Restroom rant

April 23, 2011


I know, Holy Saturday is not the best time to rant about public rest rooms for women. But I’ve been wanting to for so long. So let us step away from the holiday preparation for a very brief moment.

Pocketbook hooks. Can someone tell me why public bathrooms do not all have functioning hooks for pocketbooks and bags? Do we really want to set our stuff down on that dirty bathroom floor? Or balance it all on our laps while we take care of business? No. We don’t. Hooks. Please.

Giant rolls of one-ply toilet paper set below hip level. How about those giant rolls of toilet paper that are set so low on the wall that we can only eke out one small square at a time by pulling from underneath? Really? We are expected to sit there for 20 minutes building our pile of tissue to a suitable thickness, one square and one ply at a time?

And oh-by-the-way, we use way more of it than we would if it were reasonably positioned and had more ply. How about when the new roll doesn’t fall into place, no matter how hard we slide and tug the mechanism? Better toilet tissue, please. And move those roll dispensers, up, people, so we can actually reach them. And be sure they’re functioning properly or patrons will be using the sink as a bidet.

Narrower squares of toilet paper. Have you noticed? I’m sure toilet paper one inch narrower than standard is cheaper per roll. However, that means we have to use more paper to get the right coverage. Whose brainy idea was this?

Air dryers. Air dryers are ecologically correct and probably cost effective. Sometimes they even do the job. But now that we know how much e.coli lurks on door handles, everyone wants to use a towel to open the rest room door. Unless the doorknob is sanitized every two seconds, disposable towels are a more sanitary choice. I won’t even mention those ridiculous cloth towels on a revolving bar that always seems to stick when it’s my turn to wash up, leaving no option but to dry on our clothes..

Disposable towels littering the floor. If a trash bin isn’t positioned near the door knob, people will open the door with a paper towel and drop it there. Wading through used hand towels isn’t fun. Move the trash bin.

Seat liners. Where are the instructions? Am I the only person who has no earthly idea how these work? I may be embarrassing myself here, but really, I can’t figure out what to do with that tongue-like piece. Does it hang down into the water? (Ugh) Maybe not. Do I fold it up over the back of the seat?

But don’t worry. No Italian-American girl gets out of diapers without her mother teaching her to squat over the bowl in a public rest room. “For God’s sake, do NOT sit on the seat!” may be the first instruction a young girl of my culture gets. {Learning to aim is another story.}

Ok, I’m done. So, what bothers you?

14 comments on “Restroom rant
  1. Anonymous says:

    YES AGREE ON ALL POINTS!!!!!!!!!
    As a health inspector, I always recommend the trash be placed next to door, though it is not a Food Code requirement, so I can’t enforce it.
    Disgusting things.
    How about when you hear someone finish their business and stroll out of the room without washing her hands? Or a quick wave of hands under the water without using soap? Gross.
    Check out my website: http://www.MAFoodSafetyTraining.com
    Beth

  2. Oh and how about NO SOAP in the dispenser in a place that handles food, like Starbucks?

  3. Cheri says:

    I have to say, though, that I like restaurant restrooms that have really dim lights. I look so good in their mirrors!

  4. Kelly says:

    love this post! lol the lack of purse hooks is just wrong. wrong wrong wrong! and I don’t know what happens with the tongue like piece either. Though I TRY to flip it OUT and over the front of the toilet so my clothes don’t touch the front of the commode…you know? they are poorly designed though, those paper cover thingies.
    lack of soap is the worst. at least have a giant pump of sanitizer. sheesh. and I totally agree about paper towels vs. air dryers. hate the air dryers. love when they have both as an option though. I don’t like the dryers for my hands but I do like it for my clothes if I get a spill or a splash and have used it for my hair at amusement parks. LOL

  5. I’m a full-nester in my 50’s who spends her weekends on the baseball fields. You’re living in luxury! I spend the day avoiding the Porta Potty! It’s all relative!!

  6. Jennifer says:

    Lol. My sister taught me to bring alcohol wipes for public toilet seats. So I always carry them in my bag. My legs are too short for proper squatting.

  7. Women who pee on the seat.

  8. Ellen Dolgen says:

    I have to line the toilet and sit down. I agree with Molly. My pet peeve is women who squat and pee all over the toilet and just leave it! REALLY???? My other pet peeve is the thin toilet paper in airports! Good grief, it is so thin that I might as well just wipe myself with my bare hands!

  9. Barbara says:

    Women are the biggest slobs in public bathrooms, that’s for sure. Sometimes it seems like they swing from the side wall, I swear. There’s no excuse for leaving your disgusting mess for someone else.
    b

  10. Shannon says:

    This gave me a good laugh, but it’s all so true! I hate it when people don’t flush. How hard is it to flush!?! I always use some hand sanitzer even after I wash my hands.

  11. Anosa says:

    I definitely agree on everything you wrote. I would consider restrooms with pay instead of using so unhygienic restrooms.

  12. I am sure that I have thought of more than one of these things and probably out loud to someone as a complaint. The only thing I can say is that with those seat covers I think they go down but my complaint with them is half the time they rip and they really don’t do anything to protect you from anything either. They are a giant placebo. You could wipe the seat with toilet paper to clean it off and accomplish more than simply sitting the seat cover on the seat.

  13. The thing that annoys me the most is the fact that most toilets do not have hooks. Its like where do I put my coat and bags then? I don’t want to put it on the floor x

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