When nature called at a Roosendaal garden centre, one woman decided that blocked visitor loos weren’t going to stop her from answering. Her creative solution? A bucket, a public aisle, and what staff described as “wet confetti” scattered across the floor.
The incident unfolded on Tuesday when the woman asked to use the facilities at the unnamed garden centre, only to be told the visitor toilets were blocked.
He had to tell her the visitor toilets were blocked because customers had been throwing “all sorts of things” down the loo.
When customer service meets Dutch directness
The garden centre owner told NU.nl that he would normally offer access to the staff toilet in such situations. However, the woman’s reaction to the news was less than polite.
“She went completely mental,” the owner explained. “She went absolutely off her head.” When customers treat staff poorly, he said, the extra service stops being offered.
The woman warned she’d “go sit somewhere else” if no toilet was available. True to her word, she made her way to the checkout area.
The bucket solution that shocked everyone
What happened next left staff, customers, and even the cashier speechless. The woman grabbed a bucket, pulled down her trousers, and relieved herself right there in the aisle. But the performance wasn’t over yet.
After finishing her business, she proceeded to empty the bucket’s contents under the checkout belt, creating what the garden centre’s Facebook post described as a sort of “wet confetti” across the floor.
When the bewildered owner asked what on earth she was doing, her response was typically direct: “Well, you should make sure there’s a toilet then.”
Even her male companion seemed remarkably unfazed by the spectacle. His philosophical response? “If she needs to go, she needs to go.”
A very Dutch approach to problem-solving
The garden centre shared CCTV footage of the incident on their Facebook page, writing: “We thought we’d seen everything. Until this customer decided to empty her bladder in a bucket in the middle of the aisle and then threw it around like wet confetti.”
This incident highlights a broader issue that plagues the Netherlands: the shocking lack of public toilets.
With only around 500 public loos nationwide (compared to Paris’s 750), finding a place to go when you’re out and about can be a genuine nightmare.
According to DutchReview’s investigation into the toilet shortage, only one in four toilets in the country actually meets cleanliness standards, and less than 16% of public facilities pass basic hygiene tests.
Have you ever encountered a customer service situation in the Netherlands that left you completely speechless? Share your most memorable experiences in the comments below.
