# Would you/could you poop in an open restroom environment without stalls? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 25, 2011, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014 "2011-08-25T07:44:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/1 "2011-08-25T07:44:28Z")
Doing business this afternoon, I was in the stall and heard my neighbor heave a sigh. It occurred to me then that he and I were only two feet apart, but with that all-important stall wall between us. I don’t think I could have accomplished anything if that wall weren’t there. Which led me to start reflecting, as I am wont to do at such times, thinking how much adjustment it would take to try to do one’s business if that were the case. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an open toilet environment without stalls, but I understand they have those in the army or some such. If you found yourself confronted with such a restroom, and there were already people there with business underway, could you use it? I don’t think I could unless it were an absolute emergency. ---
**Author:** ![ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/2 "2011-08-25T07:46:59Z")
Yep. Been there, done that (at a summer camp). Just look straight ahead or down at whatever you’re reading and **ignore**. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/3 "2011-08-25T08:01:26Z")
Would I/could I with a fox? Would I/could I in a box? Maybe, depends on how desperate I might be at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/4 "2011-08-25T08:39:56Z")
No, which is why I never get in trouble with the law - the thought of using a toilet in a jail cell terrifies me. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/5 "2011-08-25T09:38:23Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > No, which is why I never get in trouble with the law - the thought of using a toilet in a jail cell terrifies me. Did you have private stalls when you were in the army? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/6 "2011-08-25T10:42:52Z")
I spent some fairly annoying quality time in hospitals, if I can crap on a bedpan, I can crap anywhere. :rolleyes: Just like I can actually fall asleep lights on, people talking and moving around me as long as i have at least a sheet over my body. Hospitals are good for training you to sleep through just about anything up to and including blood draws. I could never understand being woken up to be given something to help me sleep though 😕 ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/7 "2011-08-25T10:51:35Z")
I could, yes. But would prefer not to. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/8 "2011-08-25T11:42:30Z")
On a cross-country move a few years back, I had to make a pit stop at a rest stop just north of Salt Lake City. The stalls were just over waist-high, and didn’t have doors. For extra discomfort, the neighbor in the next stall was chatty. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/9 "2011-08-25T11:53:42Z")
Of course I could, and I really don’t understand those who cannot. It is a necessary bodily function that can cause discomfort, or medical harm to you if you hold it too long. Just go. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/10 "2011-08-25T12:02:43Z")
I did it squatting over a trough in a bathroom in Beijing, China next to a couple chatty men who were quite interested in a westerner making a fool of himself. I’d rather not do it again. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/11 "2011-08-25T12:09:36Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Did you have private stalls when you were in the army? Yes, when we were in base. When we were out in the field, we either had individual outhouses or enough rocks to squat behind. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/12 "2011-08-25T12:11:52Z")
Probably, though I hope I never have to. I actually have literal nightmares about this very thing. No joke. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/13 "2011-08-25T12:33:37Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Probably, though I hope I never have to. > > I actually have literal nightmares about this very thing. No joke. Which is amusing, considering your user name! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/14 "2011-08-25T12:39:06Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > Which is amusing, considering your user name! Wait until **Dung Beetle** checks in. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/15 "2011-08-25T13:04:02Z")
I got here as soon as I could! It depends who’s in there with me. Which is to say, probably not. The only people who have ever seen me grow a tail were extruded from me in a similar manner. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/16 "2011-08-25T13:09:27Z")
If you gotta go, you gotta go. If I had a choice of private stall or public dumping hole, I’d choose the privacy. But if that’s all there was, sure. I can get used to anything. I recognize that sitting in a stall just a foot or two away from someone else on the other side of the wall can be an uncomfortable situation. But I suspect that the discomfort may be caused by the wall and that it supposedly provides “privacy”, when in reality there’s no privacy to speak of. I wouldn’t be surprised if without the dividing wall, the discomfort would also disappear. DB- really? I’d let my wife see me take a dump before I’d let my kids watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/17 "2011-08-25T13:18:59Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > DB- really? I’d let my wife see me take a dump before I’d let my kids watch it. I doubt my husband even knows I poop. Although you would think all the farting would arouse suspicion. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/18 "2011-08-25T14:04:31Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > No, which is why I never get in trouble with the law - the thought of using a toilet in a jail cell terrifies me. It’s not so bad. You can use it to make sangria too. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/19 "2011-08-25T14:09:18Z")
I doubt I could do unless I were (a) drunk or (b) really, really about to explode. I get irrationally nervous when I have an audience. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014/20 "2011-08-25T14:12:46Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > DB- really? I’d let my wife see me take a dump before I’d let my kids watch it. With infants/toddlers/preschoolers, you don’t tend to get much privacy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-could-you-poop-in-an-open-restroom-environment-without-stalls/594014.md?page=2)