today we had a corporate event at wembley stadium. mid-way through the afternoon, we were given a break, and we all streamed out to stretch out legs and have a snack. there was quite a crowd there, and not surprisingly, there was a long queue for the ladies toilets.
a couple of female co-workers and i decided that in wembley stadium there must be other restrooms available, so we went downstairs a floor. when we got to the toilets there, several women were coming out and explained that this bathroom was out of toilet paper, or "loo roll" as it's known here.
still assuming that at wembley there must be sufficient bathrooms, my friends and i went off in search of another one, only to find the third one we located locked. at this point we were running out of time before our meeting recommenced, and we saw a group of four male staff members for the stadium coming toward us down the corridor. we went up to them and this was (as close as I can reproduce it) our subsequent conversation:
shannon, the extroverted american: excuse me. there isn't any toilet paper in the ladies toilet (pointing) and the other one (pointing) is locked. can you help please?
unhelpful staff member: no.
shannon: um, could you not possibly get us an extra roll of toilet paper from a supply cupboard?
unhelpful staff member: no. that's housekeeping's job.
shannon: well could you please just help us out? do you know where housekeeping is? they need to restock the bathrooms.
unhelpful staff member: no, we don't know.
shannon's colleague: could one of you please go into the gents' and get us a roll from there?
unhelpful staff member: no, it's not our job.
shannon's colleague: we understand it's not your job. we're not asking you because we think it's your job, we're asking you as a human to do us a favour. we can't go into the men's toilets ourselves or we would.
unhelpful staff member (looking somewhat blankly at us): no. sorry. it's not our job.
at this point, i saw a random man walk out of men's bathroom, so i left the unbelievably lame wembley staff members and walked up to a total stranger whose job definitely wasn't to fetch toilet paper and asked him if he wouldn't mind doing just that.
without blinking, he went in and gathered us a whole armful.
i am grateful for this guy and all the other people out there who realize that doing a decent, helpful thing doesn't have to be part of a job description.
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