I've wondered the same thing. Surely they don't do it at home! But then why do it anywhere? I would hate to have the job of cleaning some of those restrooms!!!

What really is surprising: The mens rooms are not as nasty as the womens rooms!

I know. Cause I don't care which symbol is on the door. If I got to go, and the ladies is in use, I use the mens.

But really only if it is apparent that there is only one in there. If it is with stalls, I stay out of the mens rooms. :)

Moni

I couldn't agree more about men's rooms in public places. I've encountered a fair share that were just so nasty I waited until I could find another facility.

What really irks me the most is the idiots who don't know how to flush the urinals/toilets after using them. Come on guys!

Yes, people are as nasty in their own bathrooms. Those that are, tend to be the same in public bathrooms. I have a neighbor whose bathroom is very dirty, grimy, slimy, you name it! It stinks of old pee and you wouldn't want to sit on the toilet even if you had to go so bad that your eyeballs were swimming! This is an upscale, golf course community which obviously doesn't mean a thing about what kind of people live where!

I worked as a housekeeping supervisor a long time ago at a upscale department store. The women's restrooms were usually worse than the men's. I always hated cleaning the men's more though cause I know a lot of men don't always wash their hands when they leave (although I know there are women who don't too).

I remember once my boss had to hook up a hose and help clean the ladie's room. I'm pretty sure someone had a medical problem of some sort. Very bad.

I hate it when someone decides they don't want to actually sit on the toilet and instead squat over it. Never fails, they pee on the seat and I'm the next one in and ewww, I got wet pee butt! Happened to me last night. Can't wait to get home and take a shower.
Please ladies, if you want to squat go over to the mens urinal!!!!
It's my pet "pee"ve!
Kathy G in MI with a wet butt

Not long ago I had lunch with a group of friends. A short while after I had used the restroom, the owner was chatting with us and complaining about people who throw paper towels on the floor just inside the door. I spoke up and said that would be me and any other medical people who used that restroom. Most facilities have a trash can near the door, so that after you use a paper towel to open the door, you can toss it in the trash. After I have washed my hands, the last thing I want to do is open that door with my clean hands. Think of all the folks who do not wash and then open that door.

It's bad enough in public but even our restroom here at work is "iffy", and once in a while there's a man in our office who uses the ladies room because the men's room is occupied. He leaves the seat up & once didn't even flush. I typed up a sign that says if "gentlemen" have to use the ladies rest room, please put the seat down. Duh!

A lot of people are just pigs. I used to work for a huge company that had kitchens on every floor of the building I was in. The kitchen was always filthy. Dry coffee grounds on the counter and floor near the coffee maker, wet coffee grounds on the counter and floor near the trash, the counters were always dirty, the sink always has food bits in it. And housekeeping came by at least twice a day. I was SO tempted to put a sign up that said, "Your mother doesn't work here, clean up after yourself".

And the pee on the toilet seat is ridiculous. Squat if you want, but take a piece of tp and wipe up the "missses" after!

I think people just are lazy. In a public bathroom,there's no one (Mom) to scold you if you make a mess, so you can "get away with it". After all, they have workers to clean up, don't they? Remember the famous book "Catcher in the Rye". The main character is named Holden Caufield. at one point, he describes his roommate as a "secret slob:. The roommate is always clean and handsome, but he leaves his razor in the bathroom full of shaving cream and hairs. Many people are "secret slobs".

Linda's comment about paper towels at the door made me think. I guess that is why WalMart has their ladies room designed without a door. You walk in, one turn, and there you are. It also has automatic flushing toilets and automatic faucets.

In any rest room I have learned to take a step to the back of the toilet and look at the seat to see if it has been sprinkled on.

What I can never understand is why anyone would not flush!! I won't use that stall.

Sue

Oh geese. I cleaned the bathroom Saturday night.
Will have to again after reading this post. LOL

Put my name on Linda in Iowa's post. No way am I touching that door handle, so I do the same thing. I'm no basketball player.

Ever noticed how many women DON'T wash their hands? I can't believe that.

sue36 - Someone actually put up a sign saying exactly that where I used to work yrs. ago. I don't know if it had any effect, tho. :-)

I don't know why, but if I see a toliet that's not flushed,I'll flush it and go to another. I always wash my hands, something I recall from early childhood.

I'm a squatter for #1, but a real good one! My mom taught me to squat and not sit so for many yrs. I've had practice. If I wet by mistake (which is NOT often at all, I clean it up). I do sit on some that look clean but not before I dress it up with loads of toilet paper on the seat and inside, in case of splashing! I wash my hands, grab the paper towels, open the door, hold it open with my foot or rear end and toss it into the nearest trash can. It's a routine.

Many Japanese, who squat over a commode slightly above floor level, can't believe that our system has half a hundred bare and busy butts sit on and contacting the same seat per day!

ole joyful

I hate using public restrooms but when I have to, I always like when the places have the little paper as,er,butt-gaskets. If they don't have them, I make one with toilet paper and I always roll off some of the paper too.

I agree with linda_in_iowa, I use paper towels to open the door. I try to take aim and toss it, but if it's one of the covered receptacles, tough luck, I'm not touching those door handles. A simple solution is to have the doors swing out rather than in.

I also like the doorless restrooms, like many Walmarts and airports use. It's great for handicapped people. A friend is pretty much confined to a wheelchair in public and for him to get in and out of these closets that some restaurants call restrooms is crazy. And not having adequate handicapped stalls is nuts too. I understand on older buildings but many new ones are poorly designed. A power door isn't expensive.

In high school I worked at a restaurant. I learned about the difference between men's and women's restrooms! Whenever a woman talks about men being pigs, I tell them to check out the restrooms sometime! I also bust out laughing when they talk about men peeing on the seats! What's the old phrase, the pot calling the kettle... LOL

But seriously, these days the automatic flushers, faucets and the like are just common sense. For cleanliness, efficiency and cleanup. And it's STOOPID to not put a wastebasket by the door.

Maybe it'll gross some people out, but... especially with the unflushed toilets and powerflush ones, how many people realize how much bacteria is sprayed from them? At home, clean people will put down the lid, but there's seldom lids on public poopers. When you're close to it, you're covered by the bacterial spray, so you get not only your own but everyone elses! And it travels a surprisingly long distance. I really hate to use public restrooms! So everything is covered, the TP dispensers, even the TP, walls, counters, floors, etc. I'm not a germiphobe, so I dare go out in public, but... uh, pass the Purell, please!

Now, should we talk about hotels/motels? LOL I bring a can of Lysol when I travel!

Oh, should clarify, I usually do try to "elbow" open a door if I can, or catch the door when someone comes in, especially if it's well maintained, but my hands don't go on those handles at a restaurant! I don't like to make a mess and try to help the poor kid that has to clean it, but... Now other places, where it's just uh, drop and run, so to speak, not such a big deal, but not when cleanliness of my hands makes a difference they don't go on those handles.

I used to drive a big truck...48 states, so I have seen my share of nasty bathrooms. There are a lot of them out there. One of my peeves are the ones that use the seat liners...but don't make sure they go down when they flush, if they flush at all. Or the squatters that "miss". When I walk into a stall after someone that does either of these...I say loud enough for them to hear, "how very nice!!!"

When I worked at a public pool - we put this up on the back of the stall doors in the ladies...
"If you sprinkle when you tinkle - Please clean it up!
A big thank you from the next person in here!"

The worst I have ever seen was in the Orient. Numerous people using the toilet and not just to pee (know what I mean!) and not a one of them would flush. Every toilet was like that in the restaurants and stores I went into. I went around (Hong Kong especially) flushing toilets. I started trying to wait until I could go into a big hotel where they had attendants.