# Odd Public Restroom Habits You've Observed **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033 "2013-03-15T19:33:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/41 "2013-03-16T04:04:18Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > That does it! Now I’m going to go and park in a handicapped spot! 😉 > > Actually, I’m sure we could start a whole new thread on this, but I spent 10 years in that building and never saw a handicapped male! Ah, the classics… > > [http://youtu.be/LgedBRXw7fY](http://youtu.be/LgedBRXw7fY) Ha! Loved that episode. minor nitpick…It always kinda bugged me how they portrayed the disabled guy’s point of view in that episode, however. He tells Larry, who says he had to use the handicapped stall because all the regular stalls were full, that he should have waited for one of those regular stalls to become free instead of using the handicapped stall. That is ridiculous and when the general public sees something like that, even though it _is_ just comedy, it makes it that much easier to lump it in with the legitimate plea/argument of many disabled people (myself included) that able-bodied people only use the handicapped stall when all others are full. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/42 "2013-03-16T04:06:32Z")
Sailors and ex-sailors will often brace on the wall with the other hand. I was told it comes from experience at sea. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/43 "2013-03-16T04:09:14Z")
The shit smearers, known to those who have worked fast food, you’ll find a stall looking like someone stuck a piece of dynamite in a turd. Someone literally smeared shit every. I always wanted to know WHO these people were. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/44 "2013-03-16T06:11:11Z")
When I lived in a dormitory many moons ago, one washroom on my “pod” had four guys living there, myself and a woman who lived there in name only. (She came once a week to pick up her mail and kind of show that she lived there. The rest of the time she lived with her boyfriend.) So…me… and four guys. Of course anyone in the building could have used these washrooms, this one was just closest to the five of us. Someone kept leaving used maxi pads on the old fashioned radiator. It was smelly and foul and of course I used to make the toilet paper mitt and dispose of the stupid thing. I didn’t want to have that smell cook up nicely nor did I wish to be thought the culprit. Ugh ugh ugh. Men’s washrooms can be splashy and sticky with urine, but women can be downright pigs. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/45 "2013-03-16T07:14:29Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > At my work there are 3 stalls in the bathroom. As far as i can tell, they are identical stalls. If I have to crap, I’ll go to the one farthest away. Almost invariably, if someone else comes in while I’m in there, and goes to a stall, it will be middle stall, next to me. What. the. hell. It’s a stall. There’s walls. You’d have something if you’re talking urinals without dividers. No one needs a buffer stall. ---
**Author:** ![Donna\_Lange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Donna\_Lange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donna_Lange)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/46 "2013-03-16T12:21:28Z")
If I use the toilet, I use the wrapper of the tampon I inserted to flush the toilet if I just inserted one. I’m sure that is unusual. I have seen some women breastfeed on the toilet and heard more than one time one lady re-leaving herself at the same time. And one time I saw one lady completely get undressed BEFORE walking into the stall. I was thinking she didn’t want to get her dress all dirty but hell, she can do that behind the stall door! ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/47 "2013-03-16T12:37:54Z")
> [@DummyGladHands](#): > > Sailors and ex-sailors will often brace on the wall with the other hand. I was told it comes from experience at sea. Men who did any length of time in prison do this as well, it’s incase you get attacked from behind you’ll have a free hand. I’m guilty of number 1, not because I’m marking my territory it’s because I have to spit. Not going to spit in the sink, so it’s toilet or urinal. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/48 "2013-03-17T02:15:58Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > It’s a stall. There’s walls. You’d have something if you’re talking urinals without dividers. No one needs a buffer stall. If you’re given the choice to a) poop 6 feet away from someone else who is pooping, or b) poop 2 feet away from someone else who is pooping, why on earth would anyone choose b over a? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/49 "2013-03-17T02:38:00Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > If you’re given the choice to a) poop 6 feet away from someone else who is pooping, or b) poop 2 feet away from someone else who is pooping, why on earth would anyone choose b over a? I agree. As someone who must use a stall/toilet every time (disabled), I really dislike it when someone-who has the option of using a farther toilet-selects the one right next to me in the handicapped stall. It’s the awkward silence in between the noises made when someone is doing their business that makes such close proximity bad. I can hear you breathing! Ugh. I can hear all the little strains and plops with extra clarity and who would enjoy that? ---
**Author:** ![Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marconi_N.Cheese)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/50 "2013-03-17T04:04:08Z")
I have no idea what happened [here](http://rossm.smugmug.com/photos/i-88S7G6P/0/L/i-88S7G6P-L.jpg). Someone is shedding or they shaved their nuts in the sink. That’s a lot of hair to be there by accident. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/51 "2013-03-17T07:06:47Z")
Sorta related-but why do people destroy restroom stalls? Every one I’ve been in in a local library looks like its been hit by a Mack truck-broken door locks, bent brackets-its like there is a concerted effort to destroy them. One bathroom even had the hot air hand dryer wrenched off the wall. And papers on the floor-how hard is it to pick up a paper towel? Would it kill you to pick up something you dropped and place it in the trash bin? People always amaze me. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/52 "2013-03-17T14:20:32Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > If you’re given the choice to a) poop 6 feet away from someone else who is pooping, or b) poop 2 feet away from someone else who is pooping, why on earth would anyone choose b over a? There’s a wall. That negates the relevance of the distance. Bathrooms smell like shit anyhow. They don’t magically smell less sitting four feet away. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/53 "2013-03-17T14:43:40Z")
I haven;'t directly observed this, but I’ve seen the result often enough. a lot of guys apparently pick their noses while at the urinal, then feel compelled to wipe the picking off onto the wal in front of them. I’ve seen this a _lot_, and i’ve always found it weird. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/54 "2013-03-17T14:54:29Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I haven;'t directly observed this, but I’ve seen the result often enough. > a lot of guys apparently pick their noses while at the urinal, then feel compelled to wipe the picking off onto the wal in front of them. I’ve seen this a _lot_, and i’ve always found it weird. I do admit to picking my nose in the washroom, but I do it in the stall (I’m female) and I use toilet paper. When I studied music at McGill, people were always picking their noses in the practice rooms and wiping the result on the walls. Ew. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/55 "2013-03-17T15:19:47Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > There’s a wall. That negates the relevance of the distance. Bathrooms smell like shit anyhow. They don’t magically smell less sitting four feet away. Smell isn’t the issue. It’s just weird. For the reasons **Ambivalid** mentioned, as well as _why make a conscious decision to sit down and poop closer to someone else pooping when, all things being equal, the other option is sit down and poop farther away from that person_ ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/56 "2013-03-17T16:37:11Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Sorta related-but why do people destroy restroom stalls? Every one I’ve been in in a local library looks like its been hit by a Mack truck-broken door locks, bent brackets-its like there is a concerted effort to destroy them. One bathroom even had the hot air hand dryer wrenched off the wall. Homeless dudes. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/57 "2013-03-17T16:38:51Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > Smell isn’t the issue. It’s just weird. For the reasons **Ambivalid** mentioned, as well as _why make a conscious decision to sit down and poop closer to someone else pooping when, all things being equal, the other option is sit down and poop farther away from that person_ You just pick one at random. It’s not weird at all. It’s empty, so it’s available. What difference does it make?😕 ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/58 "2013-03-17T17:13:58Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Homeless dudes. Is this part of the crazy that likely leads them to be homeless in the first place? I mean, bathrooms at libraries and other public buildings are the last places that will put up with that sort of behavior- why would they (maybe literally) shit where they eat and wreck up the bathrooms? It seems counterproductive- do it enough, and you’ll get banned from there as well. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/59 "2013-03-17T17:18:10Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Is this part of the crazy that likely leads them to be homeless in the first place? > > I mean, bathrooms at libraries and other public buildings are the last places that will put up with that sort of behavior- why would they (maybe literally) shit where they eat and wreck up the bathrooms? > > It seems counterproductive- do it enough, and you’ll get banned from there as well. Yes. Note that only a few homeless dudes are that crazy, but they are crazy enough to destroy things at random, shit in corners, go for a year without bathing, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033/60 "2013-03-18T17:14:09Z")
> [@Donna\_Lange](#): > > If I use the toilet, I use the wrapper of the tampon I inserted to flush the toilet if I just inserted one. I’m sure that is unusual. Much moreso if you are a male… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-public-restroom-habits-youve-observed/653033.md?page=4)