Robert
Buffalo,#2Consumer Comment
Fri, September 16, 2011
Not all of us have assertive, agressive wives, some people are more timid.
There is nothing aggressive about going to the ladies' room when the urge strikes. Your wife is an adult (I hope-not 16yrs old) and was potty trained a decade or two ago. How can any NORMAL person be so timid as to need to urinate, but just stand there because she is afraid of "annoying" someone? Is this an indication of her homelife? Do you permit her to wear shoes while at home? Timidness, to the degree of wetting oneself indicates something is amiss in her self-image/self-worth.
obviously if she knew that minute she would urinate she would have left.
Here is some truth by you. Pregnant women, especially 8-9 month pregnant, DO NEED TO URINATE QUITE OFTEN with little or short "notice" of the need. This is why many late term pregnant women do not stray too far from home, because they don't know when the next urgent urge to urinate will strike. Some even go so far as to wear adult diapers when they know they are going to be out of the home for a long duration.
I am sympathetic to her condition but I fail to see how this is the fault of the store staff. The cash register needed to be rebooted, which caused a delay in the checkout line. As soon as your wife felt the need, she should have marched directly for the ladies' room. I'm amazed that you had the nerve to call the store about this!
Part of the problem is that even without yelling at the top of her lungs "I have to PISS" is that fact that you do not keep a 8 months pregnant lady waiting that long, you say okay and allow her to shift lines.
Now we get to the REAL issue-special treatment for being pregnant. Ya know, this reminds me of PC running amok. Surely you've heard of the story of the cashier asking the woman customer "when is your baby due?" and the large bellied woman replies "I'm not pregnant!" Retail staff are routinely trained NOT TO COMMENT about someone's appearance, less they offend and some irate customer decides to file a lawsuit.
This was a store-not some grade school classroom where the kids have to raise their hands and ask to be excused. If your wife is this "timid" perhaps after the child is born, your wife might attend some assertiveness training-with your permission of course.
Perhaps your wife should refrain from shopping-YOU SHOULD DO THE SHOPPING. Knowing that your wife has sudden and unannounced urges to urinate you should let her stay home and YOU handle the out-of-the-home chores. That's what I did some 35 years ago when my first wife was pregnant. She had ONE accident out of the house too! But rather than call some store manager to gripe, we eventually laughed it off and I performed all of the out-of-house errands untill she was able to assume those duties once again.
Think about this!!! You're calling the store to gripe about this speak volumes about you and gives a little insight into the workings of your household. That said, I hope your wife has a normal delivery with no complications and you have a robust and healthy baby.
Jesse Q
kelso,#3Author of original report
Fri, September 16, 2011
The core of the issue, was the constant reassurance of "just another minute ma'am" Rather then saying, I'm not sure ma'am. Like getting roped in by a salesman... just a wee [phun] bit more... just little bit more... almost.
When called to complain the heart of the complaint was the huge amount of time it took with three leads coming over, by that time just more the people over to another line, but to have the "manager" defend the actions was WRONG. There is not much minimizing you can do in the situation. 30 wait constantly told one minute by cashier and three faux managers.
If they would have said, not sure she would have packed up the groceries and moved lines. Probably after a bit would have just parked the cart out side the ladies room used it and been fine. But back to the core issue when trying to get her stuff being told to just wait a minute ma'am, the cashier was discouraging her from moving lines, and it can be intimidating when you are wanting to get he stuff [ that is NOT yours yet} and move to another line to have the cashier and the acting managers tell you.. oh no ma'am just another minute.
Ashley
springfield,#4Consumer Comment
Fri, September 16, 2011
" Both replies I can assume have never been pregnant or cashier leads or managers. You do not keep a customer waiting that long, you would move the 3-5 people up by the register to another line and if need be keep the last couple customers at the end as to them the wait would be almost nothing, and if the wait continues "rinse and repeat"
"
Actually, yes before my current job I worked 8 years at a convience store in mangement and 3 years before that as a front line manager at a local grocery store chain. Nothing in your reply notes that the store made her piss herself. Should they have opened another lane? Probably. Was it bad customer service to make customers wait so long if there was another option? Sure. Should the store be liable because you wife couldn't be an adult and decide, hey I need to pee and should go to the bathroom versus standing here and pissing myself? I mean, I learned in kindergarden when to tell someone that I had to pee and to go do it. If your wife is so meek and submissive that she can't mention to a cashier that she needs to use the restroom then she has other issues that should be looked at.
Not trying to be mean here, but the store had no control over your wife's bladder. They weren't forcing her to stay in line. They weren't forcing her to buy anything. I'm not sure what you want out of them, if youer wife didn't even tell them she had to pee, how would they know to hurry? Personally, if I have to wait in a line that long, I just leave. I can go to the next store and get better service.
voiceofreason
North Carolina,#5Consumer Comment
Fri, September 16, 2011
I think what your wife went through was a sad occurrence. However, she apparently made a choice and took a gamble, that she could hold it in and not risk losing her languishing spot in line.
She probably feared being shunted back to the back of the line if she had to abandon ship in the midst of checkout to run to the rest room.
She gambled and lost.
People pee in their pants occasionally, especially women. Probably ain't a woman in that store who hasn't "leaked" at times. Both y'all got to get over it for the sake of the little one, who's hearing everything in utero.
The store didn't rip you off. More likely the vendor who sold or rents the checkout equipment/software to them has ripped them off.
Jesse Q
kelso,#6Author of original report
Fri, September 16, 2011
Not all of us have assertive, agressive wives, some people are more timid. obviously if she knew that minute she would urinate she would have left. Part of the problem is that even without yelling at the top of her lungs "I have to PISS" is that fact that you do not keep a 8 months pregnant lady waiting that long, you say okay and allow her to shift lines.
Both replies I can assume have never been pregnant or cashier leads or managers. You do not keep a customer waiting that long, you would move the 3-5 people up by the register to another line and if need be keep the last couple customers at the end as to them the wait would be almost nothing, and if the wait continues "rinse and repeat"
Her being pregnant and waiting so long she finally peed in public, yes is the biggest issue for me but the other mitigating circumstances is what prompted me to create the post. Albeit I was pissed and it was for me late at night it is not as concise as I would have liked to had it.
If I was there, yes with out a doubt we would have shifted lines with in about 10-12min, I under stand some machine just randomly take a little while to boot up, again not every one is as assertive, some like my wife are afraid that they are going to irritate the cashier, or the manager. Some people are naturally more timid then others. It should not have happened, with 3 Leads coming over to check on the status of the "reboot" the whole line should have been shifted way before hand.
The part that bugged, both of us was when I called back to complain mostly about the wait and how it led to the incident but, was cut off and had the Lead tell me that he was one of the leads that "popped" in and it was not very long at all. I started to get upset and his words changed to "well it normaly does not that Thhhhaatt long, normaly just a few minutes." I know and told him that that was the main issue... move the d**n line over.
Ashley
springfield,#7Consumer Comment
Fri, September 16, 2011
the part of this story where the clerks forced your wife to not go use a bathroom? I mean, if she had to go that bad she could have just gone to the bathroom. No one was forcing her to wait for the register to reboot.
Ramjet
Somewhere,#8Consumer Comment
Fri, September 16, 2011
This is hilarious! Just leave the line and go to the bathroom. I'm certain they could not/would not have stopped her. If she had to go that bad it's unlikely she'd have even made it to the parking lot, car and home.
Remember, the products are not even paid for yet so you don't have to worry about theft or anything.
And then to call and complain to management, I bet they're still laughing.
Ramjet
Somewhere,#9Consumer Comment
Fri, September 16, 2011
This is hilarious! Just leave the line and go to the bathroom. I'm certain they could not/would not have stopped her. If she had to go that bad it's unlikely she'd have even made it to the parking lot, car and home.
Remember, the products are not even paid for yet so you don't have to worry about theft or anything.
And then to call and complain to management, I bet they're still laughing.