Port O Lets

Wow! Who would have thought bathrooms could create that much excitement?!!
While designing the current wine shop, Jungle mentioned making them port o lets. It took us a bit of time to understand what his thought was. Once we understood and put it on the drawing it was hilarious. We talked about the looks and comments from customers. Little did we know how many looks and comments we would get from customers. LOL !
The port o lets really go back to Jungle's stand located at Erie & High. He didn't have a building with a shower so he created a wood box similar to an outhouse for his shower.

After construction and preparing to open to the public the health inspector and fire marshal both had to approve the expansion. Both were stunned and hesitated when we approached the bathrooms. Opening with temporary port o lets wasn't going to fly. LOL Even trying to convince them that we would have Rumpke service the port o lets daily wasn't getting us anywhere. LOL All was well once they opened the doors to the beautiful restrooms. :)

We designed them using the port o let that was on the job site. We quickly realized the standard Port O Let wouldn't work. The doors are narrow and short. A few phone calls cleared our minds. We can order the wheelchair accessible shells. YES! problem solved. LOL

I placed the phone call to the Port O Let manufacturer. The woman that took the call was not amused by our humor. I have to give it to her though, she understood the concept and shipped our order in pieces rather than a built unit. That saved a lot of time. Plus the contractors were able to add "Port O Let" builder to their resume. Our contractors experience a lot more building for us. Some of them love new challenges, others are shooting nails at us from the power nailer. LOL

After a year of excitement and watching people stand in front of the bathrooms waiting for someone to come out (LOL) we decided to add a sign in the store declaring ourselves as the winner by the "National Lavatory Association; LVA". Of course there is no LVA. And of course we didn't know about the national contest that Cintas holds.

Someone must have added our store to the list of restrooms for 2007. Someone from Cintas called and told Beth in Marketing that we were nominated as one of the five best restrooms in America. Of course I thought it was a prank call. LOL Once we visited thier website and realized it was for real, we informed Jungle. He thought it was a joke as well, but we convinced him otherwise.

Channel 19; WXIX arrived moments later to do the interview. Jungle wasn't available so Beth and I did the segment. That was a riot. Jungle made it to the last few minutes of the interview. Little did we know how significant that interview would be. The next day I was receiving google alerts and phone calls from people across the country. Our story had gone national. LOL. Of all things in the building we were going to be know for the restrooms.

Jungle likes contests and doesn't like to lose. During the online voting period we ran tv and radio commercials, passed out fliers and asked customers to vote for our port o lets.
About a month later Cintas arrived with the plaque! Best Restroom in America. That was awesome. Again national news. Even my "girlfriend" Robin Meade on CNN had our video. Jungle was live on national and international shows. Who would believe that the BBC would do a live interview with Jungle because of our restroom?!

Today, the port o lets stand proud in the fine wine shop with the plaque of Best Restroom. Chris; Jungle's son came up with the idea of turning the center port o let into a photo opportunity. The door was removed and the "throne" was created. Feel free to take your picture standing in the Best Restoom in America
LOL

Have Fun!
Phill