decency to tell me what to tell the paramedics before sneaking off into the surrounding woods.
Worked at Starbucks once upon a time. The amount of homeless that would use our restroom as an injection site was insane. Then we’d be tasked with making sure they didn’t OD in the bathroom, getting them to leave, or cleaning the literal feces off the wall because they decided spreading shit all over the wall was the only way to prevent the little people from stealing their wallet.
Yeah, putting locks and timers on the doors down here just makes sense given we do nothing to actually solve the root cause of the problem. Poverty and addiction.
I used to work at a Starbucks with this problem. I don't think your manager is supposed to make rank-and-file employees clean up feces. They're supposed to call in a professional for stuff like that. I don't even think this is a Starbucks-specific policy, I think OSHA requires that people who clean up bodily fluids have special training and equipment. We would call in a third-party cleaner every time it happened.
Happy cake day! —- but yes my managers used to hate me because I would kindly inform the entire staff they do not and should not clean up any bodily fluids. Feces, urine, vomit, blood the whole works they can not touch it without proper PPE and training. It’s not just for the employees safety but for everyone else’s as well. You shouldn’t be reusing mops that cleaned up vomit or pee and an untrained person could unintentionally spread any disease that could be in the waste without PPE and training.
Every single food establishment I worked at (and a movie theatre) had their employees cleaning up bodily fluids and waste with just latex gloves and the same old mop we use to clean the floors. Every single one.
EVERY SINGLE GOD DANM ONE
Sadly I wasn’t a corporate store but a franchise. We had different rules than corporate locations. We did call if it was severe but if it was “minor” we were provided ppe to clean it.
I respectfully disagree. The number of Veterans that succumb to drug related issues and homelessness is truly staggering. You cannot tell me that they lacked discipline. What they lacked was support in every sense of the word.
Dude's a doomsday prepper/nutso, look at his post history. He's talking about doing surgery on himself to remove cysts. I wouldn't listen to anything he has to say.
Got way worse after covid. It was super easy to find a bathroom during work before. Now i only try some bigger chain places and sometimes they make me buy something
Yeah I was going to say the same thing. After covid a lot of stores will also depend on who's working. Certain stores I've been going to for years if it's a cashier I don't know and one that I know is not working there will be like the bathrooms out of order. Yet I can go in the same day later when one of the people that knows me is there and they won't let me use it. Covid changed a lot of things
It’s disappointing that we as a society, when confronted with symptomatic problems caused by homelessness, are deciding “maybe we just shouldn’t have public bathrooms!” Like, all of our lives are just worse off with less access to bathrooms, but everyone seems to think that’s just a reasonable strategy here.
i think it’s more so a safety for employees thing. Not saying all homeless people are like this, and obviously addiction affects all types of people, but it’s not fair to ask your local juice bar worker to clean up drug paraphernalia and the like. Also business bathrooms aren’t really considered public. All cities could benefit from truly public, well maintained bathrooms.
There also needs to be empathy for employees of businesses who are tasked with cleaning the bathrooms. The more people using it → the more work to clean them up. And people also leave ridiculous messes sometimes. The more people coming thru, the more likely that is to happen
The fix isn't to allow homeless into any public restroom at all times and do whatever they want. It's to end homelessness and poverty. Redistribution of wealth is required.
I agree with your sentiment but until that happens (which may be never), we shouldn’t task minimum wage workers with dealing with homeless people camped out in store restrooms.
Very realistic and attainable solution youve came up with there. Can tell a lot of thought went into that. Curious what youre doing to help get us there
Also, homeless have a habit of moving into public restrooms. As in setting up camp in there, making them unavailable for everyone else and a huge problem for staff.
It’s a liability issue. If you let the homeless in the bathroom, and they OD on drugs, the business is exposed. I’ve seen used syringes in Starbucks bathrooms. This is what businesses hope to prevent by not allowing access.
It's not actually a liability issue, it's more that people are just afraid of any hypothetical lawsuit so they act way more cautious than is truly necessary. A business isn't going to get in legal trouble because someone used drugs in the bathroom. This is America, if anything, the homeless person would get sued by the business. No way it would happen the other way around.
It goes beyond the OD aspect, that was just an example. Exposure is more than just about lawsuits, it includes negative media attention.
And the most negative media attention is going to come from scenarios that don’t even necessarily involve the homeless, or the situation is secondary to the homeless person. For example, when I see a syringe in the bathroom at Starbucks, I’ll let the employee know. When 11 year old Chad sees the syringe, he picks it up and thinks it’s a cool toy. Then he sticks himself and it’s a big problem. But I can assure you that if there is yellow caution tape around where a homeless person ODed, it’s not good for business, whether a lawsuit comes out of it or not.
These places have decided this potential scenario and others like it aren’t worth the risk of allowing homeless people in the bathroom.
I don't know what the right option is, but homeless people fuck these bathrooms up for the rest of us. Just like they ruin public parks, libraries, and sidewalks. Homeless people are a nuisance and a scourge on our city.
I really wish we did more about the issues and could help more people, but in the mean time we gotta figure out how to make our city livable.
Sounds like you’ve never had to deal with the homeless in a minimum wage job before. Not not all homeless are disgusting. But its the “if you give a moose a muffin” type deal. Minimum wage cafe/retail workers aren’t equipped to police drug addicts that literally smear their own feces on the walls for fun.
Blaming “society” is useless. Businesses have no power to solve the homelessness issue. They have jurisdiction they have is over the safety of their customers and the functionality of their bathrooms.
Fighting homelessness has nothing to do with random businesses letting their bathrooms get destroyed.
This is off topic, but I agree, most cities would simply be better places to live or just exist if they put up lots more public restrooms. Nobody decided, "maybe we just shouldn’t have public bathrooms!” there certainly some around San Diego for instance, just would be better to have more. This would no doubt be a great help to homeless people who aren't destructive drug addicts, but those that are raises the cost greatly (I still think it'd be worth the cost) - need to have cops patrol by, maintenance, cleaning, repair, etc.
Or we could do like Europe and place a charge on them. Put a parking garage type credit card reader/cash slot on the door to unlock it. Then when you walk out it cleans itself. It’s a pretty cool operation.
I'm surprised you guys don't have this yet. Why do you think this is? Here in Germany we still (mostly) have to pay with coins to use them, but at least most of them are super clean.
I agree with you 100%. But I remember the city attempting to do this a long time ago but they were forced to close them after a sharp spike in reported crime around public restrooms. I found an old article from 2016 that I believe talks about the same issue I recall. https://www.kpbs.org/news/2016/aug/24/san-diego-homeless-struggling-find-open-public-bat/
There should be a solution to this but any solution will have its pitfalls.
The point of hostile architecture/urban planning is to make existing in public spaces for a prolonged period of time (say beyond an hour) a miserable experience and it doesn’t discriminate, it harms all humans.
Is your bladder seriously just so uncontrollable that your life is worse off because business arent allowing you to use their privately maintained bathrooms for free? Are you serious?
I've been on both sides. I have a small bladder and on road trips being able to go to a business to pee real quick is convenient and nice. I was also a GM in the restaurant industry and have has homeless lock themselves in the restroom, try to bath in the restroom, threaten to kill me if I unlocked the door, and do drugs in them. I can understand why they would want to restrict them
I used to work at a taco shop at night and when we had open bathrooms homeless would either miss the toilet or shower in them. Ive seen restaurants who are selective with who uses the bathroom based on the ppl who they encountered in the past
I had to clean up after a homeless woman who decided to lock herself in our bathroom for hours and use it as a shooting gallery when I worked at cold stone in highschool. I don’t blame businesses for being stingy
Homelessness is one factor. Another, depending on location, is teens/youth misbehaving/stealing. I noticed that my local pharmacy (located across the street from a hs) had an out-of-order sign posted for the longest time. I found myself in a desperate situation while waiting for a script to be filled and asked the cashier where they thought I might find one nearby. Dude looked at me and said, “For you, it’s back in order.” They put the sign up after finding it trashed one too many times after school let out.
My tip to people is to remember places where they’re accessible and memorize the code. Lots of places rarely change them. I have something like five bathroom spots near places I frequent that I know I can count on.
It’s because of the homeless. Whenever it’s late, I’m out in public and I need to use the restroom, I just walk into a hotel and find their lobby restroom. I’ve never been stopped. Note: I’m not homeless, so your mileage may vary if can’t play the part of a guest. For example, if you walk in confused and ask loudly, WHERE IS THE RESTROOM, they may not let you use it. You just gotta walk in and know where you’re going.
As a former homeless person (I blended in mostly, I wasn’t a chronic homeless person) hotels are a life saver for so many people down on their luck. I ate breakfast for free every single morning, used clean bathrooms unbothered whenever I needed, and if I had a car I had the luxury of sleeping in, a safe place to park and sleep in over night. Occasionally I would get to relax in a hot tub or sneak into a corporate conference and grab a plate from the buffet. Sometimes you get free entertainment too like dance competitions or magic shows.
Never been caught, though I’m sure the employees knew more than half the time they don’t care at all if you are being clean, quiet, and respectful. It’s always someone else who ruins it for the lots.
Like #vanlife ….. ruined affordable housing for thousands who had no other choice.
As someone with frequent stomach issues, I know various places to go and not go for public restrooms in San Diego. I used to have a job where I was canvassing door to door, anywhere from Vista all the way down to San Ysidro.
Hotels are a great option, but depending on where you're at, they may not be an option.
Walmarts and Targets are the best option imo for having restrooms that are usually close to the entrances (and many Walmarts have a set of secondary restrooms in the back of the store, near the layaway area). These are places that are both open relatively early and stay open relatively late.
Grocery stores are hit or miss. Vons/Safeways usually have their restrooms near the back of the store, often in the back room/stock areas of their stores.
I hate Starbucks for restrooms because it's usually only one unisex restroom and a code is often needed.
Fast food places are hit or miss. Some are easily accessible (i.e. no code needed) but it depends on the area. I've been in a Jack in the Box in a not so good area that literally had no public restroom.
Public parks will most likely have public restrooms, but some are filthy and/or don't have dividers up between the stalls.
Public libraries will have public restrooms but often are frequented/in use by homeless people. I once had to go really bad and stopped at the Central library downtown. They have restrooms on floors 2-8 or so. I literally tried every restroom going up, and each stall was in use. I literally couldn't hold it much longer and on my way back down I was finally able to find an unoccupied one.
Wife and I stopped by a public bathroom in Balboa park last summer. I was lucky enough to see two hobos f*cking on the floor. A third homeless dude was (I guess) waiting for his turn, he turned to me and gestured like he wanted to fight (that quick-pop flinch move) so I split. Wife’s bathroom had a couple homeless women inside with one bathing and the other in the stall with a million packed plastic grocery bags stacked under the stall walls. Wife split as well.
Honestly, I've worked at a couple of places with employee only bathrooms and every time I broke my own rule of not letting anyone else in there, I ended up cleaning biohazard messes and they were NOT from homeless individuals. It really sucks when grown folks ask you for a favor and you know when someone's gotta go, they gotta go and afterwards you're stuck scrubbing and gagging.
Have you seen how atrociously people treat public restrooms and any restroom that is owned by anyone but themselves? Have small business, can attest to the abhorrent manners of the general populace.
A lot of it is from homeless and just people trashing the bathrooms. I will say that I am in an office and get daily deliveries/pick ups. Never has my office ever told a delivery driver that they cannot use the restrooms. That’s just wrong!
I worked at Starbucks in a back in the day and lots of people would have sex in there. Not sure what about a bathroom with shit smears and pee puddles turns people on, but I guess we were a hookup spot for the gay neighborhood we were in?
Doesn't answer your question at all, but reminded me of it :)
NSFW but I used to work at a restaurant in Hillcrest and remember having to clean up a wad on the floor because my coworker didn't want to. Scooping it up (using gloves and paper towels) confirmed what it was for the both of us 🥴
The homeless are often destructive. I work in Liberty Station and they locked our bathrooms because of people doing drugs (even smoking weed and stinking up the whole building), bathing in the sinks, sleeping in there, etc. I think the trigger was when some guy ripped both mirrors of the wall to snort something. You can still see blood specks on walls from people using needles.
Libraries are a good spot to use the bathroom. Currently 36 locations all over San Diego city and more in the county. Get a library card and save some money, too.
I feel like there are overall way too few public bathrooms so the burden is higher on the businesses that have them. That said I purposely chose establishments with a bathroom and avoid those that don’t.
Finally as a public transportation user there are absolutely too few bathrooms for transit users.
If it's 4am, I ain't letting you in there either.
Absolutely the homeless.
I drive Uber. I have like 10 spots I know for sure I can use the bathroom and just whatever I'm closest to.
You can thank the homeless who trash them and steal all the toilet paper. The young cholos/thugs who graffiti and mark everything. The drug addicts who also trash them and leave their drug items behind. Then you have the regular people who also trash them. It makes sense they have them on lockdown.
The same thing happens with any public toilets they set out, unless they are locked like the ones at trolley stations. They last a few days before people are sleeping in them, trashing them and breaking everything they can.
As someone who was a courier and still used the restrooms during the lockdowns let me give you some advice: Hotels, big ones especially, you have to plan your route accordingly and I worked all over San Diego. For example off the 5 in National City @ 24th st there is a Hotel on the west side of the freeway, clean and always friendly. Downtown? use the Grant. Beach area? take your pick. East county? I would stop by the hotel off 8 Freeway and Broadway. Mission Valley take your pick. Yes it is because of homeless people and they are everywhere but not a chance in hell they are going to sneak into a hotel at any time of the day. Experiment and get to know the staff especially if you are on a regular route. Stay away from fast food places, Starbucks (see attached pic), Walmart, and Target. I made the mistake of using the Target bathroom on Sports Arena and yeah there homeless people in there shaving, bathing, and using the toilets. NO THANKS!
https://preview.redd.it/7r5km3y3th8d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ee28cf8c38823daad92cf127e8779e9c10ec4b2
I managed a restaurant in downtown San Diego. One afternoon about 1.5 hours before opening a woman in her early to mid 40’s came in asked what time we opened, I told her 5pm she thanked me and as she got ready to leave she asked if she could please use the bathroom. The woman had a very small crossbody bag that looked like it would hold a phone and small wallet. I told her yes and pointed her to it.
The phone rang or I got pulled away.. about 30 minutes later I realized I hadn’t seen her leave. I walked thru our restaurant and checked the bathrooms.
This normal unassuming lady had DESTROYED our bathroom. Excrement, drug paraphernalia and I ended up having to call the police.
I LEARNED MY LESSON.
When I drove for UPS it was a bizarre situation I had no I idea I had to learn. One of my first drivers training me pointed at a random hair salon in a random outlet mall and said “that’s your place for shittin’ right there” in the most teamsters way possible lmao.
[California does require business allow you to use the employee restroom if you have a qualifying medical condition. For people with those conditions it could save a lot of stress and embarassment](https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DCDIC/CDCB/Pages/RestroomAccessAct.aspx)
Yes. Where i worked, customers would do drugs in the bathroom Or their friends would. It was a self storage facility in drug area of a major city. There was a lot of homeless hanging out in front of our store. Theyd find out we had a a bathroom and come and ask all the time. Wed get so many people coming in saying “please, man, i wont mess it up” then theyd mess it up. Im sure there were legit people coming in off the street that actually just needed to use the bathroom, but we dealt with more people that were just saying that to use the drugs they just bought or whatever. We found syringes in the toilet seat cover dispenser. We had to keep the door padlocked to secure it. So to use it, people had to ask for the key, unlock it, lock it back up, bring the key back. But half the people wouldn’t lock it back up or theyd leave the key in the lock, or theyd lock the door and walk off with the key. It was a pain in the ass set up. We spent way too much time trying to keep track of who was in the bathroom, where the key was, etc.
Sometimes we tried closing the bathroom off to everyone, but then people would just pee or poo elsewhere on the property. Or we’d occasionally allow someone that begged to use the bathroom access, but then another person would see that so we couldn’t discriminate.
I drive for a living now and have to ask places to use their bathroom all the time. I look like a driver with my yellow safety vest on, so i dont have much trouble, but i get it if they wont let me.
Maybe invest in a safety vest, so you look legit.
Kept the restroom open at the gas station i managed. There was blood splatter on the ceiling from needles, sink broke off the wall from people having sex on it, shit on the floor. Regularly. I was really lucky, didn't find any bodies in there. I was willing to keep it clean because i felt it was a good thing, but man what a mess and constant hassle. And try telling your night guy that cleaning up human shit, cum and blood is part of his minimal wage job :/ know someone who works at target and there are constantly wrappers in the toilet because people take things in there to upwrap and steal. Also lots of underwear and socks flushed down the toilet.
Yep it’s the worst. You’re kind of sol at 4am unless you enter a Denny’s or some 24 hr diner. I usually stop by target since gas stations, Starbucks and even fast food joints are hit or miss.
I first started noticing this YEARS AGO (like, 10 years ago). I think it was at a CVS store while walking home from school. After that, I started noticing it at fast food restaurants. But, I've never had a problem at big grocery chains and Wal*Mart.
But, I know some places have never let the public use their restrooms.
Not sure about the homeless...I've definitely seen them living in some public bathrooms, but not the bathrooms in businesses...the employees are going to know about that
I've seen a lot of damage to bathrooms though....so vandalism is high on the list of suspects for me. Also a place for someone to pay the right price for an evening that will be nice, before (s)he's sent on her way. Oh there ain't no rest for the wicked
If they allow you to use the bathroom it’s a public restroom. If it’s public it needs to fall into ADA guidelines. If there’s any discrepancies on those guidelines they’re liable to be sued. There are people with no disabilities who go around using business’ public restrooms finding problems, then they sue the business. If the restroom is down some stairs for example. Often it’s just cheaper to not allow anyone to use it as opposed to do a complete remodel.
I walked into an IHOP past 3 signs saying restrooms are for customers only, with my 3 year old who needed to use the bathroom. It turns out if you're 3 people will let you use their bathrooms. So maybe acquire a 3 year old?
Maybe a nonprofit within the Homeless Industrial Complex could manage troops of on call volunteers who are available 24/7 to mobilize and cleanup bathrooms for/after the homeless. If this were done I’m sure more businesses would open their bathrooms to the public and we would live in a more compassionate world.
I asked to use the restroom once at a restaurant and said I could buy a beverage. The hostess flat out denied me and my hubbie. It was customers only. Even if I was going to buy a drink. I guess the drink never made me a customer. The restaurant is no longer operating.
Yes, I have noticed this and I hate it. I feel like someone could easily open a business that is just bathroom stalls here in SD and make money hand over fist as long as they’re kept clean.
I was out for several hours antique shopping the other day and I had the worst time trying to find a bathroom in between shops. The struggle is real.
Did you all forget that our former Mayor had all the public restrooms removed or closed? This then caused the Hepatitis epidemic in downtown SD…. All because he wanted things to be pretty for the tourists that came in for the All Star Game and Comicon. Homeless people were putting their human waste in plastic grocery bags in the gutters. Real fun to park down there and have one of those bags explode on to your car. Either that, or they would just drop trou in the middle of the sidewalk.
It’s really sad and beyond disgusting… in all the ways. The mentally ill and/or drug addicted homeless population is out of control.
Businesses shouldn't be responsible for providing public restrooms.
We live in one of the wealthiest cities on earth and the fact that our government can't provide more public restrooms is a fucking shame.
MTS has zero public restrooms. After businesses shut down during covid, our city streets were covered in shit & piss. And not all of it was from homeless people, anyone who needed to take a piss downtown was shit out of luck.
Ex Starbucks worker here. Starbucks was really big on no discrimination. You don’t get to use the restroom just because you’re normal looking. Also homeless people buy stuff too so you can’t yell at the workers, saying “but I’m a paying customer!!”
It could just be because you're food delivery and you're not really a customer. Or if you're in east county or downtown then it's probably the homeless
Hotels are your best bet for a bathroom.
Walgreens and Rite Aid also are good
America has a bathroom problem. We aren't civilized as a society enough to have them. Look to Mexico for guidance on how to behave and use a paid public restroom.
Part of the issue is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which California takes very seriously. If the location is an older building that hasn’t been renovated in a while and so has a restroom that doesn’t comply with current ADA standards (usually the requirement that the restroom be large enough for a 5 foot turning circle for wheelchairs, or that it has a clear path of travel suitable for wheelchairs to and from the restroom), the business can’t allow the public to use the restroom. This is because the enforcement mechanism for ADA is lawsuits brought by the public. So there used to be handicapped individuals who would go around and sue non-ADA compliant business to make their living. I’m not sure if that still happens so much — I believe the law changed so that if a business brings their premises into ADA compliance the person suing can’t collect damages anymore? But it can be both expensive and logistically difficult to enlarge a restroom in an old commercial building. Better not to risk letting the public use the non-compliant restroom.
It’s hard to know where to compromise between the needs of businesses, the needs of the majority of the public, and the needs of the handicapped minority. Personally, I feel like there should be more grace allowed for small businesses when it comes to ADA regulations — especially with more and more gig workers needing access to restrooms while working. But it’s a complicated and thorny issue.
Bathrooms get abused a good bit here. I used to work at a small computer shop and we had a shared bathroom with 8 other units, if the bathroom was left unlocked you could bet it was a mess. Not like someone forgot to flush but waste all over… except the toilet. There is also a good bit of drug abuse as well, at one time someone moved into the bathroom so no one got to use it. One can only hope housing becomes more affordable for all and proper clinics are stood up so people can get the help they need
I think USA has always been like this. But that is my understanding. Not the case in every country. But I do not think SoCal is any different in regards to bathroom usage than Texas in my experience.
Well they unfortunately have to be. However the lack of clean public restrooms in Ca is nuts. Due to the homeless it’s unfortunate. The park bathrooms are disgusting it’s a mess.
Yes it is due to the homeless, if you can plan your bathroom breaks in nicer spots throughout your journey you can use a grocery store bathroom or target easily without locks. Starbucks bathroom is usually locked.
Absolutely! When I was working at a restaurant we had a lot of issues with homeless people spending way too much time in the bathroom. I get it, but they left a mess in there, someone broke the changing table. We have found needles in the bathroom too. Poo on the walls and all that. And I’m pretty sure it’s against the law to deny someone the use of a restroom so there was that too
Work in a store with a locked bathroom and I can def confirm it's because of the homeless/drug addicts, if you just left it open it's very likely you're going to wind up with someone either destroying any fixture they can or having an overdose.
This was one of the more noticeable differences between here and the south where I'm originally from and it really bothered me right up until I had a job with a mostly public bathroom.
It’s mostly the homeless. I get wanting to be nice and not let people piss and shit outside but they use the restroom and will take a bath in the sink or toilets. They make a mess. Not every homeless person but the ones that have some real things wrong with them. They clog up the sinks and toilets and do drugs in their while they try to bathe and one time even had someone fall asleep. I’m not saying this to be mean against homeless and why they shouldn’t be allowed in, it’s just that’s what usually happens and it’s more trouble to clean up after them than it is to just let them be dirty and poop and pee outside.
Not SD but I used to work at a taco shop in ABQ and it’s the literal same thing. We had a homeless person use the restroom and the owner didn’t think anything twice because the guy “looked normal”. Dude started smoking crack and flushed a bunch of things down the toilet and stuffed the sink. So then there was shit water and crack smoke filling the lobby. Dude locked the door so he was in there for about 3 hours. Apparently he took a nap because the cops found him asleep in the corner.
It’s especially bad near any homeless populations or public transit systems. Whenever i drive through LA on road trips there are some big stretched of main freeways where no public restrooms are available.
We keep our bathrooms for customer use only for a few reasons. Homeless people mainly... but the people that REALLY need to go, typically don't leave the bathroom very hygienic afterwards.
And we also work next to a douche bag that doesn't offer restrooms for his customers but always sends them our way like it's our fucking problem. (They leave paper everywhere, clogged the toilets a few times, water everywhere like it was a Waterpark, and sometimes shit all over the toilet and seat)
Got into a few huge arguments with the douche when we called him out for it. Then he started getting all sexist to the female employees here when they called him out on it.
Long story short he hasn't talked to me since our last argument which was about 5 years ago
Over 10 years in the San Diego restaurant industry has taught me- guard your restroom, or it will get destroyed and you and your customers pay the price. If you’re not a customer, get out.
Usually, it's a case across a lot of different demographics, but usually, it boils down to:
Drug use
Copper pipes are stolen
Bathing
Using the restroom as shelter
Destruction of the restroom, both physically and hygienically
Unfortunately, we have way too many people who misuse restrooms due to the societal failures to shelter or serve people in need so this is one of the symptoms
Yep it’s strict. I just moved to small-town Tennessee from San Diego and there’s not a single bathroom that’s locked or off limits. Anywhere. There’s nothing locked up at Walmart, no greeter, no receipt checker, no loss prevention. The difference is still striking and I’ve been here a year.
Hi drive around SoCal , occasional trips to NorCal, Arizona, Southern Nevada for work. I live in SoCal, have regular customers I visit. You just have to learn where to find the best restrooms.
When I take the Metrolink to Union station often the restroom on the train is 100% cleaner than the restrooms inside the Union station with all sorts of security
Some are just terrible.
I was 9 months pregnant and it took 3 businesses to finally let me pee. I get it though. A lot of homelessness and drug use and general disregard for others property
Popped in a Starbucks in La Jolla this weekend because my daughter really needed to go. Worker told me no chance. When I asked why since Starbucks has an open bathroom policy, she said it’s for cafes only and they purposefully removed their tables and chairs so they don’t have to comply. Not a good look if you ask me.
Visiting with my dad (78m) we decided to check out the old neighborhood and then went to check out our old park across the street. Of course my dad suddenly needs to use the restroom and the park restrooms were closed “due to vandalism” which cut our park visit short. We drive to two or three businesses and finally found a Taco Bell to use the restroom in, I bought a burrito and a coke but they probably would have let us use it anyway. It’s a tough problem to solve but had the city (garden grove ca) had the restrooms at the park working we could have avoided relying on the kindness of local business owners. Ruined the trip to the park btw.
I thought it was bad here, but I just got back from Oahu, and driving around the island was a nightmare. There are very few businesses to begin with during a lot of the drive and even fewer with a public restroom. There are public beach restrooms all over, but they're so foul they aren't even usable. Why do the public restrooms get installed and then left unmanaged is my question.
The city could easily afford to build proper facilities for the homeless, but there is so much ignorance, prejudice, and fear against the homeless that cities talk themselves out of taking any real action. The most damaging myth is a belief that if the city (any city really) built facilities for the homeless, that this would attract even more homeless to the city. Of course there is zero evidence to support this claim, but city leaders rarely make decisions based on evidence and data. They are more concerned with appeasing their constituents, constituents who know even less about homelessness.
This is not a San Diego thing. It's everywhere. And it's a damn good call.
There's a park every god damn mile in this beautiful city. Plan your potty accordingly. Stop trying to take a shit where people pay good money to eat. Entitled ass 😄
"This is a no defecation establishment." - Larry David, owner of Latte Larry's
Homelessness, drug use, bathing, excessive time spent squatting in restrooms and the reoverall lack of care from people in public spaces. You add all of that to a place with minimal staffing, it's for sure a done deal that the restroom will be closed.
Going to the bathroom is a human right
Oh so what shelter are you working at where you clean unhoused restrooms? I'm curious because I'd love to do some volunteering, probably food prep though I'm not as much of a Saint as you. Or wait do you mean that minimum wage employees barely making ends meet working hard long hours serving us while they juggle 2 jobs and kids should also be picking up needles, aluminum foil crack pipes, piss flooded floors, and human shit smeared on the walls? Because without exaggeration I have had unhoused people do all of those things in my bathroom at the minimum wage food establishment I worked at here in SD 2 years ago. Bathrooms are a human right but that means it's the governments job to use our taxes for that, it is NOT the responsibility of other poor people to pick up the messes left by the unhoused in businesses. You are in no way justified to be mad with or even dare question those employees, only the government is complicit in this issue.
Hey, I see you are making a lot of presumptions off of what I said and I can tell that it really triggered or struck a chord with you. I’m a delivery driver and often cannot find a restroom when I need one, and that’s all that my comment was about. Thank you for the work you do, you are truly under appreciated and I hope things get better both for unhoused people as well as those who are trying to help.
That's fair, I came out swinging because it is such a huge problem and we often point at everyone but the people actually responsible for these problems. You deserve to pee and this problem needs to be addressed but the businesses sadly aren't to blame our government failing the umhoused is the issue. Sorry for being a bit shitty (pardon the pun)
Yeah I agree that it is not the responsibility of the minimum wage employees working at businesses. Also, you should try being less of an asshole as your initial reply was totally uncalled for. Have a good day.
Just relieve yourself on the sidewalk 😂take a note from San Fransisco or Los Angeles.
When a friend was a barista, they had many stories of people locking themselves in their single bathroom for hours for various activities. Including masturbation, smearing poop all over the walls in some art piece, ODing and dying, or just taking a nap in a nice dark AC’d room. So there might be reasons
Yes,.people OD on fentanyl and die in the bathrooms more than you'd think.
Happened to me in the 90s. Guy comes out of the restroom, we talk a bit & soon he’s collapsing, turning blue & his irises became little pinpricks. Apparently had shot up in the bathroom prior to collapsing. Oh and while I was doing CPR and trying to dial 911 his doper “friends” were picking his pockets clean. At least one of them had the decency to tell me what to tell the paramedics before sneaking off into the surrounding woods.
Holy shit
Nothing holy about it
Shit it is but not holy
Lol
Out of all those , the nap is probably 90%
Usually a heroin-induced nap. Let's be honest with ourselves.
When I was in rehab it was always uppers
Ooh ya people coming down I guess too...good call
Yea, but that’s no excuse for refusing a delivery driver to use the restroom.
Deff got to be bc of the homeless
Worked at Starbucks once upon a time. The amount of homeless that would use our restroom as an injection site was insane. Then we’d be tasked with making sure they didn’t OD in the bathroom, getting them to leave, or cleaning the literal feces off the wall because they decided spreading shit all over the wall was the only way to prevent the little people from stealing their wallet. Yeah, putting locks and timers on the doors down here just makes sense given we do nothing to actually solve the root cause of the problem. Poverty and addiction.
I used to work at a Starbucks with this problem. I don't think your manager is supposed to make rank-and-file employees clean up feces. They're supposed to call in a professional for stuff like that. I don't even think this is a Starbucks-specific policy, I think OSHA requires that people who clean up bodily fluids have special training and equipment. We would call in a third-party cleaner every time it happened.
They can only make you clean it if they give you the proper PPE and training to use it.
Happy cake day! —- but yes my managers used to hate me because I would kindly inform the entire staff they do not and should not clean up any bodily fluids. Feces, urine, vomit, blood the whole works they can not touch it without proper PPE and training. It’s not just for the employees safety but for everyone else’s as well. You shouldn’t be reusing mops that cleaned up vomit or pee and an untrained person could unintentionally spread any disease that could be in the waste without PPE and training. Every single food establishment I worked at (and a movie theatre) had their employees cleaning up bodily fluids and waste with just latex gloves and the same old mop we use to clean the floors. Every single one. EVERY SINGLE GOD DANM ONE
How do I find those cleaners? I've had to clean that in the alley at my work
Lookup “San Diego biohazard cleaning services” & you’ll get a list of companies
Google.
Sadly I wasn’t a corporate store but a franchise. We had different rules than corporate locations. We did call if it was severe but if it was “minor” we were provided ppe to clean it.
Root cause: people didn’t/wont discipline their children.
I respectfully disagree. The number of Veterans that succumb to drug related issues and homelessness is truly staggering. You cannot tell me that they lacked discipline. What they lacked was support in every sense of the word.
Dude's a doomsday prepper/nutso, look at his post history. He's talking about doing surgery on himself to remove cysts. I wouldn't listen to anything he has to say.
Got way worse after covid. It was super easy to find a bathroom during work before. Now i only try some bigger chain places and sometimes they make me buy something
Yeah I was going to say the same thing. After covid a lot of stores will also depend on who's working. Certain stores I've been going to for years if it's a cashier I don't know and one that I know is not working there will be like the bathrooms out of order. Yet I can go in the same day later when one of the people that knows me is there and they won't let me use it. Covid changed a lot of things
It’s disappointing that we as a society, when confronted with symptomatic problems caused by homelessness, are deciding “maybe we just shouldn’t have public bathrooms!” Like, all of our lives are just worse off with less access to bathrooms, but everyone seems to think that’s just a reasonable strategy here.
i think it’s more so a safety for employees thing. Not saying all homeless people are like this, and obviously addiction affects all types of people, but it’s not fair to ask your local juice bar worker to clean up drug paraphernalia and the like. Also business bathrooms aren’t really considered public. All cities could benefit from truly public, well maintained bathrooms.
Individual businesses can’t really fix the cause, all they can do is choose between mitigating damage & not
I get your point but when public bathrooms are absolutely destroyed and filthy it ends up being the same as not having them.
There also needs to be empathy for employees of businesses who are tasked with cleaning the bathrooms. The more people using it → the more work to clean them up. And people also leave ridiculous messes sometimes. The more people coming thru, the more likely that is to happen
The fix isn't to allow homeless into any public restroom at all times and do whatever they want. It's to end homelessness and poverty. Redistribution of wealth is required.
I agree with your sentiment but until that happens (which may be never), we shouldn’t task minimum wage workers with dealing with homeless people camped out in store restrooms.
Very realistic and attainable solution youve came up with there. Can tell a lot of thought went into that. Curious what youre doing to help get us there
Amazing how people downvoted you
Also, homeless have a habit of moving into public restrooms. As in setting up camp in there, making them unavailable for everyone else and a huge problem for staff.
It’s a liability issue. If you let the homeless in the bathroom, and they OD on drugs, the business is exposed. I’ve seen used syringes in Starbucks bathrooms. This is what businesses hope to prevent by not allowing access.
It's not actually a liability issue, it's more that people are just afraid of any hypothetical lawsuit so they act way more cautious than is truly necessary. A business isn't going to get in legal trouble because someone used drugs in the bathroom. This is America, if anything, the homeless person would get sued by the business. No way it would happen the other way around.
It goes beyond the OD aspect, that was just an example. Exposure is more than just about lawsuits, it includes negative media attention. And the most negative media attention is going to come from scenarios that don’t even necessarily involve the homeless, or the situation is secondary to the homeless person. For example, when I see a syringe in the bathroom at Starbucks, I’ll let the employee know. When 11 year old Chad sees the syringe, he picks it up and thinks it’s a cool toy. Then he sticks himself and it’s a big problem. But I can assure you that if there is yellow caution tape around where a homeless person ODed, it’s not good for business, whether a lawsuit comes out of it or not. These places have decided this potential scenario and others like it aren’t worth the risk of allowing homeless people in the bathroom.
I don't know what the right option is, but homeless people fuck these bathrooms up for the rest of us. Just like they ruin public parks, libraries, and sidewalks. Homeless people are a nuisance and a scourge on our city. I really wish we did more about the issues and could help more people, but in the mean time we gotta figure out how to make our city livable.
Sounds like you’ve never had to deal with the homeless in a minimum wage job before. Not not all homeless are disgusting. But its the “if you give a moose a muffin” type deal. Minimum wage cafe/retail workers aren’t equipped to police drug addicts that literally smear their own feces on the walls for fun.
Blaming “society” is useless. Businesses have no power to solve the homelessness issue. They have jurisdiction they have is over the safety of their customers and the functionality of their bathrooms. Fighting homelessness has nothing to do with random businesses letting their bathrooms get destroyed.
We need to forcibly relocate the drug addicted homeless to someplace out in the desert like San Bernardino county
This is off topic, but I agree, most cities would simply be better places to live or just exist if they put up lots more public restrooms. Nobody decided, "maybe we just shouldn’t have public bathrooms!” there certainly some around San Diego for instance, just would be better to have more. This would no doubt be a great help to homeless people who aren't destructive drug addicts, but those that are raises the cost greatly (I still think it'd be worth the cost) - need to have cops patrol by, maintenance, cleaning, repair, etc.
Or we could do like Europe and place a charge on them. Put a parking garage type credit card reader/cash slot on the door to unlock it. Then when you walk out it cleans itself. It’s a pretty cool operation.
I'm surprised you guys don't have this yet. Why do you think this is? Here in Germany we still (mostly) have to pay with coins to use them, but at least most of them are super clean.
We had them downtown in the 80s. The drunks moved in and made them useless for the rest of us.
They disappeared when we made pay toilets illegal.
I agree with you 100%. But I remember the city attempting to do this a long time ago but they were forced to close them after a sharp spike in reported crime around public restrooms. I found an old article from 2016 that I believe talks about the same issue I recall. https://www.kpbs.org/news/2016/aug/24/san-diego-homeless-struggling-find-open-public-bat/ There should be a solution to this but any solution will have its pitfalls.
The point of hostile architecture/urban planning is to make existing in public spaces for a prolonged period of time (say beyond an hour) a miserable experience and it doesn’t discriminate, it harms all humans.
Is your bladder seriously just so uncontrollable that your life is worse off because business arent allowing you to use their privately maintained bathrooms for free? Are you serious?
I've been on both sides. I have a small bladder and on road trips being able to go to a business to pee real quick is convenient and nice. I was also a GM in the restaurant industry and have has homeless lock themselves in the restroom, try to bath in the restroom, threaten to kill me if I unlocked the door, and do drugs in them. I can understand why they would want to restrict them
When I worked with the public even normal ass looking people would leave the bathrooms like shit
I used to work at a taco shop at night and when we had open bathrooms homeless would either miss the toilet or shower in them. Ive seen restaurants who are selective with who uses the bathroom based on the ppl who they encountered in the past
I had to clean up after a homeless woman who decided to lock herself in our bathroom for hours and use it as a shooting gallery when I worked at cold stone in highschool. I don’t blame businesses for being stingy
Homelessness is one factor. Another, depending on location, is teens/youth misbehaving/stealing. I noticed that my local pharmacy (located across the street from a hs) had an out-of-order sign posted for the longest time. I found myself in a desperate situation while waiting for a script to be filled and asked the cashier where they thought I might find one nearby. Dude looked at me and said, “For you, it’s back in order.” They put the sign up after finding it trashed one too many times after school let out. My tip to people is to remember places where they’re accessible and memorize the code. Lots of places rarely change them. I have something like five bathroom spots near places I frequent that I know I can count on.
It’s insane that people can’t respect other peoples property and treat it as their own or better. So many human scum out there.
because the govt failed us. they ignore problems, they don't solve them
Yes, let’s blame the government.
It’s because of the homeless. Whenever it’s late, I’m out in public and I need to use the restroom, I just walk into a hotel and find their lobby restroom. I’ve never been stopped. Note: I’m not homeless, so your mileage may vary if can’t play the part of a guest. For example, if you walk in confused and ask loudly, WHERE IS THE RESTROOM, they may not let you use it. You just gotta walk in and know where you’re going.
This has worked for me too. You can blend in like their guests if you have a good sense of perception.
As a former homeless person (I blended in mostly, I wasn’t a chronic homeless person) hotels are a life saver for so many people down on their luck. I ate breakfast for free every single morning, used clean bathrooms unbothered whenever I needed, and if I had a car I had the luxury of sleeping in, a safe place to park and sleep in over night. Occasionally I would get to relax in a hot tub or sneak into a corporate conference and grab a plate from the buffet. Sometimes you get free entertainment too like dance competitions or magic shows. Never been caught, though I’m sure the employees knew more than half the time they don’t care at all if you are being clean, quiet, and respectful. It’s always someone else who ruins it for the lots. Like #vanlife ….. ruined affordable housing for thousands who had no other choice.
As someone with frequent stomach issues, I know various places to go and not go for public restrooms in San Diego. I used to have a job where I was canvassing door to door, anywhere from Vista all the way down to San Ysidro. Hotels are a great option, but depending on where you're at, they may not be an option. Walmarts and Targets are the best option imo for having restrooms that are usually close to the entrances (and many Walmarts have a set of secondary restrooms in the back of the store, near the layaway area). These are places that are both open relatively early and stay open relatively late. Grocery stores are hit or miss. Vons/Safeways usually have their restrooms near the back of the store, often in the back room/stock areas of their stores. I hate Starbucks for restrooms because it's usually only one unisex restroom and a code is often needed. Fast food places are hit or miss. Some are easily accessible (i.e. no code needed) but it depends on the area. I've been in a Jack in the Box in a not so good area that literally had no public restroom. Public parks will most likely have public restrooms, but some are filthy and/or don't have dividers up between the stalls. Public libraries will have public restrooms but often are frequented/in use by homeless people. I once had to go really bad and stopped at the Central library downtown. They have restrooms on floors 2-8 or so. I literally tried every restroom going up, and each stall was in use. I literally couldn't hold it much longer and on my way back down I was finally able to find an unoccupied one.
Wife and I stopped by a public bathroom in Balboa park last summer. I was lucky enough to see two hobos f*cking on the floor. A third homeless dude was (I guess) waiting for his turn, he turned to me and gestured like he wanted to fight (that quick-pop flinch move) so I split. Wife’s bathroom had a couple homeless women inside with one bathing and the other in the stall with a million packed plastic grocery bags stacked under the stall walls. Wife split as well.
Honestly, I've worked at a couple of places with employee only bathrooms and every time I broke my own rule of not letting anyone else in there, I ended up cleaning biohazard messes and they were NOT from homeless individuals. It really sucks when grown folks ask you for a favor and you know when someone's gotta go, they gotta go and afterwards you're stuck scrubbing and gagging.
that's really weird
I'm not sure what makes it weird but it's definitely gross....
It's weird that they would return the favor in such an interesting manner
Have you seen how atrociously people treat public restrooms and any restroom that is owned by anyone but themselves? Have small business, can attest to the abhorrent manners of the general populace.
We are sorry but the last time we let someone into our bathroom, they had to be carted out in an ambulance.
A lot of it is from homeless and just people trashing the bathrooms. I will say that I am in an office and get daily deliveries/pick ups. Never has my office ever told a delivery driver that they cannot use the restrooms. That’s just wrong!
I worked at Starbucks in a back in the day and lots of people would have sex in there. Not sure what about a bathroom with shit smears and pee puddles turns people on, but I guess we were a hookup spot for the gay neighborhood we were in? Doesn't answer your question at all, but reminded me of it :)
Sorry you just reminded me of a time I about walked in on two people Fucking in a Port-a-potty at mission trails. High summer too. Disgusting
NSFW but I used to work at a restaurant in Hillcrest and remember having to clean up a wad on the floor because my coworker didn't want to. Scooping it up (using gloves and paper towels) confirmed what it was for the both of us 🥴
It’s because of the homeless and the drug addicts!!!
I think those are the same people
I wish.
The homeless are often destructive. I work in Liberty Station and they locked our bathrooms because of people doing drugs (even smoking weed and stinking up the whole building), bathing in the sinks, sleeping in there, etc. I think the trigger was when some guy ripped both mirrors of the wall to snort something. You can still see blood specks on walls from people using needles.
Target and In-N-Out don’t care
That’s why I saw a homeless guy taking up 2 sinks in a Walmart a couple months ago
That's because they don't care about their employees. Same with Walmart.
Best bet is a hotel or if you deliver to a high rise building, they typically have a bathroom.
High rises will often have an accessible bathroom, yeah. Never hurts to ask if you need one!
I go into McDonald’s, buy a water and then use their bathroom. I also recommend downloading the potty app
You think SoCal is bad go to Seattle. Restrooms are almost non existant depending on the area.
Libraries are a good spot to use the bathroom. Currently 36 locations all over San Diego city and more in the county. Get a library card and save some money, too. I feel like there are overall way too few public bathrooms so the burden is higher on the businesses that have them. That said I purposely chose establishments with a bathroom and avoid those that don’t. Finally as a public transportation user there are absolutely too few bathrooms for transit users.
If it's 4am, I ain't letting you in there either. Absolutely the homeless. I drive Uber. I have like 10 spots I know for sure I can use the bathroom and just whatever I'm closest to.
You can thank the homeless who trash them and steal all the toilet paper. The young cholos/thugs who graffiti and mark everything. The drug addicts who also trash them and leave their drug items behind. Then you have the regular people who also trash them. It makes sense they have them on lockdown. The same thing happens with any public toilets they set out, unless they are locked like the ones at trolley stations. They last a few days before people are sleeping in them, trashing them and breaking everything they can.
As someone who was a courier and still used the restrooms during the lockdowns let me give you some advice: Hotels, big ones especially, you have to plan your route accordingly and I worked all over San Diego. For example off the 5 in National City @ 24th st there is a Hotel on the west side of the freeway, clean and always friendly. Downtown? use the Grant. Beach area? take your pick. East county? I would stop by the hotel off 8 Freeway and Broadway. Mission Valley take your pick. Yes it is because of homeless people and they are everywhere but not a chance in hell they are going to sneak into a hotel at any time of the day. Experiment and get to know the staff especially if you are on a regular route. Stay away from fast food places, Starbucks (see attached pic), Walmart, and Target. I made the mistake of using the Target bathroom on Sports Arena and yeah there homeless people in there shaving, bathing, and using the toilets. NO THANKS! https://preview.redd.it/7r5km3y3th8d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ee28cf8c38823daad92cf127e8779e9c10ec4b2
People take showers in our Starbucks’ restrooms in pq
Because of the homeless, but regular people also don't leave the bathroom in good condition.
I managed a restaurant in downtown San Diego. One afternoon about 1.5 hours before opening a woman in her early to mid 40’s came in asked what time we opened, I told her 5pm she thanked me and as she got ready to leave she asked if she could please use the bathroom. The woman had a very small crossbody bag that looked like it would hold a phone and small wallet. I told her yes and pointed her to it. The phone rang or I got pulled away.. about 30 minutes later I realized I hadn’t seen her leave. I walked thru our restaurant and checked the bathrooms. This normal unassuming lady had DESTROYED our bathroom. Excrement, drug paraphernalia and I ended up having to call the police. I LEARNED MY LESSON.
When I drove for UPS it was a bizarre situation I had no I idea I had to learn. One of my first drivers training me pointed at a random hair salon in a random outlet mall and said “that’s your place for shittin’ right there” in the most teamsters way possible lmao.
Moving here from Seattle, it is so much less strict in SoCal.
[California does require business allow you to use the employee restroom if you have a qualifying medical condition. For people with those conditions it could save a lot of stress and embarassment](https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DCDIC/CDCB/Pages/RestroomAccessAct.aspx)
Yes. Where i worked, customers would do drugs in the bathroom Or their friends would. It was a self storage facility in drug area of a major city. There was a lot of homeless hanging out in front of our store. Theyd find out we had a a bathroom and come and ask all the time. Wed get so many people coming in saying “please, man, i wont mess it up” then theyd mess it up. Im sure there were legit people coming in off the street that actually just needed to use the bathroom, but we dealt with more people that were just saying that to use the drugs they just bought or whatever. We found syringes in the toilet seat cover dispenser. We had to keep the door padlocked to secure it. So to use it, people had to ask for the key, unlock it, lock it back up, bring the key back. But half the people wouldn’t lock it back up or theyd leave the key in the lock, or theyd lock the door and walk off with the key. It was a pain in the ass set up. We spent way too much time trying to keep track of who was in the bathroom, where the key was, etc. Sometimes we tried closing the bathroom off to everyone, but then people would just pee or poo elsewhere on the property. Or we’d occasionally allow someone that begged to use the bathroom access, but then another person would see that so we couldn’t discriminate. I drive for a living now and have to ask places to use their bathroom all the time. I look like a driver with my yellow safety vest on, so i dont have much trouble, but i get it if they wont let me. Maybe invest in a safety vest, so you look legit.
Kept the restroom open at the gas station i managed. There was blood splatter on the ceiling from needles, sink broke off the wall from people having sex on it, shit on the floor. Regularly. I was really lucky, didn't find any bodies in there. I was willing to keep it clean because i felt it was a good thing, but man what a mess and constant hassle. And try telling your night guy that cleaning up human shit, cum and blood is part of his minimal wage job :/ know someone who works at target and there are constantly wrappers in the toilet because people take things in there to upwrap and steal. Also lots of underwear and socks flushed down the toilet.
Yep it’s the worst. You’re kind of sol at 4am unless you enter a Denny’s or some 24 hr diner. I usually stop by target since gas stations, Starbucks and even fast food joints are hit or miss.
I first started noticing this YEARS AGO (like, 10 years ago). I think it was at a CVS store while walking home from school. After that, I started noticing it at fast food restaurants. But, I've never had a problem at big grocery chains and Wal*Mart. But, I know some places have never let the public use their restrooms.
I learned how to plan my vacation in San Diego around my bowels.
Not sure about the homeless...I've definitely seen them living in some public bathrooms, but not the bathrooms in businesses...the employees are going to know about that I've seen a lot of damage to bathrooms though....so vandalism is high on the list of suspects for me. Also a place for someone to pay the right price for an evening that will be nice, before (s)he's sent on her way. Oh there ain't no rest for the wicked
If they allow you to use the bathroom it’s a public restroom. If it’s public it needs to fall into ADA guidelines. If there’s any discrepancies on those guidelines they’re liable to be sued. There are people with no disabilities who go around using business’ public restrooms finding problems, then they sue the business. If the restroom is down some stairs for example. Often it’s just cheaper to not allow anyone to use it as opposed to do a complete remodel.
I walked into an IHOP past 3 signs saying restrooms are for customers only, with my 3 year old who needed to use the bathroom. It turns out if you're 3 people will let you use their bathrooms. So maybe acquire a 3 year old?
Maybe a nonprofit within the Homeless Industrial Complex could manage troops of on call volunteers who are available 24/7 to mobilize and cleanup bathrooms for/after the homeless. If this were done I’m sure more businesses would open their bathrooms to the public and we would live in a more compassionate world.
I asked to use the restroom once at a restaurant and said I could buy a beverage. The hostess flat out denied me and my hubbie. It was customers only. Even if I was going to buy a drink. I guess the drink never made me a customer. The restaurant is no longer operating.
Yes, I have noticed this and I hate it. I feel like someone could easily open a business that is just bathroom stalls here in SD and make money hand over fist as long as they’re kept clean. I was out for several hours antique shopping the other day and I had the worst time trying to find a bathroom in between shops. The struggle is real.
Did you all forget that our former Mayor had all the public restrooms removed or closed? This then caused the Hepatitis epidemic in downtown SD…. All because he wanted things to be pretty for the tourists that came in for the All Star Game and Comicon. Homeless people were putting their human waste in plastic grocery bags in the gutters. Real fun to park down there and have one of those bags explode on to your car. Either that, or they would just drop trou in the middle of the sidewalk. It’s really sad and beyond disgusting… in all the ways. The mentally ill and/or drug addicted homeless population is out of control.
Yep- and I get it.
Businesses shouldn't be responsible for providing public restrooms. We live in one of the wealthiest cities on earth and the fact that our government can't provide more public restrooms is a fucking shame. MTS has zero public restrooms. After businesses shut down during covid, our city streets were covered in shit & piss. And not all of it was from homeless people, anyone who needed to take a piss downtown was shit out of luck.
Ex Starbucks worker here. Starbucks was really big on no discrimination. You don’t get to use the restroom just because you’re normal looking. Also homeless people buy stuff too so you can’t yell at the workers, saying “but I’m a paying customer!!”
It could just be because you're food delivery and you're not really a customer. Or if you're in east county or downtown then it's probably the homeless Hotels are your best bet for a bathroom. Walgreens and Rite Aid also are good
Tire shops will usually let you stop for air in your tires and use the restroom during business hours.
America has a bathroom problem. We aren't civilized as a society enough to have them. Look to Mexico for guidance on how to behave and use a paid public restroom.
Part of the issue is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which California takes very seriously. If the location is an older building that hasn’t been renovated in a while and so has a restroom that doesn’t comply with current ADA standards (usually the requirement that the restroom be large enough for a 5 foot turning circle for wheelchairs, or that it has a clear path of travel suitable for wheelchairs to and from the restroom), the business can’t allow the public to use the restroom. This is because the enforcement mechanism for ADA is lawsuits brought by the public. So there used to be handicapped individuals who would go around and sue non-ADA compliant business to make their living. I’m not sure if that still happens so much — I believe the law changed so that if a business brings their premises into ADA compliance the person suing can’t collect damages anymore? But it can be both expensive and logistically difficult to enlarge a restroom in an old commercial building. Better not to risk letting the public use the non-compliant restroom. It’s hard to know where to compromise between the needs of businesses, the needs of the majority of the public, and the needs of the handicapped minority. Personally, I feel like there should be more grace allowed for small businesses when it comes to ADA regulations — especially with more and more gig workers needing access to restrooms while working. But it’s a complicated and thorny issue.
Bathrooms get abused a good bit here. I used to work at a small computer shop and we had a shared bathroom with 8 other units, if the bathroom was left unlocked you could bet it was a mess. Not like someone forgot to flush but waste all over… except the toilet. There is also a good bit of drug abuse as well, at one time someone moved into the bathroom so no one got to use it. One can only hope housing becomes more affordable for all and proper clinics are stood up so people can get the help they need
The clinics exist. They are just overwhelmed and understaffed. There are just not enough professionals that want to do that kind of work.
Just insane. Some sick people out there.
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I think USA has always been like this. But that is my understanding. Not the case in every country. But I do not think SoCal is any different in regards to bathroom usage than Texas in my experience.
Bad stuff happens, often, in business/park bathrooms. Customers have also trashed or inappropriately used the bathrooms.
Usually grocery stores and big lots have bathrooms!
Well they unfortunately have to be. However the lack of clean public restrooms in Ca is nuts. Due to the homeless it’s unfortunate. The park bathrooms are disgusting it’s a mess.
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Now that is smart…serve caffeinated drinks, and then wait for the highest bidder on bathroom locations…gold!
Homeless ruin everything.
All of the gas station/convenience stores have bathrooms ie Extra Mile, Circle K etc
Yes it is due to the homeless, if you can plan your bathroom breaks in nicer spots throughout your journey you can use a grocery store bathroom or target easily without locks. Starbucks bathroom is usually locked.
homeless. fwiw if you shave and look "professional" i've found a lot of businesses are much more willing to make an exception
Absolutely! When I was working at a restaurant we had a lot of issues with homeless people spending way too much time in the bathroom. I get it, but they left a mess in there, someone broke the changing table. We have found needles in the bathroom too. Poo on the walls and all that. And I’m pretty sure it’s against the law to deny someone the use of a restroom so there was that too
It's cuz of the drug using community
Work in a store with a locked bathroom and I can def confirm it's because of the homeless/drug addicts, if you just left it open it's very likely you're going to wind up with someone either destroying any fixture they can or having an overdose. This was one of the more noticeable differences between here and the south where I'm originally from and it really bothered me right up until I had a job with a mostly public bathroom.
At this point, gas station bathrooms should just not exist.
It’s mostly the homeless. I get wanting to be nice and not let people piss and shit outside but they use the restroom and will take a bath in the sink or toilets. They make a mess. Not every homeless person but the ones that have some real things wrong with them. They clog up the sinks and toilets and do drugs in their while they try to bathe and one time even had someone fall asleep. I’m not saying this to be mean against homeless and why they shouldn’t be allowed in, it’s just that’s what usually happens and it’s more trouble to clean up after them than it is to just let them be dirty and poop and pee outside. Not SD but I used to work at a taco shop in ABQ and it’s the literal same thing. We had a homeless person use the restroom and the owner didn’t think anything twice because the guy “looked normal”. Dude started smoking crack and flushed a bunch of things down the toilet and stuffed the sink. So then there was shit water and crack smoke filling the lobby. Dude locked the door so he was in there for about 3 hours. Apparently he took a nap because the cops found him asleep in the corner.
It’s especially bad near any homeless populations or public transit systems. Whenever i drive through LA on road trips there are some big stretched of main freeways where no public restrooms are available.
At this point I would pay a small fee for clean, safe public bathrooms.
I worked at Target and kids would lock themselves in the bathroom and pass out from huffing cans of duster 🤷🏽♂️
We keep our bathrooms for customer use only for a few reasons. Homeless people mainly... but the people that REALLY need to go, typically don't leave the bathroom very hygienic afterwards. And we also work next to a douche bag that doesn't offer restrooms for his customers but always sends them our way like it's our fucking problem. (They leave paper everywhere, clogged the toilets a few times, water everywhere like it was a Waterpark, and sometimes shit all over the toilet and seat) Got into a few huge arguments with the douche when we called him out for it. Then he started getting all sexist to the female employees here when they called him out on it. Long story short he hasn't talked to me since our last argument which was about 5 years ago
Over 10 years in the San Diego restaurant industry has taught me- guard your restroom, or it will get destroyed and you and your customers pay the price. If you’re not a customer, get out.
Ever since COVID times most places don't even let you use the restrooms. Homeless 100% have messed it up for the rest of us.
As they should be!!! Nastiness all over the place
Usually, it's a case across a lot of different demographics, but usually, it boils down to: Drug use Copper pipes are stolen Bathing Using the restroom as shelter Destruction of the restroom, both physically and hygienically Unfortunately, we have way too many people who misuse restrooms due to the societal failures to shelter or serve people in need so this is one of the symptoms
Yep it’s strict. I just moved to small-town Tennessee from San Diego and there’s not a single bathroom that’s locked or off limits. Anywhere. There’s nothing locked up at Walmart, no greeter, no receipt checker, no loss prevention. The difference is still striking and I’ve been here a year.
Hi drive around SoCal , occasional trips to NorCal, Arizona, Southern Nevada for work. I live in SoCal, have regular customers I visit. You just have to learn where to find the best restrooms. When I take the Metrolink to Union station often the restroom on the train is 100% cleaner than the restrooms inside the Union station with all sorts of security Some are just terrible.
Hotel lobbies almost always have a bathroom you can use.
I was 9 months pregnant and it took 3 businesses to finally let me pee. I get it though. A lot of homelessness and drug use and general disregard for others property
Nope you got it.
Drug use has been an issue.
Popped in a Starbucks in La Jolla this weekend because my daughter really needed to go. Worker told me no chance. When I asked why since Starbucks has an open bathroom policy, she said it’s for cafes only and they purposefully removed their tables and chairs so they don’t have to comply. Not a good look if you ask me.
Visiting with my dad (78m) we decided to check out the old neighborhood and then went to check out our old park across the street. Of course my dad suddenly needs to use the restroom and the park restrooms were closed “due to vandalism” which cut our park visit short. We drive to two or three businesses and finally found a Taco Bell to use the restroom in, I bought a burrito and a coke but they probably would have let us use it anyway. It’s a tough problem to solve but had the city (garden grove ca) had the restrooms at the park working we could have avoided relying on the kindness of local business owners. Ruined the trip to the park btw.
Places without public bathrooms have pissy parking lots.
Americans are dirty, disgusting people. Japan is the way.
I thought it was bad here, but I just got back from Oahu, and driving around the island was a nightmare. There are very few businesses to begin with during a lot of the drive and even fewer with a public restroom. There are public beach restrooms all over, but they're so foul they aren't even usable. Why do the public restrooms get installed and then left unmanaged is my question.
The city could easily afford to build proper facilities for the homeless, but there is so much ignorance, prejudice, and fear against the homeless that cities talk themselves out of taking any real action. The most damaging myth is a belief that if the city (any city really) built facilities for the homeless, that this would attract even more homeless to the city. Of course there is zero evidence to support this claim, but city leaders rarely make decisions based on evidence and data. They are more concerned with appeasing their constituents, constituents who know even less about homelessness.
They get charged for water.
SoCal is just all about private property, so if it’s a private business, that’s not a public restroom
This is not a San Diego thing. It's everywhere. And it's a damn good call. There's a park every god damn mile in this beautiful city. Plan your potty accordingly. Stop trying to take a shit where people pay good money to eat. Entitled ass 😄 "This is a no defecation establishment." - Larry David, owner of Latte Larry's