Bathroom Attendants in Restaurants

[alacarte]

I just have to say, I can not imagine ANY reason to take anything that you are going to put in your mouth from a toilet.  It's been in toilet air for hours!  Ewww.  Unless I just puked, and REALLY needed something, but that hasn't come up recently.  Still, the thought of eating toilet food would make me vomit alone.

"Toilet air?"

The candy was wrapped. Smarties, peppermints, things like that, and set up in a bowl on the sink, not in the lavatory itself. Not quite as gross it might sound.

Unless, of course, said bowl was a toilet bowl.

[elyse]

OR unless you're me.

[hannnah]

Weirdest place I've run across bathroom attendants was Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania. They claim to have the largest toilet facility in the world, and every group of stalls has an attendant. Not all of the attendants do the full mints/lotion/perfumes thing, but some of them did. On the whole, I'd definitely say their facilities were nicer than your average large-people-facility restroom, simply because there was someone there all the time to replace the toilet paper or call maintenance when needed!

[Suzanne F]

Anyone see Urinetown?

This thread is reminding me of it.

Pay to pee, people, pay to pee.

If you haven't, HURRY! It's closing in mid-January, because the theater it's in will be knocked down.

[=Mark]

I love this thread! And I also love the fact that most of you folks replying are men!And it makes everyone really uncomfortable...

Remember mama? And toilet training?

I rest my case....

Yeah, I remember mama & toilet training. She did an excellent job and I don't need help anymore...

[FistFullaRoux]

I've only run across a few of them. The ones in New Orleans (House of Blues) are probably more security based, given their location. They are there to protect the joint, and the patrons.

I've seen them also (and to tell this story, I have to admit I was there) in a certain... "gentleman's club". ahem. This guy was definately security. He was bigger than the one at the front door. But the bathroom was spotless, he'd hand you a paper towel or two, offer to sell you a cheap little comb for 50 cents (But it was new, or at least wrapped), allow you to select something from the not varied, but amply supplied gum and mint section, then open the door for you as to not contaminate your freshly washed hands. I left him a buck. He thanked me and sent me on my way. On a return trip that same night, I offered him another dollar, and he claimed it was uneccesary. I made him take it anyway. It may have been reverse psychology, but it worked.

As I was leaving that night, I saw this same guy bodily dragging a bleeding man out of the bathroom to the parking lot. His little bow tie was not even crooked. Another bouncer was manhandling a second bleeding man out towards another door. Must have been a fight.

The few that I have run across in restaraunts are far less entertaining, and far more pathetic. You sort of feel like they are using this to pay for their medication that allows them to eat solid food or something. They are almost always old. Seems like the only two job options for people over 75 are some kind of attendant, or Wal Mart greeter.

[Mayhaw Man]

I've only run across a few of them. The ones in New Orleans (House of Blues) are probably more security based, given their location. They are there to protect the joint, and the patrons.

Ugghh, the House of Blues in New Orleans is unsafe? Security? Huh?

If there is any place safe in New Orleans it is the House of Blues. They charge rediculous covers to keep out the riff raff and have "guys with those headsets that make them seem so important" everywhere. I think that, for some misguided reason, Isaac Tigrett and the rest of the ownership at the House of Blues feels like the bathroom guys are just part of the Blues Club experience. (Most of the real blues clubs they are imitating barely had bathrooms, but I digress). On any given night the place is so full of tourists with money in their pockets, cocktails in their hands, and cigars jammed in their facesthat it may be the safest place in New Orleans. If they are worried about security they should put attendants in the second floor men's room at City Hall. Talk about some unsavory characters .

If I am not mistaken they have bathroom guys in most of the clubs. It may have started the trend in the New Orleans unit, but they have apparently carried it to other stores.

There are alot of unsafe places in my fair city, but the can at the House of Blues is not one of them.

[FistFullaRoux]

Ugghh, the House of Blues in New Orleans is unsafe? Security? Huh?

Maybe I misstated that. It's probably more to keep the drug deals and patron fights from going down in the bathrooms. Yes, the cover charges will keep some of the goofballs out, but any guy in a suit, when dosed with tequila, can turn into a very unpleasant person. One guy bumps into him in the bathroom, and that's all it takes. And there are lots of type A personalities that, when properly lubricated with alcohol, will turn into a ragin idiot.

You know how NOLA goes. The tourists think they will never see this person again, then his mouth proceeds to write a check his butt can't cash, and it's easier just to have someone present to act as a deterrent. Reduces the lawsuits as well.

[sherribabee]

I'm certainly not a fan of bathroom attendants. They make me very uncomfortable. Especially if I'm the only person using the toilet at that particular moment. I really don't need a captive audience to listen to me pee (or do whatever else it is I need to do in private). I can dispense my own soap, get my own towel and handle the faucets all by myself.

As for the lotions and perfumes, they're usually so old that the smells are kinda off or of questionable quality. Didn't they stop making Exclamation in 1988? The gum and mints are quite unappealing after they've been living in the bathroom for god knows how long. Poop particles travel 6 ft. when you flush, you know!

And I almost never have my purse with me, so I don't have money for a tip. Who needs all that pressure?

[Mayhaw Man]

Ugghh, the House of Blues in New Orleans is unsafe? Security? Huh?

You know how NOLA goes. The tourists think they will never see this person again, then his mouth proceeds to write a check his butt can't cash, and it's easier just to have someone present to act as a deterrent. Reduces the lawsuits as well.

O.K.

I can agree with that, pretty much, as over the years I have been in waaay more annoying situations at the House of Blues than I have ever encountered in places more suited to local soul fans than to out of town scene boosters. The Funky Butt, Donna's, The Glass House (now THERE was a club), Luigi's in the old days, Tips, Muddies, Jed's, etc. all of these people were generally there to see the music and not so much to create a scene and have all of their friends look at them .

Just for the record, alot of things happened in those bathrooms, but I never saw an attendant, even though half of Bolivia's finest was being consumed in them way back then. In fact, I once had my photo taken with Ernie K Doe at Jimmy's (circa 84) in front of the "novelties machine". I proudly have it on display on my wall of shame and bad living. My children are so poud of their daddy

[babyluck]

Ugh.

My worst experience was at the Sea Grill a few years ago. I think they were doing construction and the trek to the bathroom required going across a few streets and down into the bowels of Rockefeller Center. It was one of those standard prewar NYC public bathrooms--pulsing with green flourescent lights and permanently grimed. The place was a ghost town and the only soul around was the attendant, who sat dumb and fat on a creaky wooden chair.

I think she was sleeping when I emerged from the stall, because I had to repeatedly pump the numerous soap dispensers--all empty--before she started and pulled out a styrofoam cup full of that thick pink hand soap. She poured about a half-cup of it into my hands and waited until I had my hands good & soapy before going back to sleep, leaving me to attempt to turn on the faucet. I did so, soaping it in the process, and could only get a cold trickle to come out. I held my hands under it in a vain attempt to wash off the coating of perfumey, lotiony soap, thwarted when I resoaped myself while turning the water off. No paper towels anywhere to be seen.

She woke up again to raise an eyebrow and shove her tip bucket at me on my way out.

[elyse]

his mouth proceeds to write a check his butt can't cash

I have never seen this in a bathroom. Let's thank sweet Jesus for bathroom attendants.

[tigerwoman]

Nobody is going to use drugs, have sex in the stalls, etc., while the bathroom is attended.

unless they are an exhibitionist...

[Squeat Mungry]

Nobody is going to use drugs, have sex in the stalls, etc., while the bathroom is attended.

unless they are an exhibitionist...

You know, I used to work as a bar bouncer (SobaAddict70, who has met me, is probably laughing if he reads this because I look more like that Burger King guy than that Round Table guy). Anyway, you would be surprised what some drug users try to do even when they are perfectly aware (or perhaps hazily aware) that an employee of the establishment is right there in the same room!

Cheers,

Squeat

[beans]

It's late and I am of thinning patience, so I'm foregoing the three page read and adding a post. (which I am *sure* I'll regret tomorrow when I do read the whole thread).

Bathroom attendants. I've worked with a bunch. When I was at the Hard Rock Cafe, we figured they were the most tip grossing/money maker on the premises. Yup, us bartenders loathed them.

The lady bathroom attendants that worked at one restaurant and one of the adult entertainment bars I tended, well they too cleaned up big on tips. One eve I meandered in and was ever so greatful she had a bottle of clear nail polish for the stockings that were a part of my uniform. I snagged something sharp and metal behind the bar (shock) and had about a 1/4" of a run starting. Other times, that extra spritz of a refresher popular ladies' eau de toilette freshened up that bar smoke smell to my cloths, person and hair.

Only once did I find an attendant as intrusive by withholding any and all towelling and would chase you down to provide same after one washed their hands. yuk. Enough said.

edit: when will these fingers ever type correctly?

Edited November 6, 2003 by beans (log)

[Squeat Mungry]

Say does anybody know if this article ever got written? (I don't usually read WSJ.)

The reporter PMed me for an email address saying she'd like to chat some more about the topic, but I never heard from her.

Just wondering,

Squeat

[Fat Guy]

I don't believe anything has been written yet. In my experience the WSJ tends to work on a pretty slow production schedule, by newspaper standards, for this sort of thing.

[tommy]

the reporter mentioned to me that she'd give us a heads up when the article is due out. i hope she does, as i don't read the WJS much anymore either. hell, i don't read anything much anymore.

Edited November 18, 2003 by tommy (log)

[fresco]

This sounds offbeat enough to be a candidate for what I think is called "column one"-- the piece on the front page that is researched and edited to death, but which is usually a pretty good read. Some of these can take six months or more to see the light of day.

[glenn]

The reporter PMed me for an email address saying she'd like to chat some more about the topic, but I never heard from her.

Me too. Sort of. She asked me to call her, which I did, got her voicemail and never heard from her. I suppose I should've gotten suspicious from her recording. She promised to return all calls when she got a bathroom break.

[elyse]

Same thing happened to me, but I wrote or called her again, and she said something else had to be done first, but she was still going to do the interviews in future. We'll see if that ever happens.

[tommy]

since we're keeping tabs, i'll offer: she returned my calls and i returned hers and we spoke.

[Ladybug]

I don't think I've ever been to a bathroom with an attendant in the states, but in Turkey, it's very common. In fact, most public bathrooms in Turkey had a bathroom attendant who wouldn't let me go in unless I paid first. For a few hundred thousand TL, I'd get one small square napkin. I always carried my own TP in the trunk of the car but a few times when I forgot to get it, I had to ask the attendant for more TP (in advance!) and they didn't like it. When they understood what I wanted and looked reluctant, I was just insistent. They shook their heads and mumbled a bit, but they gave it to me! The bathrooms were hardly ever clean and most of the toilets were Turkish toilets, but when nature calls one must answer. We went to our gardener's house to eat several times and they apparently don't use toilet paper at all - they use a small hose and drip dry.

[beans]

I think I've had a similar experience in Bangkok. I sat and sipped my tea as I watched a lady, at the ladies room entrance way, handing out small squares of paper when I first ventured out to a sit down cafe after getting situated at the hotel. I'm glad I figured it out instead of learning of it after the fact.

[phaelon56]

Then there was the nightclub/disco I visited in the Bucktown section of Atlanta. This was not an upscale place and the bathrom didn't even have a stall assembly - just a toilet and a urinal. It was barely big enough to turn around in but they STILL had an attendant! I offered him a $2 tip to wait outside while I relieved myself. Just too bizarre. This was not the place where the girls in bikinis swing out over the sidewalk from the window and offer you $10 rides with them on the swing but it's just a few doors away.