Public toilets and "the rules"

[Pebbles16]

Not a TAAT I hope, but I have been truly amazed by some people on another thread who would absolutely refuse to use a public toilet for a poo (and not just public, but also work and other spaces)

Disclaimer: as a person with very limited bowel control, a RADAR key and a card that I try to use as little as possible, when I need to go, I need to go.

However, for many people, I would have thought that "relieving yourself" when you feel the need is normal, and a healthy response is to visit a toilet. It is not some shameful social faux pas.

Perhaps some people can time it all perfectly (a nirvana that I cannot imagine); but surely they must be a small percentage such as us who "cannot wait".

Holding it all in cannot be healthy - would it be like not going for a wee and getting a UTI?

So, as a conversation starter: is doing a poo in a loo anywhere that isn't your house a complete no no?

No, that’s completely mad. If I need a poo I go for a poo. The only reason I may wait when out is if the loo concerned is too smelly dirty or there’s no loo roll.

I would be too self conscious to go in a public toilet unless I was really desperate. I read that willingness to use a toilet is linked to how our parents potty trained us

I’ve often wondered where this aversion to using a loo other than your own, comes from. Something in childhood, perhaps? I don’t understand it because if I need to go, I need to go! (Understand aversion to filthy loos, especially ones like those in traditional French loos or in Asian countries where you have to squat.)

Ooh i wonder how

But why would you feel self-conscious @ohyesido? Presumably you’re private/in an enclosed space?

I agree OP. I think they are mad.

I poo lavishly wherever the urge takes me.

I try not to unless I have to. I think it stems back to being at school where everyone would make loud comments about the smell or whatever if you'd dared have a poo. Of course they might not know who it was, but often there would only be 2 or 3 people in the toilets so not hard to work out.

I know it's ridiculous but there we go.

I had two babies in my early twenties one labour 36 hours one 42. Ever since I have popped several times a day. My husband would say rabbit droppings but I have very little control when I need to go I go. I'd be housebound if it was shameful to use a public toilet and fir another woman to shame women for it is truly shocking. Childbirth causes trauma for many of us.

I had two babies in my early twenties one labour 36 hours one 42. Ever since I have popped several times a day. My husband would say rabbit droppings but I have very little control when I need to go I go. I'd be housebound if it was shameful to use a public toilet and fir another woman to shame women for it is truly shocking. Childbirth causes trauma for many of us.

I’m strictly at home only.

I’m not someone that could ever shit in a public toilet and I really find it weird that people do. Obviously certain health conditions exempted.

I’d have to have amoebic dysentery before I did it.

Where I work, people talk about other people taking a dump in the loos, ‘omg, don’t go in there, it stinks…’ type of thing. I don’t really think it’s socially acceptable for most people. It’s just revolting to pop to the loo at work for a quick wee and someone has left a fetid stench.

My bowels are extremely cooperative and I would never need to shit unless I was somewhere I wanted to. I realise that might make me lucky, but honestly, my friends are all the same.

I went 4 days at Glastonbury once without going for a poo. Kept sucking it back up every time I had the urge as I couldn’t face doing it in the long drops with everyone else’s shit floating past and the portaloos I could only manage a wee. No long term repercussions.

I try to save it for home whenever possible.

I have an extremely regular routine which means that I rarely need to go outside the house. It’s not that I wouldn’t, per se, just that I can’t remember the last time I needed to.

For people who won't poo in public what do you do if you need to go? You just hold on all day and end up in a load of discomfort? I have bowel issues so I have choice but to go when I need to.

Never poo anywhere other than home. Never have!

It is a big thing and an issue generally.

There’s currently an advert (Andrex?) about kids not pooing in school and pooing in public shouldn’t be something people are afraid of.

I go twice in the morning to ensure I’m clear for the duration. I just don’t want to be overheard, I’ve been sat in the office and witnessed colleagues muttering about how someone’s having a dump in the toilet and stinking it out. Don’t want to be the butt of that joke

This thread is turning into a poo troll's delight. 😊 I don't LIKE having to do it when out and about. Mainly because I'm worried about odour in the public loos, but I do. I should bring a little aerosol with me like Fab a Loo or something!

Hovering women who pee on the seat are very annoying!

This is so odd. I use the loo whenever I need in whatever location. No point in holding on.

will you be surprised to know that the Germans have a word for people who won't poo anywhere but home? Heimscheisser.

For me: unless it was seriously manky, i will go anywhere. Toilets are there to be used.

When is was younger I wouldn’t do a poo in a public loo or loo at work.

End result was suffering from constipation for years.

Now I go when I need to go.

I agree completely, @Pebbles16. I have IBS and lymphocytic colitis (a flare up of the latter makes the former look like a walk in the park), so if it strikes while I am out and about, I only have one choice - using a public toilet - because I am not going to be able to hold it until I get home.

If I couldn’t poo in a public toilet, I would never be able to leave the house.

Believe me, that makes you very lucky