Public Restrooms

[boscorama]

With flu season hysteria and ordinary universal precautions with regard to handwashing, I must say I'm amazed at how far public restrooms go toward making the task undoable. Those automatic water faucets that shut off when you reach for the soap dispenser, even when keeping one hand under the water, oh my God, what the heck is going on there? And the hand towel dispensers where you either wave or push a button for a measley little thing?

Inside the toilet stall are heavy plastic covers over the toilet paper. This is fine until you have to reach up into the thing, trying to get the roll going. Good luck!

Check out the unisex restrooms at Uptown Market in Edmond. Everything is fine till you see no paper towels, just some new-tech 12-second hand blow dryer. Now, that thing rocks!

In the meantime, when not at Uptown, I'm a fan of Wet Ones travel packs.

Rant over.

[OKCisOK4me]

Gotta guess you're a girl. Most guys don't bring up TP on a regular basis ;-)

[zookeeper]

I don't know but I have to agree with the wet wipes. It's very normal in many parts of the world but here we dance around the topic. Hey, clean is clean and cleaner is better.

[boscorama]

Gotta guess you're a girl. Most guys don't bring up TP on a regular basis ;-)

Has Mensa called yet?

[OKCisOK4me]

Has Mensa called yet?

What's that? lol

[ThomPaine]

One thing I wish for... If you force me to use a hand dryer/blower, please ensure I can push open the door to leave. If I have to grab a handle and pull the door to leave, I want a paper towel...

[ljbab728]

One thing I wish for... If you force me to use a hand dryer/blower, please ensure I can push open the door to leave. If I have to grab a handle and pull the door to leave, I want a paper towel...

I agree totally and I want a trash can right next to the door to put the paper towel.

[ShiroiHikari]

Same here. Why even bother washing your hands if you just have to touch the germ-laden door handle right afterward? Some bathrooms have the trash can on the wall opposite the door, and I end up doing this funny dance to hold the door open with my foot while I pitch the paper towel into the can.

I know those motion-sensing faucets are to save water, which is a good thing. But holy crap, are they annoying! The motion-activated paper towel dispensers aren't quite as bad. But what happens when the motion sensors stop working...?

[Larry OKC]

Some places (like the newer Golden Corrals) have a forearm and/or toe "handle" so you don't have to use your hands

[OKCisOK4me]

Same here. Why even bother washing your hands if you just have to touch the germ-laden door handle right afterward?

You could be like me and turn the paper towel into a temporary glove between your clean hand and the door handle.

[boscorama]

Most door handles are operable by arms/elbows.

Those auto flushing toilets are great except when some jerk before you leaves a surprise. At Crest there's a sign that if it doesn't flush automatically, push a button on the wall. Well that's not happening. I'll try to use my foot but it seems my shoes are never pointy enough.

[PennyQuilts]

Apparently, we all have had the same kind of experiences and have the same ideas about how to make this work better. I've noticed that sometimes, a woman will wait and let ME open the door so she won't have to touch it. I confess, I've done the same thing.

Just got back from NYC. In the area I was in, just south of midtown, I was really surprised that the restaurants and shops weren't loaded down with antibacteria hand stuff. We see it, everywhere, here. I started looking for it once I noticed the lack and didn't see a single place that had it. I wondered if people who use the subway had just given up, notwithstanding the flu outbreak, but one of my kids said they were all over the place in midtown...

[ljbab728]

Some places (like the newer Golden Corrals) have a forearm and/or toe "handle" so you don't have to use your hands

The simplest solution, as mentioned, would be to have the door open outward with the handle on the outside of the door. Some places do that and, other than room constraints, I don't know why more don't. Alternately, high volume places should always try to do like airports with no doors at all.

[Anonymous.]

I pretty much agree with everything stated above.

But what you really don't want to know, is how common it is in bar settings to not wash hands etc. And this is a place where the bathroom is a frequent trip.

For one, I always wash my hands as hundreds of guys pass by the sinks - or my favorite, the guy who just turns the water on and gets his hands wet (no soap) and flings them dry as he walks out the door.


I brought this up to my girlfriend who promptly informed me that the sink area in the girl's restroom (in a bar) is pretty much strictly for fixing hair/makeup and it is essentially impossible to wash your hands. This has horrified me ever since.

[Larry OKC]

Seems the places where the door opens into the restroom is because they are located in hallways where a door opening outward would cause an obstruction??

[RadicalModerate]

Don't zip up your fly or pull up your pants and buckle your belt before washing your hands.
(oh! and be sure to use enough of those toilet seat covers to clog up the drain and cause a mini-flood. =)

Forget all that you have heard about "the five second rule" . . .
and demand that public places be equipped with doors that respond to the verbal command: "Open Sesame")

[frontallobotomy]

We have somebody in our offices that uses a paper towel to open the bathroom door, the problem is the trash thing mounted on the wall next to the sinks is on the other side of the room so he just tosses his used paper towel on the floor.

[Just the facts]

We have somebody in our offices that uses a paper towel to open the bathroom door, the problem is the trash thing mounted on the wall next to the sinks is on the other side of the room so he just tosses his used paper towel on the floor.

You have to follow where the evidence leads. If a pile of towels is on the floor there should be a trash can there.

[Anonymous.]

We have somebody in our offices that uses a paper towel to open the bathroom door, the problem is the trash thing mounted on the wall next to the sinks is on the other side of the room so he just tosses his used paper towel on the floor.

This is how our bathroom is setup as well, but someone has placed a office-sized trashbin near the door for this occurence. Apparently it encourages everyone to do the same now, as that trashcan is routinely full of used papertowels and is emptied just as the attached can is.


Sound like you should place one near the door for this person and others will follow suit. Make your place cleaner (literally & germ...ically?)

[frontallobotomy]

You have to follow where the evidence leads. If a pile of towels is on the floor there should be a trash can there.

Not a pile, just one or two

[Mel]

I wash my hands before and after. I carry a kerchief in my back pocket just for opening doors and such.

[PennyQuilts]

We have somebody in our offices that uses a paper towel to open the bathroom door, the problem is the trash thing mounted on the wall next to the sinks is on the other side of the room so he just tosses his used paper towel on the floor.

Well, that's rude.

[Uncle Slayton]

Those auto flushing toilets are great except when some jerk before you leaves a surprise.

Seriously? This is a thing? Lol. I'm laughing so hard I'm crying.

This may be one of the most unintentionally hilarious threads in OKCTalk history. They should pass a law for all toilets to be equipped with a piezoelectric pressure sensor under the seat that waits an appropriate amount of time and dispenses a courtesy flush. Talk about a surprise...

Or require building codes that don't allow bathrooms to be placed across from the elevator doors. (Baptist Medical Building C, I'm looking at you...and scowling at whoever took the ladies room to Funkytown about 1145AM today...just...wow...waiting on the elevators...there was a heat behind it.).

Or placing the reception area to abut (LMAO) the mens room...and put a ventilation screen in the outer door, the net effect of which is that often at the same time visitors are arriving at the front desk, just after the morning coffee, when matters are afoot, it sounds like an oompah band at the reception desk, which everyone stoically ignores).

Oh my God, I've injured my ribs laughing...

[RadicalModerate]

Most door handles are operable by arms/elbows.

Those auto flushing toilets are great except when some jerk before you leaves a surprise. At Crest there's a sign that if it doesn't flush automatically, push a button on the wall. Well that's not happening. I'll try to use my foot but it seems my shoes are never pointy enough.

"THEY" probably need to put up another sign reminding folks of the common human courtesy encapsulated in the brief poem:

"If You Sprinkle When You Tinkle
Please Be Sweet and Wipe The Seat"

but only in the girls' "restroom" . . .
perhaps in needlepoint and leaving out the entire Lift/Close conundrum.
(the one involving "the seat" "the lid/cover" or both)
maybe even add a line about "Under Penalty of Law" . . .?

Question: Do "real" women ever actually refer to other women as "jerks" . . . =)

[RadicalModerate]

I wash my hands before and after. I carry a kerchief in my back pocket just for opening doors and such.

well . . . i hope you have an expert laundry person to cleanse what must be the most challenging back trouser pocket in history. =)
i also hope that the CDC in Atlanta is paying attention to this issue!
(just for fun, watch the Scottish Film, "Trainspotters" and pay attention to the "public restroom scene" . . . )

i just heard on PBS that China has begun producing and placing Public Restrooms for Dogs. How cool is that? =)