# How do people of size use restroom stalls? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 18, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458 "2008-08-18T19:16:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/21 "2008-08-19T01:56:33Z")
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger] Top of your foot hooked under the door? Although the image of you holding the stall door closed with the top of your head while pulling your pants up is quite amusing. [/QUOTE] I thought everybody did that! ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/22 "2008-08-19T02:07:15Z")
[QUOTE=Savannah] Um. That’s pretty harsh, man. [/QUOTE] I took it to be a joke. But FWIW, I will say that I think the phrase “people of size” is pretty damn silly. Both in the “shake your head” sense and the “laugh whenever you see/hear it” sense. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/23 "2008-08-19T02:27:09Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Then what are you supposed to do if the lock is busted? At least with them opening in you can hold it closed with your hand, almost, and then when you’re pulling your pants up you can hold it closed with the top of your head. [/QUOTE] That’s why you’ve got kneecaps. \ \ “Ow! Occupied, you asshole!” “Sorry.” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/24 "2008-08-19T04:25:42Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] That’s why you’ve got kneecaps. \ \ “Ow! Occupied, you asshole!” “Sorry.” [/QUOTE] Usually your knees are just quite not long enough. Somebody could get halfway in before it hit your knees. You need the lean-over-hold-the-door and then the head trick. Alternately, you need a good friend to stand guard. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Macphisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Ms\_Macphisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Macphisto)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/25 "2008-08-19T04:34:25Z")
Or you need a situation like the bathrooms in a dance venue I go to weekly. Two of the four stalls in the women’s room don’t lock (too many layers of paint prevent the doors from closing fully!), and everyone knows this, so you check under the door for feet before entering those stalls. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/26 "2008-08-19T04:45:12Z")
I’m large by Thai standards, 6’3" and 235 pounds (107 kilograms), but some of the stalls they have here really seem to have been designed for midgets. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/27 "2008-08-19T05:37:05Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Really, the solution is even more simple than enlarging the stalls: how about switching the hinges so the doors open outwards? Duh. [/QUOTE] They aren’t built that way for safety reasons. If they were, people would open the door suddenly and hit other people walking by, injuring them, thus leading to expensive lawsuits for the property owner. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/28 "2008-08-19T11:41:01Z")
[QUOTE=nd\_n8] Also: **Swallowed My Cellphone** , while I sympathesize with your challenges and appreciate your illustrations I gotta ask: [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/3148/2454217351_536ca7d892.jpg "accident") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/9426210@N05/2454217351/in/photostream/) did this really happen? [/QUOTE] 'Tis true! That’s a diagram of an acident as described [this OP](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=466034) by **JohnBckWld**. It sounds like a lot of folk enter a stall and straddle the toilet seat to get the door closed, but I’m thinkinking there’s no way that would have worked for people like my late granny. Sure, I could get a foot on either side of one of those industrial toilets, but my one grandma was like maybe 4’8" and wore full lengths skirts for almost her entire adult life. She looked like a stick figure, but if she was a hefty woman who need to straddle the toilet, what would she do? Enter the stall, hopist her skirt up around her waist in plain view, back over the toilet, and _then_ close the door? And with her little wee legs, she’d be bow-legged if she had to straddle toilets. I’ve noticed there a world of difference when the stalls are even 8" wider. The ones I find awkward tend to be in office buildings rather than higher traffic areas. And like **Siam Sam** the stalls with really low doors freak me out. Especially when you go to a really nice restaurant and they have artsy stalls, with bamboo covered doors and stuff, and that are low enough that my head and shouldersclear the top by a tall margin. If someone’s sitting in there, you walk past and get too much of a view. Likewise, I hate “fancy” stall doors that are frosted glass so you feel like everyone can still see your butt only a blurry version. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/29 "2008-08-19T12:19:17Z")
Is there any reason why all toilet/restroom/jacks doors don’t open out the way? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/30 "2008-08-19T12:38:58Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] “People of size?” Is this the latest round of PC euphemistic nonsense? What’s wrong with our perfectly good, sensitive standbys like “morbidly obese death-ball,” “200 gallon lard bag,” “Fatfolds McGee[sup]1[/sup],” and “Canyon-Cheeks?” [sub]1. No offense intended for Scottish people.[/sub] [/QUOTE] Golf Foxtrot Yankee. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/31 "2008-08-19T13:51:00Z")
[QUOTE=VunderBob] Golf Foxtrot Yankee. [/QUOTE] Did some wide-load sit on your sense of humor? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/32 "2008-08-19T13:55:33Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] Did some wide-load sit on your sense of humor? [/QUOTE] My sense of humor on that particlular topic was surgically removed as a routine part of my gastric bypass. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/33 "2008-08-19T13:58:21Z")
[QUOTE=VunderBob] Golf Foxtrot Yankee. [/QUOTE] I can unscramble abbreviations too, you know. 😛 Seriously: **friedo** ’s post may have been a little crass, but telling another poster “go fuck yourself” (even in code) is a personal insult and not allowed in this forum. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/34 "2008-08-19T14:03:29Z")
If a person is much larger than average, they’re going to use the handicapped stall which has extra room. If they’re so big the handicapped stall isn’t enough then toilet strength is going to be an issue anyway. I once dealt with a prisoner who was really big - literally over six hundred pounds - and we had to build a special reinforced toilet that could support his weight. This guy was at least still mobile. People that get much bigger than that are usually going to be confined to a bed under medical care so finding a public toilet they can use isn’t an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/35 "2008-08-19T14:41:24Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I can unscramble abbreviations too, you know. 😛 Seriously: **friedo** ’s post may have been a little crass, but telling another poster “go fuck yourself” (even in code) is a personal insult and not allowed in this forum. [/QUOTE] I have kept out of this, but didn’t _friedo_ violate the don’t be a jerk portion of the rules with his comments first? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/36 "2008-08-19T14:43:56Z")
[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net] They aren’t built that way for safety reasons. If they were, people would open the door suddenly and hit other people walking by, injuring them, thus leading to expensive lawsuits for the property owner. [/QUOTE] As **nd\_n8** says, some stalls _do_ open out, and it seems their landlords are still in business. But yes, more of them open in, and I suspect it’s for the very reason you give. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/37 "2008-08-19T15:02:13Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] I have kept out of this, but didn’t _friedo_ violate the don’t be a jerk portion of the rules with his comments first? [/QUOTE] [I posted a thread for discussion, if you care to join it.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10112227#post10112227) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/38 "2008-08-19T15:03:14Z")
[QUOTE=VunderBob] Golf Foxtrot Yankee. [/QUOTE] Hey, I’m a fat guy, so I’m allowed. That’s how it works, isn’t it? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/39 "2008-08-19T15:32:22Z")
**Zsofia** –I use my elbow, not my head. The pulling down etc I can do with one hand; it’s the pulling up and rezipping etc that gives me trouble. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458/40 "2008-08-19T15:42:30Z")
I’m a small person and I’ve had problems negotiating the stall door dace before. I’ve often wondered the exact same thing. I don’t know tht there is a common thread amongst the tiny toilet rooms but I am definitley looking from now on! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-of-size-use-restroom-stalls/460458.md?page=3)