Dealing with Homeless Part B: When You Are IN Your Store

Every laundromat owner will at some time have homeless people squatting (or trying to) in their laundromat. If you are the owner of an unattended laundromat
and you are in your store, or you run an attended laundromat,
how do you deal with this problem?
My article is not meant to pass judgement on, criticize, demean, and comment on any homeless people or their situations, or solve in any way the issue of homelessness.
This article is just to pass along some ideas to help deal with this situation that affects in a very real way the revenues and staff of a laundromat.

Pretend a homeless person walks into your store and sits down.
They are clearly not doing laundry.
YOU ARE IN YOUR STORE. What can you do?

1. Talk to them in a friendly way. Ask them their name. Be polite. Use your gut.
As an experienced owner you can get a good idea from the way people react to simple questions and conversations their mental state, inebriation levels, and if they are potentially up to no good. If you suspect ANY of these things, or they give you any negative attitude, do not engage further and be prepared to call the police depending on what happens further. You don’t want to rile up someone who is high or drunk because that becomes a threat to you and your customers.

2. Ask more questions if they are friendly and talkative. This gives you more information on their situation so if they are truly experiencing a bought of bad luck that lead to this situation you can see how you can help them. You also gain more information to tell the police if you do need to call them.

For #1 and #2 ALWAYS remain calm and speak calmly. Usually homeless people get yelled at by everyone to move along. They are used to people yelling at them and it just causes them to get defensive. Most homeless will just move on if they are asked nicely.

3. Have a consistent policy that you and your staff follow.
I have a policy that if it is cold, rainy, or snowy I will allow a homeless person to come in and sit for 15 minutes to get out of the weather. I will talk to the person and get their name and then explain that this is a laundromat and not a shelter but I will allow them to stay for 15 minutes as long as they behave.
The trick is to be consistent every time you deal with a person you allow into the store to do this. Starting at 15 minutes I tell them they have to move along. Most do with no further urging. If they come back the rules are the same. It gets to the point that if the person comes back they know my rule and before I have to say anything will say to me as soon as they walk in the door “I’m just staying for 15 minutes then I will go.” After a few times of letting them warm up I have found they move on to a place they can stay longer or leave the neighborhood entirely.

4. If I get to know a homeless person and they are polite and social whenever I see them, I will offer to wash their coat and hat for free. When done washing, I ask that they leave and they do. At least they feel better with a clean warm coat. My experience is that they appreciate the small gesture and don’t come back. You would think getting a free wash would make them want to come back more often. My experience is it hasn’t.

5. Offer them some clothes from the lost and found.
Throw out any they leave behind.

6. There was a couple that was homeless that I often saw over the period of several weeks one winter. I got to know them through the steps above and they seemed friendly and the kind of people that were down on their luck. I found out they slept in an abandoned garage around the corner. Offered them some odd jobs around the store that I was going to do. I had them shovel snow, break ice built up on the curbs and sidewalks, paint the garage on the property, even paint the front of the store. Sometimes I stayed around to supervise and other times I left and came back later. In each case they did a good job and I paid them a few bucks.
I noticed two interesting things by giving them work to do. The first was they stayed outside of the store when working. The second was that customers saw them as workers and didn’t know their situation and because they didn’t know they were homeless were not intimidated by them.

 I always agreed to meet them at a certain time to pay them. The third thing I noticed was that once I paid them they left immediately. They didn’t even go inside and warm up.  I admit that I probably got lucky with the couple, however I’ve had homeless people shovel snow, rake leaves, and paint walls on a number of occasions at several locations. When done if they do a good job I pay them a few bucks. Sometimes they come back for another job.
If I don’t have any other work for them they often move on to another area.

7. Some homeless people are mentally unstable. I have had them come inside and poop on the floor, pee on themselves, expose themselves to customers, throw mop buckets at cleaners, even try and attack security guards and staff. If you follow step one and two and the homeless person seems unstable call the police for help immediately. Get them away from yourself and customers. Don't confront them yourself. If they are doing actions like described who knows what they will try.

8. If the homeless person is unstable, keep an eye on where your customers are in the store and know where the exit routes are out of the store. According to studies it only takes 1.5 seconds for a person to travel 21 feet. If the homeless person decides to lunge or attack you have to know where to send people,
and yourself, to get out of the store.

9. Call the police if there is any incident.
Don’t try to deal with a person that is high, drunk, or mentally unstable on your own.

10. Consider taking a self defense class or concealed weapons carry class. Whether you choose to physically fight or carry a weapon is up to you and a different article, however the education provided will help you be more prepared in case you do have to deal with a situation.

Remember:
1. Not all homeless people are crazed, drug addicts, who smell bad and pee on themselves
2. Some homeless people are any or all of the above
3. Regardless of personal issues, any homeless hanging out inside a laundromat do not make the laundromat customers feel safe
4. When customers don’t feel safe they stop coming and that impacts the business
(i.e. revenues go down, staff gets fired, business closes)

I’m not a legal expert, however I’ve dealt with the homeless at over 50 stores that I’ve owned or managed. I hope these tips help you.

If you run an unattended store or are not in your attended store, here are some more tips:
Dealing-with-homeless-when-you-are-there

Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy