Thursday, March 10, 2011

#651. The "Restroom for Customers Only" sign

An obvious indicator that you are in an undesirable neighborhood is the scarcity of legitimate businesses and ubiquity of liquor stores, pawn shops, payday loan stores, and venues that mandate paying customers only can use the lavatory.
We know who this is aimed at keeping away

One of the worst feelings for a person lost is the required asking for the proper directions at the gas station to your destination, only to be greeted by an employee safely behind a bullet-proof, plexi-glass window with a tiny slit at the bottom where money can be exchanged for goods.

It is in gasoline stations such as this that the frequency of “restroom for customers only” is more than likely found. In a bid to ward off loiters – “no loitering” signs don’t always work – businesses are forced to undertake desperate measures.

If you find yourself in a situation as the one described above, please vacate the gas station immediately for your own safety. The probability that crime is a constant customer at this establishment is high and your life is more valuable than trying to decipher the directions some clerk at a gas station is giving you.

Gas stations, department stores, and restaurants that publically stipulate the “restroom for paying customers only” clause have passed into the unfortunate realm described in melancholy detail by Robert Putnam in his study on diversity. High levels of repeat theft have caused a disconnect between the business owner and consumer in this situation, requiring a careful vetting of those who are likely to pay for a good or service and those who are determined to perpetuate stereotypes.

Marginal Revolution attempts to describe this problem:
Ilan, a loyal MR reader, asks when a restaurant decides to make its bathrooms "customer only."  I see a few factors:

1. Fear of drug use or illegal drug dealings in the bathroom; the importance of this factor seems to have declined over time.

2. The belief that some people will buy a drink just for bathroom rights.  We did this in Brooklyn on Saturday and it was worth it.

3. The desire that only paying customers shape the ambience of a restaurant; this is important in areas with gangs.

On the other side of the equation is fear of Jack Henry Abbott, the realization that any restriction is not fully enforceable, the desire to cultivate good will among potential customers, and giving the visitors a chance to look at the food and atmosphere. 

Overall I've found that restaurant restrooms are more available to non-customers than ever before and I attribute this to the aging of America and the greater likelihood of a sharply declining marginal cost curve.  In other words, at least until this year raw materials expenses weren't so important so the profit value of an extra customer was pretty high and restaurants would do a lot to cultivate good will.  In general rising commodity prices mean decreasing margins (retail prices don't rise by full offset) and thus adjustment on other margins, such as portion size and service quality.  The bathroom isn't as clean as it used to be either.
A business owner mandating that only customers may relieve themselves in THEIR bathroom is obviously paying the so-called the-word-that-shall-not-be-named tax. Having been the victim of thievery by those who use their lavatory and quickly depart with stolen goods, business owners are forced to deprive good people who honestly just have to pee of that right.

Gas stations throughout the nation once operated in a manner that allowed consumers to fill up their tanks before they paid. The proprietor of the gas station showing explicit trust in their consumers, which has subsequently been replaced with the notion of pre-paying for gas in a desperate move to stop those drivers who pump-and-run (who else pumps and runs? Hmmm…) Preying on the confidence bestowed by the owner on an unproven customer is a joy of diversity, pushing operating costs up and profit margins down.

If a business has been financially aggrieved by individuals, then precautionary measures will be enacted to off-set future losses. That the freedom of a good natured customer is suspended -- one who may have even paid before at that same establishment – because of reprobates abusing the trust of business owners is a sign of tyranny upon the innocent.

The freedom to use the facilities of businesses without payment was once a question never even broached by those in need of relief. Loiterers, criminals, and villains who prey on the indulgences of business owners blissfully unaware of the-word-that-shall-not-be-named tax have created the notion of tyranny upon the innocent.

Such is the reality of “restroom for customers only” signs, an obvious indicator that the nigger tax is being paid where you stand. The costs of diversity are great; the tyranny upon the innocent it births greater.

Stuff Black People Don’t Like includes “restroom for customers only” signs because they are a clear indicator that Black criminality has transpired in that same business before and that the owner is taking precautionary measures to deter repeat offenses from transpiring.

The-word-that-shall-not-be-named tax (let's call it the diversity tax) cannot be quantified, but can be qualified in a discussion on the following:



18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I owned a business in a very nice neighborhood, only a couple blocks from the ghetto. I had to enforce the "customers only" policy for our restrooms based on a couple of bad experiences with black people doing unbelievably gross things in the restrooms. Thugs would literally threaten me to go in to the "baffwoom"--even though the cover at the door was $10-$50 depending on the event, and nobody got in without being on the list or paying.

The hilarious thing is, there was a public port-a-john a block from my place--you could see it from my door--and when I would direct the thugs and thugettes to it, they were insulted. WTF?

Anonymous said...

Adding to the list:
Patron-only computer use and locked restrooms in libraries

D J said...

"And... well, help us complete the list".

Inability to enter into contracts with only those with whom you wish to do so.

Locking your doors at all times.

Windows closed tight when anywhere near a downtown bus stop.

Being subject to abuse and filthy language in virtually every public venue and yet the owners of these venues can do nothing to stop it.

Hirsch said...

In his study, Putnam found the exact opposite of what he was looking for. He thought that diverse neighborhoods would have a stronger social fabric, but he discovered what he called the "tortoise effect." This is easy enough to observe around Halloween time. Racially transitional or half gentrified neighborhoods tend not to have as much participation in trick-or-treating as gated, monoracial areas. And once kids from the city are bussed out to the burbs, they further discourage celebration upon their arrival.

As for Jack Henry Abbott, Normal Mailer really screwed the pooch when he campaigned for his release. Who would have thought that paroling a Leninist murderer with a Nietzchean worldview would have backfired. Of course Mailer had the bad habit of stabbing his wives, so his judgment was questionable from the start.

Anonymous said...

For those of us who live amongst the Africans:

--cannot have garden ornaments, lawn furniture, bird baths, hanging baskets, potted plants...

All of these items, as well as an antique pottery umbrella stand on my porch, have been stolen from me. Some assholes even dug up and stole my Japanese maples and other shrubs.

Anonymous said...

Nice post, Paul!

-Ulick Varange

Anonymous said...

Due to a combination addiction to low nutrition, diarrheic foods, arrested emotional development and hereditary mental illness - blacks who generally eschew civil society codes often find themselves unable to control bodily functions. "Holding in" foul gasses, bodily waste, reproductive fluids, as well as tempered reactions and basic thoughts, not unlike a wild animal, are almost torturous to the uncivilized inner-city dweller. Like easily distracted toddlers, uncivil blacks are prone to throwing unreasonable tantrums if their immediate needs are not granted by an outside force. They are not masters of thier own domain.

The liquor store video clearly identifies the petulant, sociopathic nature of a beast whose gastrointestinal tracts are constantly funneled with a foul abundance of loose rotten stools.

Ironic how blacks seem to constantly seek immediate relief, while those of us in the civil society, subject to their whims, cannot seem to find any.

Anonymous said...

Adding to this list:

* Not allowed to wear hats inside certain clubs and lounges since bans on hats are implemented to deter young black males.

* Putting up with surly employees at DMV, post office, etc...

* Repainting walls to cover up graffiti

Anonymous said...

Diversity Taxes:

- having to live outside of your means in a "safe" neighborhood
- having to lock doors, burn porch and motion sensor lights all night
- paying for an alarm system
- gas tank locks
- having to drive the long way home around the city to avoid the ghetto pockets in the city
- avoidance of any place with low wage employees, like dollar movies and fast food joints
- avoiding my new state-of-the-art inner city public library because of black misbehavior and foul language
- inability to ride public transportation because of black miscreants
- avoidance of public parks
- higher prices for everything due to shoplifting blacks
- higher taxes due to welfare dependent blacks
- avoidance of public playgrounds because of misbehaving black children
- having to listen to gangsta rap drive-bys while sleeping with the windows open at night
- gun control
- TWA searches and pat downs
- having to tie or nail down anything in your yard or porch
- locking doors and windows, building fences, gates and walls
- having to post 'no trespassing' signs to keep blacks off your property
- having to organize neighborhood crime watch because of black crime
- property values lowered due to an influx of blacks
- lower standards anywhere due to the influx of blacks
- less to pass on to my kids because of redistribution of my wealth to blacks
- high tuition for white private schools
- longer driving distance to get home to the white suburbs

and the list goes on.......

Anonymous said...

Yes, painting over the graffiti is a huge diversity tax. Plus the destruction of city bus shelters, sidewalks, signage and all other public property by the feral black youfs.

Anonymous said...

"Credit segregation presents real challenges for black and brown communities. Without equal access and treatment, we're doomed to be exploited in the financial arena. "

Classic thought pattern of a hustling black victimologist.

WTF is credit segregation?? That's funny, LOL. Ever see the line of blacks in a PayDay loan store on a Friday? Why should easy credit be extended to a group of people who are famous for stealing, cheating and living off the taxpayer and still find a way to afford wheel rims, hair weaves and plastic salon fingernails? Imagine how much money we would have if we did not have to support blacks from cradle to grave.

Why do blacks always think they deserve a free pass for everything??

DC Handgun Info said...

Ah, diversity! Paris's bicycle-sharing program damaged by SCUM (believed to be "youths" in "troubled neighborhoods") who destroy bicycles:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/theft-vandalism-paris-bike-sharing-velib.php

Anonymous said...

I love the disingenuous white liberal "urban planners" who go on and on about the need for "walkable" communities, light rail, bike paths, green buildings, rain gardens, bike rental/sharing programs, mixed-use structures, public art sculptures, pocket parks, etc. Cracks me up!

They always forget one very important fact. None of this is possible when you have a significant population of ghetto blacks (which reside in just about every large city now). These things are all SWPL, and definitely SBPDL.

Underclass blacks will ultimately destroy anything which includes beautification and public enjoyment, will piss on, smash, and spray graffiti on new structures, and rob and terrorize the businesses and good citizens who try to make best use of these human and earth-friendly amenities.

Our city bike path goes from north to south of the city, is very convenient for bikers and those who want to use alternate transportation to work and also love to exercise. Blacks hate this!

The trail goes through the inner-city, where bikers are being harassed, raped and robbed at gunpoint by the local blacks. It is a new game for them. A few people have been beaten to near death and have had their bikes stolen. Now there is fear of the trail, and only the hard-core bikers use them. It is shameful.

So there is another diversity tax. Crappy city planning.

Anonymous said...

Black people are miserable, and they don't like to see anyone happy. They don't like progress--only destruction and decay.

Anonymous said...

My diversity tax: I work at home, yet I commute a minimum of 40 miles a day, two solid hours of driving. I drive my daughter across town to her magnet school, drive home, then in the afternoon drive back to school to pick her up, and back home again, and all because my neighborhood elementary school is getting so gosh-darned enriched by diversity, lately, that it now has a 30% literacy rate.

To be fair, not all of that is the fault of the black kids. There are so many immigrants, both legal and otherwise, that English-speakers are becoming a minority at the school. But on the other hand, at least the Asian kids and most of the Mexicans will eventually learn to speak and read English, which is more than can be said of the "native" population.

I'd love to sell my house and get the heck out of Dodge, but for some reason the bottom has dropped out of the housing market recently. Now, let's see, what was the cause of that, again? Oh, right - another diversity tax.

Silent Running said...

- gun control

This is an extremely perceptive addition. The fact is that the vast majority of gun laws (all of which are unconstitutional, not that that matters anymore) were passed in response to black and Latino gun crime. Liberal society must simultaneously deny the existence of this phenomenon while repeating the assertion that whites are "just as violent" as nonwhites. The end result is law-abiding Caucasians shelving their guns and being actively victimized by law-breaking brownskins wielding, in most cases, stolen or black market firearms. It's these delicious little twists of irony that make liberal society so fascinating.

If one controlled the data for race, the Caucasian gun-owner would probably be among the least violent groups on the planet.

Doug said...

I wouldn't even run a business in a predominately white area simply because you have to deal with the black customers.

A few years back, I was in an equipment rental store in our predominately (80%) white town. I was returning a ceramic tile saw. A black man walked in to return some equipment. He had broken it. The business owner asked the man if he read the instructions. The man started right in about it wasn't his fault. He then proceeded to yell at the store owner and demand he look him in the eye. Several other employees came to he man's defense. I don't know what happened, but I would have counted my losses and thrown him out when he began to yell.

It's unfortunate that our country has come to this.

Speaking of bathrooms, my nephew worked in a Wal-Mart in Panama City. He said the bathrooms looked like a bunch of monkeys had been let loose in there.

Anonymous said...

More taxes:

Bowdlerized Mark Twain

Bowdlerized Warner Brothers cartoons

"Song of the South" banned here, but not in the rest of the world.

Amos 'n' Andy television shows only recently available on DVD (but for how long?)

Apology text on the screen before some cartoons are viewable on old-movie DVDs that often provide "bonus" features.