# McDonald's Restaurant Rest Rooms - AIIIEEE! The FILTH! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 30, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550 "2010-07-30T04:32:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/21 "2010-07-30T14:45:41Z")
The restrooms may have been maintained by McDonald’s but if I’m reading you correctly, the bathrooms are available to every person who enters that rest stop. This is not the same situation as a bathroom in a standalone McDonald’s; the clientele is different. I’ve been to some of those reststops on the New York Thruway and the restrooms there are like the one in New York City’s Penn Station. In other words, heavily trafficked and accessible to all, not just restaurant patrons. They were not the cleanest places, I would agree. But maybe McDonald’s drew the short stick. The bathroom in a rest stop is going to be a cesspool and someone has the thankless job of maintaining it. Completely different scenario than a normal standalone McDonald’s restaurant. The Hardees and BK restrooms you say were pristine; were they embedded in a reststop or standalone? If embedded, were the restrooms located within the environs of the restaurant section, or were they in the main hall of the rest stop? ---
**Author:** ![kingbighair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/13edae/32.png) [@kingbighair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingbighair)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/22 "2010-07-30T14:51:57Z")
Just consider yourself lucky that you have never been to a PopCopy. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/23 "2010-07-30T14:58:06Z")
Report it to the McDonald’s management. Maybe the rest stop McDonald’s are different, but at the McDonald’s I worked at in high school, management took bathroom cleanliness very seriously, to the point that if a customer complained about a bathroom mess, a manager would pull someone from counter service or the grill area and have them go take care of the problem ASAP. (Or the manager would do it him/herself.) ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/24 "2010-07-30T15:11:04Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Report it to the McDonald’s management. Maybe the rest stop McDonald’s are different, but at the McDonald’s I worked at in high school, management took bathroom cleanliness very seriously, to the point that if a customer complained about a bathroom mess, a manager would pull someone from counter service or the grill area and have them go take care of the problem ASAP. (Or the manager would do it him/herself.) I can attest to this, speaking as a former employee (back in the 70’s), who had to clean up many a bathroom disaster. Our managers reacted to complaints immediately and also checked the bathrooms themselves every hour. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/25 "2010-07-30T15:34:15Z")
I think the OP is much more fun if you read the intro as a Johnny Cash song. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/26 "2010-07-30T15:36:15Z")
The answer is clear. Some supernatural force of filth chooses to blaze its trail across our highways and byways, marking every McDonald’s rest stop with its sign. The question is, **Broomstick** - are you the one who has been chosen to stop it? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/27 "2010-07-30T15:37:19Z")
This is a perfect example of a thread where Smeghead’s rule should have been applied: “Before starting a thread asking why some wild generalization is true, you should first start a thread asking IF your wild generalization is true.” It’s not very pithy, I admit. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/28 "2010-07-30T15:37:33Z")
> [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](#): > > And you’ve nothing to say about the substances they try to pass off as food? Complaining about McDonald’s food is pretty low-hanging fruit; at this point, it’s not like anyone going in there to eat doesn’t know what they’re getting. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/29 "2010-07-30T15:38:33Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > I think the OP is much more fun if you read the intro as a Johnny Cash song. It sounds like the mud, the blood, and the beer were all present. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/30 "2010-07-30T16:33:03Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > _On the fucking ceiling!_ HOW does one shit on the CEILING? That’s been covered on this board already…do a search for “prehensile rectum”. 🙂 I haven’t encountered a filthy McDonald’s restroom like that in a long time; the main problem I encounter is a lack of maintenance (doors are misaligned or won’t lock properly, toilet paper dispensers falling apart, etc.). The absolute worst restrooms I’ve ever encountered were a state-run rest stop in New York on 287 near White Plains. Every time I’ve ever tried visit there, I’ve had to leave due to the raw sewage stench. The grounds are always filthy, too – it’s impossible to walk a dog there. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/31 "2010-07-30T16:34:00Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > That’s been covered on this board already…do a search for “prehensile rectum”. 🙂 In fact, just go search it anyway, because that is an awesome OP to read. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/32 "2010-07-30T16:34:01Z")
I travel a lot and I like fast food–yeah, I admit it–so I have quite a bit of experience with McDonald’s. My experience has been that McDonald’s hit a nadir about ten years ago with respect to service times, restaurant cleanliness, and washroom cleanliness. They were expanding too fast and management took their eye of the ball. In fact for a period of time I avoided McD, not because I didn’t like the food, but because I didn’t like the slow service and dirt. At some point new management took over and they’ve gotten a lot better. Of course with thousands of restaurants you still find an _occasional_ cesspool, but they’re no longer the rule. Possibly the toll road food courts are worse than normal. They might get heavier traffic from non-customers, which makes them harder to maintain. I don’t know; I haven’t driven the eastern toll roads for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/33 "2010-07-30T16:47:11Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > The restrooms may have been maintained by McDonald’s but if I’m reading you correctly, the bathrooms are available to every person who enters that rest stop. This is not the same situation as a bathroom in a standalone McDonald’s; the clientele is different. I’ve been to some of those reststops on the New York Thruway and the restrooms there are like the one in New York City’s Penn Station. In other words, heavily trafficked and accessible to all, not just restaurant patrons. They were not the cleanest places, I would agree. But maybe McDonald’s drew the short stick. The bathroom in a rest stop is going to be a cesspool and someone has the thankless job of maintaining it. Completely different scenario than a normal standalone McDonald’s restaurant. > > The Hardees and BK restrooms you say were pristine; were they embedded in a reststop or standalone? If embedded, were the restrooms located within the environs of the restaurant section, or were they in the main hall of the rest stop? The Hardees and BK’s had the _exact same set up_ as the McDonald’s - same building architecture, layout, everything. No different, except the name of the company on the wall. See, that’s the thing, if it were JUST the public using these bathrooms they should ALL be nasty but they weren’t! Maybe the asshats seek out McDonald’s specifically? That’s the only thing I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/34 "2010-07-30T16:53:19Z")
> [@](#): > > The absolute worst restrooms I’ve ever encountered were a state-run rest stop in New York on 287 near White Plains. Every time I’ve ever tried visit there, I’ve had to leave due to the raw sewage stench. The grounds are always filthy, too – it’s impossible to walk a dog there. At this point, I’d like to give a shout out to the Missouri state rest stop and welcome center in or near Joplin. The restrooms are exceptionally clean and well maintained, and the last couple of times I visited, they were handing out free sodas, and urging people to stretch their legs a little before continuing their journey. If I had questions about any part of the state, the staff were quite knowledgable. I’ve visited other state run rest stops that were basically outhouses…they were open holes in an enclosed building, with seats and perhaps toilet paper, but running water was apparently a luxury. The stench and flies were unbelievable, and at times it was impossible to even enter the building long enough to take a quick pee. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/35 "2010-07-30T20:49:32Z")
I have never seen a filthy McDonald’s rest room-all have been clean and odor free. The worst places are those maintained by citys and states-probably becuase the people charged with maintaining them have little or no accountability. What amazes me: why on earth would you trash a rest room? How hard is it to pick up paper, wash your hands and not leave the sink filthy? On the other hand, I see the locker rooms at a public swiming pool being destroyed-by idiots who think it is cool…or the morons who tag buildings with their stupid graffiti-as if the rest of us appreciate their efforts to turn public spaces into dumps. One thing I read that made me sick-in many cities, public restrooms have blue lights-so that junkies seeking a place to “shoot up” will stay away (they can’t find veins in the blue light). To hell with the junkies and their own selfish habits-who needs them! ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/36 "2010-07-30T21:54:36Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > The absolute worst restrooms I’ve ever encountered were a state-run rest stop in New York on 287 near White Plains. Every time I’ve ever tried visit there, I’ve had to leave due to the raw sewage stench. The grounds are always filthy, too – it’s impossible to walk a dog there. > > At this point, I’d like to give a shout out to the Missouri state rest stop and welcome center in or near Joplin. The restrooms are exceptionally clean and well maintained, and the last couple of times I visited, they were handing out free sodas, and urging people to stretch their legs a little before continuing their journey. If I had questions about any part of the state, the staff were quite knowledgable. I have to add Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle to the exceptionally clean rest stop facilities as well ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/37 "2010-07-30T22:15:58Z")
Reading this I wonder if it’s a gender thing. Men’s rooms anywhere are rarely dirty in my experience, give or take the standing pools of urine and piss-spattered seats. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/38 "2010-07-30T22:21:58Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’d certainly much rather drink (South) Korean tap water than US tap water\*. Also, count me in with those who’ve never seen an unclean McDonalds’ bathroom. Dammit, man, where is your footnote? Where is the Og-bashed footnote? You put an asterisk in your post. That implies a foot note. I’m left with a literary version of _coitus interruptus_. For the love of Og, add the footnote! ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/39 "2010-07-30T22:30:28Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > You put an asterisk in your post. That implies a foot note. I’m left with a literary version of _coitus interruptus_. For the love of Og, add the footnote! Ah, footnote-related OCD. 😃 I’m so glad I’m not the only one thus afflicted. FWIW, most of the McDonald’s restrooms I’ve visited have been relatively clean, too. But my sample size is small: mostly SF Bay Area and CA Central Coast, or en route between the two. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550/40 "2010-07-31T00:52:09Z")
The closest McDonald’s to my apartment here in Busan is in a Home Plus[sup]1[/sup] store and thus the restrooms are maintained by the store. The staff there are very diligent[sup]2[/sup] about cleaning the place. When I mentioned to one of the greeters[sup]3[/sup] that someone was smoking[sup]4[/sup] in a stall, the greeter had to race the middle school boys[sup]5[/sup] nearby to the men’s room to warn the man twice[sup]6[/sup]. I will place a final note here[sup]7[/sup]. * * * [sup]1[/sup]I’m sure there’s some kind of humor in a Mormon living close to a Home Plus, but I’m not seeing it. [sup]2[/sup]The Home Plus men’s rooms maintenance sheets are very thorough. It amazes me every time I see the cleaner–usually a somewhat elderly woman–actually going through the checklist items and doing what’s directed. [sup]3[/sup]It’s illegal to smoke in restrooms open to the public; however, like any other “no smoking” ordinance here, that one’s widely disregarded by the selfish _sangnom_ who can’t do their business in the men’s room without sucking on something. In that incident, the offender was smoking a cigar. [sup]4[/sup]Korea does Japan one better on the deparment store greeter thing. Here, there are greeters at every floor, not just the entrance. [sup]5[/sup]I know the boys in question were middle schoolers because they were my students and I teach at a middle school. [sup]6[/sup]The first warning is a reminder that it’s illegal to smoke in the restroom. The second warning is that the middle schoolers love to throw water over the stalls when they discover someone smoking there. [sup]7[/sup]By the way, **phouka** and **winterhawk11** , I hope this post didn’t exacerbate your OCD too much. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-restaurant-rest-rooms-aiiieee-the-filth/548550.md?page=3)