I just had a very frustrating experience at Barnes & Noble on the Third Street Promenade this Saturday — again. As we all know, Barnes & Noble changed their open bathroom policy to a locked one.
I spoke with the CEO of Barnes & Noble through the executive secretary, and she confirmed that the bathrooms will be opened for people with disabilities for sure. But yesterday the employees at Barnes & Noble usurped the authority of their own headquarters and denied access to their bathroom to a person with disabilities.
As a person who has major physical disabilities, I — as do most people with disabilities — need access to a bathroom on occasion as the medications I am forced to survive with sometimes cause the need to go, fast. But when I asked a person to allow me access (as I was told to by the headquarters of Barnes & Noble), and said “please allow me to use the bathroom,” I was told “We don’t have bathrooms here. Go to Starbucks.”
Well, I was in a hurry, so I did. But their bathroom had a sign stating it was out of service. So I returned to the info desk at Barnes & Noble to ask another employee. He said they don’t allow use of the bathrooms. I retold what headquarters had told me personally on the phone, that they will allow people with disabilities to use their bathroom when visiting their store at Third Street. The man was defiant, uncaring. Then a lady that I had asked earlier walked up to me in a snide manner and said “Just go upstairs.” Since I was in a hurry, I asked, “Which floor?” Not being psychic and thinking maybe she meant the second floor, as there are two floors “upstairs.” But she didn’t answer me. I told her she didn’t need to be rude about it, to which she just sneered.
I went to the third floor where I encountered three other employees, two of which were the managers of the store. Once I told them again that I needed to use the bathroom as I am a person with disabilities and Barnes & Noble told me that would be the new policy, she still denied that it was. Then she said to the other two standing there, “This is the man who wrote the letter.” The other manager, who refused to reveal his name to me, said it wasn’t Barnes & Noble policy. I then reassured him it was. All the while struggling to hold it.
Then, finally, another woman agreed to let me use it. When we approached the door that she was to unlock, a woman emerged from the bathroom with her child and thanked her. And she let me in. I thanked her as well. I guess women with their children can use the bathroom but not people with just as serious needs can’t?
They were unnecessarily rude, mean spirited and concealed their identities as if they had a reason to be secretive. Of course they did have that reason since they knew themselves that they were not complying with their own company policy. As well, the manager went out of her way to note to the others that I was the one who had complained for people with disabilities that use Barnes & Noble about the bathroom lock out.
What a bad message they sent to me and all who depend on our local merchants to, at the very least, be helpful to those less fortunate who have to deal with major disabilities daily. They were insensitive and discriminatory to say the least.
I will be following up with their names and this event as I documented everything by paper and audio. (I always held my tape recorder in front of me and told them I was recording.) One lady even told me, “You don’t need to record us.” To which I thought, with this kind of needless consternation, I do. But I said nothing, just thanked her for opening the door.
I hope that Barnes & Noble now does something about their renegade employees who stop long-time customers (with disabilities) from using the bathrooms just because they can.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 2, 2004. Read the original PDF.