the worst toilet in raleigh originally uploaded by aye_shamus
Last week’s poll asked what you thought food commercials. Not surprisingly, being that the people who read here are who they are, the majority of respondents mentioned they do not care about the commercials. What I found interesting was Joey’s comment that the simple fact that we have a poll about it means that we care in some way. Way to flip my thoughts on their head!
Speaking of heads…I have had the unfortunate experience of using several basically unusable toilets over the last few days. At one particular place we were stationed at it was so bad I decided it would be better to go to a nearby gas station than use what was available. I ended up at a grocery store instead using one of the nicest public toilets I have seen in a long time. Scary. Unfortunately later that night, at a completely different location, I was in need of a bathroom and a gas station was the only thing around. I didn’t have time to clean up anyone else’s mess so I had to improvise. I later joked to my wife I just used the bathroom from Trainspotting.
I know plenty of people who absolutely refuse to use bathrooms other than their own. One friend will go home to their house instead of using even mine. My wife recently mentioned Dave Chapelle’s odd behavior which forced the landing of a private jet because he didn’t want to use the bathroom on board.
So the question today is do you use public bathroom facilities, why or why not? If you do use them do you spend the time, like I usually do, to clean them up or do you just improvise? Whatever you to say about this one please vote on the sidebar and then comment on and let everyone know what you think. After you do that feel free to check out our expired polls in the archive or read through the previous posts about polls here.
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July 18th, 2010 at 10:53 am
when you gotta go, you gotta go. when we’re on the road again, we use the state maintained rest areas first. mcdonalds’s second. third would be the gas station chains. they’re so so. pilot, kum n go, valero, circle k, etc. they’re all tied in with convenience stores for that salty snack. the bladder usually dictates how far we go between stops. our van will go 400 miles between fills, but we’re good for about 1/2 of that distance. plus it’s good to stretch a bit more often.
the small independents are a ‘crap’ shoot, no pun intended, would be last.
locally, i’ve got a few places s.o.r. that i use, target, cub are all well maintained.
bb
July 18th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
When you gotta go, you gotta go. The most challenging is when were deer hunting at it’s near or below zero. Get down from your stand, get a sufficient distance away, peel away the layers of clothing, find a suitable log, take care of business without freezing your ass, falling or crapping on your boots or pants, then bundling up and getting back up to your stand. Pubic restrooms are nothing compared to that effort.
July 18th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
I do try and avoid if I can. I don’t like bathrooms where you have to pull on the door handle to get in or out. Have to touch the faucet to turn it on/off. Have to push on the lever to dispense the paper towel. All pretty gross.
I try to limit my fluids before flying so I don’t have to go. I can make from MN to FL or CA ok. When flying back from HI I did have to break down and go.
I only crap in a public bathroom in an “emergency”!
July 18th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
I’ve been working on my formula – feel free to plagiarize for your own use:
Decent public bathroom (office, hotel, hospital, etc):
#1 – if the previous patrons had some sense of aim
#2 – maybe, if it’ll be a while before I’m home
Other public restroom (The Metrodome, any Kum-N-Go in WI, Bill’s house, etc)
#1 – if the surrounding area is completely void of bushes
#2 – if I’m two-wheeling it from “free burrito night” to Valley Fair and haven’t yet fixed my rear shocks
July 18th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
One thing I’ll always do in the stalls is use my foot to flush the toilets. no way I’m touching that with my hand.
July 19th, 2010 at 7:06 am
This is a common topic of discussion at our home. Mostly about my personal issues with using public toilets. Obviously, being blessed with external plumbing, peeing isn’t an issue. For me, “the world is my toilet” and I have no trouble peeing anywhere except on the rare occasions when I find myself at a massive trough in stadium where there’s a crowd and I’m expected to preform with an audience.
Number twoski- I’ve been known to leave stores and restaurants should the feeling strike unexpectedly in public. “Gotta go home, right NOW”. Despite my wife’s urgings to “try” I can not and will not, unless is it’s a the perfect circumstances.
I like to say it’s difficult to “unclench” in less than ideal environments.
July 19th, 2010 at 7:40 am
Our road trips are pretty routine, typically on 94 between home and Fargo/Moorhead. We’ll take a pit stop in Alex usually, and use the same place. When you gotta go, you gotta go.. I agree with Lenny. – If I gotta use the bowl, I use the foot-flush method.
I think, in general there have been great improvements in the restrooms at stops, and I still have yet to meet Sea Bass from Dumb & Dumber, which, is perfectly fine by me.
July 19th, 2010 at 10:03 am
If you’re going to road trip, you have to use public restrooms. My preference is gas stations only because I’m already stopping. Sure, state waysides are cleaner, but I hate stopping JUST to use a bathroom. If I can knock out a few things in one stop (gas, feed the kids, eat, etc.), I’d rather tack on the bathroom stop there.
July 19th, 2010 at 11:04 am
Use my foot to flush? Yoo betcha.
Ditto on hating restrooms with door handles on the inside.
I used to work at a Burger King, and we had plenty of “flushers,” people who came in just to use the facilities and then leave. On long trips, I usually stop at a McDonalds, though I often order something once I’m there.
July 19th, 2010 at 11:16 am
I figure I’ve spent enough money at gas stations and fast food restaurants over the years that I don’t feel compelled to buy anything just to use their bathrooms. I may not have spent money at the particular place I stop at, but in the grand scheme of things it all works out. It’s also in the store’s economic interest to let anyone use their facilities. My wife & kids always feel compelled to buy snacks when we stop at gas stations…it’s like Pavlov’s dog. That’s why I prefer stopping at rest stops when I’m with the family.
July 20th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Interesting comments. I know my wife is absolutely not a fan of public restrooms, but… she is also one with an extremely small bladder at the most inopportune times. Thus she finds ways to make a rest room suffer-able. I generally don’t have any issues any longer. I know when I was young I had issues with using school bathrooms for #2. As such I have a fairly clockwork internal system that can both fairly well predict when nature will call, as well as tell nature not yet as the occasion requires.
I am not sure if womens’ rest rooms get as bad (maybe worse?) as mens, but the biggest problem I run into is wet floors. For Christ sakes, can’t anyone avoid getting piss everywhere? I’ve actually had to take my pants and hang them on the door in the stall just to avoid having them touch the damn floor.
That said… I don’t have trouble touching things like flush handles, door handles, sink handles… The bacteria that can be on those surfaces is exactly why I have a functioning immune system. Now if my wife would just stop buying the damn anti-bacterial soap.
July 20th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
I’m fascinated to hear from all the folks that have issues with public bathrooms. Regarding road trips, as a kid we never stopped at rest stops, which is probably why I avoid them to this day. I don’t know why that was the case but probably the “kill many birds with one stone” reasoning.
Since I now live in Oregon, I feel obliged to note that one great difference out here is that restrooms everywhere are not necessarily the norm. And in many places, you can’t just walk in and use ‘em. You must be a paying customer. In fact, on one trip here 5 or 6 years ago, we actually had to get the McD’s staff to unlock the restroom for us after we ordered.
July 20th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
A must read:
http://mistupid.com/people/page051.htm
One of the first things when I start a new job is to find a safe haven.