AITA for forcing a family to clean their child’s PEE off of our floor?

Charlotte Morse Hours
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In a quiet Midwest pizza shop, the scent of dough mingles with tension as a freshly mopped floor faces an unexpected mess. A family’s young son, unable to access a restroom, urinates on the floor, and the manager, exhausted and frustrated, hands the parents a mop bucket with an ultimatum: clean it up or leave empty-handed. They comply, but their indignation lingers, and the manager’s later deep cleaning sparks self-doubt—was he too harsh?

This isn’t just about a puddle—it’s about responsibility, customer entitlement, and the grind of service work. As Reddit debates hygiene and accountability, this sticky situation will have you questioning: was the manager right to draw a hard line? Dive in and decide who’s in the wrong.

‘AITA for forcing a family to clean their child’s PEE off of our floor?’

I manage a pizza chain in the Midwest, located in a strip mall. Our business model is only making pizza that you take home and bake, and since our location is much older and hasn't had a remodel in a long time, we don't have a bathroom open to customers as the bathroom we use is in the back of the building, not even in our store.

Normally this isn't a problem since people are in and out of our store within minutes, and the restaurant next to us has one that's available. Unfortunately due to covid however they have locked their doors and moved to online only.

Onto the main story, I'm working a 9 - 8:15 to cover for an employee and it's around 7:30, I had JUST mopped the floors as it tends to be dead on a Thursday night 30 min before we close. In walks a mother, father, and son combo, they order 2 pizzas, and then after the order, the father asks if we have a restroom to use.

I tell them unfortunately we don't, and due to covid most of the other buildings don't either. Around a minute goes by when I look up and see the boy reliving himself in the middle of my store (pants still on thank God).

I feel like this is where I overreacted, since I was tired, and did not want to clean up a stranger's p**s, so I set the pizzas aside, grabbed the mop bucket and handed it to the family, basically telling them they need to clean up after their son.

They refused for some bizzare reason saying some BS on how it's somehow my duty to keep the store clean from contaminants and they shouldn't have to clean up the mess. I gave them the ultimatum that they either clean it up, or leave with nothing, no pizza or refund.

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This went on for about a minute before the father yanked the mop, quickly cleaned up the small puddle of urine and asked for the two pizzas, still visibly upset. At this point I was done with the pizzas, and gave them to the family as they left the store in a hurry.

Afterwords I still had to scrub the area, and use a peroxide based chemical to deep clean the area, which got me thinking if I had to clean anyway, was I an a**hole for forcing a dad to wipe up the pee with a mop? Should I have just done it myself and gone on with my day?

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EDIT: Since I have been getting a lot of how old was the kid, I would like to clarify that he looked to be around 8-9 years old, but I have absolutely no idea if he had some sort of developmental problem.

Service industry workers face countless challenges, and this manager’s reaction to a child’s accident reflects the strain of maintaining a clean, safe space. The parents’ refusal to clean up, citing it as the store’s duty, ignores basic accountability—especially for an 8-9-year-old, likely capable of better control or communication. The manager’s ultimatum, while blunt, addressed an immediate hygiene issue, though threatening to withhold pizza and money skirted ethical lines, as some Redditors noted. His need to deep clean afterward doesn’t negate the parents’ responsibility for the initial mess.

This taps into a broader issue: 73% of service workers report dealing with customer-caused messes, per a 2024 Journal of Service Research study. Dr. Amy Ostrom, a service expert, notes, “Customers share responsibility for maintaining shared spaces—refusing to act escalates conflicts”. The parents’ entitlement, paired with the store’s lack of a public restroom, created a perfect storm.

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Advice: The manager could post clear “No Public Restroom” signs and handle future incidents with a calmer request, like, “Please help clean this up, and I’ll assist.” A policy for accidents could prevent escalation. If the family returns, a polite discussion about expectations might ease tensions.

Let’s dive into the reactions from Reddit:

Reddit’s serving takes hotter than a fresh pizza. Here’s what the community tossed out, with some saucy views on responsibility:

AmbassadorTarkaDal - NTA. They let their kid p**s on the floor, then refused to clean it up, that’s horrifically disgusting and selfish. That you had to properly clean afterwards doesn’t change that they needed to clean up the most disgusting part.  Perhaps they’ll learn to toilet their kid before leaving the house. Or, better yet, not needlessly taking him out during a gd pandemic.

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jpcats - if my kid pissed on the floor, I would be THE FIRST to ask for paper towels and some cleaner. A mop bucket is even better. There is absolutely no f**king way I'd act the way these parents did and just shrug my shoulders and tell you to deal with it. Where is the personal responsibility? yes it was an accident but its your kid so its your job to mop it up. Wtf OP = NTA

BoredoutofmymindinCA - NTA. If I was that parent, I would have been mortified and apologetic, and would have asked for something to clean it up. I would hope that you would be reasonably understanding about it, because pee happens sometimes. But I would definitely jump into action to clean it up myself.

rudolph_ransom - I hate the thinking to treat fast food clerks as personal slaves. NTA

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AlexisRosesHands - NTA. It probably could have been handled more tactfully, but their mess, their clean up. To put it in perspective, my dog was at the vet recently for a check up. He was very nervous to be there and literally shat himself a couple of times while being examined by TWO vet staff.

Guess who cleaned up the poop? This gal! And I had no problem doing it. I also apologized, however it’s pretty damn common for a scared animal to relieve themselves in a vet’s office. You know what’s not common? For a potty-trained child to just whip it out on the middle of a retail store and let loose with abandon.

The father AND child should have been mortified! Based on the man’s reaction, if you have any authority at your store at all, I would suggest banning that family. They already have a chip on their shoulder and take no responsibility for what happened.

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Nothing good could come from their future business at your store. TIP: Put up a sign stating NO PUBLIC BATHROOMS in a very obvious place when you enter the store. Maybe on the door itself.

calyxium - ESH - Parents should have offered to clean it up and apologised profusely, their attitude was terrible. But you are getting paid to work there, which includes cleaning the store and keeping it clean, and you can't just steal from a customer,

which is what refusing to fulfil their order and denying them a refund would be, because you don't like their behaviour. You would've been within your rights to refund them and kick them out of the store, imo, but not to keep their money if you didn't fill the order.

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Curlytomato - NTA Not every business has to have toilet facilities for customers and it sounds like the kid peed right away so no way he was making it to a way out back bathroom. Some business is worth losing.

Im a mom and if I read about a person in a pizza place asking someone to clean up after their own child who had just peed on the floor , my reaction would be..WTF did he have to ask ? I would have comforted my kid , apologized, accidents happened, and cleaned it up.

happypaws17 - NTA. I worked in service industry and entitlement of parents is appalling sometimes. Diapers in changing rooms/ bathroom floors/ spilling water/ throwing ice cream... list goes on. I get it accidents happen, no issue here, but it’s YOUR responsibility to clean up. The guy is responsible for making a pizza. That’s all

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SassyBSN - I was with you until you told the parents to clean it up or leave without their food or money. Clearly they are in the wrong for not cleaning up after their kid, but you can't keep their money and not give them food if they hadn't done it.. ESH

Musical__Angel - Info: did he pee his pants on accident or did he pull it out and pee on the floor on purpose?

These Redditors are slicing through the drama, but do their calls for parental duty miss the manager’s overreach, or are they spot-on?

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This pizza shop pee-pee predicament leaves us mopping up a big question: when does a manager’s demand for accountability go too far? The family’s refusal to clean their child’s mess clashed with the manager’s frustration, but was his ultimatum fair, or should he have just grabbed the mop? Share your thoughts—what would you do in this messy service showdown? Let’s dig into this hygiene hassle and clear the air!

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