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Original poster

Surely this sign is unnecessary - Indonesia

107 replies

hotelinfo · 22/08/2025 06:22

On a very small (but quite well-known) islsnd, but lots if tourists. Not much going on today, as you can probably tell, so I'm posting this sign in the hotel room bathroom.

Obviously crouching loos are common in some areas, but who really needs to be told not to crouch on a hotel loo seat?

Surely this sign is unnecessary - Indonesia
OP posts:
Original poster
hotelinfo · 22/08/2025 09:50

I have travelled extensively in Asia, lived in India for a while, and I am part Middle Eastern myself. Of course I have used squat loos in all sorts of situations - hotels, hostels, trains, you name it, in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea and the Philippines. This is no judgement about types of loos or cultural differences. I have just never seen such a sign before, when it is clearly not a squat loo. But if people say they are quite common because people do actually try to balance while squatting on toilet bowls, I believe you and I guess they must do it or there would be no sign.

OP posts:
FOJN · 22/08/2025 09:47

A friend worked somewhere where they gave up with these signs and installed squat toilets because so many toilet seats were being broken by people standing on them.

Mumof2wifeof1crazytimes · 22/08/2025 09:42

I would say if they have put up these signs, there is obviously a reason for it…

Apfelkuchen · 22/08/2025 09:32

These signs were in the toilets of my UK university 30 years ago. Surprised you’ve never come across them before and son’t understand the need in a multicultural, global society.

AintNoPunshineWhenShesGone · 22/08/2025 09:27

hotelinfo · 22/08/2025 06:25

I have never seen this anywhere else

Gatwick airport has them due to so much damage to toilet seats.

BlueMum16 · 22/08/2025 09:27

hotelinfo · 22/08/2025 06:35

If you were to put your feet on this loo, the plastic seat would either crack or fall off. And if the seat was up, the rim is so thin, you'd slip off.

Most public bathrooms have either squat loos (hole in the ground) or a mix of squat and sitting loos. I think people know the difference.

That's why the sign is there.

People are damaging property on a regular basis and probably leaving a mess too.

BauhausOfEliott · 22/08/2025 09:25

AlpacaMittens · 22/08/2025 08:45

Here we go...

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Yeah, the dog-whistles are blowing again.

BauhausOfEliott · 22/08/2025 09:23

hotelinfo · 22/08/2025 06:25

I have never seen this anywhere else

We have those signs in the loos where I work (in the UK) because we have a lot of visitors who have to travel to us from countries where it’s normal to have ground level toilets where you squat rather than sit. (They often feel that sitting on a toilet seat and wiping with paper is unhygienic - the norm for them is to stand and squat over a low toilet and then wash properly with water, which actually probably is more hygienic, to be fair.)

Similarly in lots of countries it’s not acceptable to flush toilet paper (much as it’s not acceptable to flush sanitary pads in the UK) so it’s helpful to explain that you should flush it here rather than put it in the sanitary bin.

I’m not sure what your issue is. It’s a sign explaining how something works. I’m fairly sure if you travelled to a country where everyday essential things like toilets are bafflingly different to what you’re used to, you’d appreciate the guidance. It’s like having a sign in (eg) Japan telling you to take shoes off indoors - Japanese people don’t need the signs because it would never even occur to them to wear shoes indoors, but western visitors don’t necessarily know the etiquette.

CopperWhite · 22/08/2025 09:09

Did it really not occur to you that you have not experienced every culture in the world and that this sign might be necessary for some people?

Did you really think that places put up these signs for no reason just in case it ever occurred to anyone to equal instead of sit?

Or did you just want to go to another country so you could demean other peoples cultures and customs?

LondonJax · 22/08/2025 09:05

As our son says 'there's only a sign because at least one person has done it'...

OldLondonDad · 22/08/2025 09:03

Oh the irony of flying halfway round the world and yet being oblivious to the fact that there are different cultural norms in your destination than at home.

Ucantfixstupid · 22/08/2025 08:59

More than 20 years ago in a nightclub in Australia where I studied (and partied), I shared a toilet with a clubbing friend. It was one of those drunken "I need to pee hurry up!" moments... she show me how to balance squatting on the toilet bowl... in heels. I was both impressed and disgusted 😁

Paganpentacle · 22/08/2025 08:47

AlpacaMittens · 22/08/2025 08:45

Here we go...

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Yep.

allthemiddlechildrenoftheworld · 22/08/2025 08:45

@hotelinfo have you not come across the hole in the floor toilets yet?? they are for the women wearing their black full length abaya!!! they dont tend to sit down to wee!!

AlpacaMittens · 22/08/2025 08:45

Paganpentacle · 22/08/2025 08:43

They have those signs in a DHL warehouse (UK).... according to the person who works there and told me it makes no difference.. the seats are always hanging off and there's shit everywhere....
We never used to need them.

Edited

Here we go...

Paganpentacle · 22/08/2025 08:43

They have those signs in a DHL warehouse (UK).... according to the person who works there and told me it makes no difference.. the seats are always hanging off and there's shit everywhere....
We never used to need them.

PrincessASDaisy · 22/08/2025 08:41

I always ask myself of signs in UK toilets, ‘who needs to be told not to flush a nappy?’ But here we are.

Toomanywaterbottles · 22/08/2025 08:37

They’re common in lots of countries, and I’ve seen them in the U.K. too. Squatting is so normal, and sitting is just so weird and unhygienic, people won’t want to adjust.

EggCounter · 22/08/2025 08:32

MimiGC · 22/08/2025 08:19

I saw one of these exact signs at a UK university (I think it was Surrey) last year during our round of open days!

Yes, when I taught at an English university we had them in the building I taught it (which also had large numbers of Asian students doing pre-sessional English competency classes before starting their studies).

Jojimoji · 22/08/2025 08:32

hotelinfo · 22/08/2025 06:25

I have never seen this anywhere else

I saw it in a McDonald's in New York

StarlightLady · 22/08/2025 08:29

LakieLady · 22/08/2025 08:03

I was going to ask how the arthritic of knee manage, too.

There's no way I could squat, and in the unlikely event that I managed to, I'd never get up again.

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You need to try a squat loo on a train, complete with lines speeding by underneath 😱.

Momstermash94 · 22/08/2025 08:24

We have these signs where I work and because of the industry we were have lots of people from different cultures passing through and they keep breaking the toilet seats by standing on them.

Needlenardlenoo · 22/08/2025 08:22

We have this sign in the adult education college in my London Borough.

I've only seen it in China before in places that had both Western style and squat toilets available.

CurlewKate · 22/08/2025 08:21

Tell me you don’t understand cultural differences without telling me you don’t understand cultural differences.

MimiGC · 22/08/2025 08:19

I saw one of these exact signs at a UK university (I think it was Surrey) last year during our round of open days!

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