NYC restaurant flushes bathroom attendant positions

An upscale New York City restaurant is eliminating its bathroom attendant jobs after the CEO and Editor-In-Chief of Business Insider wrote a blog post decrying the practice of employing people to turn on faucets and squeeze tips out of him.

A flurry of media coverage and angry responses from have marked a story that began with a blog post by Business Insider head Henry Blodget, entitled "Now Let's Discuss The Awful Restaurant Practice Of Having Bathroom Attendants Who Watch You Pee..." In the rant, Blodget complains that he feels sorry for bathroom attendants at the NYC restaurant Balthazar who have to stand next to toilets all day, handing out towels and wiping sinks.

"That's a terrible job, and now I feel like I'm contributing to making him do it," Blodget wrote, adding that having someone stand nearby while he uses the urinal makes him uncomfortable.

[ Related: Exploding toilet injures New York man ]

Following the post, First We Feast contacted the proprietor of Balthazar's, Keith McNally, who said he agreed with Blodget and would "relieve the restaurant's bathroom attendants of their duties," even though most of them enjoyed the work. The suggestion that the bathroom attendants would lose their jobs angered some, and it even had Blodget tweeting the restaurant should reassign those employees to another position.

However, Balthazar's bathroom attendants will not be out of a job in a few weeks, according to a follow up exchange published by First We Feast.

A quoted email from McNally says he will, indeed, reassign bathroom attendants to other jobs. McNally also had some terse words for Blodget's meddling in his business affairs:

In any case, Blodget can enjoy fetching his own towel at Balthazar's from now on.