About the loos at work?

[parabala]

I am more than happy to to told IABU!

I work in an open plan office which houses several teams. I'd say it's 75% women and 25% men, actually probably slightly higher re women (health care).
In my section there are three loos, all three self contained. One has a sign on it saying it's for men only.
Occasionally the other two are both busy, so I use the men's.
The other day I went to go to the loo. The men's was empty, other two in use, and a woman (who I didn't know) was waiting. I briefly considered going into the "men's", but wasn't bold enough to so I left and returned a bit later.

Now, to me it makes no sense that a fully self contained loo (sink, dryer bin etc) needs to be male or female. The only thing I can think of is that women can spend more time in there dealing with sanpro etc, but it's rare they're all in use at the same time.

I'm curious as to what others think? AIBU thinking it's fine to use the men's in this situation if the other two are busy?

(And most importantly, I am using the apostrophe correctly in "men's", aren't I? )

@Babbly

YABU - there's undoubtedly a reason why they've put that sign there or made that decision. If you're against there being a single-sex toilet then raise it with management and challenge it, but don't just break the rules. Would you be ok if you worked in a heavily male-dominated workplace and you had a toilet assigned just for women but the men still thought it was ok to use it? And even if you would be ok with it, do you think everyone would agree? If you disagree with the rules then by all means challenge them but don't just break them. The fact that you wouldn't use the men's with your other colleague there watching shows that you know you're doing something wrong.

It doesn't bother me enough to complain. There hasn't been an occasion yet where I've been desperate enough to need to loo that very minute. If that does happen, I get a UTI for example, then I'll have no qualms in going into the otherwise empty loo. The alternative would likely be wetting myself!

Would you be happy for the men to use the women's toilets as well?

They were example numbers, they aren’t supposed to add up! The main point is men currently have 3 loos to choose from and women have 2 to choose from. So women are more likely to need to wait. That’s hardly fair. I wouldn’t use the men’s personally but I’d ask why it was done like that.

The signs are presumably ancient.
Ideally all 3 should be unisex if single cubicle.
I have used blokes loos on some occasions. No biggie.

Would you be ok if you worked in a heavily male-dominated workplace and you had a toilet assigned just for women but the men still thought it was ok to use it? And even if you would be ok with it, do you think everyone would agree
Exactly. I’m almost wondering if this is a reverse / written by a man annoyed that women have a reserved loo at his workplace.

Your apostrophe is wrong. It's mens'.

I agree all three loos should be available to all and all three should have disposal facilities for sanpro.

Surely it's men's?

Two of the toilets should be for women only and one for men only in my view.

I loathe self-contained and actually walk further when in the office to the single-sex (women's) toilets.

The provision in your area seems quite meagre overall.

Just use the mens.

My office has two self contained toilets, I was the only man in the office, the toilets were split so one mens one womens, but everyone just used both.

If they are all big enough to have sanitary bins and are fully self contained then it is fair for them all to be unisex although I can see why women would prefer their own dedicated toilets.

I work in a male dominated workplace with 3 self contained loos. We had the only one big enough to fit a San Pro bin made women only and fit a key code lock on the door as we were sick of the disgusting state it was left in.

One of the male senior managers tried to say that they were all unisex as self contained but when we pointed out the lack of sanitary bins would make it one unisex loo and 2 mens loos they backed down. It is far more pleasant, we even have poo pourri and a reed diffuser .

I thought no apostrophe for an instruction and 's belonging to?

We have mixed loos at work , I feel sorry for the men (not that many in my work place) that use them when the sanitary bins are overflowing!!! The women who crap and don’t clean and then don’t wash their hands are disgusting.. I’ve seen and smelt things that make me heave

We had the opposite. We are a male dominated engineering workplace and within the office there are two self contained toilets per wing of the building. One marked women and disabled, and the second marked men. The women/disabled one was often empty when mens’ was occupied, but our PA lady came down like a ton of bricks on any man who used the women/disabled one. They have now made them genderless toilets, which makes far more sense since they are entirely self contained...no reason for them to be defined as male of female facilities.

I suppose there is the issue of having to then provide the special sanitary bins for all toilets rather than just the womens and I think they cost extra money, having to get special people in to empty them etc. Maybe that's a factor?

I'd crack on op.

I work with 5 men, I'm the only woman and our loo is spotless.

We have mixed loos at work , I feel sorry for the men (not that many in my work place) that use them when the sanitary bins are overflowing!!!

Then someone needs to arrange for the hygiene company to come more regularly. Men or women should never have to put up with overflowing sanitary bins in their workplace. It's a health and safety issue. You need to complain about that.

How do you know it's the women who don't clean the loos after them? Do you inspect them when they've come out?

@2bazookas

Your apostrophe is wrong. It's mens'.

I agree all three loos should be available to all and all three should have disposal facilities for sanpro.

The apostrophe comes after the owner of the object. The men 'own' that loo (for now!) so it is the men's loo.

OP do the men use the other loos or not?
I think they should be unisex.

I have seen toilets left in filthy states by men or women, especially women who hover and piss all over the seat.