They were really POed.
A Brooklyn deli has banned all MTA employees from entering after bus drivers constantly used the bathroom without buying anything.
“We cannot serve or allow any MTA workers in the store or the [connected Iris] Café,” read a sign posted to the door at the Town Market on Bridge Park Drive in Brooklyn Heights.
The pissing match between the deli and the bus drivers began months ago, but reached a crescendo last month, when yet another driver walked in, used the loo, and then made a beeline for the exit without making a purchase.
Sources said the market’s frustrated owner confronted the unidentified on-duty MTA bus driver as she made her leave.
“He was just fed up with the whole situation, these drivers coming in constantly to use the bathroom,” said a source familiar with the deli owner’s thinking. “He had to speak up.”
Drivers called the ban an “overreaction.”
“The fact is you don’t always have time to buy something,” one sniffed.
Town Market isn’t far from the final stop on the B63 bus route, making it a convenient pit stop for drivers.
Drivers have few options during shifts for bathroom breaks, so often rely on bathrooms inside stores and businesses, noted JP Patafio, head of buses at Transport Workers Union Local 100.
“The bus is not an office, it’s a bus,” he said. “Many times, we make arrangements with shop owners along a route, because these drivers have to be able to find a bathroom.”
Such arrangements , Patafio said, typically involve the MTA supplying the bathroom with toilet paper and other supplies.
He insisted bus drivers workers won’t be stopping at the store anymore during their breaks, and will instead take their ‘business’ to a nearby parking garage, which agreed to allow the use of its bathroom.
MTA officials would not comment on last month’s incident, but confirmed it remained under investigation. A spokesperson said “the bus operator involved” in the most recent incident “no longer works for the MTA. It was unclear if the worker was fired or quit.
Town Market did not respond to requests for comment. However, it has been closed for the last two weeks because of ongoing electrical repair work.
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