Starbucks has apologized after a woman who is eight months pregnant said she was denied access to the bathroom at a Phoenix location.
Ilana Scheinker said she and her husband were walking Tuesday near 7th Avenue and Camelback Road when she urgently needed a bathroom, a local news station reported.
She said she entered a Starbucks and tried to get the bathroom code from a barista, who refused.
“He unapologetically said you have to buy something to use the bathroom and I said ’I’m very pregnant. I really have to go now.’ and again he said ’no’ and was completely unrelenting,” Mrs. Scheinker told the station.
That’s when her husband got involved.
“The man said ’you have to make a purchase,’ so they went back and forth for a minute and my husband said, ’Here’s my credit card, charge me for anything. Give me the code.’ And the man still said no and said ’you can go to the Fry’s down the street if you want to go to the bathroom,’” Ms. Scheinker said, adding that the barista continued to say no even after another customer offered to buy something for her.
The soon-to-be mother finally gave up and went to a nearby Subway restaurant.
“I don’t understand how they could have this very black-and-white policy,” she told the station.
Starbucks has apologized and said it is working to rectify the situation.
“We failed to meet this customers’ expectations of us, and we have apologized and are working to make it right. This experience is unacceptable and not indicative of the welcoming and respectful service we strive to offer our customers in our stores,” the company said in a statement, the station reported.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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