To be annoyed at the lack of bathrooms

[Applecharm25]

I have my period. I can feel that i need to change my tampon.

I'm out walking round my city. There are no public bathrooms anywhere near me.

I see a sign for a bathroom in a small shopping centre near me. I walk in. The bathroom is actually in a shop. I'm told that the bathroom is only available for paying customers.

So now I have to get in a long queue and wait further and buy something while I really need to change my tampon.

Surely there should be better toilet services available.

And will the tampon changing rooms have private cubicle or just whip them out in front of each other 🤔

Menstrual cups don’t need changing out and about. Game changer for me.

Just go and have a coffee in a cafe and use their bathroom?

I understand some call it a bathroom

I also understand the logic why bathroom is wrong (but it falls in that stupid argument like Hoover vs. Vacuum where it doesn't matter)

But I do not understand where you are seeing all these signs for bathrooms in pubs and shops?

I have been all over the UK and never seen it as anything expect 'toilets', 'WC', 'Showers' (usually only in places like certain rest stops or gyms etc...), 'Changing room' and/or just the little symbols. I have NEVER encountered a sign saying bathroom in a public place, certainly not a pub/shop.

YANBU. Town centre planers seem to have something against toilets and places to sit down.

Meanwhile in Carlisle they spent £50k on a bit of fake grass and fake grass animals. Thats not even the worst bit - this was a temporary installation. Councillors said they wanted the fake grass and duck fake grass statue to ‘diversify the economy’

Its embarrassing. What has happened to the intelligence levels of public servants?

I’m British, born and raised in the U.K. And I say bathroom and couch.

Very unlikely to be American because most places here have public bathrooms. NYC being a major exception. Extremely rare to go in a shop etc without a toilet everyone is able to use.

Exactly. I have lived in various parts of the UK and travel a lot in Britain. I have never seen signs saying 'Bathrooms' for a public toilet. Some posters have said it isn't relevant but it is very relevant as it makes some of us doubt everything about the post. I think the poster who suggested AI had a good point.

More toilets in general would be useful for all - whether it be a need to change a tampon, for older men who may have a sudden need to pee or those out with children. Anyone really.

I'm happy to pay my 30p to use one (30p seems to be a standard charge) but free is better.

Most shops etc that have them have them in much the same place - Morrisons - near the tills, Spoons - upstairs.

Having a camper van with dark tinted rear windows can be a god send!

in your first post you said:

"I have my period. I can feel that i need to change my tampon.
...
So now I have to get in a long queue and wait further and buy something while I really need to change my tampon."

And you've made it clear that you don't need a wee...
So I'm assuming you were that that desprate to change it that you couldn't wait 15/20 min for a for a queue?

I'm guessing this could be a personal diffreance in the way of dealing with periods/how I do things (and yes I know I can only speak to my own experance)

if im on a very heavey day (and yes can need to change hourley even the super absorbant) i will double up (period pants & tampon) ... what I don't understand is being that desprat to change, /feeling the need to change so urgently that you cant wait half hour....but that the tampon is not completly soked and that there are never any spills.... as you did go in to say later...
"when you remove them, the blood stays on them.
There's never any spill when taking a tampon out."

Maybe that says more about me and what low standards I would consider an emargancy to change it

*also for the record I'm team:
-sit down to change San pro
-always try for a wee when changing (even if I don't need it)
-call it loo/toilet
-live in a city with public toiles in the shopping center
-and a city where they are labeled as toilets Not bathrooms
-dyslexic (sorry about the poor spelling)

And as someone about "period cubicals for speed" im alot quicker at just a wee than changing/tidying up down there .... so in my case wouldn't help (but also see above)

I must maintain that it's not necessary to purchase anything when going into a cafe to use their toilet, unless they call you back to purchase something or kick you out. Certainly don't ask or feel guilty going in there for their toilet.

It's entirely contingent that today's public spaces are filled with private corporations rather than parks and libraries... and toilets. As individuals we had very little say in what's available in public spaces. These corporations had tremendous power in being able to get a lease etc. So just head into their toilets, don't even think. The ones that do care would have put a sign or locked their toilets.

Don't pay for a corporation's profit when you're just fulfilling your basic needs.

I also agree that the lack of public toilets disproportionately disadvantage women and the disabled. Just a thought experiment: what if all the public toilets were wiped out, and only the ones in corporations were accessible, and they all demanded a purchase before you could use their toilet? I'm pretty sure mothers and caretakers would be paying much more in "toilet tax" than men.

As for the previous comment about a "speedy sanitary product lane", I mean obviously it would have just been better and easier to double the number of toilets! But what does it hurt to add such a room, if it costs less? In some places there are breastfeeding rooms/rooms with free water, etc. but without toilets. Not saying we can't breastfeed in public but it's an additional option. It would just be another thing that facilitates women's being out and about.

Of course in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter, but the constant americanisation of English is grating to me. If someone asked where the bathroom was, I'd assume they were visiting or hadn't been in the UK for long. If there's no bath or shower, it's a toilet, a W.C or a loo.

Agree there should be more public toilets, as well as hospitals, libraries, schools. Sadly public services have taken a massive hit over the past 14 years and there's naff all public money to bring them back!

Sorry but tampon changing rooms would be ridiculous- as many people need to pee!!!!!

And fwiw, Radar keys are abused a lot of the time. I was having a bad IBS flare up once. I saw the toilet was occupied and waited, hot sweats and lots of panicking. Finally a woman came out, with two piled up trolleys of shopping and trailing three kids behind. Then proudly tells me that Radar keys were brilliant, as she could take her all shopping and all the kids into any disabled toilets! When I said they were actually for diasbled people, she looked me up and down, huffed and walked off, albeit red in the face! And I had my walking stick with me that day!
And I agree with folks saying this post isn't genuine, far too much discussion regarding periods and womens functions, definite wank fodder. The OP is downright obsessed with "their" period. An ordinary woman would never have created a post in this way! I can't see why MNHQ can't see that! They'll remove other posts for much less!

I haven’t RTFT but are people actually suggesting tampon changing rooms?! WTF. Why not just put a toilet there?
Also seems like a breeding ground for creeps and weirdos. And wouldn’t you need a toilet anyway when changing a tampon? Or does the blood just splatter to the floor?

I have IBD and agree the lack of toilets these days is ridiculous. I have a card that I use that says I suffer with a condition, please let me use your toilet urgently. But maybe we could create one for use when on periods too.

YANBU. Public toilet facilities are terrible.
I have also never seen a sign for bathroom in the UK but I am aware that youngsters use the word a lot now a long with lots of other Americanisms.

I’ll confess I bought a radar key from eBay. But I actually have a son with a chronic condition who needs the toilet at literally a moments notice but was in the frustrating process of getting his need for one identified (or even his condition)

Can I ask where you got that please?? I could do with one for my 8yo. More than once I’ve had to say “You could say no to him using the toilet or you could have diarrhoea all over your floor” and I hate it escalating to that

We own a pub and have no issue if people ask to use the loo. Although it can be tiresome at the height of summer ( tourist area ). I tend to direct people to the public loo if I can during those times.

I thought the same.

Well I can tell you with 100% certainty in my parents pub you were told yes of course.

But why shouldn’t businesses say only for customers? They are in business rates so everything is more expensive. Using water costs money. Using toilet roll and soap costs money. Leaving their waste costs to get rid of. If there’s only 1 toilet it can cause a queue for the paying customers.

this is without the arseholes that deliberately damage things for shits & giggles.

Don’t take it out on businesses that the council has removed public amenities!

You're not wrong OP. It's not just tampons of course, but anyone needing a loo, especially if they have continence issues. I discovered quite a few toilets after giving birth, that I'd never needed before.

And yes, it's worse for women. We are all familiar with the long queues for women's loos while men walk straight into theirs. And some cities, like Paris and Amsterdam, have or have had urinals for men where there is nothing for women.

Honestly women have been doing this for years. There are toilets that can be used you just need to be a bit inventive. Period changing facilities 🤦🏻‍♀️

I signed up to the Chrons & colitis charity and they sent me a card and a radar key. I get mixed responses when I’ve had to use it, but generally staff are nice! It’s other people who shout at me for being in the disabled toilets that have been a problem, as I look very healthy. (Sometimes I even dare have my kids with me!)