Rules of Retail

My family has had a retail business for nearly 50 years. I grew up there, worked there, left there when I had children. But, there are quite a few things I picked up about retail businesses that a lot of people frequent. There are unspoken laws. A few of those laws are:

You never deny a customer access to your kleenex box.
You never deny a customer a drink of water from your cooler.
You never deny a customer the use of your phone.
You never deny a customer change for a dollar.

AND YOU NEVER PREVENT THEM FROM USING YOUR BATHROOM!

So you can imagine my horror yesterday when I was shopping in a quaint little gift shop--you know the kind...where you can't imagine more than ten people go per day and you can't figure how they stay in business?--and my little one had to GO. NOW. As in RIGHT now. As in HELPPP! And the two ladies behind the counter looked me right in the eye and said, "There is a Wendy's down the street with a bathroom."

On hindsight, I wish I'd let my daughter pee in the floor of their quaint little shop. Okay. Maybe not, but I was not a happy Mama. I just don't understand how people can do that. My cousin who was with me knew there was a bathroom there. They just didn't want us to use it.

So I piled my gatherings onto a counter and taking daughter's hand, we ran for the van. And Wendy's. And the bathroom. And yes. We made it. Barely.

I did not return to the store to make my purchases. I will not be returning to that store. And the funny thing is, those ladies had to know that when they denied a little girl the use of their bathroom.

PS. Thank you, Wendy's!