Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Refuses Bathroom Access to Diarrheic 5-Year-Old

Consumerist.com ^ | June 23, 2008 | Alex Chasick

[Oyarsa]

A reader writes: "Last night we were out with friends and went to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory at Bella Terra/Huntington Beach. We were eating outside as my 5 year old daughter got an uncontrollable urge to use the bathroom and began crying and screaming 'diarrhea, diarrhea.' I ran into the store with her in my arms, begging to use the bathroom and they refused multiple times."

I explained she had diarrhea and couldn't hold it and told them she was about to go on the floor. They refused again and never offered me any alternatives. I begged them to have a heart and that she was 5 but by that time she had lost it all over herself and me.

[alicewonders]

My husband & I own a business. We don’t have a public restroom, but I happily let people use it when they have a “great need”. I want our customers to have a pleasant shopping experience with us & I know how it feels to be out somewhere & have a sudden urge to go to the bathroom.

Some people have left messes for us to clean up, but most people are neat & grateful for it. Especially a small child - my goodness!

[hole_n_one]

Is this what Free Republic is for?

I could not agree more.

FR seems to have lost focus on the things that used to matter here..........

• who's wearing what at the Oscars
• funny cat pics
• anything with the word sex in the title
• cheese
• making fun of dumb ass newbies that act as if any one is the least bit interested in what they care about

[Keith in Iowa]

I begged them to have a heart and that she was 5 but by that time she had lost it all over herself and me.

Sh_t happens....

[Twinkie]

We had an antique store for a few years, and I think that generally speaking, it is just plain STUPID for most businesses to not provide a simple little room with a commode and a lavatory for its customers. We provided that courtesy, and also kept one of the spring water coolers with the little paper cups so our customers would not have to quit shopping and hurry out if they needed to go to the bathroom or got thirsty. I think it helped business.

To address the common sense of this, I had been shopping in a health food store for about ten years and spent about $100 a month or more average. Over the years, as I aged, I developed a bladder condition that caused me to have to “go” frequently and urgently. - One day, I noticed a snotty little sign on the front door of the place that I hadn’t noticed before. I guess it had been there all the time, but I had never needed a bathroom while in there shopping. The sign read “NO BATHROOM AVAILABLE TO PUBLIC”. Well, it was a family run business, and several members of their family stayed there all day. I doubted very seriously they stayed there and held it back all day or ran over to the courthouse every time they had to go.

So, I stopped and thought, “I’ve spent literally thousands of dollars in this little hole in the past ten years, and they’re telling me that they are too chintzy to open their bathroom to me if I have to go really bad while shopping in their establishment?” So, for the next ten years plus, I have spent very, very little there. I’m doubt I’m the only customer of theirs who has noticed that.

One thing I noticed at my shop was that cusomer visits to the restroom were few and far between. Our water cooler was pretty popular, and people shopped for a long time without having to worry about being uncomfortable or thirsty - and they could purchase jelly beans if they got hungry. It is simply a NON-ISSUE for callous, selfish, inhumane people to nitpick and strain at a gnat and swallow a camel about.

[Malacoda]

I sincerely hope no one who is criticizing the mother or the child ever find themselves in a situation where they get sick and suddenly have to poop, or risk soiling themselves.A child is usually more than well-trained by 5, but in a potty emergency?

I've seen adults crap themselves due to this kind of thing (tummy virus, food poisoning...). No one deserves that kind of public humiliation.

[alicewonders]

FR seems to have lost focus on the things that used to matter here..........

who's wearing what at the Oscars

funny cat pics

anything with the word sex in the title

cheese

making fun of dumb ass newbies that act as if any one is the least bit interested in what they care about

I especially love the funny cat pictures!

[csvset]

Here's a link to the story in the OC Register.

Child's restroom emergency puts store on defensive

[Perdogg]

I cannot understand how a food business can operate, inherently and legally, without a washroom for its customers. That’s I didn’t really understand.

[ContraryMary]

Who cares what she does in church at a moment like this. She was a sick child.

I agree. My son has IBD, so I feel for this child and her mother. A year from now my son will start high school. They keep the bathrooms locked at the high school with only one open on each of the two floors -- in a school with more than 1300 students. It's a stupid and ineffective attempt to keep the kids from smoking. Kids wait in line for up to a half hour -- missing class -- to use the bathroom. I have a year to figure out how to address this.

[ThomasThomas]

These is an example of how current social economic and political forces are trying to change society. Should this conflagration between customer and business be taken care of by government regulation or are market forces. This is an appropriate discussion for a venue such as FreeRepublic.

[hole_n_one]

You need to get your sarcasm detector calibrated.

[TigersEye]

She laughed at me when I told her ...

If that is true laughing at him certainly seems unnecessary.

...I would be using my extensive contacts to begin a viral campaign to boycott her store and the entire chain ...

The guy sounds a bit melodramatic though.

My daughter was humiliated, forced to defecate on herself due to the lack of compassion exhibited by the store -...

The store's lack of compassion gave your daughter diarrhea? Or was it due to some junk you fed her? Or was it just something that happens now and then to little kids? It sounds a lot like this parent panicked and wants to lay the blame on anyone but him/herself for what amounts to a natural accident that was a bit embarrassing. More so for the adult I'm guessing. If the kid can't survive this trauma I'm afraid life on earth is going to be too much for her.

I searched around some more to find out whether a place that serves food has to provide a bathroom to customers. As it turns out, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory may have violated existing California Code provisions.

I doubt it. They don't really serve food and have no seating for such. It's a candy store and I don't think that is usually classified the same as a restaurant is. I don't know about the PRCA but in most states even restaurants are exempt if they have no seating.

[ThomasThomas]

I guess Post 30 should gone to PGR88 also.

[scrabblehack]

How many 5 year olds know the word “diarrhea?”

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>I have a year to figure out how to address this.

Find a good lawyer with experience with the Americans With Disabilities Act...then sue the school for failing to meet needs of those afflicted with IBD.

[csvset]

Lots of comments in the story linked at post # 27.

[Hazwaste]

I get a nagging feeling this mother might be the same whose 5 year old destroys the churchgoing experience by acting up for a full hour each Sunday.

Who cares about the mother?! This poor child was sick. It's not a matter of the store's responsibility, it's about acting like a decent grown human being and letting the poor little one go potty.

[imintrouble]

A couple of things hit me when I read this.

First was the trauma caused the child - not of the accident about to happen but the hysteria of the mother. Sure it’s a terrible event but mom made it seem worse without proper planning.

A five year old or any young child can have an accident.
Why not check out bathroom facilities where you visit a restaurant or store in the future to avoid a recurrence? Having an accident plus mom’s fighting made a terrible time for the little one to
experience.

Always carry extra necessaries for illness or accidents when you take a little one out.

The establishment were within their legal rights to refuse use of their faciliities - even to a little child in trouble - but if mom had been aware of this before frequenting the place - she would have at least been more prepared.

Having written that I think they are cruel and hostile people - and I hope mom never returns to that place.

There are many restaurants who cater to little people and they are fully prepared with washrooms to save accidents and moms from having meltdowns.

Visit them often and thank them for their understanding.

[BnBlFlag]

“.....it’s about acting like a decent grown human being and letting the poor little one go potty”.

Well said and bears repeating.

[Cailleach]

you know, when I was in 3rd grade and had that evil teacher that wouldn’t allow me to go to the restroom, resulting in my throwing up and having diarrhea all over myself, in front of all my classmates? we need to sue. I believe I have been tramatized. /s How could I ever face those people now? /more s Oh...wait...I’ll never see those people again. I think the kid will live, I feel her pain, but with years of life, it will be ok. I can look back and laugh now, and surely both ends infront of my entire class is more devestating than one end in front of total strangers.

lol