Office toilet problems

[jellybeanjc]

My office is off a main corridor and through two fire doors. There is a single toilet cubicle between the two fire doors and so there is no ventilation from the room. This means that, at the best of times, it's not a very nice toilet (damp, cold...) but the nearest other is a minute or so walk away so it's well-used!

The issue is that someone (or a few people) keep doing really smelly poos in the toilet and not cleaning up after themselves. While I understand that if you've got to go, you've got to go, the smell and the mess is starting to really make me feel sick. If I could avoid this toilet, it wouldn't bother me, but I have to walk past it to get out of my office and the smell in particular hits you as soon as you open the office door. Other colleagues mention this to me every day - everyone is disgusted by the smell and the mess.

Would I be being unreasonable to try to tackle this in some way while making sure not to embarrass the people doing it? And does anyone have any idea of how to go about tackling this in a reasonable way?

YABU- stop complaining! This happens everywhere and the person is entitled to leave a mess and a smell behind!

YANBU - it's reasonable to try to do something about this as long as nobody is deliberately embarrassed in the process.

Ideas very welcome!

A lab I worked in decades ago had a toilet which opened up into the lunch room, so smelly poos would not be welcomed. There was always a box of those matches that smell like incense for poopers to use. You strike them and let them burn a it and them blow them out. They smoke like an incense. They work really well & also good for lighting farts I suppose.

Might not be allowed these day though. It was back in the day when we smoked indoors and used Bunsen burners.

Work toilets are disgusting. I'm so glad I WFH nowadays and don't have to face other people's shit.

There's nothing worse than going to the loo to find something resembling King Kong's fingers staring up at you. Gross.

YANBU. People are disgusting which is fine if they are in their own home but not in a shared environment and especially not work. Personally I’d have no problem with making a big deal about it and causing embarrassment for the offender. If that’s not your style, speak to your manager. See if you can get some printed signs up / air freshener / automatic air fresher timers etc , email round to all to ask them to leave the toilet clean. Honesty, I’d dread to think what some peoples houses look like.

Vipoo does work really well but you have to use it just before you go... You could leave some of that in there with bleach, airfreshner and a toilet cleaner. Is there anywhere in the corridor you could plug in an air purifier?

I'd ask to move office, OP. I think some people must get off on leaving toilets like this for others to clean up.

To answer a question you posted
earlier, VIPoo does work!!

Many years ago my mum worked in a large council office with one toilet for 25 people. One of the people in the office did a fantastically noxious poo every Monday morning and then left the door open so the smell wafted into the public waiting room where people had come to register births,marriages and deaths. The stench was unbelievable. They left a huge poster in there in the end. It was addressed to 'The phantom shitter.....'. It seemed to solve the problem.

This is exactly like the toilet at my work.

There are no windows or ventilation, it’s literally 4 walls.
The only way to air out the smell is to open the door.

We have a couple of members of staff with IBS who’ll let us know not to use it for a while and probably brought their own products but there was someone who was very smelly.

We brought a spray air freshener and one in a holder, the VIPoo stuff (not sure if it’s works as I’ve not tried it) and put a little note up to remind people to use it to keep it nice for the next person to use.

Fortunately for us the toilet is now much better.
You do still get the odd smell but it’s nothing like it was before.

Your workplace definitely wouldn't have gotten a BW with no ventilation so it's an illegal build. Poo poorie does work but you will need to do a cosh risk assessment in it. Signs dont work for those making a mess so dont bother with them.

Just be careful about taking in air fresheners because if anyone has asthma they may complain, also no ventilation means the air fresher spray will stay as well?

I don't know but people at my office kick off with air freshener.

VIP means the place stinks of flowery shit. It's worse than just shit.

I have the bowels of Satan. I avoid using any toilet other than my own as the stench could kill someone (I have the luxury of not going very often and being able to control the urge, not everyone is so lucky). What I cannot understand is how anyone could leave visible evidence, I would be mortified to leave the loo less than spotless

It's a really tough one. Shit smells, there's no getting around that. People certainly shouldn't be leaving the loo in a mess though, that's unacceptable.

I'd leave a note about the state of it.

Poo-pourri?

Obviously they should be cleaning up any mess (assume there is a brush or something in there?) because it’s horrible not to. But there isn’t really anything anyone can do to stop their shit smelling. It’s shit. It’s not going to smell of lavender and sea breezes, is it? I do sympathise because it’s rank having to use a loo that stinks, but if there’s no ventilation I guess air freshener is the only option? Not great but I suppose better than nothing.

It may be due to someone having a medical problem if it's happening regularly. But they should try to clean up, even if they can do nothing about the smell. A toilet brush and toilet cleaning materials should be provided; and there should be ventilation.

I imagine these folks don't wash their hand either.🤐

We had a 'phantom floater' in our office - a person who'd do a big poo (pretty much daily) and never, ever flush. It was always quite rank to walk in and just find it there bobbing away. 🤢

As it was the ladies' loos only, HR sent a polite but firm email to all female staff and said 'you need to flush!' It did the trick!

I find these things so bizarre! How does one just not flush? I find it also disturbing when the toilet is left in a disgusting state and you have to wonder which one of your colleagues it was

I believe that Robert Maxwell was like this, never flushing the toilet, leaving it for his staff to deal with.

Ironically he ended up being a big floater himself!