Help! She's standing on the toilet seat!!

[Crazyworksituatio]

Help! I've no idea how to deal with this without offending. Since a new female employee has started working with us there are shoe prints on toilet seat. It's a corporate office but only a few females use this toilet so obvious who the culprit is. The lady is from India and new to country. She's very professional and I think this is a cultural difference but I'm horrified she thinks this is ok? What would you do??

It is a risk to the toilet seat, yes, as they’re not designed for the weight in the UK. It’s really not particularly gross though and I can’t understand being grossed out by it. You think there’s a particular risk of infection via skin on your bum?

Part of what makes it gross is that nobody likes to imagine their colleagues taking a dump. Now this will be all you can think of when you look at her.

She may find it gross that there's no bum gun and toilet paper only so the only problem really is that she could break the seat and cause an injury.

Squatting is actually a healthier way to do a number 2, perhaps she can't go properly without doing that? Could you ask hr for a foot stall she could use instead?

Tried to get in first with a nasty comment to start a pile-on but that backfired on them. 😂 Apparently they weren’t aware that this is a common cultural difference that often warrants illustrative signs above the loo.

Starting to think this is a racist made up post. Like the Muslim woman refusing to meet clients one that I stupidly got dragged into…

Can you take her aside and say that it’s not safe? It isn’t. Western lavatories are not built for standing on.

There are signs about this all over women’s lavatories at my place of work.

Examples, for those confused.The toilets pictured below are very common in many parts of the world.

They might take a moment to appear if MN is still approving pictures manually.

There’s posters in the toilets at uni with clear (picture) instructions not to stand on the toilet seats. I thought it was mad

When she next makes a visit, could you pop your head over the cubicle and say...

"Excuse me, Health and Safety here. Please be careful you could easily slip off that seat with those shoes and it could be a bit embarrassing for you when recorded in the Accident Book. Even worse if your foot gets jammed in the bowl and we have to get the Maintenance Man out."

Thanks everyone for all your advice. Yes I understand squatting is much healthier, but unfortunately western toilets don't facilitate this. Does anyone think putting up posters would appear passive aggressive?? There's only 4 ladies in the office so I think this lady will feel embarrassed if she has to see this sign everyday.

Also I'm not sure if other ladies have noticed and one in particular will be livid so don't want to highlight if I don't have to.

In cultures where this is standard, what are toilets like? Because I'd be genuinely worried standing on a standard UK toilet seat that I'd slip, and I'm a fairly agile person. Is it not quite tricky to balance?

Think two holes in the ground . A la 1980s French camping holidays as a child…

It is really common in Asia. A lot of toilets in Asia are just a hole in the floor that you squat over. They think we are gross for putting our bums on the seat. I can see both points of view. I would handle it with humility and not go about trying to embarrass the woman.

I had the same idea and my first thought was that people who are doing that must be thinking we are completely bonkers to put ourselves in a perilous position.

i think with only 4 of you in the office a sign would be pretty horrific yes. Her manager will have to speak to her

fwiw uk loos are supposed to be able to take weight, but not necessarily with seat up or for this purpose. They used to be tested to withstand people standing on the seat to change the lightbulb 😃

if you fly air India they have the signs in their loos on the plane. I have seen flight attendants shouting at miscreants who don’t follow the clear instructions. Deffo pop signs up. This is one for HR to sort…

It would be the kind thing to do, alert her to the cultural faux pas before she eg goes for supper at someone’s house and really upsets the host. Bless her.

What a strange thing to be bothered abut and what strange replies- how on earth can you be bothered about putting your bare skin on somewhere where outdoor shoes have been when that same place will be covered in someone elses urine and have touched someones bare bottom? I never sit on a public toilet seat anyway unless I wipe it first!

Yes i thought this. Why is it unhygienic for your bum skin to touch shoe prints? It’s not like you rub your arse over your food and eat it or similar

Is a western toilet confusing her? I've known Chinese people who had no idea how to use them and would squat on the seat. So signs appeared with a person doing exactly that and a big cross through it, with one alongside showing a person sitting down and a nice big tick through that.

These things aren't obvious if they're outside your cultural norms.

We had this in our office, around 50 Asian staff in the building. We were replacing a broken toilet seat once a week 😕

If you squat on it (as per pic) surely you piss or shit on your legs/feet -- that is gross.

And how the hell do they get up there/balance for a long hard log exiting?

I would just wipe the seat before using it, but I do that every time in public anyway.

a sign isn’t going to stop this, it’s not as if she is confused and doesn’t know it’s a sit not squat toilet. She knows full well and is choosing to use it incorrectly.

It doesn't have to be unhygienic to not want to sit on someone else's dirty outdoor shoes. I wouldn't want to do it, but that doesn't mean it's unhygienic.

At a toilet I frequent they have put simple signs up to help people to use the toilet properly. I do though vaguely wonder how someone that is used to standing on a floor and squatting thinks it is ok to stand on a probably unsteady raised toilet with a wobbly seat that they literally have to climb up on but didn't voice this as I will be accused of being racist.