Key-coded restrooms: Your thoughts? We disected self-check pretty

[niyad]

thoroughly the other day, so I thought I would bring this one up. My favourite wine bar has them, but hasn't changed the code in months ( and half the time the door is not properly closed anyway!)

I know more and more places are using them, and I can certainly understand why. My favourite supermarket has them, and it requires an employee to punch in the code. This means, at the front restrooms, that generally you have to get one of the Starbucks baristas to stop what they are doing to let you in. The ones in the back, you hope there is someone working back there, or coming or going from break. My first objection is taking employees from their work, which is hard enough without the constant interruptions. My second is worrying for people with medical issues, or someone who suddenly needs that restroom.

As I said, I can well understand the reason for key-coded restrooms, but I hate the extra work for the employees, and the potential health issues for customers. Alas, I have no idea how to resolve these conflicts.

[RandySF]

1. Many office buildings have them.

[niyad]

2. And? What are your thoughts?

[RandySF]

3. It's a good idea

especially in a big city setting.

[Lonestarblue]

4. Hate the idea.

[AllaN01Bear]

5. sounds like the coin op restroom that were banned when i was a kid.

i went into one as a small boy. door timed out , so i crawlled under the door to get more quaters . if i had a serious oops , id be having a major fit about that.

[niyad]

6. Goodness, I had forgotten about those!

[hunter]

7. In my life I've cleaned and rebuilt too many restrooms destroyed by drunks and homeless people.

Toilets, sinks, and urinals shattered, deliberate flooding, shit smeared on walls... the sorts of vandalism that make gang graffiti scratched into mirrors look mild. Used needles in the trash or left wherever they fall are no fun either.

Locks on bathroom doors are symptoms of problems our society doesn't seem willing to deal with.

Everything from locks on bathroom door to police brutality are simply ways of dumping these social problems on someone else's doorstep.

As a society we have to recognize that everyone deserves a place to simply be, even people we don't like, and that some people are temporarily or permanently unemployable and will require some sort of supervised housing.

Sorry to be so heavy in the Lounge.

[niyad]

8. No apology needed. Your response was exactly the kind of thing I

was hoping to see.

Our public transit terminal closed down the restrooms for meth remediation. The restrooms were closed for many months, (including extra time as a result of a gas explosion nearby which impacted them) causing all sorts of issues. So the restrooms were finally available again, complete with key codes that only the security guards have, air monitoring systems, and automatic lockdown if meth is detected. Sure enough, not too long after the restrooms were available, some idiot had meth in the men's restroom. The system shuts down both if anything is detected. A woman who was just minding her own business, doing nothing wrong, was locked in the women's restroom until police arrived and determined who was causing the problem. She was not happy, but she did understand. Thank goodness it was early enough in the evening that the buses were still running.

[Sogo]

9. The post office in my hometown used to always have its doors to the lobby area open 24/7 for

those who wanted to check their p.o. boxes. Now, they lock all doors at the end of day when the service windows close. The personnel got tired of having to clean the lobby every morning after the homeless had spent the night - lots of debris, and apparently it smelled really bad, too.

[niyad]

10. I remember the days when one could access one's PO box 24 hours a day,

which, with my crazy schedule back then, was an absolute blessing. Alas, I csn see why that has changed.

[Marthe48]

11. Lowe's has coded lockers

The lockers are at the front of the store. You order and pay online, the shopper puts your stuff in the locker. Lowe's sends you a text when the order is ready. When you get to the store, you send a text. Lowe's sends you a locker number and key code for the locker your stuff is in.

Places with key coded bathrooms could do something like that, maybe. It would be a pain to give the store notice you are there, but you wouldn't have to bother the employees. The codes could be changed daily or so.

Are the key codes for personal security? Or to enforce "No Public Restroom"? Or some other reason?
I can usually avoid using a public restroom when I'm out, and I haven't seen any key coded doors in my area.

[malthaussen]

12. Haven't run into one of those.

But I have been to places where one obtains a physical key from the register, as it used to be in gas stations. This is a case where I think technology doesn't help: a physical key can be acquired with much less hassle from an employee than having him stop his work to attend to it.

Locks on pubic restrooms make sense for reasons discussed upthread. But it seems foolish to require an employee to stop his work to unlock the door.

-- Mal