A supermarket worker publicly humiliated me with their 'mean' act

A pregnant mum-of-two says she was left red-faced after the 'cruel' incident. But who is really in the wrong here?

A heavily pregnant woman faced an embarrassing moment when a supermarket employee refused to let her use the staff toilet.

The mother-of-two took to the parenting forum Mumsnet to explain: "I’m imminently due with my third baby and have a massive bump.

"I popped to the local grocer post-school run and, as I was checking out, was desperate for the loo."

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"Am I unreasonable for expecting some flexibility in branch policy?"

She says that her pelvic floor is "pretty shot" from her previous two kids, and "the baby had dropped during the school run walk, so I was feeling like I could not wait."

Considering that the store wasn't busy, she asked if she could use the staff toilets as she was "desperate" and there were no other bathrooms nearby.

"I was unlikely to make it the kilometre home in time, but the staff member said no, it was against policy," she recalled. "I wet myself before I even made it the front door of the shop. It was completely humiliating to have to walk home like that, and it could have been avoided if a bit of kindness had been shown."

She then asked the forum if she was being unreasonable in expecting some flexibility in policy to "accommodate those in need."

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"I wouldn't criticise the shop for this"

Unfortunately, most commenters defended the supermarket's right to bar customers from using staff bathrooms.

"Insurance is the answer," said one. "They can’t allow members of the public into staff-restricted areas as insurance wouldn’t cover if you had an accident."

"Lots of stores have this policy, I'm on water tablets and even have a card to confirm the urgency but I wouldn't expect them to bend the rules to me. Unfortunately, it would be best if you planned better," wrote a second.

"Even if you have a toilet urgency card/disability most shops wouldn't allow you to use the staff toilet for insurance and liability purposes. This is standard everywhere," a third echoed.

Image: IStock

And someone else said it was, "Partly insurance and partly security. Behind the door of the back area there is probably lots of stock, potentially staff personal belongings/bags, cash being counted in the office."

Then this user pointed out, "I'm sorry that happened to you, but remember that the person you asked is not the person who decides policy or has the authority to disregard it. They could have been fired if they'd let you use the loo and something happened. Maybe if it didn't."

"Must have been awful, but I wouldn't criticise the shop for this," another agreed. "We should have more public toilets."

However, one kind mum empathised, "Aww, that's really horrible, OP. I also feel like the shop staff are caught between two considerations there and could have gone either way, understandably. I think many people would have done the kind thing, and I'm sorry you had to go through that.

"The world is a hard place these days with little trust for others (for good reason often), sadly the bad apples have spoilt the barrel for others."

Originally published as A supermarket worker publicly humiliated me with their 'mean' act