An explanation, please?

[Winifred Baskerville]

Katie O'Connell encouraged me to share this. I had an unpleasant situation to deal with today and... well, yeah. Conversation.

I work for a major retailer, "selling trashy clothes to teenagers," as I like to say. I've had my rants about inconsiderate of customers and downright callousness with which I have been treated, both directly and indirectly, as a sales associate, but this takes the cake. This incident leaves me more confounded than angry or frustrated, tho both of those certainly apply since I had to clean up the mess.

Will someone kindly explain to me why a person would pee in a fitting room?

Not only that, but sop up the mess with merchandise and leave it “hidden” under a bench in said fitting room? It’s not like anyone’s going to miss something like that.

Today I found just that: urine soaked merchandise (black trousers) stuffed into a corner of the cubicle. The whole place stank like a barnyard, and there was a fair amount of pee soaked into the trousers.

The bathroom isn’t that far away. There was too much of the stuff to be a little kid’s potty accident, and the same would go (I imagine) for a bladder control issue.

This incident makes all my past rants (and they’ve been vehement) seem trivial; customers that run scams, those that leave merch in completely random places, heck, leave merch inside out and crumpled on the floor. I’ve dealt with all of it, much to my frustration, but this leaves me flabbergasted. Why would someone purposely piss in fitting room, on clothing?

I'm not a vindictive person, really, but I wish I was. This makes me want to do unpleasant and similar things in their closets, just so that they have to know what it's like. It's a very good thing pee doesn't bother me; I've worked in daycares and I have several younger cousins, so cleaning up that kind of mess doesn't faze me.

But... Why? ::WTF::

[Ysobelle]

Either a fetish out of control, or someone with fairly severe mental problems. I just don't think that's the kind of thing anyone does on purpose-- even maliciously.

I'm really sorry, though. That's just sad.

[Mistress Lisette]

:shock: Wow. I'm so sorry you had to deal with somebody's major issue. I'd like to think that somebody wouldn't/couldn't be that maliciously (and disgustingly) f*cked up, but I don't know... I've seen and heard of too much to think otherwise. I sorely hope I'm wrong though.

[AllieSutherland]

Not to codone what happened (I did many years in Retail Hell), but there is a possibility that someone had an honest accident. I mean, I'd like to think that most people would have the decency to own up to it and offer to clean it and pay for the merchandise, but you know...

It's a teen shop, but the first thing that came to mind (in my mind) was the possibility of someone having an honest accident and being too embarrassed to own up to it. I have Multiple Sclerosis, and there are times when people with MS have no "warning." Still, were that the case, they should have owned up to it. Once, I worked in Sears (men's department), and an elderly gentleman went in to try on a suit. He did a #2, and it was quite evident. His wife, who was shopping nearby, ran over when she didn't see him for a minute. She told me he had Alzheimer's, and he probably thought it was a restroom.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience... but maybe it was an accident. I hope it doesn't happen to you again...

[JaqulineSavvy]

Wow.. That's.. just wow. Seriously, Ysobelle has a point. It's either a fetish that's gone way off base, or someone with a real problem..

Sorry that you had to deal with something so disgusting, especially at work. It's hard enough dealing with retail (which in itself is hell), but adding that on top of it.. :(

Hope you have a better time at work.

[Phoenix McHeit]

Ok maybe I'm a bit jaded with the youth of today, but I can see it being (insert heavy sarcasm here) The Best Dare EVER!!!

Win - I'm so sorry you had to go through this.... :grouphug:

[Perin]

I just don't think that's the kind of thing anyone does on purpose-- even maliciously.

Wow. You have a much better outlook on people than I do... People are idiots. Teenagers are even bigger idiots than most. I would guess this was done intentionally. Who knows why though....

[Dmitri]

People are idiots. Teenagers are even bigger idiots than most.

And *WE* would know... (I'm lumping myself in there too)

[ladyleggs]

That is just gross. I guess we are lucky the nasty perps didnt have to go no 2.

['Nise]

I can't give you an explination but I can sympatise. I did four years in retail and saw everything fom peeing in the dressing room the people deficating on the sales floor. And then there were the woman on their periods trying on swimwear... I don't know why... Although in one case it was an elderly woman who lost control. She was very apoligetic and let managment know about it. Unfortunaly it was on the brand new carpet as the store remodeled.

Hugs that you had to clean it up. When I became a manger I made sure if anything like that happened I cleaned it up. I didn't think it was right to make my employees do it.

Love
'Nise

[lady Amalthea]

I remember once when I worked at Target some little kid (maybe 3-4 Y/O) puked all over the floor in the womens department. The mother then came over to tell my coworker what her kid did. When my coworker didn't immediatly move, the mother looked at her and said "Well, aren't you going to get off your lazy ass and clean it up." Yes those were her exact words. She then proceeded to walk away and tell the store manager that my coworker wouldn't clean up her kids puke.

[Selena]

Ok maybe I'm a bit jaded with the youth of today, but I can see it being (insert heavy sarcasm here) The Best Dare EVER!!!



That was my first thought, too. Sorry, but I can very easily see that happening. Gang/group initiations, trying to be the "cool" chick, whatever.

[Margaret]

That is just gross. I guess we are lucky the nasty perps didnt have to go no 2.


Happened at at video store I worked at. With a great amount of luck - not on my shift.

Smeared too.

Happened on a Sat. night, so it was no wee tot having an issue.




Winnie, I am sorry. No matter the reason it happend, I am sorry you had to deal with the issue at your store.

[Winifred Baskerville]

*snip*

It's a teen shop, but the first thing that came to mind (in my mind) was the possibility of someone having an honest accident and being too embarrassed to own up to it. I have Multiple Sclerosis, and there are times when people with MS have no "warning." Still, were that the case, they should have owned up to it.

*snip*

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience... but maybe it was an accident. I hope it doesn't happen to you again...

Yeah, I'm really hoping that it was an accident in the truest sense. Something tells me, however, that it was not. I have no proof, obviously; I found the mess just after I got back from my break, around 1:30, and I had been gone for half an hour.

The department I work in has a history of disgusting things appearing in fitting rooms, and I'm very grateful that we have tile floors as opposed to carpeting. It just amazes me that people would do something like that!

[Winifred Baskerville]

That was my first thought, too. Sorry, but I can very easily see that happening. Gang/group initiations, trying to be the "cool" chick, whatever.

What can be cool about dropping trou and peeing in a fitting room? The mechanics of it boggles the mind... And not getting caught! We really only have the one bank of fitting rooms available, and traffic was decent thru the department. As far as I could tell, the damaged stuff was all our merchandise.

Maybe I could convince the managers to change the setup to one where we have to let customers into the fitting rooms and can better monitor that kind of behaviour...

Yeah, riiiiight. Like we have that kind of budget and scheduling ability. Not in this decade.

[AnnaFaerie]

One of my daughters works in a Home Depot. Someone rubbed feces all over the bathroom. I was horrified by the story at the time. Now I see that it is a "common" occurance in retail. *shakes head* What is this world coming to?

[Constance Innuendo]

Wow what was yesterday? freaks' day out or something?? I don't work in retail, I work for a company doing truck reservations and dispatch and we had a BAD customer yesterday.

Dumbass came in, insisted that he had made a different reservation than he had and then proceeded to chew me and my associate (I'm very glad the other person here was a guy) up one side and down the other calling me pretty much every uncreative explitive I've ever heard. . . when I asked him to leave, he refused, so I called the police. . . he hung around continuing his tirade another 10 minutes then left. . . five minutes later the police got here.

Then the asshat called the district reservation office and made a reservation and guess who it got routed to? So I call the district office and tell the rep what's going on and she tells me that as we have the truck there's nothing I can do but rent it to him. . . .so I quoted to her the whole "management reserves the right to deny service to anyone at any time for any reason" bit and she says that it'll be my ass if I do that. . . so the other line rings and the other associate answers it. . .the rep I'm on the phone with is sticking to her guns saying I MUST rent him the truck and we hang up. Turns out it was her manager on the other line asking my associate what was going on, and she said she'd take care of it. 10 minutes later the reservation disappeared from our schedule:)

but one hell of a day

[Lavinia]

I'm so sorry that happened to you. I worked in retail for a long time and I am fortunate to say that the couple times kids got sick in my store the parents helped, if not totally cleaned the mess themselves. The worst I ever found was a dead crab in my store...yuck. I hope you never have to go through that again.

[Lady Laurel]

I worked in retail years ago and I saw the peeing on the floor thing alot. Back then there was trash cans in the womens clothing area ( for pins and such) at least once a week someon defacated in it. We finally convinced managment we did not need trash cans in the fitting rooms. The carpet was horribly stained from people peeing on it. This was a very nice clothing store. I just could not believe that people would do this, now I can understand if someone has a problem.
Just gives me the heaves thinking about it. :ow: :blech:

[Mistress Lisette]

And this is precisely why I'm thinking this was done deliberately. I've worked in retail, too, many years ago, and I still remember disgusting things left in dressing rooms. :blech:

Wini, don't let those nasty creeps get you down. :grouphug: The power of wenchly hugs your way!!

[Selena]

What can be cool about dropping trou and peeing in a fitting room? The mechanics of it boggles the mind... And not getting caught!

That's exactly it. Doing something you KNOW you're not supposed to be doing, something completely off the mark... and NOT getting caught by the grown-ups. The thrill of getting away with it, knowing you just did something wrong, but you got away with it anyway. Gross, yes... but believable.

I don't believe it was an accident. Especially since it was ONLY the store's merchandise that was damaged.

[Mistress Morigianna]

I have had my share of pee too. Once a child complaining he "had to go..." and mom saying just a minute finally backed up to a bolt of fabric and peed. That was at a House of fabrics that DID have a bathroom. We told the mom we had a bathroom and she could just leave herstuff (fabric to buy) andtake her kid. But after he went she fought us on paying for 6 yards of linen (kid had good taste) that he peed on.

At the marsh we have had kids pee on the floor wood and carpet but it was kids and mostly parents helped clean it up. (but they hide when their kid smashes a glass display ornament on the floor- on purpose)

we have had peopl try to flush diapers down the toliet when the trash is right there.

and what is with not flushing used toliet paper? In many stores i go into there is a pile of very used whiped paper behind or beside the toliet. What is the deal?

I also see little boys up to age 10 just whipping it out and peeing on trees in shopping centers while mom and family is eating at the tables.... I don't get it

once a a child i threw up all over my churches bathroom stall (about 4) I had the flu. I was sitting and tried to turn around and managed to puke a ring around the stall. :blech: I remeber i was so embaressed (at church!) but several mom's helped me clean it up and tracked down a mop. They felt bad for the little kid. But i did tell someone i did it.

Thank goodness we have never seen poop in the dressing room. We just have to worry about the people tring to take pictures with thier phones in there of the costumes!

[SpeedKnight]

Wow. You have a much better outlook on people than I do... People are idiots. Teenagers are even bigger idiots than most. I would guess this was done intentionally. Who knows why though....

I have to go with Perin on this. I'm not buying the accident thing. Though I dunno the name of the store, Win did say it's a store aimed at teens. With teens as messed up as they are, one with issues that could lead to such an accident wouldn't shop in a "trashy clothes for teens" store. Teens are too self conscious to do the like.
I'm convinced it was, as Phoenix suggested, "The Best Dare Ever."

I mean... think about it. Kids are so overly coddled these days, nothing ill will happen to the kid. Press charges? The courts would merely slap the teen on the wrist. The crimes teens have to commit some pretty serious crimes to get into any real trouble. And the parents? Please. Me excepted (and probably a lot of us here), I challenge you to show me one parent with a kid under 15 that will strike his/her kid as a form of punishment. Kids aren't scared of anything anymore because society coddles them WAAAAAY too much.

[Savantage]

I don't like the physical punishment myself, but when all avenues to correct a problem have failed I have resorted to a swat on the butt a few times. Today I see a lot of kids and teens thinking that all they have to do is threaten a figure of authority, a parent or any adult and get away with anything they want. I have been rudely shoved in stores by little kids and called a "fat b&^^h" by a 'cute little girl' and the parents stood there and laughed! they think it's funny to break school rules, city laws and ordinances (graffitti, loitering, vandalism). I was always taught that the rules and laws were there for a reason and for my own protection. My own great grandmother taught me to respect all things and those people around me and she even stressed the golden rule (she was a former school teacher) and I live by that and try to teach my boys the same. I tell and teach them all the time about respect of ones property, feelings, and we are working on language (being teens they discovered the dratted 4 letter words) My youngest is a sweetheart and doesn't like it when I get upset and tries his hardest to please usually all I have to do is use a firm tone and once in awhile a time out to correct him.
I know that I'm probably going to get in trouble myself but I have to agree with SK on the overboard coddling.

[SpeedKnight]

I have been rudely shoved in stores by little kids and called a "fat b&^^h" by a 'cute little girl' and the parents stood there and laughed!

That's the point where I start having words with the parents. I'm a fairly large, outspoken guy. I'm pretty good at standing my ground.

I know that I'm probably going to get in trouble myself but I have to agree with SK on the overboard coddling.

No one should get in trouble for the truth.

[Margaret]

I don't like the physical punishment myself, but when all avenues to correct a problem have failed I have resorted to a swat on the butt a few times.

What parent hasn't? At a certain age, you cannot reason with a child. They are too young to understand "If A then B". HG has gotten her hand smacked a few times when she developed an obsession with the stove burners at age 2 1/2. The "Don't touch. Ouchie." thing wasn't working, and I was't about to let her touch them to learn her lesson, so a few smacks on the hand worked fine.

There have been several discussion on 'parenting' (or non-parenting, as the case may be) and yep, it all comes down to showing your kids right from wrong.

In Winnie's case - if it was an accident, the person should have owned up to it or if they were too embarrassed about it, gone home and called. If it was done on purpose, with great hope, karma will be at work.

[Savantage]

yes karma always wins in the end

[Cyranno DeBoberac]

yes karma always wins in the end

Thanks, Earl. :wink:

[Holly]

a wee bit off topic:

Remember to wear rubber gloves when cleaning this stuff up!
Gotta keep you wechy-self safe!


(Hhehee I said wee....)

[Winifred Baskerville]

a wee bit off topic:

Remember to wear rubber gloves when cleaning this stuff up!
Gotta keep you wechy-self safe!


(Hhehee I said wee....)

Yeah... Wouldn't even consider doing otherwise. I have picked up other things with paper towels, and then immediately used hand sanitizer and all that fun stuff. Safety first...