There is no valuable customer experience in having a bathroom attendant.

There isn’t anything you will learn from reading this. Most of the stuff I write about is related to digital strategy, UX/UI and my passion for wine. This has nothing to do with any of those topics. Here I’m talking about my frustration with and possible misunderstanding of the bathroom attendant.

I don’t understand the value of a bathroom attendants at fancy restaurants. Having an adult, many of whom communicate very well and are good sales people, sit in the bathroom and wait for other adults to finish pooping and peeing to hand them a paper towel or pump their soap at a restaurant where sautéed broccoli cost $30 makes no sense to me. I’ll argue that it’s counter to the ‘brand’ of the restaurant. Would the Gucci store have a rack of Bubb-fuckin’-licious to sell as you as they so gently wrap your $1,800 sneakers?

And again, what’s the value of having this person there? There’s a host of services that are done for convenience. For example, valet parking has value. Valet parking helps a customer so they don’t need to find parking especially in busy cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. Valet prevents me from having to walk a long distance. This is especially helpful for when it’s raining or I may have an injury.

The bathroom attendant doesn’t do anything that supports the main reason that I’m in the bathroom that I can’t, in many many cases, do more effortlessly than them trying to do for me. They pump the soap once but I like to pump twice. They give me 2 paper towels, I actually prefer one. The whole experience is clunky, doesn’t add value, nor solve for a problem people are having.

Then the uncomfortable pause of tipping after they hand you the towel. (Shuttering)

Let me know if I have this attendant thing all wrong. Perhaps there is a greater good they’re serving that’s been lost on me.