to think there is something wrong with Americans?

[TheBloodManCometh]

In Colorado, here for 5 weeks.

Why the HELL is there a half inch gap on either side of the door in all public toilets?? You can see everything going on!!!
This has been the case everywhere I've been in America?
AIBU to be both baffled and embarrassed

lighthearted btw. I don't really think there's something wrong with the Americans

On the other hand the idea of a sealed closet type bathroom freaks me out completely. Plus...wouldn't they stink, with no ventilation?

Happy to be American in this instance! :o

I put half and half in tea and coffee, is that what you mean?

Yes, I put half and half (roughly equivalent to light cream in UK) in coffee. But I do put milk in tea, which I learned to drink as a student in the UK.

UK public toilets aren't sealed. They usually have a gap at the bottom and high at the top. And the doors tend to be half open when not in use.

From my experience they smell no more than American ones.

Ok, it's only fair. Someone has to sneak out their cell and post a picture of UK toilets.

Gaps aside, I love the fact that in the majority of the places I've visited in the US there are clean public loos with toilet paper, water for hand washing (hot too), soap and either paper towels or hand dryers. Public loos in the UK tend to be few and far between and lacking in one or more of the things I listed. Soap, for example, appears to be a rare luxury commodity!

Half and half is very similar to single cream, as we Brits call it. It is however bloody awful in anything when it is UHT and not just pasteurised. DP thinks it is the work of the devil.

I'm in the US at the moment. Just realised I'm going to have to deal with the possibly horrifying combination of mooncup and toilet gap at some point soon...
But this is small fry compared with China - I quickly worked out that a 'disabled' loo was a western style loo rather than the squat one, however once I was out with a work colleague and we used a loo that was not 'squat over a hole' but 'squat over a channel' so everyone else's wee, poo etc floated right on past you as you went. It still haunts me.

Partitions and doors can easily become mis-aligned, and that's why the gaps. I think. It's nothing - or not much - to do with safety, air-circulation, etc. Public washroom here usually don't have the "engaged" type of latch that UK washrooms have, so the view of feet is useful for telling if a stall is occupied.

You can read all about it here: americanrestroom.org/design/index.htm

BTW, there are often threads on Mumsnet about poorly maintained public washrooms. It is unheard-of in this part of Canada. I regularly use the washrooms in a couple of big stores, and in the bus station, and they are always clean and well maintained, with supplies of paper, and soap.

When visiting the us I thought the gaps were just poor design. Much prefer my sealed box with a lock and sign saying occupated. Hate self cleaning toilets they sound scary....

Great thread - Makes me want to reminisce about toilets I have experienced on my travels! No toilet paper down the loo in Greece was the worst, followed by stopping at a "service station" while driving through China to find that the ladies' loo was behind a wall for privacy but was basically a long trench in the mud that everyone straddles and did their business in. And people came to have a look cos we weren't Chinese! Closer to home I went to a restaurant in Belgium once where you had to walk past the men weeing in the urinals to get to the cubicle, and I also went to look at a flat to rent where the loo and shower were in the kitchen! Lovely space saving idea in a small flat ... Or something!

It's not just Germany that has the poo shelf, Hungary has them too. My aunt and cousins toilets have poo shelves. Probably is to do with pork consumption, as we do like a bit of pork.

I actually do like the toilets here in the Uk. I've travelled the world, and when we lived in Oz, the toilets were the same as the Uk. I don't get the 'tonne of water in the bowl' thing either.

Long. splash back doesn't sound good. Worse toilets ever are the French hole in the ground where others hav been but they getting better. Don't understand why no toilet seat on toilets. It's cold on your bottom sitting on the rim and very disgusting. Bath needed after surely. Not been outside Europe or America, Canada to experience the joys of china toilets. Can't wait by the sound of it....

Oh I think most Americans very prudish. Weird about swearing ,about women wearing bikinis. All bloody religious.

FYI people do look in loos. They usually end up in court

Russian loos aren't great. Lots with cracked seats from where people stand on them to use them. Why they can't just hover if they don't want to sit I don't know.

SqueakySqueak do toddler girls in America wear swim tops??? Really? What for exactly?

The thing is, I have never witnessed anything through a gap. I had trouble even picturing it at first when I opened the thread. We don't look.

The idea of not knowing if someone was in a little closed cubicle, however, terrifies me. What if you opened the door and the lock was broken?!

It's true actually that public school bathrooms didn't always have doors, particularly boys' cubicles. They didn't when my brother was in high school. That's probably changed now.

Also, how often do you all use public restrooms for more than weeing?! I think, generally, if not an emergency, we wait. It'd be weird if someone popped out for a poo during a night out. From this thread it seems you all just poo willy nilly around town?!

...I'm going to have to namechange now, aren't I?

Some people probably are prudish about toddlers in swimsuits. Not noticed that here (California). Except for sun protection, I don't know anyone who would blink at a toddler in just a swim nappy.

But from reading about some of the things you guys do (kids running around naked, children running around in undies at sleep overs, toddler girls not wearing a swim top), I guess we are pretty uptight over nudity in general

Are those things genuinely not done in USA? Not been to America since DS. I don't think twice about letting DS run about naked and is norm here and throughout Europe.

Can honestly say I've never noticed the gap in the toilet doors.
Weirdest toilets I've come across are in South Korea.

Letter if I need to go to the loo for either a wee or a poo whilst out and about. I do it. I don't wait until I get home. Very bad for you to 'hold on'

Here's a pic from googling British loo cubicles. No gaps. Little space at bottom. Nice high doors.

I had heard this tale about gaps before going to Florida - but could not believe the angsty stuff and nonsense about nothing... woo a gap about the width of a finger - it really is not a problem...

Whether wees or poos, I go when I need to go, wherever I am. Sometimes there is no choice about waiting.

[Shock] at all the poo angst on here. We all do it, even the queen.

Has anyone mentioned Egyptian loos yet? They have this weird thing in the middle of the bowl - like a shower head facing upwards. I presume it was supposed to be used as some kind of bidet, but because it was right in the middle of the toilet, it was invariably covered in shit.

This resulted in a 9 hour train journey in searing heat, where I popped a couple of Imodium and refused any water.

I agree with pip, Japanese loos are the best! Some of them even have a little button you can press to play music, so that other people don't hear the sound of your tinkle!

Then there is the array of buttons for washing and drying your bottom, the seats that automatically lift when you go in and then close themselves afterwards. They're fab!

Hobbes8 were you charged by the sheet for loo paper too in Egypt?

We were. I carried my own medium sized packet of tissues and was very popular amongst the party we were travelling in.

Re UK toilets: Does anyone else find themselves attempting the world record for Quietest wee? If I have to do anything more major I wait and time it for someone's flush or stick a little paper down the bowl to conceal the splash.

I love being British Weather and toileting - our 2 national favourite topics