After we got keys, we found out a lot more about what the previous owner did not do. He never asked or told people who were abusing the place to leave. He just put up posted notes scotch taped every where about what not to do.
Like do not wash yourself in the bathroom or stay too long. Just a friendly pink sticky note about how to use a bathroom
On Christmas eve we decided to go up and look around straighten up and survey our new landscape. There was a person in the bathroom we did not think much about it, after a while I knocked on the door, told him time was up.
Eventually he came out with a lot of apologies about it not going down. Now I do not know to this day what it was but we are pretty sure it was needles. We had to get the drain lines cleaned and I WAS MAD.
I came home and quickly got on Amazon and ordered a door lock that required a code. And then the games began! We got so much hate, the customers had to text us for a code and they texted and called the business line to complain. How dare we lock up the bathroom, seniors, long time customers, people who just wanted to wash their hands! Oh the humanity how could we?!
We explained to as many customers as we could that the people who were using it were hurting the business and worse were creating an unsafe environment. The vitriol lasted for months. When anybody would ask if we were the owners I would always say that depends. Owning a business is not just providing a service, sometimes it is setting boundaries. As much as I enjoy making people happy with our store I know some people will never be happy and I have let them know there other laundromats in the area. We are okay if they do not like the system we put in place.
Fast forward to today as mad as everyone was they now thank us, most regulars have their own code and can use the bathroom whenever they want. As people have grown used to it they seem to like it. We have a lot less undesirables hanging out not doing laundry, just using us as their living room. The bathroom stays clean and we have a track record of who is in the bathroom, because with the door locks we got cameras.
