Loudly complaining about smell in public loo

[Okokokokoh]

Suddenly needed to use the toilet (ibs) in M&S, a lady walked in and kept saying. "Oh god it stinks in here!" Over and over again to everyone in the queue.
aibu or is that a bit mean!? It's a toilet after all. I ended up having to stay in the cubicle for ages because then i was too embarrassed to walk out after she'd been telling everyone over and over again that it stinks.
i did flush multiple times to try and avoid too much smell but I'm not sure what else I could have done.

She was rude if the intention was to cause embarrassment to anyone in particular but otherwise she was just stating a fact. You're not at fault because you couldn't help it but she might have just been stating the fact that it smelt because she was taken aback by it. So hard to know if you've just taken it personally or if she meant to intentionally humiliate you.

Did you really decide to make a thread telling us all you took a shit so stinky it spoiled some woman's day? 🤣

I have poo pourri , whether It masks it all I don’t know but a spray in the bowl and a spray in the air makes me feel better

Do you carry anything with you to keep handy when situations like this arise? Like that VIPoo or something similar. People can't help IBS, but you can make the situation more comfortable for yourself, and others, by being able to use something that can help mask the smell.

@Okokokokoh Really weird for someone to complain about the smell of shit in a place where people shit.

I really don’t think spraying air fresheners around masks the smell. The shit just ends up smelling like Laventurd.

I have ibs and have had many experiences like this. People can be cruel.

All shit stinks. Not everyone in the world is going to carry VIPoo around with them whenever they leave the house.

Let's all talk about poop, ain't nobody gets off on that 🙄

It's one of my biggest bugbears: toilets with no ventilation, even in new buildings. There's nowhere for normal body function odours to go, drives me mad!

Not all shit stinks badly enough for others to comment. As the op has ibs she should really make sure she has VIPoo at all times.

@StrawberryMatchaLatte She was rude if the intention was to cause embarrassment to anyone in particular but otherwise she was just stating a fact.

First of all, it's not a fact. Whether or not something "stinks" is subjective.

Second, I don't really understand this idea that a statement can't be offensive if it's "just stating a fact." Sure, I'll get on the train and tell a bunch of passengers that they are visibly overweight - it's not offensive because I'm just stating a fact.

If there are perverts interested in poo I’m sure there are better ways for them to get their rocks off than a written thread on Mumsnet. Who bloody cares.

The number of threads about poop would beg to differ!

Exactly.
Fortunately they do seem to be in the minority.

Was she being horrible? Or was she just mentioning that there was horrible smell in a toilet that's for multiple people to use? Obviously it's horrible for you that you have stomach issues but I don't think that means no-one else can find it grim to have to use facilities that smell awful. I try not to use public toilets as they are often so disgusting, and I'm always worried that it's at least partly because they are dirty and unhygienic, so I have sympathy with someone who's walked in hoping to quickly pop to the loo and is stuck queueing for a stinking toilet, I don't think that's incompatible for also feeling sorry for someone experiencing an IBS flare up or similar.

So scroll by then? It really is incredibly juvenile to shout ‘poo troll’ whenever anyone dares to talk about a perfectly normal bodily function. If by some minuscule chance there is some hairy handed weirdo furiously wanking away to stories about smelly M&S toilets then you’ll never know about it. So stop making unnecessary drama out of an already stigmatised condition.

It's a common occurrence! I went into supermarket loos for a quick wee and was repelled at the doorway the smell was toxic. I made the decision to risk wetting myself (I didn't you'll be pleased to know) than subject myself to that.

The OP should be free to poo without a tax.

Maybe they’re just written by people who are genuine? Not everyone has to be a troll or a bot. Plenty of people have bowel issues. Maybe if we talked about it more it would help de stigmatise someone needing to have a poo in a public toilet.

Use a loo spray if this is something you want to avoid it’s awful going into a stench even if you can’t help it, i carry one it’s tiny in my bag

Exactly. Absolutely the badger’s arse. You don’t comment about someone else’s bodily functions unless they’re family and you live with them. .

The only people I can remember saying things like this were small children.

We should pity the woman with the mind of a small child.

It bothers her that others notice the overpowering smell. To prevent being bothered she should try VIPoo!

It doesn’t really matter whether she meant it specifically about OP though. The point is that OP could very well have been the person responsible for the smell, and the woman had no way of knowing who was going to hear the comment and feel embarrassed by it.

She gets absolutely no benefit from announcing it loudly, but it does have the potential to make someone feel uncomfortable and humiliated. That’s what makes it so unnecessary to me.

very school-girly behaviour. I can remember the mean girls at school doing exactly this sort of thing making a pointed comment loudly enough for someone to hear, while having the plausible deniability of “I wasn’t talking about you specifically”.

My four year old dd exclaimed “why is it so smelly in here? They’re taking a long time in that toilet..it’s still red on the door” in the toilet queue at a national trust property the other day. So mortifying! Adults should know better though!