To ask if squatting on the toilet to do your business is really a thing?

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I visited a suppliers office for work (a major British company with a swank Central London head office). I used one of the loos in the lobby (there was 3 unisex loos, each with their own separate door and sink inside completely separate from the next).

On the back of the door was a sign showing a person squatting with their feet on the seat and a line drawn through it to indicate no squatting. Like this was a common problem they were dealing with? Do people actually squat with both feet on the seat to do their business on a western style toilet?! I know squatting toilets are common in parts of Asia, but they are on the ground. If I tried to squat on a western toilet I would no doubt fall in and break my ankle

This brought my thoughts back to about 15 years ago when I dated an Asian guy. We went to his mums house to visit her and his sister. His dad was away on business so it was just the mum and sister at home. I went to use the toilet and the seat was up which I thought was a bit weird since there were no men in the house. Anyway, I put it down, did my business and came back and we visited and ate lunch. I went back to the loo again before we left and the seat was up again. My boyfriend at the time hadn't been to the toilet the entire time we were there. So why was the seat up again??

I didn't have the confidence to ask him, but the first scenario about the signs in the office loos got me thinking about this situation as well.

The only time I’ve seen these signs was in Iceland.

I'm not an ignoramus so I read up on a variety of topics. That's the beauty of Google, it only take a minute to learn something new.
I don't know if you'd get the benefits of squatting from doing it once, and I certainly wouldn't recommend doing it on a toilet seat not designed for it, you might slip and break a hip 😉

Are you really that sheltered ? 😂

Oh yes I came across this when working in London, we had IT workers from China and they were used to the squat toilets. I remember walking into loo once and a cleaning lady was in there shaking her head at the broken seat and lots water/wee on the floor. She said someone had slipped on the seat and soaked their leg in the loo and then walked it out. My co worker said in Toronto they had a huge problem with this in the malls from the Far East people squatting on loo’s. They must be very good at balancing.

Say what? They're on the back of the motorway toilet doors.

It has been a problem at my workplace in the past, also water left all over the seat and floor and scrunched up toilet paper on the floor 😐.

That said it is correct way to "pass stools" , it puts your body in the correct position, you can even buy little steps for your normal toilet to raise your legs to do this.

My Muslim friends all squat as they have to wash down their with water before prayers & it’s the most hygienic way to do it in British toilets. Our workplace have a bidet toilet outside the prayer room but it gets taken over by men and can be so gross until the cleaner can get in

We had to squat in China. The water channel ran under the holes in the ground taking the sewage away. My sisters bag came open as she tried to get toilet paper from in it and she dropped OUR money in the hole. And she was going to leave it!! WTF! I made her fish it out. We're not flipping millionaires!

Ugh. The poor cleaner. 🤮

Imagine a woman in heels trying to do that

Is this the reason some toilet seats aren’t closed to create a full oval? To help prevent them breaking if a squatter comes aboard?

My Muslim friends wash sitting on the loo, never heard of anyone squatting. From what I’ve seen they don’t leave any wetness on the floor. Some of the cleanest women I’ve ever seen. Also, Jamaican and African women too, very neat about toilet habits and fastidious about hand washing.

Some Muslim men sit down to pee on sit toilets, they may also hold a piece of toilet paper to aim at so they don't splash.

OP

Yes it can be a problem, even if it isn't you might as well have a sign, it's cheaper than replacing the seat.

Japanese toilets are just the best, with all the electronic gadgetry. But there were a mix of thrones and holes in the same toilet block. It was bizarre to us westerners.

I used to have to visit a government building which had those posters on the back of the cubicle doors. Loose stools when a bum is six inches above the the rim is not something that the cleaners should have to deal with.
Decades ago, I remember a friend's wife struggling to deal with a strike where the predominantly female workforce at a luxury baked goods factory wanted an open drain and hose arrangement because toilet pans were considered dirty.

My husband’s office had an issue with men taking a dump in the corner of the toilet stalls so honestly squatting on them when that’s what you grew up with seems completely normal…

Say what now!?!?? 🥴🤢

I rarely travel long distances by motorway, so I’ve not seen them there.

But surely you adapt when you go to another country, no matter how weird the practice seems to you?

In what persons right mind would they choose to take a shit on the floor in the corner of a stall rather than sit for a minute on a toilet and flush their business away.

I mean seriously. What goes through their heads when they see that as a better option!?!

I used to work in an office (finance) where luckily I didn't encounter anything this bad. But the backs and sides of the stall doors were littered with crusty dried boogers and at times the stalls were left kind of grim and the toilets not flushed. I would walk out onto the main office floor and look at everyone working away and think to myself - Jesus, which one of you is the filthy fucking animal that leaves the loo in such a state. You rank people! And I have to work with you and encounter dIly interactions and you could be the phantom booger bathroom plasterer. 😑

The seats with the gap in the front are supposedly so its easier to wipe yourself in front without touching the seat with your hand.

Easy to say 'surely you adapt' but if you don't know how another culture does it, and you don't feel you can ask (nor until the issue arises, realise theres any need TO ask)... what do you do? Our conditioning to how and where we urinate/defecate is incredibly strong, changing how we do that is not easy (see, any of the threads about female squat urinals at festivals).

And of course everyone thinks their way is better so thats another reason to be reluctant to change.

I don't think Muslims wash their nether regions before prayer.
Washing of nether regions after toilet use - ok.
I think before prayer it's hands, face, mouth, ears and feet.

I'm not Muslim but have a Muslim Brother-in-law who, AFAIK, has never stood on my toilet.

He does find a bidet very helpful as a foot bath though!

I have noticed at my work place the toilet seats are always broken, as soon as they are replaced they get broken almost immediately… It’s actually kind of annoying… I need to sit to pee … It’s that bad a situation that I’m considering taking a shewee to work 🫣 … It’s fucking annoying and actually really inconsiderate, if people are doing this I wish they would lift the seat and not just break them! … Must be costing work an absolute fortune too… It’s also dangerous, I work in a care home so elderly residents can fall if they sit on a broken seat and slip off the toilet. (It’s almost happened to me a few times and I’m not frail with poor balance unlike the residents).

I actually had no idea this was a thing but it makes complete sense now and I suspect this is what many staff are doing at my work.

Yet another reason to WFH

When I lived in an Asian country with a largely westernised infrastructure, there were horrific photos off the injuries that can be got from squatting on a western toilet on the doors. It was really regular you became kind of immune to horrific dismemberment pictures.
Funny when I tried to Google it just now I couldn't find a single one, apart from nice clean bandaged amputee after pictures. That suggests to me they were personal pictures from the venues so that horrific injuries were far more common than I thought.
It's pretty annoying injuries and breakages aside as they usually got shit everywhere.

Think of the cleaner. I used to work early mornings cleaning a pub while putting myself through uni and bringing up a family.

The mens toilets were the grossest. The woman’s toilets the messiest. Although neither were nice to clean, I used to rage silently in my head while cleaning the mens.