On the front door of the Salvation Army thrift store in Hadley, Massachusetts is a sign displaying the Christian charity group’s slogan, “Doing the most good.”
Benjamin Levy has shopped there for years.
The 37-year-old said he “knew exactly where there was one of a number of restrooms which were at one time open to the public.”
On May 17, that information was urgently needed by a customer who was in “GI (gastrointestinal) distress,” Levy explained in a post on the social media site Nextdoor. It was shared days later in a community Facebook group on June 9:
An elderly woman was about to soil herself in the aisle of the Hadley Salvation Army thrift store.
She was pleading desperately with an employee to let her use the restroom. A second employee, apparently a manager, arrived and told the woman that she could not use the restroom, that there was nothing the manager could do to help, and that the woman would have to find a way to get into a car and fight traffic to drive across Route 9 to go to an available restroom at Whole Foods.
The woman could barely move, and there was no way she would make it that far. … She started crying. The woman appeared both entirely humiliated and utterly helpless. …
I calmly approached the woman, extended my bent arm to her, told her that I knew where there was a restroom, and offered to escort her there. She held onto my arm and allowed herself to be led into the store’s back hallway.
As we walked, four employees followed us, yelling at me to stop and threatening to call the police.
When we made it to the restroom, the door was locked. I calmly asked the manager to open it, but she refused.
I said, ‘One way or another, this woman is going to use this bathroom.’ The manager refused again. I shouldered the door once with a little force to see if it would easily pop open, but it did not.
I repeated, ‘This woman is going to use this bathroom, so if someone does not open it for her, I’m going to have to open it somehow myself.’ I shouldered the door again with slightly more force, but it did not open. The manager dialed the police.
The woman was in actual physical pain and continued to cry. Imagine her humiliation. If there were any doubts about the significance of her suffering or the imminence of her need, her endurance of this level of embarrassment should have made these clear to anyone present.
Luckily for her, I am relatively handy and carry a small multitool. I looked more closely at the door handle and saw that the lock mechanism had been modified to take a very rudimentary key. A few moments with the screwdriver from my pocket multitool and the door was easily unlocked with no damage to the door or handle.
The woman looked at me with extraordinary gratitude and relief as I opened the door for her. I assured her that I would not leave until she was safely out of the building, so I closed the door behind her and stood guard outside the restroom.
By this time, the manager was talking on the phone with the police. As I waited for the woman, another employee expressed disbelief that I would risk criminal charges just to help a woman I did not know.
Minutes later, the woman opened the door, thread her arm through mine, and together we walked through the aisles and out of the store.
In the parking lot, the woman thanked me tearfully. We squeezed hands, and walked toward our cars. The manager followed, continuing her conversation with police, describing me and the car I was getting into to leave.
Minutes after leaving the store’s parking lot, two police cars with lights flashing appeared behind me and pulled me over. I explained what happened. The officers were polite and understanding. They said that if the store managers chose to do so, I may receive formal charges.
Levy was not arrested but weeks later he was mailed a summons to appear in court. He was charged with destruction of property worth less than $1,200, a misdemeanor, according to Lt. Mitchell Kuc Jr., spokesman for the Hadley Police Department.
“We did initiate criminal charges at the request of the Salvation Army that day,” Kuc told Discrepancy Report, saying officers estimate Levy caused about $250 in damage.
“The door handle had been damaged and the actual door itself had been cracked,” Kuc explained.
But on Thursday, June 10, the Salvation Army asked police to drop the case, Kuc said, and the department requested that the court dismiss the charge.
“It seems like pretty much everything that’s happening is a result of this whole process kind of being put out on social media.” Kuc said, explaining that someone who apparently saw the Facebook post emailed the department on June 9, and the next day they received an email from Discrepancy Report.
On June 10, Tim Raines, a marketing manager for the Salvation Army, responded to questions about the incident with claims that Kuc took issue with.
“It is the police—and not The Salvation Army—who have pressed charges and we have contacted them to request they drop the charges, as we do not hold the gentleman who stepped in to help responsible in any way,” Raines said in an email. “We believe he acted in good faith to assist. Our local administrator has personally communicated with him and offered his sincere apologies for the incident. In addition, he is currently spending time with the staff of all our stores on training to ensure our customers are treated with dignity and respect at all times.”
“The local managers weren’t aware that the manager on duty had requested charges be filed,” Kuc said in response to Raines’s statements. “When I told them this afternoon, they seemed surprised.”
Raines said Salvation Army administrators were made aware of the incident on June 9. Multiple people who commented on Levy’s social media post claimed they’d contacted the organization that day. Levy’s post included email addresses for three Salvation Army regional officers.
“The real story, I think, is that people working together compassionately, and joining their voices collectively can make changes that improve lives,” Levy said in an email Thursday evening. “It’s a small thing, but in the end, people rallied and policies changed. I really want to stress that individuals and institutions should not be seen as villains. Rather, the fact that SA is making changes proves the opposite. They listen and care and deserve our continued support.”
In 2005, a woman at a Salvation Army thrift store in Rochester, New York reportedly urinated on herself after employees would not allow her to use the restroom. The incident prompted a change in store policy that has apparently widened.
“Our policy is to allow the use of restrooms to all,” Raines told Discrepancy Report. “Unfortunately, the pandemic led to a tremendous amount of confusion about local, state, and national guidelines and restrictions which created confusion about our policy. The manager was under the impression our restrooms were to remain closed to the public due to restrictions imposed by the ongoing pandemic.”
“While I am still waiting for the court’s reply, this is a huge relief and I think marks the end of the saga,” Levy wrote on Facebook after learning the police department asked the court to drop the case. “If it weren’t for my privileges (white, male, able, educated, young-ish, etc) many parts of this story would have likely had very different results. I recognize how these privileges have benefited me and the woman involved and saved us both from deeper humiliation and more significant trouble.”
‘Other action’
“We would have wished that this gentleman would have attempted to take other action as opposed to jumping right to trying to force access to to this bathroom,” Kuc said. “A call to us may have very easily deescalated the situation. My shift supervisor could have very easily called into the store and asked on this person’s behalf to allow her access to the bathroom.”
“Calling the police and awaiting their arrival seemed out of the question,” Levy said in response to Kuc’s comments. “The woman needed a bathroom immediately.”
A spokeswoman for Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office told Discrepancy Report the agency is reviewing a complaint about the incident.
Massachusetts has a Restroom Access Law that gives people with certain medical conditions the right to access the employee restroom at a retail establishment if the following conditions are all met:
- There are no public bathrooms immediately available or accessible.
- The establishment has three or more employees working.
- Your condition is documented in writing by a physician.
- The employee restroom is in an area where providing access would create no obvious health or safety risk to you or the establishment.
Kuc said employees at the thrift store told officers the elderly woman could not produce documentation they thought she needed to use the restroom.
“She went back to go shopping. And then it was about 30 minutes later that she returned back to management and again asked to use the bathroom,” Kuc explained. “And at that point, they reiterated to her and said that if you don’t have some type of documentation, then we’re not going to allow you to use the bathroom.”
