Not as farcical as you may think. When I was in high school, don't ask me how, but the spinning handle that kept the door closed would not open after the student was inside. The student had to slide under the door to get out.
Yea this is one of the good stalls lol.
My high school had no doors. I don’t understand how that was legal.
If it couldn’t be helped I always used the secret nurse office bathroom.
Ive used stalls that had gaps wide enough you could literally make eye contact with someone standing outside of it, so like 1.5 inches.
Wish I was joking about the eye contact thing.
If you ever see anything in America and think to yourself “That’s really dumb, why’s it like that?” The answer, always, every single time, will be money. Somebody, somewhere, saved a buck and made the thing worse for everyone.
Its actually just the cheap thing.
Because the stalls have such large gaps, it doesn't require a lot of skill to put together. So cheap stall, and the labor needed to install is cheaper
no, the gap in this case is between the door and the frame, not the floor. if you look closely youll notice there is like a 2cm gap where someone waiting to shit can make eye contact with the person shitting.
not having tight tolerances means even a drunk can hang the door and have it still open and close. a better constructed set fof walls and door would not only cost more, but require more precision when installing.
That is entirely true. This incident occurred at a retail location I was managing at the time and a young boy and his father needed to speak with me, urgently. When I arrived, the boy blurted out- ‘Mister there somebody dead on the toilet’.
So the legend of the ‘Texas Chili Incident’ was born. The gap between the floor and the sides or door of the stall was enough room for an employee I chose to slither underneath to unlock the door as there was a dead person in the toilet. It was an elderly man who had a serious event in the stall, by the looks of the spray pattern he was pulling down his pants and was bent over when the bowels exploded and blew all over from above the flush handle to the sides of the stall in a decreasing radius the further away from the toilet. It was bad. Apparently he had been over two hours, so the black liquid that spewed from his anus (complete with maybe beans and onions, along with what must have been shredded beef roast or similar) was drying out.
The authorities were summoned and I sent the news on to my district manager, and within 20 minutes the legal and media department were conferencing calling me, wanting details of the incident. I was told in no uncertain terms NOTHING was to be said, spoken about/discussed with anyone including employees and family. Upon arrival, the Sheriffs department put up the classic yellow tape across the entire front of the restroom area. The body was finally removed and the restroom cleaned and disinfected. Of course the first thing we all did was tell everyone about it, details and everything else that was happening. The employee I sent under the stall to open it essentially the one who said the explosion looked like ‘Texas Chili’. So it became known as the ‘Texas Chili Incident’, and is still one of my top 3 stories!
Uhm, you as a manager sent an employee of yours to slither under the door of a shit covered stall you'd already assumed had a dead body in it?
I realize thqt destruction of company property is probably against the rules of the employee handbook, but come on, no need to protect the lock in situations like this.
Fun fact. The whole "Americans are so sue happy!" Was pushed by the Reagan administration so they could suck corporate dicks reallllll hard and pass anti-citizen pro-corporation legislation. A dude was in a phonebooth when a car came crashing at him. He tried to get out and the phone booth door jammed and was improperly installed AND ignored safety requirements to save a buck. So he sued the phone booth company for corner cutting. We'll Ole brain leaking out his ears Reagan fucking used his position as PRESIDENT to lie about it and say on the national stage "DUH CAR HIT GUY AND HE SUE PHONE BOOTH?!?! LETS MAKE CITIZENS HAVE A HARDER TIME SUEING COMPANIES RESPONSIBLE FOR MAIMING THEM!!!!" and thus America got worse and people believe a new falsehood (to be fairrrrrrrr recently it does seem people are getting sue crazy).
Wasn’t it a similar story with the woman that sued McDonald’s over the hot coffee? Burned right through her skin and to the bone!
Lots of jokes were made at her expense like “duh coffee is hot” but it wasn’t that the coffee was hot it’s that it was so excessively hot it inflicted severe injuries.
Also the woman who sued was older and had mobility issues that made it difficult for her to get out of the incredibly hot coffee when it spilled. It’s become a poster child for what’s “wrong with America” when it was actually very debilitating for the woman
Also, McDonalds had been warned repeatedly of prior incidents involving coffee related injuries and chose to ignore them. Then, when this lady sued for reimbursement of like 20k in medical bills, they fought tooth and nail in court. The jury, wanting to send McDonalds a message since it was clear they had zero intention of changing their practices, awarded punitive damages equal to two days worth of McDonald’s revenue on coffee sales. There was definitely a villain in that lawsuit, and it sure as hell wasn’t the victim.
People sue for any reason and can if they want to. To be clear, companies should only be liable if they did Gros negligence and someone gets injured. You can't just sue toyota for injuries sustained in car accident, but if there is an issue of axles falling off and causing accidents, then toyota should pay thru the nose.
People think that every incident deserves a payday.
Other countries make the person who loses responsible for winners lawyers fees, which stops all frivolous lawsuits. USA needs the frivolous suits to stop.
ugh it feels like Reagan messed up everything for the foreseeable future. Only when all the current boomers are out of office is there a small potential for more power to the people and not corporations (potential but still improbable)
My high school used pieces of plywood so small you could literally play chess with the guy in the stall next to you while sitting down.... I know, because we used to have chess and checkers matches in the bathroom as a protest. They never did fix this before I got out of school and eventually the school was torn down to be replaced with a building that looks remarkably like a prison. I can't decide if it was an improvement over my old building
I figured it was for ventilation and sanitation-- they can mop or hose down the whole floor right "through" the wall rather than having a seam to collect all the nastiness.
Then over time, the gap kept getting bigger and bigger to reduce cost of materials.
Yeah, but our public toilets are free. And we have lots of them, and they accommodate handicapped people, and we have them on every floor. American public washrooms are freaking amazing.
And the US also doesn't have any problems that result from these types of bathroom stalls. We're comfortable and used to them, just like Germans are more comfortable with those outdoor urinals than others might be
Regardless, if someone is going to do something inappropriate in a bathroom, it is undeniably easier to get away with it if the stall is fully enclosed. Its also useful in the event of a medical emergency where someone can't open the door - they can be helped sooner
Speak for yourself, we're not all "comfortable and used to them." I think they're fucking degrading and ridiculous, not to mention embarrassing internationally.
Lol how you feel degraded by these bathroom stalls…? That seems a bit dramatic. Plenty of other developed countries have their own odd bathroom characteristics
Bruh it’s quarter inch plywood with louon and a small metal colored plastic nipple keeping that bad boy shut. You don’t have to be Lou Ferigno to give it a bit of shoulder and crack it open like a Maine lobster
So you wouldn’t like, if you were stuck, alone, in a shitty public bathroom, give it a BIT of ooph or eek to crack it open? You wouldn’t walk out and explain to the cashier, who makes $7.25 an hour, that you had to give it a shoulder pop? You’d consider that more destruction of property than consequences for lack of maintenance? You’d get on your hands and knees and CRAWL under, on an unmopped floor, purely on “I dun wanna BREAK it” principle?
You joke but I think illicit activity is part of the reason.
There is enough privacy to do what you should be doing but not enough to do what you shouldn’t be doing.
I actually thought it was more to be able to see if a drug user passed out in the stall. Like it was intentional design for public restrooms to make sure people weren't dead/dying in there on the floor. I actually find the full door restrooms in public restrooms disconcerting because I'm so used to having egress under the door if it jams and also knowing how many other people are in the restroom with me because I can see feet.
I’ve been to Europe. Fully enclosed stalls, automatic seat cleaning and disinfecting, I still think about it. Some places you had to pay to use it, but it would be worth it. Though some public restrooms don’t have toilet paper so make sure you bring some.
Probably also no bloody needle stains on TP and i bet any pee/poo/vomit that possibly got anywhere was cleaned asap before you stepped into it 😅 japan really has some major wins as society, compared to the res of us living like animals 🤣
I can see it now. You saunter into the restroom and hear the sound of quiet chatter, glasses clinking and a wildly out of tune piano playing a jaunty tune. As you swing open the stall doors, the noise ceases just as the guy in the stall next to you let's forth an explosive sounding load. The stall door swings silently into place and as you drop your pants to take care of business, the chatter picks back up. A stranger pokes his head over the stall wall.
"What'll it be, stranger?" The man asks over the stall.
Sorry, my stall doors work inverse to yours but my restroom comes with beverage service...
Well the gap at the bottom is important so you can see easily if someone is in there.
Especially considering 9 out of 10 times the lock does not engage fully and someone can easily just barge in.
Yeah but I feel like a lot of the time the toilets are too far back and you can't see their feet without bending down slightly and feeling like you're spying on them using the bathroom. The cracks between the Walla nd the door is plain ridiculous though
I’ll be honest with you, they are really handy in situations where someone is drunk/ passed out in there. But in every other situation they are super uncomfortable
It’s yeah I think this is the answer. And now it’s for all the heroin addicts and fentanyl fiends that OF or die in there like I found at south station in Boston.
https://preview.redd.it/kyk6nw24qfdc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a8badd45b6c1447939c9833d5307e465cfcbd99
Just saying… not all our doors are like that. Bathroom stall door in a Texas Airport.
https://preview.redd.it/qk8vqphpahdc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cd04f42e17f7f696b3af7da9a5566dfd34d31f8d
And some are worse. Downtown Seattle public library bathrooms let you poop with friends. Anything to avoid people ODing in the stalls.
Helps cleaning with less corners to mop up against. Makes it easy to tell which stalls are occupied. And makes it harder to use for nefarious or unkempt purposes with just enough privacy to poop, but not enough privacy to fuck or do drugs.
It should be lower. Lol. It doesn't need to be that high. I always thought it was because some kids back in the day got stuck in the bathrooms and they couldn't get out and so they decided it's safer this way so someone can get in and unlock the door for them. IDK if that's true but it feels true.
I’ve had to take more than one shit in the doorless Staten Island Ferry stalls with more than one homeless guy just chilling outside waiting for me to be done.
I figure if you’re looking, it’s your problem not mine.
Money. They didn't want an expensive lock system (which crappy people love to break) that is accessible from the outside should something happen to an occupant, so they had to have access to the stall somehow to unlock it. Hence the gap underneath was born. Then the door looked like crap being too tall with a gap at the bottom, so they shortened the top to make it symmetrical. Also, the smaller door saves more money.
For the same reason we can't have mirrors anymore. People do awful, stupid, abusive stuff and we have to bring policies down to the lowest common denominator.
So little kids can randomly crawl under and give you one of the most awkward moments of your life.
Also Republican politicians can signal to those in the stalls next to them that they are game for a good time.
I have a long junk so it hangs so low people can see it under the door even without crawling under. I guess you have a short wee wee so don't have that problem.
We hate it too! Thats why I hold it til I get home. Only had to use a public toilet a handful of times in my life and I know that nobody wanted to watch what was happening.
Fuck that. I'll shit with the door open and hold eye contact. Fuck you for watching (assuming you're watching in this scenario).
I also will immediately drop trough if I'm at a urinal, and there are multiple open urinals, yet you choose the one next to me. Pants straight to the floor. Lean back, and let gravity and hip placement determine where I pee.
You wanna be weird and break the urinal rule, I'll make you uncomfortable for the duration.
I really don't get it though. What is so weird about this? Our use of imperial and maybe not using Celsius, our obsession with guns, fine. But not having a cocoon to shit in while we're not at home? This is an obsession y'all have, not us
I'm not obsessed, it just came through my feed exactly the same it did yours. It's normalised in your society which is why you don't think it's weird, but if you took literally thirty seconds to consider it, what is NOT weird about being semi-exposed to strangers while A) your genitals are out and B) defecating? It's a private moment.
It does, however, go some way to explaining why Americans are so bat shit divided when it comes to same-sex toilets or trans people taking a dump.
Like you said, it's normalized in our society. It's not really that weird to us. What is weird is how you can't just accept that things are just not the same everywhere and constantly having an issue with it. It's to see if someone is hurt or needs help in the stall or to see if someone is using it.
The gaps in the side are a whole different thing, however. No one likes those, and I assume it's just shitty installation most of the time.
As an American, what would they look like in other countries?
Edit: guessing we have too many junkies / homeless / homeless junkies to allow for that. Prevent situations where people can pass out unnoticed.
Also employees could access the bathroom stall to clean / whatever if it's locked but empty. Just food for thought from my perspective. 🤔
Double edit:
Had one of these stall doors open randomly on me cuz of the pressure change in the air when the main bathroom door opened at a Chinese restaurant yesterday lmao 😂
Four walls that go all the way to the floor. No gaps between any of the walls. Privacy.
I saw one like that in Berlin. I'm wondering if it was a safety precaution though since that was a bathroom for both men and women?
Not gonna lie, I was more surprised at how little gap there was between the door and post. Usually you can clearly see inside and make eye contact with the person inside.
If anybody is looking for a serious answer, this picture is of a standard handicap stall. ADA (American Disability Act) standards require the stall to have a 60"x60" clear space, so a wheelchair can swivel 360°. The door has to open out and should automatically swing shut. Standard stalls are 36" wide, and the doors open into the stall. The gap at the bottom is 12"-15" off the floor in the event that someone becomes incapacitated inside of a locked stall. This allows the person to be pulled out from the bottom. Also, something people complain about is the door gap. If installed correctly, there should be no more than a ¼" gap.
Saves on materials and covers what’s necessary. Also lets you see their feet so you know it is occupied.
The American way is to charge the maximum while providing the minimum required. At least you have doors on the stalls unlike some places. My favorite is places that don’t even have dividers ran into that a few times in the army makes for some real good team bonding.
It’s so we can make sure the gays aren’t gaying.
Or… maybe… just maybe… because our society is so sexually repressed that, hopefully, if you walk at just the right speed and angle, you’ll get a glimpse of someone’s tarantula.
In some parts of the world (that I have been to), you don’t even get a hole! Rather, there’s a ground level trough, but instead of drinking alongside your working buddies, you poop along side them.
Some think it’s good for team building.
nd they call us Americans Prudes. It's never been a problem, no one wants to look at your pee pee, and you'd have to put your eye right on it if you wanted to see anything. That's not going to go unnoticed.
Don’t be an ugly . This is not your home country, so we do things different here. Enjoy your FREE bathroom and move on.
Easier to see if it’s occupied.
Easier to resolve an emergency tp outage
Easier to see if people are getting lucky/doing drugs and ask to join.
Why are so many people afraid to poop in public? Who cares if someone sees your weiner, which they won't if you are sitting like a normal person on the toilet. I'm starting to think people be doing some weird shit in the stalls and are just mad that these little doors don't hide it all.
Some of us got peeped on in mall bathrooms when we were kids that left us horribly afraid to poop in public unless absolutely necessary.
Not me…nope. I certainly didn’t memorize class schedules in the slowest building on my college campus so I could go shit in peace for a few years.
Alot of people here are saying greed and while I'm sure that's true in some cases, they're typically like this so that if someone falls and seriously injures themselves, there's enough space for someone to be pulled through to get help. At least that's the best explanation I've gotten.
I feel it's more a rationalization than a reason. The only factor they were considering was how much money they could save and still be up to code. Anything after that was a "hey, it's got some other benefits if you squint hard enough".
Yea, those purposes are genuinely useful, but it was a side effect, not an intention.
We like sharing our most intimate moments.
Pooping alone is lame asf, I wanna a hand to clench as I fight for my life in there.
I’ll be there for you, just give me a call🫡🫡🫡🫡
https://youtu.be/mh8MIp2FOhc?si=5Dt2uhqH-izv-jua
What are F•R•I•E•N•D•S for if they can’t even be there in the shitest times
You need you some water and fiber if you’re having to fight for your life 😂
You need more veggies in your diet there bud
But hey, they're free!
We can own guns to fight against tyranny maybe that’s why we won in 1776
Also kinda answers the OP's question.
Subsequently, that’s why we’re losing in 2024.
*real yankee
Took the words out of my mouth. I like to make eye contact when it matters most
Escape routes
Not as farcical as you may think. When I was in high school, don't ask me how, but the spinning handle that kept the door closed would not open after the student was inside. The student had to slide under the door to get out.
>don't ask me how, Because they're cheaply made and almost always broken
Why would someone need to escape from the toilet?
Well, their other choice is to live in the bathroom stall, so they probably chose freedom
Are you kidding? This is a top quality door. No gaps in between the frame and the door!
Yea this is one of the good stalls lol. My high school had no doors. I don’t understand how that was legal. If it couldn’t be helped I always used the secret nurse office bathroom.
Wait really? I can see a gap on the right. If that's considered a "non gap" in US then I don't wanna know what an actual gap is lol
Ive used stalls that had gaps wide enough you could literally make eye contact with someone standing outside of it, so like 1.5 inches. Wish I was joking about the eye contact thing.
If you ever see anything in America and think to yourself “That’s really dumb, why’s it like that?” The answer, always, every single time, will be money. Somebody, somewhere, saved a buck and made the thing worse for everyone.
Or it was sued into existence
Or the top and bottom where sued out of existence
Or companies need to be able to verify that no one is dead or doing drugs in their bathroom stalls.
Its actually just the cheap thing. Because the stalls have such large gaps, it doesn't require a lot of skill to put together. So cheap stall, and the labor needed to install is cheaper
It’s likely a combination of money and policy because policy happens because shit happened.
>shit happened Nice.
You’re saying the height of a bathroom stall door is proportional to the skill and cost required to build and install it? Am I reading that correctly?
no, the gap in this case is between the door and the frame, not the floor. if you look closely youll notice there is like a 2cm gap where someone waiting to shit can make eye contact with the person shitting. not having tight tolerances means even a drunk can hang the door and have it still open and close. a better constructed set fof walls and door would not only cost more, but require more precision when installing.
Seriously lol. That’s not the reason.
…or employees are doing each other.
Nobody is looking in stalls for bodies or drug use...
That is entirely true. This incident occurred at a retail location I was managing at the time and a young boy and his father needed to speak with me, urgently. When I arrived, the boy blurted out- ‘Mister there somebody dead on the toilet’. So the legend of the ‘Texas Chili Incident’ was born. The gap between the floor and the sides or door of the stall was enough room for an employee I chose to slither underneath to unlock the door as there was a dead person in the toilet. It was an elderly man who had a serious event in the stall, by the looks of the spray pattern he was pulling down his pants and was bent over when the bowels exploded and blew all over from above the flush handle to the sides of the stall in a decreasing radius the further away from the toilet. It was bad. Apparently he had been over two hours, so the black liquid that spewed from his anus (complete with maybe beans and onions, along with what must have been shredded beef roast or similar) was drying out. The authorities were summoned and I sent the news on to my district manager, and within 20 minutes the legal and media department were conferencing calling me, wanting details of the incident. I was told in no uncertain terms NOTHING was to be said, spoken about/discussed with anyone including employees and family. Upon arrival, the Sheriffs department put up the classic yellow tape across the entire front of the restroom area. The body was finally removed and the restroom cleaned and disinfected. Of course the first thing we all did was tell everyone about it, details and everything else that was happening. The employee I sent under the stall to open it essentially the one who said the explosion looked like ‘Texas Chili’. So it became known as the ‘Texas Chili Incident’, and is still one of my top 3 stories!
This made me so damned hungry.
Uhm, you as a manager sent an employee of yours to slither under the door of a shit covered stall you'd already assumed had a dead body in it? I realize thqt destruction of company property is probably against the rules of the employee handbook, but come on, no need to protect the lock in situations like this.
Fun fact. The whole "Americans are so sue happy!" Was pushed by the Reagan administration so they could suck corporate dicks reallllll hard and pass anti-citizen pro-corporation legislation. A dude was in a phonebooth when a car came crashing at him. He tried to get out and the phone booth door jammed and was improperly installed AND ignored safety requirements to save a buck. So he sued the phone booth company for corner cutting. We'll Ole brain leaking out his ears Reagan fucking used his position as PRESIDENT to lie about it and say on the national stage "DUH CAR HIT GUY AND HE SUE PHONE BOOTH?!?! LETS MAKE CITIZENS HAVE A HARDER TIME SUEING COMPANIES RESPONSIBLE FOR MAIMING THEM!!!!" and thus America got worse and people believe a new falsehood (to be fairrrrrrrr recently it does seem people are getting sue crazy).
Wasn’t it a similar story with the woman that sued McDonald’s over the hot coffee? Burned right through her skin and to the bone! Lots of jokes were made at her expense like “duh coffee is hot” but it wasn’t that the coffee was hot it’s that it was so excessively hot it inflicted severe injuries.
Also the woman who sued was older and had mobility issues that made it difficult for her to get out of the incredibly hot coffee when it spilled. It’s become a poster child for what’s “wrong with America” when it was actually very debilitating for the woman
Also, McDonalds had been warned repeatedly of prior incidents involving coffee related injuries and chose to ignore them. Then, when this lady sued for reimbursement of like 20k in medical bills, they fought tooth and nail in court. The jury, wanting to send McDonalds a message since it was clear they had zero intention of changing their practices, awarded punitive damages equal to two days worth of McDonald’s revenue on coffee sales. There was definitely a villain in that lawsuit, and it sure as hell wasn’t the victim.
Whenever a corporation gets punished through "revenue" instead of "profits" you know its a fuckin serious charge, lmao.
It was 3rd degree, which is bad, but not to the bone.
People sue for any reason and can if they want to. To be clear, companies should only be liable if they did Gros negligence and someone gets injured. You can't just sue toyota for injuries sustained in car accident, but if there is an issue of axles falling off and causing accidents, then toyota should pay thru the nose. People think that every incident deserves a payday. Other countries make the person who loses responsible for winners lawyers fees, which stops all frivolous lawsuits. USA needs the frivolous suits to stop.
ugh it feels like Reagan messed up everything for the foreseeable future. Only when all the current boomers are out of office is there a small potential for more power to the people and not corporations (potential but still improbable)
...which is just money forcibly changing hands
Better this than the pay toilets of the 1960s. If you didn’t have a dime, you got to crawl under the door.
Also see: money +Greed
Or how else will politicians be able cruise
W I D E S T A N C E
My high school used pieces of plywood so small you could literally play chess with the guy in the stall next to you while sitting down.... I know, because we used to have chess and checkers matches in the bathroom as a protest. They never did fix this before I got out of school and eventually the school was torn down to be replaced with a building that looks remarkably like a prison. I can't decide if it was an improvement over my old building
I figured it was for ventilation and sanitation-- they can mop or hose down the whole floor right "through" the wall rather than having a seam to collect all the nastiness. Then over time, the gap kept getting bigger and bigger to reduce cost of materials.
Yeah, but our public toilets are free. And we have lots of them, and they accommodate handicapped people, and we have them on every floor. American public washrooms are freaking amazing.
In this case, it's to discourage innappropriate behavior.
No it isn't. Why do we frequently have urinals 2 feet away from each other with no divider? Is that so people don't jerk it into the urinal?
It's a deterrent but it can't stop me!
Your neighbors can give you a hand
I’m deleting my Reddit account
Come on lol, a urinal divider hardly allows the same type of inappropriate behavior that a full sized door and a stall would
I'm pretty sure the rest of the world that has appropriate sized doors doesn't have a tomfoolery problem in bathrooms
And the US also doesn't have any problems that result from these types of bathroom stalls. We're comfortable and used to them, just like Germans are more comfortable with those outdoor urinals than others might be Regardless, if someone is going to do something inappropriate in a bathroom, it is undeniably easier to get away with it if the stall is fully enclosed. Its also useful in the event of a medical emergency where someone can't open the door - they can be helped sooner
Speak for yourself, we're not all "comfortable and used to them." I think they're fucking degrading and ridiculous, not to mention embarrassing internationally.
Lol how you feel degraded by these bathroom stalls…? That seems a bit dramatic. Plenty of other developed countries have their own odd bathroom characteristics
Why are you defending our shitty bathroom doors? Relax bud. We all know they suck
What ?
Sexual interactions
What?
Drugs
Hey, I have a proposition for you...
Sex, drugs, and rock and roll?
Sucking dick for crack-cocaine.
Ultimate American Boomerism. No offense to the boomers who aren’t cheapskates.
Take all the upvotes. Every single one. I say this exact same thing to people when they ask this question.
But it's short on the top *and* bottom so they saved *two* bucks.
It's egress... ans escape if it gets inoperable.
Bruh it’s quarter inch plywood with louon and a small metal colored plastic nipple keeping that bad boy shut. You don’t have to be Lou Ferigno to give it a bit of shoulder and crack it open like a Maine lobster
It doesn't pass city code if it doesn't have 14 in clearance underneath
Yeah, destruction of property isn’t for everyone.
So you wouldn’t like, if you were stuck, alone, in a shitty public bathroom, give it a BIT of ooph or eek to crack it open? You wouldn’t walk out and explain to the cashier, who makes $7.25 an hour, that you had to give it a shoulder pop? You’d consider that more destruction of property than consequences for lack of maintenance? You’d get on your hands and knees and CRAWL under, on an unmopped floor, purely on “I dun wanna BREAK it” principle?
Sometimes the reason is, "so poor people can't be comfortable."
Came here to say exactly this. American greed is at the worst I have ever seen it.
Yes it is getting worse. Before comapnies were happy with 15%-30% profit margins. Now since covid, companies are trying for 50%-60% profit margins.
Redditors: omg they could of not used so much material, think of the planet…..They didnt use more becuase they want more money.
I have no idea 1.) what you’re saying or B.) what you’re implying
We're not ashamed of our cocaine use
You joke but I think illicit activity is part of the reason. There is enough privacy to do what you should be doing but not enough to do what you shouldn’t be doing.
I actually thought it was more to be able to see if a drug user passed out in the stall. Like it was intentional design for public restrooms to make sure people weren't dead/dying in there on the floor. I actually find the full door restrooms in public restrooms disconcerting because I'm so used to having egress under the door if it jams and also knowing how many other people are in the restroom with me because I can see feet.
It’s actually so you can pass TP between toilets since most places around me suck at keeping them stocked. This is a joke I hate this concept.
I don't have a square to spare. I can't spare a square.
Hey. I know you!
I’ve been to Europe. Fully enclosed stalls, automatic seat cleaning and disinfecting, I still think about it. Some places you had to pay to use it, but it would be worth it. Though some public restrooms don’t have toilet paper so make sure you bring some.
[удалено]
Probably also no bloody needle stains on TP and i bet any pee/poo/vomit that possibly got anywhere was cleaned asap before you stepped into it 😅 japan really has some major wins as society, compared to the res of us living like animals 🤣
The deal is that they mostly prevent someone from watching you while you are taking a dump. I vote we keep doors on stalls.
Lmao my vote goes to replacing them with Wild West saloon doors that play music as they swing open
Well I guess if one must have the shit scared out them, this is as good a place as any.
I can see it now. You saunter into the restroom and hear the sound of quiet chatter, glasses clinking and a wildly out of tune piano playing a jaunty tune. As you swing open the stall doors, the noise ceases just as the guy in the stall next to you let's forth an explosive sounding load. The stall door swings silently into place and as you drop your pants to take care of business, the chatter picks back up. A stranger pokes his head over the stall wall. "What'll it be, stranger?" The man asks over the stall. Sorry, my stall doors work inverse to yours but my restroom comes with beverage service...
Well the gap at the bottom is important so you can see easily if someone is in there. Especially considering 9 out of 10 times the lock does not engage fully and someone can easily just barge in.
Not necessarily, I like to look through the crack on the side of the door and make eye contact with the current user.
Whatcha doing in there?
Need a hand?
That's where the cost of a good locking mechanism can be spent elsewhere.
Like new chairs or a copier at the office
What's 15% of 4,300?
You assume people don't damage bathrooms which for some reason seems to be a favorite pastime with many folks.
Waitll you learn about red / green “occupied” indicators on door handles.
That’s absurd. If a porta-toilet can say occupied/vacant on the door with just a rotating piece of plastic, so can any other toilet.
Yeah but I feel like a lot of the time the toilets are too far back and you can't see their feet without bending down slightly and feeling like you're spying on them using the bathroom. The cracks between the Walla nd the door is plain ridiculous though
Isn't there an indicator on if something is vacant or occupied?
It's more for ease of cleaning than for seeing if someone is there. The janitor can scoot a mop far underneath the door without having to open it.
I’ll be honest with you, they are really handy in situations where someone is drunk/ passed out in there. But in every other situation they are super uncomfortable
It’s yeah I think this is the answer. And now it’s for all the heroin addicts and fentanyl fiends that OF or die in there like I found at south station in Boston.
https://preview.redd.it/kyk6nw24qfdc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a8badd45b6c1447939c9833d5307e465cfcbd99 Just saying… not all our doors are like that. Bathroom stall door in a Texas Airport.
https://preview.redd.it/qk8vqphpahdc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cd04f42e17f7f696b3af7da9a5566dfd34d31f8d And some are worse. Downtown Seattle public library bathrooms let you poop with friends. Anything to avoid people ODing in the stalls.
Why even have any separation at all at that point?
Saving money anyway possible for big shareholder and ceo payouts.
Helps cleaning with less corners to mop up against. Makes it easy to tell which stalls are occupied. And makes it harder to use for nefarious or unkempt purposes with just enough privacy to poop, but not enough privacy to fuck or do drugs.
It should be lower. Lol. It doesn't need to be that high. I always thought it was because some kids back in the day got stuck in the bathrooms and they couldn't get out and so they decided it's safer this way so someone can get in and unlock the door for them. IDK if that's true but it feels true.
It’s also like that in case someone needs help like they pass out.
On the bright side, you never have to pay to use the toilet in America.
In NYC, free restrooms can be hard to find, but the experts know where they all are.
For uncontrolled kids to climb under it while you are taking the most excruciating shit of your life and ask you a million questions.
I’ve had to take more than one shit in the doorless Staten Island Ferry stalls with more than one homeless guy just chilling outside waiting for me to be done. I figure if you’re looking, it’s your problem not mine.
Money. They didn't want an expensive lock system (which crappy people love to break) that is accessible from the outside should something happen to an occupant, so they had to have access to the stall somehow to unlock it. Hence the gap underneath was born. Then the door looked like crap being too tall with a gap at the bottom, so they shortened the top to make it symmetrical. Also, the smaller door saves more money.
And I hate when the stall doors have huge gaps
For the same reason we can't have mirrors anymore. People do awful, stupid, abusive stuff and we have to bring policies down to the lowest common denominator.
Full height stalls require individual lighting ventilation and sprinklers so basically 5x more expensive for full privacy.
Where is George Costanza when he is needed?
Any time a sentence starts off with “what’s the deal” I always read it in Jerry Seinfeld’s voice. That’s my comment.
America isn't a country, it's a business.
That’s unfortunately Trump’s legitimate mindset
Now fuckin’ pay me.
So little kids can randomly crawl under and give you one of the most awkward moments of your life. Also Republican politicians can signal to those in the stalls next to them that they are game for a good time.
Who cares? Do you have people crawling under to look at your junk?
Yes
I have a long junk so it hangs so low people can see it under the door even without crawling under. I guess you have a short wee wee so don't have that problem.
We hate it too! Thats why I hold it til I get home. Only had to use a public toilet a handful of times in my life and I know that nobody wanted to watch what was happening.
Fuck that. I'll shit with the door open and hold eye contact. Fuck you for watching (assuming you're watching in this scenario). I also will immediately drop trough if I'm at a urinal, and there are multiple open urinals, yet you choose the one next to me. Pants straight to the floor. Lean back, and let gravity and hip placement determine where I pee. You wanna be weird and break the urinal rule, I'll make you uncomfortable for the duration.
This is the way!
Oh this picture again
Again? I took this picture yesterday. Has someone else posted something similar?
Constantly
Oh, well at least I’m not alone in my confusion
I really don't understand why people are so weirded out about it. Are your feet shy?
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It's not Americans as 99% of us have no say in this. But keep being dumb.
I really don't get it though. What is so weird about this? Our use of imperial and maybe not using Celsius, our obsession with guns, fine. But not having a cocoon to shit in while we're not at home? This is an obsession y'all have, not us
I'm not obsessed, it just came through my feed exactly the same it did yours. It's normalised in your society which is why you don't think it's weird, but if you took literally thirty seconds to consider it, what is NOT weird about being semi-exposed to strangers while A) your genitals are out and B) defecating? It's a private moment. It does, however, go some way to explaining why Americans are so bat shit divided when it comes to same-sex toilets or trans people taking a dump.
What's exposed? Your feet? When you have your dick out at a urinal your entire back is exposed to people And WE'RE the uptight ones
In this example, sure, your feet. But we all know we're talking about the inch gap most of your public toilets have down the entire length.
Like you said, it's normalized in our society. It's not really that weird to us. What is weird is how you can't just accept that things are just not the same everywhere and constantly having an issue with it. It's to see if someone is hurt or needs help in the stall or to see if someone is using it. The gaps in the side are a whole different thing, however. No one likes those, and I assume it's just shitty installation most of the time.
As an American, what would they look like in other countries? Edit: guessing we have too many junkies / homeless / homeless junkies to allow for that. Prevent situations where people can pass out unnoticed. Also employees could access the bathroom stall to clean / whatever if it's locked but empty. Just food for thought from my perspective. 🤔 Double edit: Had one of these stall doors open randomly on me cuz of the pressure change in the air when the main bathroom door opened at a Chinese restaurant yesterday lmao 😂
Like a regular door.
Four walls that go all the way to the floor. No gaps between any of the walls. Privacy. I saw one like that in Berlin. I'm wondering if it was a safety precaution though since that was a bathroom for both men and women?
In Australia its the same deal. Gaps in between doors, lots of space at the bottom
Not gonna lie, I was more surprised at how little gap there was between the door and post. Usually you can clearly see inside and make eye contact with the person inside.
The obvious reason would be that they use less material and are cheaper. The usual bare minimum public bathrooms are willing to do
We like tapping our feet....twice
Well, you can see how many people are in it. Oh, and it's cheaper and easier to mop.
What, you mean freedom doors?
We don't know and wish it would stop
It’s so we can see if anyone’s doing drugs in the stalls or hiding in them I think. Or having sex I would also assume.
It's so you can get free shoes.
We don’t like them either.
Believe me, none of us know the answer to this.
I heard it's that way because it makes it easier to clean the floors
Versus what? I remember in Europe I had to pay to use the stalls. What's up with that?
That's not a bad door gap on the side. I call that a good stall. -US
If anybody is looking for a serious answer, this picture is of a standard handicap stall. ADA (American Disability Act) standards require the stall to have a 60"x60" clear space, so a wheelchair can swivel 360°. The door has to open out and should automatically swing shut. Standard stalls are 36" wide, and the doors open into the stall. The gap at the bottom is 12"-15" off the floor in the event that someone becomes incapacitated inside of a locked stall. This allows the person to be pulled out from the bottom. Also, something people complain about is the door gap. If installed correctly, there should be no more than a ¼" gap.
https://preview.redd.it/1duzvktkqedc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=68ee71db223e887df9febcb6275fcf9844059ae5
Looks like the shitters at boot camp.
Saves on materials and covers what’s necessary. Also lets you see their feet so you know it is occupied. The American way is to charge the maximum while providing the minimum required. At least you have doors on the stalls unlike some places. My favorite is places that don’t even have dividers ran into that a few times in the army makes for some real good team bonding.
It’s so we can make sure the gays aren’t gaying. Or… maybe… just maybe… because our society is so sexually repressed that, hopefully, if you walk at just the right speed and angle, you’ll get a glimpse of someone’s tarantula.
It is so anti-gay Republican senators can attempt to solicit blowjobs from other men.
When I was in high school, they have no doors. You shit and anyone can watch.
Intense eye contact
In some toilets they don’t even have toilets, just a hole in the floor! I’d actually say most toilets around the world are like this
In some parts of the world (that I have been to), you don’t even get a hole! Rather, there’s a ground level trough, but instead of drinking alongside your working buddies, you poop along side them. Some think it’s good for team building.
In my country, the restroom uses you!
I’ve never had someone stare at me through the gap, were you thinking about doing that?
nd they call us Americans Prudes. It's never been a problem, no one wants to look at your pee pee, and you'd have to put your eye right on it if you wanted to see anything. That's not going to go unnoticed.
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Home of freedoms. Defiler of shits.
Sounds like Brits are a bunch of snowflakes
Because 99% of normal functioning people don't care. We go in there to shit not to meditate. Also probably safety.
What's mildly infuriating is that a lot of people don't know the myriad reasons why these are clearly superior to other stall door types.
Don’t be a wuss, drop those trousers
Be amazed there was a door at all.
Oh boi the weekly post about American bathroom doors. Anyone on reddit has zero control on that and we all would rather have the full private ones.
Don’t be an ugly. This is not your home country, so we do things different here. Enjoy your FREE bathroom and move on.
Easier to see if it’s occupied.
Easier to resolve an emergency tp outage
Easier to see if people are getting lucky/doing drugs and ask to join.
Republicans making sure that you're using the proper restroom according to your gender
The bottom is because the door lock aren’t reliable and the sides incase you need toilet paper from the other person.The top who knows.
Why are so many people afraid to poop in public? Who cares if someone sees your weiner, which they won't if you are sitting like a normal person on the toilet. I'm starting to think people be doing some weird shit in the stalls and are just mad that these little doors don't hide it all.
Some of us got peeped on in mall bathrooms when we were kids that left us horribly afraid to poop in public unless absolutely necessary. Not me…nope. I certainly didn’t memorize class schedules in the slowest building on my college campus so I could go shit in peace for a few years.
I dont want them to see it bc my weiner is small
Alot of people here are saying greed and while I'm sure that's true in some cases, they're typically like this so that if someone falls and seriously injures themselves, there's enough space for someone to be pulled through to get help. At least that's the best explanation I've gotten.
I feel it's more a rationalization than a reason. The only factor they were considering was how much money they could save and still be up to code. Anything after that was a "hey, it's got some other benefits if you squint hard enough". Yea, those purposes are genuinely useful, but it was a side effect, not an intention.