I’m embarrassed to use a public toilet even with stall doors, so I wouldn’t use a doorless stall. I’d go to the farther restroom.
Female, and I’d pee with no doors, but no way I’m pooping. I don’t even poop in public bathrooms at all unless it’s an extreme emergency. I can hold it until I get home.
I’ve pooped in a doorless stall in county jail, where women were constantly walking past to get to the showers and sinks. Doesn’t phase me too much.
I have never encountered a woman’s loo block with no doors on the stalls. I selected the ‘run and hope’ option.
This made me lol. And I never lol.
The public bathrooms at the Pike Place Market in Seattle are fitted with short doors; the top edge is maybe 4.5 feet above the floor, so normal-height adults can easily peer inside the stall. I’ve walked into these bathrooms and had to deliberately avert my gaze away from individuals who were seated in such stalls. I’ve also used these stalls myself, and made it a point not to look up and see who might be peering in.
So yes, I’d use the doorless stall if I had to. Pooping in a doorless stall in a public restroom is less embarrassing than pooping in your pants anywhere else in public.
I heard that in the past, the public toilets in China didn’t have doors, so everyone carried an umbrella.
Hm, I never even though of this - I have one of the really tiny umbrellas that I carry in my messenger bag for mrAru [I really don’t care if I get rained upon, it is water, I am reasonably waterproof and I rarely wear anything that has issues with water.
I spent enough time in hospital being helped to use a bedpan I joke that I could put a bucket in the middle of a crowded room and take a crap, so the idea of a doorless stall is no big deal to me. I actually tend to wear fairly oversized extra long shirts, so I could screen my lap area in a pinch - more because other people using the john would be squeemish over casual exposure. [I wear oversized shirts so I don’t flash any bare skin in my chair. Nothing as rude as fat chick butt crack and muffintop skin.]
I’m perplexed by the assumptions in the OP. I mean, we’ve all had times when we felt like we had to take a crap right away, but in practice there’s never been a time since early childhood when I couldn’t in fact hold it as long as necessary, with a decent number of values of ‘as long as necessary’ that proved to be in the 30-45 minute range.
I really can’t imagine a combination of circumstances where the combined chances of my having to take a shit in plain view of others, and shitting my pants, were greater than maybe 0.5%. The former hasn’t happened to me since the days of open stalls in high school >40 years ago, and the latter, not since I was toilet trained.
Here’s the thing, other than a situation where I’m really sick, I’ve never been in a situation where I couldn’t hold it, unless I’d already been holding it for a long time. In general, I’d have plenty of time to make it to the other bathroom. I suppose I could get into a situation where I was holding it for a long time already, and if that were the case, I wouldn’t mind so much doorless because I could get in and out quick enough to at least let me hold over until I had a better opportunity.
A more likely scenario would be a situation in which I’m sick, at which point, doing so in an open stall is just going to make it that much worse for me and anyone else. And in such a situation, it’s seldom something that can be over and done with quickly. But even still if I’m sick, I don’t think I’ve ever been so urgent that I couldn’t make it across a venue. It’s just such a situation that where I might have been able to hold it an hour or whatever normally, it might only be 5-10 minutes instead. Anyway, since this is the more likely scenario, I voted risk it, but really it’d be more of a wash.
You two are very lucky that you have never found yourself in the position of having just been fed something that acts like a super laxative - palm/tropical products cause gastric dumping in me, similar to what many people get with gallbladder issues and fatty foods. There is nothing quite like that low in the gut rumble that means ‘get to a toilet now, 5 minutes will be too late’
I would go to the further away one, even if I had to hold my buttcheeks together and walk funny the whole way.
I used to have a recurring bad dream of being in a large open locker/ restroom with dozens of toilets side-by-side (on raised daises, no less – truly “thrones”), with no privacy barriers between, and having to go. The room in my dream had a creepy feel, lots of exposed pipes, peeling paint, rusting metal. Lord, I hated those dreams. Haven’t had one in a long time now, thank heavens.
I’d definitely take the risk and hoof for the stalls with doors.
I actually offten have dreams where I really have to go and the only toilet is one out in the open where many people can see me. I’ve never been in that situation, but I think those dreams stem from me being somewhat afraid to use public toilets (afraid people will see and hear me - well, I know they can hear me. And who knows what they can see through those big-ass cracks in the stall doors.)
Big ass cracks. Perhaps not my best-worded phrase of the day. You know what I mean. The cracks in between stall doors.
I’d use the doorless one if I had to but only as a last resort. My GI tract doesn’t take no or wait for an answer. One of the joys of life with IBS.
Female, would go to the further one, with doors. I do NOT use a toilet with a human audience. I don’t care if the cat follows me into the bathroom, which is a good thing for me, since she insists on doing so.
I honestly cannot believe how many people would take a 40% chance of shitting themselves over just using the doorless stall.
That means 2 out of every 5 times you did this, you’d shit yourself (on average, blah blah blah). A 40% rate of occurrence is obscenely high.
I don’t even see how this is a question. Doorless stall it is. Men are perfectly good at averting their gaze in gym locker rooms, so I imagine this would be the same sort of situation. I can’t imaging needing a meatshield to stand in front of the stall.
I find the gender divide in the poll intriguing but not surprising.
I think the only question here is people either
a) fighting the hypothetical
b) not understanding probability very well
c) some people enjoy the thrill of shitting themselves in public?
Based on the votes so far, approximately 20 people shit themselves in public on the way to run to the far restroom, instead of using the doorless stall.
Of course, I’m sure if you voted (not the person I’m quoting, but you reading this post) to make it, it wasn’t YOU who shit themselves, right? :rolleyes: