Going into a stall only to find that my predecessor didn't bother flushing after dropping a deuce.

Posted by: Trust at August 31, 2010 5:38 AM

At the library, we've had a rash of actual toilet paper theft. In the ladies' room. The janitor actually made a sign that says: "If I catch you, you will be prosecuted for stealing city property".

Seriously. Toilet paper thieves.

And I *HATE* people who cover the toilet seat in paper so they won't have to sit on the seat, and then leave the paper there afterwards.

Posted by: cornerdemon at August 31, 2010 2:31 PM

We had "ladies" stealing toilet paper from work also! They switched to the one giant roll, instead of having single small rolls.

When they used single rolls, people couldn't manage to change the roll. It was the same kind as at home, the spring loaded ones. But they'd open a new roll & put it directly on the floor instead.

The ladies bathroom is the most disgusting place ever

It seems they think that someone else will just come along and clean up for them. Kind of like home, where their kids don't give a crap about the house.

Paper on the floor, water on the seat, I've seen blood on the floor, a puddle of soap on the counter, bits of paper towel being washed down the sink so it backs up, and the counter is COVERED in dripping-hand water constantly. They had to hang a sign, please wipe counter after use, & 3 people do it.

Some of them can't stand to touch the door, there might be *gasp* a mutant germ ready to leap into their brain. But they'll use a little scrap of paper towel to touch the door handle, & then drop it behind the door. Instead of finding a garbage, or taking it to their desk.

There is a VP that does the towel trick, after not using soap & barely putting finger tips under the water.

Posted by: MeganNJ at August 31, 2010 2:52 PM

PS - I hear the men's room is relatively pleasant.

Except a coworker reports there is a "Dumper." Every morning about 8:30, he takes a dump at work. If you're THAT regular, do it at HOME.

Posted by: MeganNJ at August 31, 2010 2:53 PM

It's a tossup who has the worst restrooms, men or women. I used to work in a public library and at closing time we had to check the bathrooms. Megan, you left out the used diapers and...um...personal female products sometimes left behind for the rest of us to enjoy.

And men, why is it that some of you can't leave your more solid waste products IN the bowl as opposed to on the seats?

Posted by: Pricklypear at August 31, 2010 4:08 PM

Hoverers. You know the ones - the women who "hover" over the seat, peeing all over it. God, that really ticks me off.

And yes, I've seen some really disgusting feminine hygiene leavings. Seriously, someone has to clean that up! How rude can you get!

Posted by: Ann at August 31, 2010 4:14 PM

"Some of them can't stand to touch the door, there might be *gasp* a mutant germ ready to leap into their brain. But they'll use a little scrap of paper towel to touch the door handle, & then drop it behind the door. Instead of finding a garbage, or taking it to their desk."

I work in hospitals where there are actually signs telling us (and visitors) to wash our hands with soap for 15 seconds and to take a clean paper towel to open the door. There are garbage cans within reach for the paper towels. Surveys show that 1 in 3 people do not wash their hands, so I prefer not to touch the doorknob of a restroom. The solution is to put a garbage can near the door.

Posted by: Steamer at August 31, 2010 5:01 PM

Has somebody mentioned in-stall cell phone talkers? Or are they more disconcerting than actually rude?

Posted by: Old RPM Daddy at August 31, 2010 8:04 PM

Whoever was in the bathroom stall at work before me was on her period. I know this because she bled all over the toilet seat then left it for someone else to clean up.

Fortunately, there were three other stalls.

Posted by: random_person at August 31, 2010 9:45 PM

Public restrooms are generally so filthy - I see rudeness everywhere.

Posted by: Crusader at August 31, 2010 10:11 PM

And men, why is it that some of you can't leave your more solid waste products IN the bowl as opposed to on the seats?

Or how about please flush your solid waste products before I die from methane poisoning.

Posted by: Crusader at August 31, 2010 10:13 PM

Also, women who try to flush their pads and tampons. Don't do that!

I've had a few conversations with handicapped people over whether using the handicapped stall is rude if you are not handicapped. My take on it is that it's there for their use, not reserved for their use. If I see someone who might need the extra space more than I do (moms with small kids, elderly, handicapped, etc.), I will leave it alone. Otherwise, I see no reason not to use it.

Posted by: MonicaP at September 1, 2010 2:47 PM

Ladies, please take care of your business before you leave the house? That may require getting up a little earlier than JUST BEFORE you leave...

Posted by: carol at September 1, 2010 6:00 PM

I work in a very small office, so the ladies' room is a one-seater. The other day, I went in and there were some short & curlies on the edge of the sink. Black ones, and several, so they can't have just, I don't know, been blown there by the a/c. How do you not notice your pubes on the sink? How do you even get pubes on the sink? If someone had a date after work and needed to pluck a few strays, you'd think she'd have made sure to dispose of the evidence.

Posted by: Beth at September 1, 2010 6:50 PM

Are you sure they weren't peeing in the sink?

Either way. Ewwwwww...

Posted by: Ann at September 1, 2010 9:16 PM

I work in a lab and see a lot of nasty restroom behavior. Honestly, how do men MISS THE CUP??? You would think that men could aim better than the ladies, and EVERYONE should wipe the outside of the cup if they miss. Just because we wear gloves doesn't mean we want to pick up a pee-wet cup. Another thing I once observed was an elderly man that used to come in the office for weekly blood and urine tests. No big deal, except that he wore his catheter bag on the OUTSIDE of his pants with the tubing looped thru his belt loops instead of strapped to his leg like most people. On one occasion, the tubing had dry-rotted (shows just how often he changed catheters, huh?), and there was stagnant pee leaked all over the office where he had trailed it on his way in to the lab. On another occasion, the poor old guy was caught in the restroom with the door open emptying the bag into THE SINK!!! When people get old, do they get the right to be disgusting?? If so, I'm waiving mine, thank you very much!

Posted by: Jessica at September 3, 2010 1:55 PM

I find it rude when, after using a public restroom, I encounter a woman planted in front of a sink reapplying her blush/lipstick/foundation, who won't move aside so I can wash my hands.

I get that it's a public restroom, but if you're not washing your hands, I would think it would be common courtesy to try to find a corner of the mirror that doesn't block sink & soap usage for others.

Posted by: Jen Wading at September 4, 2010 10:51 AM

I get that some people really believe that they're going to contract VD from sitting on a toilet seat, but c'mon! Do they really have to squat over the seat and pee so that it gets everywhere but in the actual toilet? And usually they've wrapped the seat that they refuse to sit on with four rolls of paper so now there's pee filled paper on the seat as well? I really don't understand that. Line the seat if you want. But then pee in the toilet and push the paper in when you flush.

Posted by: Kristen at September 6, 2010 6:18 PM

I had worked as the bathroom crew at a county fair and I wonder what people were actually taught on how to use the bathroom.
I had several people in the BIG stalls ( so it wasn't that they just missed) who somehow got their solid (not really) waist in the farthest corner from the toilet. HOW! WHY! GAG!!!!

Posted by: Briana at September 25, 2010 5:21 AM

I just read this story about a 20-year old soldier who's coming back from Iraq minus both arms and one leg.
I can handle a little pee on the toilet seat for crying out loud.

Posted by: Erica at December 23, 2010 6:30 AM

This is for restaurateurs and store owners: along with your regular restroom maintenance, please take a few extra seconds to make sure the toilet seats are attached securely. I've been in public restrooms -- including handicapped stalls! -- where the seat is barely hanging on by a thread. All it takes to stop the seat from wiggling is to flip up the little screw covers with a screwdriver and simply tighten the two large screws. Maybe one minute total. I have horrible visions of someone on crutches sitting down on a seat that is barely attached and ending up on the floor!

Posted by: Twenty at February 25, 2011 2:52 AM

Guys - if you're too shy to use the urinal, at least lift the seat in the stall. Why do I so frequently have to wipe up befoe I can be seated on the throne?

Posted by: Mr. Teflon at February 28, 2011 6:20 AM

I am sick to death of boys up to age 10 in the ladies' room because their moms are too paranoid to let them use the men's room. There are inch-wide gaps between the stall door and the stall and they can see everything. You can wait outside the men's room and listen for screaming if you're that scared - or how about going in the men's room with him for a change?

On the same subject, in my library there is only one ladies' room and one men's room, both one-seaters. If your little boy is old enough to go pee on his own, he should go in the men's room. If you're with him, why the hell don't you clean up after him? Do you think little fairies are going to come do it? Staff members have to use it too, and yes - we know who you are.

Posted by: marla at May 15, 2011 4:24 AM

So the light's out way overhead in the Blimpie's john and my uneaten B.B. (Blimpie's Best) waits on a table, but meantime it's mighty dark in here for a minute or two. That's life, and as door opens, guy on other side grins at emerging idiot and reaches inside to show him the light switch. "It's right over here." Double take as he realizes idiot also tried the switch, and it's gonna be mighty dark in there for him, too.

What? No, YOU ask for a bulb.

Posted by: Me at July 10, 2011 4:32 PM

hit the catbox yest at the walmart. was behind a woman w/ a kid who was looking in the stalls....guess for a clean one. NP-i understand that. she asked...am i in ur way? i said no, intending to leave it go, but then she said somethng about me stopping behind her....well no f'n shit! told her i was wainting for her to make a decision. her responsE??...WHATEVER. was that a necessary conversation? just choose a stall & get in it, but don't give me crap because i'm waiting for u to move ur butt. WTF? is everyone looking for a fight about just anything??

Posted by: 2muchBS at September 3, 2011 10:59 PM

I'll bet the Japanese are far tidier than us, what with their fancy toilets and all. We don't deserve such high-tech toiltets here, the way we leave a crappy mess. I say, we go back to outhouses again. Either that or holes in the floor to squat over, the way some of the other countries do, with a hose available for rinsing. Maybe that will solve the problem of people leaving an unsightly, unsanitary mess....

Posted by: Ronda Kirk at May 9, 2013 10:25 PM

I was at the busy massive mall's food court... albeit at an odd time. I was taking my young child into the ladies' room, which had one of those zig-zag entrances instead of a door. A young "lady" (teen) was coming out. Right when I was within a foot of her, she shouts out to somebody behind me. It wasn't bad enough having somebody basically shout in my ear, but with all the tile, it even echoed in the bathroom... despite the zig-zag. Really, do you NEED to shout or can you just take the 7 steps to actually be near that person?

Posted by: Shannon M. Howell at June 17, 2013 6:17 PM

I was in a supermarket restroom and I had to hold the door with my foot since the lock was broken. Well, that did not stop this lady's small children from running around and knocking down doors without knocking on the door once first. That same child barged into my stall and I had to tell the child that this stall was being used.
Parents need to teach their children to knock on the door once first to make sure that no one is in the restroom.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 10, 2014 2:09 AM

I was in a restroom at a gym and as I flushed the toilet, I noticed a bloody tampon on the restroom floor! That is DISGUSTING! I was so embarrassed and so tweaked that someone refuses to throw away their personal products in the trash can in the stall. I told an employee who was in the locker room and the poor lady was embarrassed when I told her what happened.

I cannot understand why can't people throw their personal products in the trash where it belongs?

Posted by: anonymous at February 17, 2014 7:49 PM

The worst pet peeve I can also think of is when the restroom only has one stall and the person in front of me takes too long due to her children playing in the restroom. It is a restroom-not a playground.

Posted by: anonymous at February 23, 2014 12:12 AM

I am a female with short hair (some of my female friends have short hair as well) and I was about to walk into the women's restroom and this rude woman asks me questions "are you a lady" and "use the boy's bathroom." I told her yes and to back off. I do not think it is any of her business just because I had short hair and ironically, she had short hair as well and did I ask her those questions-NO!
Thankfully, I've never ran into her again and if she had done that again, I would have reported the incident to the manager of the place I was at as an act of sexual harassment towards a straight female.

Posted by: Disgusted Woman Born Female at February 26, 2014 2:20 PM

Is it inappropriate to ASK a business owners permission to use their restroom if I'm not patronizing their business at that time?

Posted by: Lillian at March 23, 2014 11:49 PM

It's most polite if you could ask them if you could give them some payment to use their restroom, which suggests you don't expect something for nothing. I would guess many or most would decline payment, anyway.

Posted by: Amy Alkon at March 24, 2014 5:06 AM

Talking on the cell phone when in the bathroom. Helllooo, yes they can hear EVERYTHING on the other end of the phone.

Posted by: Ruthie at May 19, 2014 9:36 PM

Last Saturday I arrived at a mid morning graduation event at a college field house. I had driven non stop 2 1/2 hours sipping coffee all the while. I immediately cued up in a deep ladies room line. About a 1/2 hour later I realized that the women with kids who we're going in & out of the rest room weren't washing the kids hands or changing diapers- they were cutting the line. I finally got to the front of the line and yet another woman with a kid who must have been about 7 asked me if she could go ahead. When I said no she said "he can't hold it." There were still maybe 20 ladies behind me- elderly ladies, pregnant ladies and drinkers of copious amounts of coffee. I replied that he was going to have to hold it and went toward a newly freed stall. She pushed past me with the kid and slammed the stall door in my face.

Posted by: Amy P. at June 24, 2014 2:49 AM

I have many loves. Used feminine hygiene products are among my favorites, so bathrooms are a great place of enjoyment for me. Next time you leave you soiled maxi behind, please be advised I may be the next one to enjoy that toilet stall. I will be feasting on YOUR scent and fluids.

Not disturbing enough for you? I also enjoy the family restrooms. The liquid remnants from YOUR children and their lovely little hairless genitals are openly available to me in the form of diapers deposited in those wonderful places. Yes, I am a nepiophile. The lovely liquids from those diapers will be used by me for my own sexual gratification. Imagine my thick, nepi/pedo seed mixing with the precious liquid from your child's genitals. You think of it as excrement. I think of it as the lemonade of countless donors.

Posted by: Pedro Phile at July 10, 2016 5:12 AM

I think I'm going to puke

Posted by: Ray at February 15, 2017 12:18 AM

I hate it when someone is in the stall and having a conversation on the phone. One time, I thought someone was talking to me. I felt really stupid when I realized they were on the phone. Do you really need to have a whole conversation in the bathroom with someone who isn't even in the room with you?!? Is it rude that I try to make extra noise when this happens?

I also hate when women "hover" over the seat. They do this to save themselves from all the toilet seat germs when they are mostly responsible for those germs by getting their pee all over the seat. I really get annoyed when I forget to check the seat and sit down on a wet seat!

Posted by: Becky at June 15, 2017 6:35 PM