do you?

Me? Depends upon the condition of them. But clean or dirty, I always 'hover'--I refuse to sit on a public toilet seat. Still, if I need one, I never really mind using one--LOL!

Not crazy about them, but when you gotta go....you gotta go!!

some times, the great outdoors is better. LOL

I am an outdoorsy person. Use the fresh air facility often. But the indoor ones sure come in handy in populated areas. :)

No, I don't hate using them, I just don't like using them.

Moni

No, I don't hate public restrooms unless they are filthy, stinky, and the floor is wet! Or the kind that is just a room (no separate stalls) and the door latch is faulty..

And I am not afraid to sit on the seat. Moreover, I haven't caught any dread disease from this shocking behavior!

Azzalea said it exactly how I feel about public restrooms!

Over the years I've used hundreds of public restrooms and I'm still here to tell the tale. Never caught anything either. I have no qualms about using public restrooms.

I never used to mind,but here,there are a lot of Mexicans.In Mexico the sewer systems are really bad and they don't flush paper.So when they use the restrooms here,the habit stays of tossing the paper in the trash.Makes for nasty restrooms! When we have Mexican friends here,I take the trashcan out of the bathroom so they HAVE to flush the paper.Learned that the hard way!

No, I don't mind. I usually know where the clean ones are when shopping. The only thing I mind is having to take time away from my shopping!

Sue

I don't mind, but DH will wait a LONG time before resorting to any 'men's room'. On an airplane I try to use the lav early on and if it's a long flight, wait until the flight attendant has done a bit of a cleanup before returning. I try to NEVER use one after some guy.

Funny story from DH's days in the Air Force Reserve: He was in a group of four young men from the Chicago area who all arrived on base together. One of the four, on seeing the 'facilities' -- one big room with toilets around the walls -- swore he wasn't going to 'go' until he got home! (I don't think he lasted eight weeks.)

Any port in a storm.

Linda

I hate wetting my pants more!
JoanMN/FL

No. Most of the ones I use are clean. I really hate when women hover over a toilet and pee all over the seat.

I've been really relieved (no pun intended) to find one on several emergency situations. When you gotta go, you gotta go. No pride, just relief. I love the ones that furnish the seat covers.

I hate them- I won't use one unless I absolutely have to. We also lived in area in California with a high Hispanic population- I just don't handle smells well at all. Weird, I know. But there you go. I also would rather use the outdoors!

Trish

It doesn't bother me to use a public restroom at all. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone getting a disease from one. And if it has happened, I'm sure it's rare.

I'm not a fan of using them but I am sure glad to see one when I need one! When you gotta go, you gotta go.

I figure a good hand washing will clean up most germs from there!

Hey...I've seen the time that I was PRAYIN' for one! LOL

Naw, doesn't bother me. I don't like dirty ones but I'll still use them if I have to.

I don't mind using public restrooms if they are clean. I drink a lot, so I have to pee a lot. Chances are if I am out shopping or whatever... I will have to use a public restroom.

I sit, no hoovering.

I'll use anything...including a bush beside the road...
Actually, kinda like Moni, I prefer outdoors.

:-)

I hate them but of course I use them when I absolutely have to.

I'm not getting the Mexican/Hispanic thing. All my brown friends know how to use the facilities. Most of the Mexican households I've been in are kept cleaner than my own.

During these many years, I've used public washrooms lots of times ... and they had some dillies in Korea - tub in the ground with a couple of boards over it!

I have never had any trouble, that I can recall.

I think that I've walked out of a couple, if I remember corrctly. Guess that I didn't need to "go" that badly, at the time.

It must have been some time ago - a higher proportion of the mail is labelled, "Urgent!", in recent years!

Good wishes for finding someone to tell you, "where to go" ... when you need it!

ole joyful

I'm not saying they aren't clean wildchild...but in Mexico,the sewer system is practically non-existent.So when they go to the bathroom,they don't flush paper down the toilet.It's thrown in the trashcan.Gets pretty stinky! I live right on the border and a lot of the Mexican people from Juarez come here to shop.They still throw the toilet paper in the trash even though they are in El Paso and the sewer system here is good,so you can flush the paper.My one friend that now lives in Dallas still follows this procedure and they built a brand new home!As for being clean...I've been in Mexican households and yes,they are great housekeepers,never even see any dust(and this is the desert)! I clean like a fool if I know they are going to visit me....LOL!

Old habits are hard to break. When I spent 2 weeks in Nicaragua, it was very difficult to remember not to put the used paper in the toilet.
I have worked all my adult life so think nothing of using public restrooms. I don't hover and have never caught anything from sitting on the seats. I hate, hate, hate sitting on a wet seat. My mom and her sis were such sticklers about putting paper on the seat and in their later years some times came out of a restroom with paper hanging out of their pantsuits. LOL.

The only reason I do is because women "hover" over them and pee on the seat. LOL When I am out in public I don't touch my nose, mouth or eyes and I wash my hands as soon as I get home.

I guess it's true that old habits are hard to break. If you visit restrooms in Chinatown you will often find footprints on the seat. Many Asians and Chinese prefer to squat over the hole.

I always use hand sanitizer to wipe
the seat off before using any public washrooms.
Wash my hands then use the sanitizer again.

Depends on the reason I need to use them. I don't like using other bathrooms, period. And I don't like others using mine! Now if I'm going to generalize and stereotype, I'd certainly avoid using a unisex room after a female than male having had the bathroom cleaning chores as part of my duties the short time I worked at a restaurant. Good grief, I don't see how such supposedly prim, proper and fussy women could be such PIGS in a restroom! I literally used a shovel a couple times to clean the paper off the floor. So don't ever try to say men are filthy until you've cleaned public restrooms.

And come to think of it, that's a good part of the reason I closed the public restoom at the gas station/c-store I managed. Again it's stereotyping and generalizing, but ironically, women were more likely to make a mess, then come in and complain about it! Must be a "gal" thing. But disgusting nonetheless. And boy did they complain (and even threaten me) after I closed it down!

I don't hate using them because the alternative would be to stay home for rest of my life. I don't hover and I hate when others do, because they are the ones making the restrooms disgusting. I've never caught anything either and I don't think there are any verified cases where anyone ever did, so I don't understand the hovering thing.

We used to have a service station on I-95 in FL and I've cleaned both the men's and the ladies' restrooms and Cynic is right- the ladies' room was always far dirtier and more disgusting. And the women would steal the TP, too, and then complain when there wasn't any paper to use.

It was all I could do to not throw up a few times, it was that bad in there. I couldn't figure out how someone could make such a mess unless it was intentional. And then I couldn't figure out why someone would want to make that mess for someone else to have to clean up. They made it into a public restroom that no one would want to use (until I cleaned it up.)

Normally,though- I have no qualms about public restrooms but I reserve the right to not use one if it's gross.

Not unless they are nasty as someone else mentioned or if the person who used it before me "hovered" and peed on the seat and didn't bother to wipe it off! LOL I carry disinfectant wipes in my purse and just give the seat a swipe before I sit.As others have said,I have used public restrooms for years and am still here.I never sit my purse on the floor and am careful to wash my hands afterward.Oh,and I HATE those seat covers! The center thingy always falls down into the commode and gets wet then the seat cover sticks to my butt when I get up,then you figure out the rest!LOL

I hate using public restrooms!!!! Will the women who leaves pee all over the toliet seat please clean up after yourselves? (i'm sure no one here does that, hopefully) That is just nasty!! You expect the NEXT PERSON to wipe off the toliet seat you just peed all over! (sick, sick) I don't like backing up to the toliet and getting your pee on my leg. WHY DO SOME WOMEN LEAVE PEE ON THE TOLIET? I wish I could call them out, without getting shot or in a fight-- HEY LADY, YOU LEFT YOUR PEE ALL OVER THE TOLIET SEAT, NOW GET YOUR SORRY &** OVER HERE AND CLEAN IT UP!!!!

LOL @ rthummer

this is a very funny thread.

I tear the center out of the seat cover so it doesn't pull itself into the bowl just about the time I sit down. LOL

I agree- Women are far worse! I too have cleaned my share of bathrooms in public places. Ugg.....

Trish

To me, if you have to cover the seat, you are getting more germs on your hands than if you just sat down.

We have the hispanic thing here too....they don't flush the toilet paper. My best friend is Brazilian and they just completely remodeled their whole house. Their bathroom is just gorgeous. They don't flush the paper. She is married to an American but he is so p**** whipped that he does anything she says...so I guess he just goes along with it, rather than tell her otherwise. Me, when I go to her house, I flush the paper.

There are reasons I don't care to use public restrooms.

#1 Generally, they are very narrow. You sometimes feel you have to climb up on the toilet, to get the door closed.

#2 I get really ticked when I see that a "hoverer" has peed all over the seat. So, it is ok to hover, because you are afraid of catching something? But you don't have the same consideration for the next person? The hoverer is not likely to get caught, as they probably rush out of the bathroom without washing their hands.

#3 There is always that one person that leaves the seat covers on the seat and/or doesn't flush. That too, is GROSS.

The chances of catching something from a toilet seat is slim. I have used many bathrooms across the country and I am still here to talk about it. And yes...some of them were terribly disgusting. Sometimes going between the duals of the big truck was more sanitary.

I agree with Linda...any port in a storm.
Not my preferred port, but sometimes, you've just gotta go!

Y'all have covered hoverers who sprinkle, non-flushers, flushers who put the tp in the wastebasket (we were instructed to do that while visiting in parts of Central America), and many other reasons for hating public restrooms.

I don't hate them, but I don't prefer them. I'll go if I have to...and I always flush with my foot! Don't wanna touch anything someone else has just touched with dirty hands...or feet!

YES!!! I hate using public restrooms unless they are private. (You can lock the door and no one else can use the bathroom.) I've mentioned in other threads about my fear of hearing people vomit. Yeah, well unfortunately that makes me scared to use public restrooms. (A phobia that is not good, I know.) Don't get me wrong - I will if I absolutely have to, and that does happen. But I hate it.

Well, when you got to go you run in and go and yes, there are ones that I don't like and people aren't good about flushing toilets, peeing on seats and floors. And no toilet paper.
And then you find out there is no soap to wash your hands with.
Drying hands, you can air dry them but its not sanitary to just turn the tap on and wash hands when no soap is there.

I don't carry a purse so no wipes or cleaing stuff on me.

Don't like them, but am glad they're there when I need one. I sit, don't hover. Sometimes have to wipe the seat before sitting.

When I was in college and taking microbiology we had to go out and down the halls swabbing areas for germs to grow out on a petri dish. Conclusion, the drinking fountains were much more contamintated then the toilets. Hope you don't use the public drinking fountains. lol.

I don't hate using them, just hate "wet" seats. I hover; I don't sit. And it's not because I'm afraid of catching something as many have alleged here - it's because it's gross to sit in someone else's urine! And it's very easy to not "sprinkle" on the seat. But in the rare event that I do, I wipe it off before I leave the stall.

As far as women being worse than men, I don't disagree. However, one reason that you don't tend to find paper all over the floor of men's rooms is because they really don't always use it. AND they often don't wash their hands.

Ick.

Suzieque

I have no problem using a public restroom with flush toilets but those Porti-Pots at a fairground or other outdoor events that's another story!

Generally I don't like to use a public restroom but I will if I absolutely have to. I do hover, but I clean up after myself. I will hover if I need a poo but will sit if it is a messy one. I have seen many unflushed public toilets and I know people might be proud of a poo but when I go in I am more concerned about my need for relief rather than seeing someones business. Yeah, I really hate port-a-potties; the few I have used there have always been a pile of tp/poo above the water surface...talk about gross and smelly!