# Bathroom comments!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 14, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548 "2003-01-14T17:55:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/1 "2003-01-14T17:55:11Z")
Ok, some of the recent bathroom threads (mostly in the Pit, mind you, but this isn’t really a rant, so … unless a mod thinks it belongs there, I’m posting it in MPSIMS) has gotten me to thinking, and I remembered something that happened to me a couple of years ago.
A friend and I had stopped a this exclusive beach resort and had a couple of drinks in the bar. I had to go to the bathroom, so made my way to the womens restroom, which was surprisingly small and cramped even for the overall atmostphere of the resort, frankly. Speaking of cramped, my stomach had been hurting most of the day, and in fact I was glad to make it to the restroom in time. Just barely in time, unfortunately! I kind of stunk up the bathroom, and some other person in there (and I’ll grant that it was a rather tiny space) felt that they had to make a comment about the smell! She even acted like she was going to keel over from the aroma … talk about over-reacting! Naturally, I knew I was the offender, and was totally embarrassed that someone had voiced nasty comments. Aside from that it was totally rude to do that, isn’t it a little crass too, especially given that it was an “exclusive” (read expensive) resort?! Ill-manners knows no bounds, I guess, but still… anyone else ever experience this sort of thing? I should have said something when I came out of the stall, but instead just discreetly washed my hands and slipped out of the door!
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### Author:  [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/2 "2003-01-14T18:47:13Z")
There are plenty of people who think their own sh\*t doesn’t stink. Pay no attention to them.
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### Author:  [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/3 "2003-01-14T18:48:44Z")
Geesh, it’s not like you made a smell on purpose! What a jerk.
Wasn’t there a thread recently in IMHO by some guy who claimed it was rude to poop in a public bathroom, and anybody who did was a) deserving of ridicule, and b) had something wrong with their digestive systems? I tried a search, but it didn’t work right.
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### Author:  [@Suspenderzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suspenderzzz)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/4 "2003-01-14T18:59:11Z")
Stinking up a public bathroom is bad manners. I have been known to express loud disgust at people doing that. So sue me.
Why is it okay to openly criticize people who _fart_ in public for their lack of class and civility, but not to criticize them for stinking up the john? It could be argued that farting, too, is a natural function that can’t be helped, no?
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### Author:  [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/5 "2003-01-14T19:03:19Z")
Well, I don’t think it’s appropriate to castigate someone for farting, either. It is polite of the farter, if possible, to remove himself to somewhere more private to lay one. But that’s not always possible.
It’s not rude to poop in a public bathroom because THAT’S WHAT BATHROOMS ARE FOR!
Geez, if you have to poop and you’re not at home, what choice do you have?
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### Author:  [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/6 "2003-01-14T19:04:28Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Suspenderzzz \*
> \*\*Stinking up a public bathroom is bad manners. I have been known to express loud disgust at people doing that. So sue me.
> \*\*
Bull. What are bathrooms for? Pissin’ and shittin’. And sometimes I stink up the joint. If someone is offended, they can take their foofoo little butts elsewhere.
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### Author:  [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2003, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/7 "2003-01-14T19:08:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Suspenderzzz \*
> \*\*Stinking up a public bathroom is bad manners. I have been known to express loud disgust at people doing that. So sue me.
> \*\*
What the hell would you propose we do? Save our bowel movements in little plastic baggies until we get home? Besides, why are you spending so much time in the bathroom if you don’t like how it smells.:dubious
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### Author:  [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/8 "2003-01-14T19:16:27Z")
The only thing I **hate** in the bathroom is when someone is being overly dramatic. I’ll be plopped down, doing the dirty into the porceline smile, minding my own business when I hear someone a few stalls over. The person is grunting, groaning, and practically having a conversation with his inner colon. “aww yeah…one more…one more…ahhh”.
Then I hear a “splash” and a huge sigh, as if he had just shat a watermellon.
I mean really, do we have to be subjected to masterbatory grunts and groans? Can you really enjoy a shit that much?
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### Author:  [@Suspenderzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suspenderzzz)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/9 "2003-01-14T19:16:50Z")
Meatros, I don’t spend much time in the bathroom. I think you’ve got me confused with someone else. I severely limit my time in public bathrooms. It’s bad enough that you have to listen to other people’s sloppy diarrhea, but having to smell it is too much. Or, to sit in it, like a friend of mine once did in a public restroom in Central Park. He didn’t look, assuming that, just because _he_ never shits on the seat, no one else does, either. Poor sap.
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### Author:  [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/10 "2003-01-14T19:24:43Z")
Newsflash: Shit stinks.
If it didn’t, Fitz & Floyd would bag it up and sell it as potpourri.
“Hi, I’d like a bag of your Shitz & Floyd potpourri. Lactose Intolerant fragrance, please.”
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2003, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/11 "2003-01-14T19:29:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Suspenderzzz \*
> \*\*Why is it okay to openly criticize people who _fart_ in public for their lack of class and civility, but not to criticize them for stinking up the john? It could be argued that farting, too, is a natural function that can’t be helped, no? \*\*
Who said it was OK to comment on/criticize farting? Here’s Miss Manners on the subject (bolding mine):
> [@](#):
>
> “Noises You Can Make,” . . . Miss Manners is referring, of course, to noises you can make inadvertently, . . .
>
> 1. Unacceptable noises. Miss Manners does not plan to mention them, chiefly because they are unmentionable, but you all know who you are. What they are. **At any rate, these are noises that are acknowledged by neither the noisemaker nor the noise recipient, because socially they do not exist.**
_(Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior,_ pp. 246-247)
Me, I’m reminded of my grandmother’s colorful remark about a stuck-up neighbor girl: “She thinks her shit’s good to eat.”
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### Author:  [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2003, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/12 "2003-01-14T19:29:37Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Suspenderzzz \*
> \*\*Meatros, I don’t spend much time in the bathroom. I think you’ve got me confused with someone else. I severely limit my time in public bathrooms. It’s bad enough that you have to listen to other people’s sloppy diarrhea, but having to smell it is too much. \*\*
My point is, if you don’t want to smell shit, don’t go into a bathroom, _because that’s what they are there for._ Making comments to someone about their bowel odor in a bathroom, IMHO is wrong. I mean, shouldn’t you be happy that they **made** it to the bathroom in the first place.
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### Author:  [@Suspenderzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suspenderzzz)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/13 "2003-01-15T18:23:39Z")
Scarlett…I’ts painfully obvious that Miss Manners has never spent any time on a crowded subway. If someone farts in close vicinity and you can’t get away, what are you supposed to do, be all stoic and pretend it didn’t happen? You are not allowed to acknowledge that someone farted, right? So it would follow that you can’t hold your nose, or even wrinkle it daintily as you turn away your head to dodge the worst of the fumes. You just have to stare ahead and suffer in silence? I don’t think so.
The other morning, the train was it’s usual crowded self, and I was squeezed between a man and a women, with two women standing in front of us. It was all very tight. All of a sudden, the air turned green. Most of us held our noses and let out muffled moans. Personally, I suspect the guy on my left, because at first he acted like nothing happened, but then, when everyone else reacted, he joined in in that phony, half-assed way. But it could have been anyone. That’s the downside if you’re lucky enough to get as seat on a crowded train: Your nose is just about on the same level as the asses of the people _standing_ all around. Puts one in quite a vulnerable position.
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### Author:  [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/14 "2003-01-15T18:41:11Z")
Today I went to the bathroom to discreetly take a poop. There are 9, count 'em, 9 stalls in the bathroom. I pick the one farthest to the end. Otherwise the bathroom is empty, but some woman came in and got in the stall closest to me. Wtf? I consider that rude. I try to be discreet by going to the end and taking care of business and she comes in and sits next to me. There should be some etiquette rule that dictates that you don’t go crowding someone when there are 8 other stalls to choose from. Sheesh.
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### Author:  [@Suspenderzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suspenderzzz)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2003, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/15 "2003-01-15T18:57:42Z")
Indygrrl – yep. For some strange reason it’s not uncommon for people to do that. For heaven’s sake, people, give the person in the last stall some privacy! Is there anyone out there who happens to be guilty of this minor transgression? I have always been curious what motivates people to chose _that_ stall when others are available.
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### Author:  [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/16 "2003-01-15T18:58:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Indygrrl \*
> \*\*Today I went to the bathroom to discreetly take a poop. There are 9, count 'em, 9 stalls in the bathroom. I pick the one farthest to the end. Otherwise the bathroom is empty, but some woman came in and got in the stall closest to me. Wtf? I consider that rude. I try to be discreet by going to the end and taking care of business and she comes in and sits next to me. There should be some etiquette rule that dictates that you don’t go crowding someone when there are 8 other stalls to choose from. Sheesh. \*\*
That is highly annoying, although I’d say it’s worse for men. It sucks to be at the end of a long line of empty urinals and have a guy choose the stall right beside you to piss. I’m like, WTF?
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/17 "2003-01-15T19:02:44Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Suspenderzzz \*
> **Scarlett…I’ts painfully obvious that Miss Manners has never spent any time on a crowded subway. If someone farts in close vicinity and you can’t get away, what are you supposed to do, be all stoic and pretend it didn’t happen?**
**YES.**
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### Author:  [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/18 "2003-01-15T19:04:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Suspenderzzz \*
> \*\*Scarlett…I’ts painfully obvious that Miss Manners has never spent any time on a crowded subway. If someone farts in close vicinity and you can’t get away, what are you supposed to do, be all stoic and pretend it didn’t happen? You are not allowed to acknowledge that someone farted, right? So it would follow that you can’t hold your nose, or even wrinkle it daintily as you turn away your head to dodge the worst of the fumes. You just have to stare ahead and suffer in silence? I don’t think so.
> \*\*
You know, I agree with this. The bathroom is one thing. It’s _supposed_ to be used for foul emissions, but out in public? I can understand if a few “air balloons” accidently smuggle themselves out-that’s one thing. But when someone just busts ass whenever, that’s quite a different, disgusting story.
Case in Point. My fiance works with a woman. Woman X has utterly bad hygene skills, aside from just her usual nausiating aroma, she plays the ass trumpet whenever, whereever. It’s disgusting. My fiance is at her desk and woman X comes over to her desk, to talk about something, burps, then let’s a “Bad break” go and walks off. The odor hangs as though it were _fighting to stay alive._
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### Author:  [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/19 "2003-01-15T19:19:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Scarlett67 \*
> \*\ ***YES.** \*\*
You know, I think I’ll amend my previous comment, to say this: If the fart in question is of an accidental nature, then no comment is warranted. IF on the other hand, you can tell that the fartee had not considered those around him/her when expelling their gas, then I say you can make it known that you disapprove of their flatulents. Also, if the fartee expels multiple farts, then you also have a right to object to their nasty ass gas.
I mean, an accident is one thing; doing it on purpose/ or repeatedly is quite another.
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### Author:  [@Suspenderzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suspenderzzz)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-comments/148548/20 "2003-01-15T19:28:21Z")
Meatros – not to appear petty or anything like that (wouldn’t dream of it), but I think you mean fart_er_, not fart_ee_. The farter would be the one farting. The fartee, OTH, if there is such a word, would be the one _subjected_ to having to smell/hear the fart.
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