To not want to have to cuddle a sanitary bin every time I use a public loo?

[Deucebumps]

Just that really.

Used the loos at Waterloo station, when it occurred to me that the thing I hate most about public toilets is that the bins in cubicles are so intrusive. I wouldn't say I have a particularly large arse but I find myself leaning sideways trying to avoid said arse making contact with the sanitary bin. Surely if they just made them shorter and deeper so it sat below the level of the toilet seat they could hold the same volume of waste?

So AIBU or does this annoy anyone else....

Picture of the offender this morning in case anyone has no idea what I'm on about!

Do you think some poor person had to calculate how many women would need to use the bin on a daily basis, and therefore how large they have to make the bin to ensure minimum emptying?

It's nice to have automatic taps, hand dryers etc but what's the point when most public/pub/shop toilets then have a door with a pull handle to get out? Surely an outward opening door would make more sense when there's always some dirty cows women who walk straight out rather than taking two minutes cleaning their hands to make sure other people don't have to touch their pee on a door handle to get out of the toilets.

Yes, what it is with US public toilets?? The giant gaps around the door and the aggressive auto-flush

Ioften set off taps that are sensor operated as I walk through the loos. It's an interesting superpower of mine.

okay! i wear hi-viz jackets for work and it sets them off

Our GP surgery's (unisex) loo is so small that you literally sit on the sanitary bin every time you sit on the loo (and if you're trying to provide a urine sample too - pregnant lady here - God help you). They have an automatic hand dryer mounted at shoulder height at one side above the loo, so every time you sit down for a wee the dryer blasts at you while you're doing it (not a problem I guess for men standing up). Last time I visited it, it had pee literally all over the bowl and toilet seat. Nice!

There were toilets in the aquapark we went to when on holiday, which I could find no way of getting into and closing because the door touched the toilet - and when I pulled the door towards me to try and maneuver around it, I was just too fat to squeeze in with the loo roll dispensor there too (I'm a size 18, so not mammoth or anything) I actually took a photo because I coudn't believe I was unable to get into a toilet cubicle! In their favour, the sanitary bin doesn't touch the loo (but only because there was no seat on it)

Its always like that in toilets. On another note that toilet is surprisingly clean for a train station

Oh and something else I hate is the fashion for fancy frosted glass doors. However opaque they are it still feels like performing in public

I hate the hole in the wall handwashers with a passion. Even more than I hate the loud hand driers that used to lead to ds1 wetting himself because he was too scared to go to the toilet.

I also really hate those metal toilets with a wooden bit to sit on that they always have at seaside places. I actually cannot use them, they terrify me. I am dreading when DD is big enough to need the loo at the seaside and I have to take her.

Yes, they're agony.
And they always make you feel like you must have a ginormous, unreasonably squishy arse, even if you don't.

Whenever there are threads where some argue against unisex toilets, I always wonder how men would react if they had to use toilets like this. I foresee lots of complaints. As it is disgusting.

And what about those enormous wheel things that have a big roll of toilet paper in, sticking out into the space near your face

Yes they are awful and I can never find the end of the loo roll in them. Our loos seem to be set up so that the bins and loo rolls can be changed as infrequently as possible, meaning that we have to put up with enormous, sometimes overflowing bins and enormous loo roll holders that take up half the space.

Why does the baby change never have anywhere handy to actually put clean nappies, wipes, etc while you are mid-change? You can't balance stuff on the end of the changing table - flailing limbs soon send that flying. I don't want to put it on top of the toilet (if there is one in there), and there's only so much I can grasp between my knees/teeth while trying to clean shitty bottoms and stop my child from flinging himself off the far too small changing table.

I wish there were toilets locally that had big enough changing tables to be able to change my disabled son on instead of having to use the toilet floor.

The other problem I keep coming across is the mirrors are too high up! I'm 5'2 and often have to stand on tiptoe to view my face!

Apparently the gaps round the door in US toilets is to stop people doing unsavoury things like shooting up. Or so says a friend in social services.

The toilets in Waterloo station are a disgrace. Loads of them are broken, they are filthy, smelly, too small (as per your picture). And your charged for the privilege! I hate them with a passion. I'm a commuter and had to use them frequently when I was pregnant - primarily because the train loos were worse or broken or locked because a fare dodger was sat in them the whole journey!

I'll add another recent realisation of mine about womens loos:
Recently I was on a pub crawl after a long time of being a lone parent with no social life. I noticed that none of the womens loos had condom or tampon/role machines in them. Back in my heyday they were in every womens loo esp in pubs.

Wondering if it is a new form of mysogny I asked my male friend to report back when he went to the men's loos in each establishment, but after the first one he refused to answer!

I feel I may have to go out more to do further research, but in the meantime I would appreciate hearing if anyone else can add to my ponderings.

The UK is a bit behind in this - if you go to certain other countries, e.g. around the EU, there are better systems than using the really big bulky sanitary bins that seem to be the norm here.

E.g. in Denmark, public loos often have a little clamp thing attached to the wall at knee height (think of it like a big clothing peg). On it is a little disposable bag, about the size of a freezer bag.

I don't know what they're called in English, but basically it means they're flat against the wall when not being used (so, take up about 2 or 3 inch of space at most even if full). And they can be cleaned more easily/hygienically and changed more frequently.

I did try to find the English name for them to show you but i don't know it.
Does anyone know how to post a picture or can link it? (if you've seen what i mean elsewhere in the EU)

I've often wondered why they aren't around in the UK, i've never seen them once. makes smaller loo spaces much better.

also agree about coat hooks - why do so many public toilets not have coat/bag hooks on the doors!

Thank god it's not just me!!

Those automatic hand washing things annoy the hell out of me.

I would quite like to choose how much soap I use thanks, not a pathetic squirt that never lathers up properly.