Women: How do you feel about public bathroom stalls?

I’m delighted to find a toilet when I need a toilet.

They’re not such a great place to pick up women for dating as I’ve been led to believe.

@CWOTUS , you are doing it wrong. If you are attractive and seem nice, you approach the woman on her way in. That way she has time to check her make up, fix hair, etc.
If you are creepy, you wait until they are coming out, so they don’t cower in the stall fearful of leaving.

Well, there is that old joke about the North of England guy who used the pick-up line, “Been for a shit, then?”

(I’ve got to stop drinking espresso in the morning!)

Thanks, @Here2_4. I should have known better than to trust that wing man.

I would like to be able to tell if someone is inside without bending down or, pulling/pushing on the door. I like when the lock lines up easily. I like that we have the privacy. I really like when I have a large stall with a sink.

I hate the auto-flush toilets, and the random way they go off on you. Recently at the movie theater the damn toilet exploded and splattered me just as I barely rose from the seat. Gah!
Pretty sad when people have become too damn lazy to flush after themselves.

I also hate the hand dryers, gimme a paper towel please instead of standing there rubbing your hands for 3 minutes and they still aren’t dry. Okay, my public bathroom rant is done. ThanK You very much.

Yes, give me a paper towel! I agree. The auto flush is gross when it flushes too early. Thing is people aren’t lazy about flushing, they purposely didn’t flush. Didn’t want to touch the handle. I never understood that. Then I was with a girlfriend in my 20’s and I saw her use her foot to flush a public toilet. Probably, more than one toilet has been broken that way.

Oh, and while we are drifting a little, when are architects going to make the main bathroom door in restaurants always swing out, so once your hands are washed you can just lean on the door and not touch any handles? Seriously, why is that so complicated?

@JLeslie haha agreed! I always use a paper toiley doile thing to open the door or my shirt or skirt, if it opens inwards.

@Coloma I think the problem is men don’t give a damn, and most architects are men.

I believe that the reason doors open inwards on public restrooms is a general building code issue. The reason that makes sense to me is that if a room has only a single entry/egress point (one door, in other words), then the door must open inwards so that an external blockage can’t make the room a trap for the occupants. They can still pull the door open and then manually deal with the obstruction that may exist on the other side.

@Coloma , those auto flushers can be fooled. They trigger by light being blocked, then returned, so if you bend to straighten your socks… whoosh. They have an eye to detect the light. You can cover that with tissue, paper towel, etc., then they won’t flush until you remove the blockage. I carry a little foldable piece of cardboard for that purpose.

@Here2_4 Interesting, so as long as I don’t shift around my curvy rear end should be more than enough to block the light. Moon over Miami. haha

Most of them are mounted about mid back height. Just how ample is that rear? LOL

@Here2_4 Haha..not THAT ample!

They are my friend indeed when I’m in need.

Hm. So no etiquette concerns here?

I have no choice about having to use them very often, due to my anatomy. I don’t mind using a public bathroom, I’m used to it.

@CWOTUS The doors don’t always open in though. There might be some code depending on space in the hall or something maybe?? That would vary by local laws of course. It seems pretty random to me though.

I wish restrooms were all gender-inclusive. I have a boy who’s too old to be in the “girl’s room” but too young for me to be completely comfortable setting him loose in a men’s room alone in some places.

I know the statistical likelihood of anything bad happening to him in a public restroom is astronomical, but my instinct is to be cautious, especially in high-traffic areas like theme parks and airports.

Most of those have those “family restrooms” now, but they’re often occupied, or taken by someone who didn’t actually need it (y’know, like the handicapped stall often is. You know who you are.)

I, too, prefer paper towels to the air dryers, except for those really awesome AirBlade things.

And non-flushers should be drawn and quartered at high noon.

@JLeslie the door to the hallway will pretty much always open inward to the room. The doors on individual stalls in a rest room may open inward (in most cases, I think, for a “normal access” stall) or outward (for “handicap access” stalls), but those stalls also have alternate access in most cases. Since the partition walls are not floor-to-ceiling, it is possible to enter or exit a stall (however uncomfortable it might be) by climbing under or over the wall, should the door itself be blocked for some odd reason. But doors to hallways have no alternate access. You can’t crawl under that door or over the wall to the rest room itself.

And in cases where the rest room has two means of access, as I noted in my original post on this particular issue, then the inward-opening requirement is probably moot.

I love when the stall has an individual sink. That’s usually only found in the family bathrooms but sometimes in a handicapped stall.

Handicapped stalls have higher toilets, so even if someone is not in a wheelchair, the toilets are easier to get up off of.

I like paper towels rather than air dryers. I really appreciate nice soap. Not foaming soap and not soap with an institutional smell.

I will usually never shit in public stalls. My routine is such that it’s rarely an issue as I go in the morning like clockwork. On the rare occasions that I need to go again during the day, I’ll try to find a bathroom that is somewhat private. Out of the way, hardly used or a family stall do work best in those instances.

@Seek Probably very few women will mind if you bring your son in the ladies restroom, but maybe your son will be uncomfortable?

Yes, Ian is very modest. Goodness knows he didn’t get it from me, but he is.

It depends what I need to do in there. If it’s a quick visit, available and clean and a supply of loo paper will make me happy.

If it’s a longer visit – I really prefer not to do that in public. My husband seriously thinks I’m a nut. I HATE going anywhere but at home or in my own hotel bathroom. So, I prefer to have stalls that have some privacy and are contained and a bit sound proofed. I rarely get this. Thankfully, I rarely need this.

Well I think they are great! Big fan. I love the privacy too.

When a door’s lock doesn’t line up—stick a foot underneath the door by the latch-side (not the hinge side) and lift up until the lock lines up with the slot. The problem is virtually always that the door is sagging.

When the door doesn’t have a hook—slip your bag’s strap over the latch-side corner.

How to know if a stall is full without looking under—stalls usually have slight gaps between the doors and the walls-between-stalls. Not enough to actually see anything, but enough to make out if there’s a shadow in the stall or not (shadow = person). Don’t get close or anything, just look for shadows as you breeze past the stalls. Less invasive-feeling than peeking under or accidentally pushing open a door with a faulty lock.

I definitely thought I was supposed to use my foot to flush this kind of toilet, because otherwise I feel like my face is right by the bowl when it flushes.

I’ve had auto-toilets flush too soon too because I leaned too far forward or to the side… unpleasant! So is finding out that the stall is out of toilet paper; luckily this happens almost never for me, and I usually notice before I sit down on the few occasions it does.

My only real complaint is when they don’t have receptacles for feminine products—I really don’t feel like carrying bloody cotton items out of the stall with me.

I avoid them whenever possible and…oh, for God’s sake! What’s so important that you have to talk on your phone while pissing in a public bathroom?!? STF up!!

I can’t believe no one has mentioned the narrowness of some cubicles which then have sanitary bins pressed right up next to the pan which dig in to your bottom when you sit.

I have never experienced that @Stinley.

I hate it when they have too big of a crack in between the door and the stall itself so people can look in…

@Misspegasister28: My assumption is the average public bathroom user is not interested in looking through a tiny crack in the door to see me urinating.

I’m in favor of them. :)

Really, @Misspegasister28? What in the world is there to see? Certainly nothing exciting.

@jca @Dutchess_III I have seen people look in it’s so creepy

@Misspegasister28: I haven’t. Never in all my years. Maybe they’re looking to see if someone is in there. Nobody’s ever stopped and pressed their face to the door, if that’s what you’re saying.

I second that @jca. Never. I’ve noticed people glance, but only to see if it’s occupied. Never had anyone stare.

@jca That’s never happened haha, still makes me really uncomfortable

A lot of jellies wrote they are happy to see one when they need one, or that they are in favor of them. My husband’s family will try to avoid using them. My husband will leave something early so he can go home to use the bathroom. His sister used to tell her kids to hold it if they were too far from home.

Why @JLeslie?

@Dutchess_III I think the biggest thing with them is if they need to poop. Maybe they’re freaked about maybe needing to sit on the seat? Maybe a lot of the public toilets in Mexico are horrible? I’m really not sure. It might just be a family thing handed down for no real reason.

My husband likes to sit on the toilet for a while when he does number two. We nicknamed the bathroom the library when he’s in there.