Toilet attendants in Vicar Street

I think Vicar Street is a great venue and very well organized, but why do they provide toilet attendants? I have seen it occasionally in other pubs around Dublin, but I don't remember where.

I regard going to the toilet as very personal business and I don't like having someone else standing in the room waiting for me to finish offering me soap and towels? I am well able to use the soap dispenser myself and I am well able to use the hand dryer or towel system without any assistance.

I am also uneasy that such jobs seem always to be done by immigrants.

If I don't like or want a service, then I don't tip for it. And I don't like being under pressure to tip people either.

Its in a lot of pubs in Dublin, Whelans, the Village, Doyles, just a few I can think of off hand.

Same as you, I find it is not needed, the only possible reason its needed is for security but I think thats only really needed in the odd nightclub, not in bars and pubs.

As you say I dont need any help with hand towels or soap and then you feel like you have to tip for that, basically end up paying 1-2 euro each time you go to the toilet. Sure you dont have to use them but thats not very hygenic.

If you dont tip I feel like some people will think I am racist or something.

SteelBlue05 said:

Its in a lot of pubs in Dublin, Whelans, the Village, Doyles, just a few I can think of off hand.

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I've never seen any attendants in Whelans. I guess we need to direct our ire at the management of the venue if we want to get this practice changed.

Yeah, I don't agree with the practice either. It's fairly widespread these days, I would have thought it would be confined to 'Superpubs' etc., but it is fairly common in some of the more 'run of the mill pubs' in Dublin cc and even in the 'burbs as well.

If I'm there for the night, I tend to tip once, and that's it. Alternatively, I just try and wash and dry my own hands (not as easy as it sounds when someone is so eager to do it for you).

The fact that the job is invariably done by immigrants is just a fact of life in Ireland today.

I don't think people will think you're racist if you don't tip (at least they shouldn't).

I tipped a lad one night in the local public house. €2. The 2nd time i went in i used some of his deoderant and eau de toilette. That time i only threw in 75c. As i went to walk out he caught me by the throat saying Id robbed him. I thought he was having a laugh at first but he was serious.I thought it was a contribution plate.

I shouldve reported him but i wouldnt be a regular so i just left it. Luckily enough i knew everyone in the toilet and when he seen the crowd he let go and i just walked out.

redbhoy said:

I tipped a lad one night in the local public house. €2. The 2nd time i went in i used some of his deoderant and eau de toilette. That time i only threw in 75c. As i went to walk out he caught me by the throat saying Id robbed him. I thought he was having a laugh at first but he was serious.I thought it was a contribution plate.

I shouldve reported him but i wouldnt be a regular so i just left it. Luckily enough i knew everyone in the toilet and when he seen the crowd he let go and i just walked out.

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You dont think you should have at least reported him to the Pubs Managment?? Who cares if you are a regular or not.

Agreed. I wouldn't mind if they didn't take up the entire set of sinks, forcing you to use their "services" just to wash your hands. Then if you wanted deoderant or whatever or to enjoy the dubious pleasure of having someone hand you a hand towel, it would be up to you.

There was a way around it in Vicar St. There is a second men's toilet further along the corridoor which is never busy and doesn't have an attendant. Unfortunately this toilet was locked the last time I was there about a month ago. It used to be especially handy during a break in a show or concert when the first one would be mobbed.

You walk to the sink furthest from them and if they come anywhere near you you look them in the eye and say "I'm not interested". Never had a problem with that appraoch.

If the Pub/Venue doesn't provide normal soap dispensers then you complain the to management about that. It isn't acceptable to be obliged to pay €2 for soap.

-Rd

redbhoy said:

As i went to walk out he caught me by the throat saying Id robbed him.

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You should have reported him to the Gardaí especially if there were witnesses. That's assault as far as I know!

I actually get "stage fright" in public toilets, I feel a bit silly saying this, but I just cant go if there is somebody listening.
I'd rather there was nobody else in them at all, of course I do go in an emergency, but I would avoid a toilet with someone in it if possible.

Reminds me of Bono's story to Gay Byrne on the Late Late show. When he was standing at the urinal in a pub in Dublin, and .... not performing.

Someone came up behind him and said..."Stage Fright Bono?"

-Rd

pricilla said:

I actually get "stage fright" in public toilets, I feel a bit silly saying this, but I just cant go if there is somebody listening.
I'd rather there was nobody else in them at all, of course I do go in an emergency, but I would avoid a toilet with someone in it if possible.

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I think there's a term for that.

Today, however, the term is often used of anybody seen as overly worried about small details and unable to adopt a philosophical attitude toward mistakes.

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Are you sure you wanted to draw attention to that Wiki page????

-Rd

Yes I am - why?

Quote from the Wiki page referenced above:

Another term used in a similar context is "hair splitting". The intended implication is that an "anally retentive" person needs to "loosen up" a little instead of "holding on to it"

Hmmm.

Dr Moriarty dives in to drag the thread back on-topic and avert another Clubman/daltonr conflagration...

[broken link removed]

This is one of my pet hates....I am an adult and I don't need someone in the toilet to hand me tissue to dry my hands..I also find it very intimidating. I always refuse their services and use the hand dryer to dry my hands.

If I'm in a pub and there are attendants in the toilets I will generally take my business elsewhere the next time, just as I avoid pubs that charge admission....there are plenty of pubs in this city so if I have to pay inflated prices for my pint I want to be able to visit the toilet in peace :mad:

Obviously you can't avoid them in the likes of Vicar street but I'd only be there a handful of times a year so I can cope with that.

Maybe, as far as the management of the bar is concerned, having someone all the time in the toilet will lessen the chances of a fraudlent claim from a patron slipping on the "wet" floor. Also, would his presence there lessen the chance of people taking and openly selling drugs in the toilets.

Another possibility would be that the toilet attendant actually supplies more than perfume and gel and that these are just a sideline. Nice pretext for money changing hands in the toilet without anyone getting overly suspicious. (I must be watching The Bill too much)

The attendants I've seen, for some reason, never struck me as employees of the bar. I always took them to be self employed. There have been rumours for years of all the inner city publicans having to pay protection money in order to stay in business. Maybe the protection now includes the additional benefit of the local gangland boss supplying one of his men as a toilet attendant and who would also do a bit of distribution for his employer while he was there.

I remember watching McEntyre Uncovered in Norwitch a couple of years ago where he was working as a doorman in bars and nightclubs. All doormen were employed by the drug barons. They could then keep all the competition off "their" turf and if anyone came in dealing on their own or working for someone else, they would either beat them up or give them up to the police. Either way it was a perfect setup, unless you came across someone like that poor bloke in Limerick, and he was murdered for his troubles.


Murt