Needless to say, we all have had to use the restroom at a shipper or receiver. It brings to mind that all too common first children's book I'm sure we've all heard of! What happens though, when you ask the clerk at the shipping/receiving window to use their facilities and they say that it is for employee's use only, or better yet there is a sign before you can even ask hanging their stating "no public restroom"?
Being a local driver and seeing up to seven or eight different customers in a day, I have encountered this all too often. This has led me to believe that this is not just isolated to my little corner of the world. I decided to conduct another one of my impromptu study surveys based on this and actually found that on average, one out of every seven customers I dealt with within a week would not allow a delivering driver to use their restroom facilities.
Perhaps their decision can be rooted in another case of the few ruing it for the many, as we see all too often in our industry. There are always going to be bad apples out there that ruin it for the bunch, but then these places wonder why they get bottles and bags of waste left behind at their warehouse, or even worse a driver relieving themselves between the tandems. Not that I condone any of this behavior, as a matter of fact I strongly oppose it. It is unsanitary and quite frankly, disgusting at the least!
So what do you do when the occasion arises that you really, really have to relieve yourself and there is no hope of convincing them of your emergency? One option I have always resorted to if I knew I would not be leaving anytime soon is to let them know I would return shortly because do to their inability to provide the most basic of facilities for human cleanliness, I would have to walk to the next warehouse over and ask to use theirs. This trouble usually convinces them of your urgency and most times, not all though, they will make an exception to their rule and let you use theirs. In a worst case scenario where that doesn't work or there is nowhere else to go and you have to do the unthinkable, be sure to dispose of it properly and not just leave it lying around for someone else to deal with. Have respect for their property and do not aid in perpetuating their feelings towards not letting drivers use their restrooms. Be better than the person, or persons, who caused that rule to be placed there in the first place.