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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be disgusted at public toilets?

34 replies

Februaryhere · 02/02/2020 00:35

Why can’t folk flush the toilet and leave the cubicle in a decent state? Presumably their loos at home aren’t left in a disgusting way?

OP posts:
PixieDustt · 02/02/2020 01:25

YANBU I tried to avoid them as much as I can! 🤢

PixieDustt · 02/02/2020 01:25

try*

TriangularRatbag · 02/02/2020 02:02

Men are much worse than ladies

mnthrowaway202020 · 02/02/2020 02:09

^no - the ladies are just as awful as the men’s, if not worse.

I’m just basing that on having unisex toilets at the ground floor at my work vs the ladies toilets on every other floor. The unisex toilets still manage to stay relatively clean even though they have a high footfall, whereas the ladies always stink to high heaven and are left in a state. We’re all highly paid bankers too.

TriangularRatbag · 02/02/2020 02:10

Sometimes the ladies can't help it

FrogsFrogs · 02/02/2020 02:17

The main thing to get pissed off about with public toilets is how many have closed.

FiveShelties · 02/02/2020 02:25

I always feel so sorry for the cleaners. Some people are just disgusting. I try to avoid if at all possible.

99problemsandthecatis1 · 02/02/2020 02:31

Sometimes the ladies can't help it

What possible excuse is there for leaving used sanitary protection and loo roll on the floor when there is a bin provided? Accidentally get per or blood on the seat? Clean it up!

AlCalavicci · 02/02/2020 02:32

I have had the unpleasnt job of having to clean mens and womens toilets in both night clubs and high end offices and without a doubt women's are worse ,
Men may pee on the floor / seat and manage to get poo welded to the toilet bowl but women seem to take pleasure in tying tampons to the flush handle/ door lock / coat hook . smearing menstrual blood to the walls and leaving the towel / tampon and even moon cup on the seat / floor cistern / I have also see (many times ) used sanitary products left in the sinks.
While I understand that in busy places the bins may be full r you may not want to touch them , there is no need for that level of revoltingness

AlCalavicci · 02/02/2020 02:35

@99problemsandthecatis1
Totally agree with you !

HomerSimpsonSmilingPolitely · 02/02/2020 02:52

I think maybe it happens because everyone expects public toilets to be rank, so they do stuff like hover over the seat which sprays their piss on the seat, use their foot to push the flusher or the door, or maybe just don't flush at all because they are scared to touch the flush etc. This then means that the toilet quickly becomes disgusting, and the prophecy is fulfilled. Once it's already disgusting in there, people don't feel the need to be considerate at all. It's just a disgusting toilet so why bother, right? Sad

It's really depressing and I don't use them unless I'm absolutely desperate, and I always feel like I need a shower afterwards.

mnthrowaway202020 · 02/02/2020 03:03

I only use them out of sheer desperation too as I’d rather just hold my bladder.

To be honest I get it if the loo doesn’t flush properly, or if the sanitary disposal is broken. But that doesn’t excuse any bodily fluids being left anywhere outside of the actual toilet bowl though. Especially blood🤮

Once a shopping centre cubicle was left in such an extreme state that even the cleaning staff were shocked, that’s how you know it was awful as they’ve surely seen it all! I felt so sorry for them having to deal with that.

UnaCorda · 02/02/2020 07:47

The unisex toilets still manage to stay relatively clean even though they have a high footfall, whereas the ladies always stink to high heaven and are left in a state. We’re all highly paid bankers too.

I didn't realise "highly paid bankers" shit

UnaCorda · 02/02/2020 07:49

Posted too soon.

...rose petals and cherry blossom.

YouJustDoYou · 02/02/2020 07:52

I find the unisex ones the most vile. Men piss everywhere, leave the toilet seat up so you have to touch the fucking thing to get it back down, etc.

GaaaaarlicBread · 02/02/2020 07:55

100% yanbu . Sometimes I go to our work toilets and I think ‘I work with actual animals!’ . I went in the other day and there was poo on the back of the toilet seat, a used tampon left in the toilet and evidently pee on the seat too (I could tell it wasn’t splashed water). You can guarantee every time I go in there is something gross there. Even if it’s skid marks , I know it happens but that’s what toilet brushes are for. But personally I can’t poop anywhere other than home lol

isabellerossignol · 02/02/2020 07:57

I was once in a public toilet and reached my hand up to the toilet roll dispenser to pull some out, and grabbed hold of someone's used sanitary towel.

I mentioned this on mumsnet a few years ago and was amazed by how many people replied saying that it was perfectly understandable because sometimes people just panic. Or maybe it was a young girl just getting used to periods. There was a bin right next to the toilet! And my 13 year old knows how to dispose of used sanitary products.

I think there is a lot to be said for the broken window effect though. If toilets are well maintained and clean, people tend towards keeping them that way. If there are pools of urine on the floor, then if someone accidentally drops toilet roll on the floor, they're not likely to pick it up. It's a vicious circle.

SerenDippitty · 02/02/2020 08:00

I think some people put the lid down to flush, which is fine, but then don’t check to see it has flushed properly.

Original poster
Februaryhere · 02/02/2020 10:35

I feel sorry for the cleaners in shopping malls etc
The toilets are left in such a state and you have to open the door of about 4 cubicles before you find one that’s decent
Just don’t understand how folk leave them in such a state if presumably they wouldn’t at home..

OP posts:
Howcouldyoubelieveme · 02/02/2020 10:43

People (& I do wonder sometimes if it’s the majority or minority) are gross.
I work in a uni and share toilets with lots of students and staff. They are without fail absolutely disgusting by 10am, having been cleaned first thing. Poo in the bowl and on the seat, wee and blood on the seat, blood often on the walls and in the sink. Unflushed. Sanitary towels just chucked, open and used in the bin instead of the proper unit, or worse. Toilet paper everywhere and the floor soaked. I’m not exaggerating either. I have a middle aged bladder and it needs to wee regularly and I’ve considered bringing in a potty for my office!
Im sure it hasn’t always been like this, I think we live in very selfish and lazy times.

Original poster
Februaryhere · 02/02/2020 14:28

I’ve wondered as well why so much toilet roll ends up in the floor!

OP posts:
Grasspigeons · 02/02/2020 14:38

They are gross. I wonder a bit if its partly they arent quite big enough to manoevre around in and the cisterns dont fill quick enough. Also a lot of people do have health and mobility issues includinh bowel issues
s o or more likely to use public toilets. But mainly its just grossness

recklessruby · 02/02/2020 15:18

I used to work in a nightclub cleaning too. We would leave the toilets absolutely pristine but God the state of them after use!
Sick in the sink, blood on the walls, poo and wee on the floor!
We really earned our £20 an hour.
I have been out extremely drunk and managed to use the toilets normally so i dont know what excuses other people have!
Oh and mens and womens were equally vile.

ItsLegalTender · 02/02/2020 15:46

@isabellerossignol that's repulsive and there is no excuse!!

Fireandflames666 · 02/02/2020 16:13

I refuse to use public toilets these days after seeing ones smeared in poo, blood and other nasty stuff. Plus I'd rather stay away from germ infested places.

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