There was a show where Tom discussed the conundrum of having to stop at a fast food place to use the facilities, but not needing to buy anything at the time. The driver might use that chain of fast food places, but not that particular location. I though it would be something to share on social media considering the situation Starbuck’s is currently in.
I tried using the search function on Cartalk.com/shows but maybe I didn’t use the right words.
JULY 15, 2017
#1728: Haircut Ethics
This week on The Best of Car Talk, we’ve all been there. You’re in the midst of a long drive when nature calls but doesn’t provide a venue for you to answer that call. If the only urgent haircut option is a fast-food restaurant, are you obligated to buy something if you use the facility?
or
SEPTEMBER 7, 2013
#1336: Haircut Etiquette
It’s happened to all of us. You’re on a long drive, when nature takes its course and you find yourself desperately needing to “take a haircut.” Finally, a restroom appears, but it’s inside a fast-food restaurant.
I usually buy something out of politeness. Granola bars always come in handy on a trip.
I prefer Mcdonalds if no gas station around, feel no guilt about using the facility without buying anything,
I’ll buy something. You have to remember that most of these are privately owned, not company owned. So they no connection at all to the next one down the road.
I would likely never visit a McDonalds for a meal but because the facilities there are dependably clean and open to the public I make it a point to stop there for coffee and a snack when on the road when I get the urge. More than any other fast food place that I visit McDonalds tends to be the most convenient, clean and well staffed. I have tipped the person who was obviously keeping the restrooms clean on a few occasions and sometimes I had to insist they take it. I appreciate good work and don’t mind letting people know.
Those golden arches aren’t french fries, it is streams of arching urine.
McDonalds, Bathroom to the Traveling World!
Some of the fast food places around here have a lock on the restroom doors that either requires you to ask the counter staff for a code or they can push a button and let you in.
The ones right off a major highway don’t seem to have that yet but the new Mc Donalds next to my work you have to ask an employee.
@cdaquila, do you think you might make this call available on your blog page or your facebook page? It seems kinda fitting for the moment.
Morning. I have forwarded this to the keepers of the FB page. Good idea.
While travelling once I stopped at an Arby’s for coffee. I also went to the bathroom and found no soap of any kind.
On the next trip I decided to check it out again, and again, no soap of any kind.
I realize the staff have their own, by it turned me off Arby’s forever.
I am annoyed going into a restroom and finding that a previous user did not bother to flush the toilet. Many restrooms now have devices that flush the toilets because people are too lazy to pull the flush handle. When I was a teenager and thought we should get a car with an automatic transmission because it would be great on dates, (cars back then had bench seats) my dad said “If you can’t shift the gears, you shouldn’t be driving a car”. Now we have had to go to toilets that flush automatically. I say this: “If you can’t flush a toilet, you shouldn’t be going to the bathroom”.
+1
However, there are definitely exceptions–even with a McDonald’s franchise. Several years ago, I decided to take a drive to Reading, PA, to visit the factory outlets. Well, it turned-out that almost all of them had departed several years, prior, and moved westward to Lancaster, PA.
Before leaving Reading, I decided to use the facilities at a McDonald’s that was near the now-vacant outlet stores. As soon as I entered, I could see that the place was not well-maintained, but nothing prepared me for a men’s room that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned since the Nixon Administration. And–there was neither soap nor paper towels. Luckily, I carry sani-wipes with me, so I was able to clean my hands afterwards.
As you might imagine, I opted to NOT buy anything to eat or drink at that particular McDonald’s, but I had no guilt about my failure to buy anything because I have been a McDonald’s stockholder since the '90s. I did drop a note to the corporate folks about what I observed at the Reading, PA location, and the response informed me that this location was slated for closure very soon. I wonder why…
One of the grubbiest McDonalds is at Houston Airport, the Bush Airport. I patronize the Golden Arches quite often, now that their coffee is much better, but this one I passed up.
Just an update, @keith. I emailed Connie, our steward of the Car Talk FB page, and she tells me that she’s sent a request to David to look up the clip. But this being Car Talk…he’s on vacation, so it might be a bit. 
FYI Lancaster is actually south-west of Reading 
. I’m not surprised you had that experience at that McDonald’s…I remember that McDonald’s…calling it a total dump doesn’t quite do it justice, there are landfills that are cleaner…(I’m not sure if it finally got destroyed as it should have been years ago, I avoid Reading and York like the plague…)
FYI, I did not create this post to slam or rate McDonalds. I only created it because the call is germane to current events concerning Starbucks. I did not create it to slam or rate Starbucks either.
Well, at least both of those franchises tend to have restrooms that are far cleaner than the ones at Burger King!
My conondrum is finding a place where the toilet seat has not been sprayed all over (male). This includes McDonalds, rest areas, and everything else. I suggest you guys begin looking closer for those golden drops.
Remember the olden days there were the paper toilet seat covers? Luckily for me in my area most everybody has been trained well enough for put the seat up if not needed. Now I will go too far probably, but I like to wipe standing up, and the automatic toilets flush as soon as I stand up, some toilets have a manual push for flush button, so being courteous I have to sit again for 30 seconds so I can get up have it flush the paper and leave it nice for the next guy. Looking forward to hearing your responses if this is the way you do business also. (Oh crap this roadside rest stop talk is going to be on facebook?)