The 2 places I had problems with this were Las Vegas and Savannah, GA.
The Las Vegas Burger King wouldn't let you use the facilities unless an employee walked you to the door and unlocked it for you, after you bought a soda.
The Savannah gas station, Mobil station, told us, no, they had no public restrooms, so we continued down the road to the next gas station. Unfortunately, it too was a Mobil station that was owned by the brother of the first station. He too did not allow restroom usage. We gave up.

Obiviously, most of you have never worked in a public facility. We have owned 3 grocery stores for over 30 years. I can tell you at least one time per week there is a major mess of feces all over the entire place. There are minor messes every single day. This goes for both the mens and womens facility.
We keep these restrooms open only because we have a large volume of people in our stores. I also own a laundymat that I closed the toilet on. It was even was the grocery store. I am sure that we have more rolls of toilet paper stolen than toilet paper used. I do not blame anyone for not having a public bathroom. Frankly, it makes sense if they would charge for such.

If we pull into a gas stn to use their facilities but don't need gas, it means one of us REALLLLY has to go - usually both of us!
Since we don't need gas, I always buy some candy before we leave just to give thanks to the owner who let us use it. DH can always eat candy.

My experience has been the rural gas stns usually let you use their facilities. It's the outskirts of town ones that say no. In the city, we go to fast food places too.

Enjoy-la!

Good idea, and nice website.

Lee Ann

PhotoDad - Just wanted to let you know that I LOVE your website and always visit it before a long car trip. Also, wanted to give you a long over due BIG THANK YOU for your tip to have a cup handy in the event your kid gets car sick. I now always have one handy and have used it on several occasions (different cups, of course). It has saved us from cleaning up big messes and having that nasty vomit smell in the car for days. (Why does toddler throw up smell so bad???)

Well I'm not selling anything, so I don't know if it qualifies as advertising. And the map is a public map, so everyone gets to enjoy it free... But why blog if you don't want people to stop by and visit, right?
(www.familyroadtrippers.com)


We usually stop at McDonalds because they have clean bathrooms and I find something to buy as a thank you. And I understand that store owners don't want Bubba comin' in to leave a horrible fecal mess in the bathroom every day, but for a three year old girl who's really gotta go? C'mon, lady, have a heart. Let Lilly pee.

And sure, there's always out back, which is often my first alternative, but I thought I'd leave that out of the discussion...

Currently on the Natchez Trace Parkway headed for New Orleans.

rb_

I like your style!

but for a three year old girl who's really gotta go? C'mon, lady, have a heart. Let Lilly pee.

Which reminds me, we were At Harrod's years ago -- my daughter was 11. All department stores have bathrooms, right? Well, they wanted a pound each to pee. I looked at her and said there is no way I'm paying $1.50 (tells you how long ago it was) for us to go to the bathroom; the matron saw us, and waved her in. I paid for me, because I thought it was so nice of her. Of course, the bathroom was gorgeous.

This is true, I swear, although it happened 40 years ago. I was a little kid traveling with a girlfriend and her family. I was feeling carsick. The mom of my friend pulled into a gas station, dragged me out of the car and asked the attendant if the sick little girl could use the restroom. The guy said no. At that exact moment I threw up, right at the guy's feet. He was not too happy but my friend's mom was delighted!

This is a public health issue.

So, maybe the respective state has to get involved, and either provide state-run facilities (pit toilets in the case of low-water areas) or allow a tax break to the business that maintains such a facility for the traveling public. Or mandate a charge per patron for use of same.

Everyone benefits when proper services are provided. Just how many food products is one going to buy when one can smell pee (or worse) emanating from behind the building?

My wife and I are absolutely delighted that you like our site swaymock and jcb, but much, much more delighted that you found a tip useful. Yesterday I threw away a couple of large coffee cups and felt a sort of strange twinge in my stomach. Luckily, we didn't need the cup.

Lately, the My wife and 7 year old son have taken to origami as a road trip hobby and we're wondering what the design for a barf bag will look like. Of course, you need to use wax paper for the folding...

Dan
www.familyroadtrippers.com

I own a small business, and I do let people use the rest room. But, along with Spirobulldog's post there are problems with doing so.

I've gone back there later and it seems people don't know how to flush.

Sometimes the store fills with the odor of the person's visit. Other times there's been feces all over the toilet & floor. I've been horrified by the mess. And, since it is a small business, I can usually match the mess to the face of the person who did it. And, the worst mess-makers generally scuttle out and don't buy anything, probably because they know the fumes are going to hit soon. Not that I would want them touching the merchandise.

Geez, at least tell me you had projectile diarrhea.

Last summer there was road construction in front of my store and the water was turned off for hours/days at a time. No water = no flush. I don't have a key for the bathroom to lock from the outside, and had to tape the door shut with a big sign taped over the doorknob to keep people from using it.

For my own needs, I actually closed the store & drove home (10 mminutes round trip).

Thanks for the vent, it isn't a topic I usually talk about!

Sorry -- don't remember if I read this on Fodor's or elsewhere -- but one state is considering passing a law that says anyone with certain illnesses can use any business bathroom whether or not it's generally open to the public. However this person needs an ID card from whatever society is promoting this law. A-ha, I found <a href="http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_New...m_law/4853/">a link</a> to the story. It's my own state, Tennessee.

I hate to say it, but I seriously doubt that law will stand up in court.

Maybe the proposed law should be amended to say "people with these certain conditions or a three-year-old."

xrae,
three years olds already "have certain conditions!"

You should have heard her shriek at her brother yesterday in the mice quiet restaurant. Wow.

Dan
www.familyroadtrippers.com

Back to the original post and wishing he could take the gas out of the car. When I stop at a gas station to "empty" as well as to fill up, I do the first thing first. If I have to go, there's no way I'm standing there listening to the sound of the gasoline flowing BEFORE I go to the restroom. So I check that first. No rest room, no fill up.

Neo's right. If there is a question that there aren't public restrooms at a gas station, you pee first.

The problem is if someone is asking to use your bathroom other than a small child, there's a significant chance that it's an emergency. Emergencies of that variety are usually stinky and often messy. A Catch-22, because the patron really needs it, but that's exactly what the store owner is trying to avoid.

When I was in HS, I worked at a free-standing retail store (in a mini-mall) with a bathroom only for employees. If the customer were in dire need, we usually let them use it, but it meant someone had to let them back into the stockroom and then monitor that they didn't steal anything. And then whoever was closing that night had to clean the bathroom.

However, I've also been in dire need before, so I understand that sometimes you just can't help it, so the kindness of storeowners is greatly appreciated.

So I was looking for additions to the Map of Shame.

Just to clarify: we usually stop at McDonalds, I typically pump the gas before I pee, I have no problem whatsoever peeing behind the store if they don't let me use the bathroom, and we've made our son pee into a cup, but not our daughter.

Yet.

I've got a couple of Mobil stations in Savanna and a Burger King in Las Vegas (I'll be in Vegas in a few months, so I'll give it another try).

Dan
www.familyroadtrippers.com

I'm somehow missing the 'hall of shame'. Where is it exactly?

We found Oahu to be the worst in general for being denied bathroom access. Several gas stations & even a Taco Bell, where we had ordered a lunch, claimed they had no bathroom.

McDonald's on Oahu also told us they didn't have a public toilet - said that their customers were referred to the one in the mall about 75 yards away - but, since it was closed (we were there for breakfast), they allowed us to use the employee bathroom. We found all this extremely odd.