The most recent of the stories I have about that topic was from a few years ago. I was working in the oft-forgotten corner of the men's apparel department when a custy approached me and said that there was a "mess" in one of the two fitting rooms. Yes there was. Some guy had taken it upon himself to leave a pile of clothing nearby, and pee in the opposite corner, all over the wall, and in a puddle on the floor.
Sighing, I removed the clothes, locked the room, posted an "out of order" sign, and called housekeeping. How the hell she got urine off the wallpaper, I'll never know.
Another time I was working in the children's department, cleaning out the fitting rooms, and noticed an oddity in one of the stalls. We had those little shelves with the metal cups built in to hold pins and clips when trying on clothes. This one was filled with a clear yellow liquid.
I should like to point a few things out:
1) The children's department contains the bathroom for that floor. Does it suck for custies who need a toilet, and they are on the other side of the store? Sure. THE BATHROOMS WERE 500 FEET FROM THIS FITTING ROOM. NO EXCUSE.
2) There was nothing - NOTHING - around the perimeter of this metal cup, or on the floor. Whoever had done this had great aim, had done it deliberately, and had either stood on the seat to do so, held someone else up to the appropriate height OR, said yellow liquid had been in another container and had been carefully poured into that metal cup. Nothing about the situation said "emergency".
3) I felt bad passing this cleaning task onto the housekeeping staff. I'm sure they got paid shit wages to clean up shit. Unfortunately, I didn't have the cleaning supplies to take care of the job myself, and had to call that poor girl again. I was at a loss as to how she got it out of there, as the cup wasn't removable. When she was finished, I asked hopefully, "Apple juice?" She gave me a wry "of course not" smile. They did not pay that girl enough.
My last instance was from when I hadn't been working very long in Department Store Hell. I was in Teen Girl Section on Labor Day Weekend, and of course the place is packed because dumbass crusties insist on doing all their back-to-school shopping the day before school gets in again. Next to the fitting rooms was a mannequin stand and rows of double racks.
Unfortunately, we were so packed that there were four or five of us working fitting room (including the manager), and we were still way behind. There was a MOUNTAIN of go-backs on the floor next to the mannequin stand, and we were so busy trying to tame it, that no one noticed what was on the other side of that stand until later.
Feces. Smeared on the floor. As though a kid had an accident, or a baby's diaper was full, and there was some... butt-dragging involved. Once again, lacking the supplies to clean it up, my best solution was to put up a couple of cones and watch the area until the over-worked housekeepers showed up.
Whenever I tell these stories to non-slaves, they are shocked beyond belief and seem to think that these might be rare incidents. And sadly, I'm forced to inform them otherwise. In my store, you weren't fully a member of the team until you dug through a pile of go-backs in a fitting room to uncover a dirty diaper at the bottom of it.
Is it a small room? Yes? Does it have a locking door for privacy? Yes? Is there actually a toilet? No? Leave and find a toilet. Do not make me call that girl in housekeeping again. We speak different languages, but I will kick your sorry ass if you make her job harder.
May your custies know where to relieve themselves,
--Without Nametag
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