Potty Talk

Some of my posts will have to do with some really serious issues. Others will not at all.
This is the latter.

Today I took my nephew out for a day on the town. We got ice cream, went to look at puppies at a pet store, and bought a Thomas the Train toy from Babies ‘R Us. All of these things were wonderful.

Here’s the problem we ran in to: My nephew is almost three years old, so he is at the crux in his potty-training process. My nephew successfully used the potty at the the ice cream parlor. But upon arriving at the pet store, and looking at dozens of [hopefully homeward-bound] puppies in their cages, my nephew looked at me and urgently said, “I have to go potty!”

I quickly picked him up and ran to the lone pet store employee and said, “Hi, can we use your bathroom?” And the unhappy 30-something store employee looked at me and said, “I’m sorry, we don’t have a bathroom.”

Excuse me.

This confuses me. And let me tell you why. I find it hard to believe that this almost middle-aged woman works there all day and never gets to use the bathroom once. There is bound to be a bathroom somewhere in the building. And it’s not like I, a 20 year old, needed to use a bathroom arbitrarily. This is a toddler in the midst of potty-training.

In the words of Stephanie Tanner, “How rude!”

Side note: My nephew and I were able to make it to Babies ‘R Us in time to use the potty, and he got a Thomas the Train toy in congratulations.

I guess I don’t understand why bathrooms are not a public service. Everyone needs to go to the bathroom. At least I’m pretty sure that’s true... Why do I have to pretend I’m shopping at a department store, or that I’m staying at a fancy hotel in order to use a bathroom whilst exploring downtown Chicago or Boston? If I have to buy something in order to use your bathroom, I’ll buy myself a ticket on the subway to go back home and use my clean bathroom instead of your bathroom with phone numbers and the words “HELP ME” hastily etched into the stall walls.

Phew.

I hate to end this post already, but I have to go the bathroom... for free.

Until next time.

kp