Um, I've cleaned both restrooms and the men's was always worse. I think you mean, why are people pigs in public. Do they do this at home is the best question

You got me, cynic. That is a question I've often asked myself. Just the other day, I was in a womens restroom and there was something I'd rather not mention on the floor. Honestly, how hard is it to put trash in the trash can? I've seen a lot of nasty women's bathrooms, but that was a first for me!

IMHO, it's not "women" it's PEOPLE.

Both sexes have issues with their bathroom habits.

I think they're both gross pigs, after having cleaned both. When I was in the Air Force that was one of our duties living in the dorm. The first dorm I lived in had a large multi stall bathroom and shower down the hall from our rooms. During the week I had to clean them the women's had a bloody kotex smeared and stuck on one of the stall walls. The men's I couldn't even walk in without nearly vomiting. I had to take bleach, hold my breath and walk through and pour bleach into all the toilets and sinks and run out. Came back after cleaning the women's. Just going to the movie theaters if a pain or out to eat and finding a clean toilet. I never understood how women could be such slobs. And the number of them that leave without washing their hands just amazes me. Not too long ago, saw a really pretty young woman come out of the bathroom stall and didn't stop to wash her hands. Not too long after she was in the snack line getting and making out with her boyfriend...hands all over his face. Gag...and then eating popcorn.

I agree. When I find a nice, clean ladies room, like at a service station, I usually tell someone at the front desk that I appreciate it. Makes them smile every time.

Deliberate fouling of shared bathrooms will of course be some kind of acting out. Many drive aggressively; rudeness or messiness in stores, theaters and other public situations is common also.

You have a thing for rephrasing my questions, rob333. But I'll leave it as asked this time too. :)

People are gross, period. If men had monthly "issues" I am sure they would be as nasty about cleaning up after themselves, or maybe even worse. One thing I've frequently observed in lady's restrooms is women using the facilities and then just strolling out without washing their hands. I haven't been to a men's room but I assume it's the same. Gives me the willies when I see people handling produce and other stuff at the grocery store.

I seldom use a public 'Ladies' Room', but haven't see what's being described here. I do hate to use the lavatory on an airplane after a man has exited -- nothing 'First Class' about what most men leave behind. DH will wait until we get home rather than use a men's room in most public places. The very worst he recalls were in stadiums he worked as a teen usher. Probably the same wherever there's alcohol consumption.

Maybe it's a different 'clientele' that makes the difference?

(I have to add that I have never seen a more gorgeous rest room than in the Kahului airport on Maui. DH reported that the men's was also nice.)

Wonder what will happen when most (if not all) washrooms are gender neutral. We just may find an increase in the sale of adult diapers as more people don't use public washrooms ;)

I think I try not to stay too long or look around. If I need a restroom, I appreciate the fact that there is one there for me.

That said, I have not run into some of the disgusting things mentioned above.

Recently I reported the ladies room at my local cinema. There were towels and toilet paper scattered throughout the entire restroom. Not sure how this can happen.

I agree with you, Cynic. I hate going into one and seeing where some woman tried to pee "standing" up. Having a monthly period is no excuse for leaving your bloody tampons or pads on the floor.

I'm not the only one who noticed, so I'm not that off base. Nice try ;) winky

I was getting ready to get some popcorn and pull up my beach chair to watch this one proceed but it seems to have settled down.

-My kids (who are much more generous and accepting of the inconsideration of others than I am) each experienced and remarked to me over their years of having roommates that male roommates were, in general, neater and more considerate than female ones.

-I've joked with (male) friends that sometime during our lifetimes, urinals in public restrooms must have been reduced in size, or ditto for male anatomy, because the consistent prevalence of wet floors around urinals is far too common to not have a simple explanation. It's almost always wet and the puddles are usually so large that it's not possible to use a urinal without standing in one. It's important to make sure one's shoe laces are tied before going to the restroom to pee.

-Airplane restrooms? Sorry ladies, but that's a toss-up in my book. I've had clean and disgusting experiences after the exit of men and women, I haven't seen any pattern.

-I do use women's bathrooms, anywhere the facility is a one-holer and the men's room is locked but the women's isn't. Again, a toss-up, more dependent on the care taken by the business to keep it clean, than on the designated gender of the room.

I agree. The ladies room we have at work is sometimes really nasty. We have a paper towel dispenser next the each of the sinks, but they insist on shaking there hands so water is sprinkled all over the floor. Paper towels thrown on the floor, toilets not flushed. I was on a bus trip and the lady in front of me came out of the stall. When I went in there was pee all over the seat. She must have just stood there and let it go. Yes, some of them are just plain pigs.

I've seen overflowing trashcans and umm well very clogged toilets that have been left in the ladies rooms. But that's been the extent. I work in a hospital and there are a lot of single restrooms and I agree with Elmer there is ALWAYS a puddle around the toilet and urine sprinkled all over the seat. I don't get it. There is a HUGE target. Please if this is an issue carry a funnel or something. I get so tired of worrying if I'm going to step in urine. I've also walked in after a gentleman once and it looked like he just urinated and didn't flush the toilet.

I used to work at Walgreens and we had someone that would go into the restroom (can't remember but I think it was the ladies restroom) and smear feces everywhere. I named this person the phantom pooper because we never figured out or caught the person. We had a cosmetician that would grab cleaning supplies and march in there and clean up because no one else would. She would just say someone has to do it.

I'm not sure if women are worse than men but either way everyone just clean up after yourselves!

I hate to use a public restroom!! And I do appreciate a clean one. We were at one restaurant that I came out & told my husband to hurry up & eat because I needed to get home & use ours-no way was I going to use that one. Walked into one once & there was a woman just standing there. She looked at me & said do you believe women did this? I said yes, some women are indeed pigs. At one restaurant a woman used the restroom & did not wash her hands & there she was at the buffet. Told our waitress to change my order that I would order from the menu instead. I worked at a place once & had to clean both the men's & women's. I went in & cleaned every one or two hours. Both would get disgusting, but the women's was always the worst! Don't even want to think what their bathrooms at home look like.

Our oldest daughter spent a couple of weeks in Japan. And she just raved on how clean the public restrooms were!

Part of it is the "It's not my job" syndrome. She cleans up after everyone at home. When she's not responsible for the clean-up she takes a vacation from her "I just don't give a dang". The other aspect is physiology. When you have to crouch; make sure nothing touches ANYTHING in that stall; make sure you hold up or worse, don't let anything slip onto that floor: OMG

You've got the perfect storm.

Women can be pigs, and men can be too. They leave their sh*t for other people to clean up and it doesn't bother them.

I clean a social group's club periodically, and there's one fellow who has severe IBS or something. He never looks behind him when he gets up, if he did he'd surely put more toilet paper down and flush again. I guess he doesn't care. I can't imagine living with that pig.

Something else to consider, which I forgot to mention before:

Concerning restaurants, their product/service is the experience a customer has when visiting and only part of the experience is food. Kitchens get dirty, dining rooms or eating areas get dirty, bathrooms get dirty. An obvious place to judge how clean a place is, is in the bathroom.

Anything in the spectrum from a gourmet restaurant to a hot dog stand can send an employee into the restroom with a mop and a bleach soaked towel each hour to tidy up. It takes less than 5 minutes. Any restaurant with a dirty bathroom never sees me for a return visit. Absolutely never. If the bathroom is untidy, I don't even want to know about what they do in the kitchen.

It's not just women and it's not just restrooms. I've come to the conclusion that as long as people know someone else has to clean it up they suddenly become untrained spoiled brat children. And I include children in on this. I know little kids don't have the motor skills to be super tidy but some of the messes I've seen on the restaurant floor in the recent past completely blows me away. Do these parents allow this at home? And women's fitting rooms - it's like the ultra-spoiled 13-year-old's bedroom in all of them. Cloths dropped on the floor, in wads against the wall. I can't say the men's are like that since I've never been in one but I've been told about the men's restrooms. And at work it's the same thing - people mess up around the coffee machine, the tables, the microwave, the frig. And then they run off and expect someone else to clean it up. It's just people in general no matter the location.

I try to refrain from using public restrooms as much as possible and will stop shopping early and go home before using one at a Target or other major store. Luckily most of our shops are close by so it's not a problem.

I think the door opens in both directions here because my husband feels the same way about coming home to use a bathroom as well claiming the men's rooms are dirty too.

Why some people feel it's ok to be a slob in public and leave their mess for someone else to clean is beyond me. I agree about the hand washing too Petra, bleh!!!

I agree with Ritaweeda, it's not just restrooms. I've written before about the litter problem, I'm a block from the high school and I am constantly having to pick up tons of stuff, their soda cups and fast food wrappers, from my yard outside the fence.

Women can be pigs, I know. Men can too -- I assume, having never been in a mens' restroom, lol.

I generally don't return to places that have horrid restrooms, do ya'll?

The whole world has gone low brow.

I have often wondered the same thing Cynic!

I've been to five star restaurants with spotless bathrooms and dirty kitchens.

Michelin stars stop at 3, no such thing as 5. This describes only the top one dozen restaurants in the US, top two dozen in France, etc. I promise you, all the way down to 1 star places, the kitchens are spotless too.

Maybe you're referring to a different rater. Michelin (Global), Gault Millau (Europe) are considered the most authoritative. Zagat (US) is also good but maybe a notch lower.

DawnInCal, that's how I operate. I have worked as a hotel chambermaid and in a highwayside gas station where part of my job was to clean the public toilets (the men's was always worse). I try always to be considerate of the person who has to tidy up after me.

Interestingly, we recently visited New Zealand, where most of the public toilets are unisex (unless the establishment is very large and can support many toilets). Personally I thought this was great as there were no huge queues at the ladies' room while the men's room was empty :-) But they were all clean.

I don't know where you are going, but I had to really think to even remember the last time I saw a woman, or children in the women's restroom, leave the restroom without washing their hands. It has been years; a woman at an airport--she literally ran out and kept running. I believe she was late for her flight. The only exception is the porta-potties that don't have hand washing facilities.

typical girl's bathroom at HS where i work... almost always lots of TP on the floor? i have been an "over the top" person when it comes to how tp goes on. i'm convinced if paper is put on dispenser the "wrong" way it results in a lot of paper on the floor. if you give that roll a spin... chances are it will end up touching the floor, if it's going off toward the back. typical teen girl (and probably adult in other situations) wouldn't dream of using anything that has touched the floor! i suspect foot is used to rip off offending part... which just lays there on the floor?

Oh, LaLennoxa, you've got me singing "Class" from Chicago. I googled and found a great version with Chita Rivera singing it and was going to post it here, but I didn't know if it would appreciated - maybe too crude. Anyway, thanks for the reminder, its a hoot :) "Nobody's got no class."

Thanks Janie. I learn something new everyday. I had no idea not every song from the play Chicago didn't make it into the movie. All I've seen is the movie. Class was filmed, but not put into the movie. Wow it is crass. And funny.

Rob, I didn't know it wasn't in the movie, I have seen the show many times but never the movie. Yep, its crass and I love it :)

Do you remember who taught you how to be clean -- and considerate of others? Could we be seeing slob adults whose parents failed to 'raise' them?

chisue if that's the case we're screwed. It seems more and more that good manners and habits are just not being taught as much as they used to be.

Janie - great catch! I was wondering if anyone would know the Chicago connection (this coming from someone who is obsessed with the musical play, and appreciated the movie). Yes, Class was deleted from the movie, but filmed - I think available on deleted extras. I think the recording for the movie also features some of the original lyrics not used in the musical too. Ain't there no decency left?

LaLennoxa, lately I'm obsessed with Waitress.