3 American toilet things to hate

Last year, I wrote only one blogpost on the Bathroom Blogfest, but when I got the email this year that the fest was on again, I promised myself I would put in more effort! The official title is Bathroom Blogfest '08 - Cleaning Up Forgotten Spaces Around Us. A lot of other blogs are participating again this time and you can find a full list below. There is a Facebook event too this time, you can join it here.

After talking about my little room experiences in Belgium (my home country) last time, I think I should just continue with that story and move to another country: The USA.
There are three things that bug me tremendously in the United States bathroom world. First of all, the spaces everywhere! Seriously... what is up with the holes between the door and the wall; between the walls and the floor; and between the walls and the ceiling??? I don't care that much about people knowing what I'm up to in my daily life (I wouldn't have a blog otherwise), but I do value my privacy in the bathroom! I want to be able to take my time, make embarrassing noises and use as much paper as I want to without feeling like everyone in the space can see me, hear me and worst of all: judge me... For my readers who are not used to American toilets, see these pictures as evidence.

The second thing I don't like about my new home's bathrooms is the amount of water in the toilet. Why is there so much? It seems to work fine in Belgium with a lot less water and the water also seems to be much farther away from my butt on the other side of the continent... I can't believe anybody likes it when the water that you just relieved yourself in, splashes back up and wets your bum. I know I'm being quite graphic here, just trying to explain my dislikes to you, innocent readers...

The last thing I don't like about American toilets is their location in a lot of restaurants. Now, it is not fair to call this an "American toilet" problem; "New York toilet" problem is probably more accurate. A lot of the bathrooms in the restaurants here are unisex. I have no problem with that. Whoever says that men are more disgusting than women has probably never done any real comparison. Women are way more gross, so sharing the same bathroom with men does not fade me in any way. In fact, I am that person who (when they are separated) will skip the women's line and go straight for the one free stall on the men's side.

Anyway, back to the location... Since most restaurants only have one or two bathrooms, the door opens straight from the eating area into the bathroom. No hall way, no second door, nothing. So if you don't lock the door properly, you will be exposed not only to the person invading your toilet space, but to a full restaurant (if you go to a popular place, that is). Embarrassing, yes, but that is not the worst part. The "only-one-door-between-eating-food-and-taking-a-dump" - fact is WAAAAYYY worse. Can you already imagine the smell coming from that door when that 300 pound guy decides to empty his bowels? Bon appetit!

So, as you can deduct from this little rant, I am not a big fan of the toilets of my new home country...

Next up: Japan

Other participating bloggers:
Susan Abbott at Customer Experience Crossroads
Katia Adams at Transcultural Marketing
Shannon Bilby at Floor Talk!
Laurence Borel at Blog Till You Drop
Jo Brown and the blogging team at Kohler Talk
Lisbeth Calandrino at Lisbeth Calandrino
Sara Cantor at The Curious Shopper
Becky Carroll at Customers Rock!
Katie Clark at Practical Katie
Iris Shreve Garrott at Circulating
Ann Handley at Annarchy
Marianna Hayes at Results Revolution
Elizabeth Hise and C.B. Whittemore at The Carpetology Blog
Maria Palma at Customers Are Always
Sandra Renshaw at Purple Wren
Kate Rutter at Adaptive Path
Carolyn Townes at Becoming a Woman of Purpose
Stephanie Weaver at Experienceology
C.B. Whittemore at Flooring The Consumer

Comments

[phil]

Totally agree, especially with the toilet doors that a dwarf could quite happily walk under, I think this is America saying "we are great". "even when we poo, and we want to show you just how great we look when pooping".

[C.B. Whittemore]

Claudia, you bring up excellent points about American rest rooms. Sometimes I wonder if the stall doors and partitions are about ready to come apart... I can't wait to hear about Japan.

[Ann Handley]

This was very funny (and informative!)

; )

Ann

[Laurence]

I concur the amount of water can be a problem - now try to imagine yourself in a country with a weird flush and finding yourself not knowing how to flush the loo ;)

[Natalie Lycops]

I can only agree on al parts of your dislike. I made the same conclusion after 3 weeks USA (or actually already after 3 days).

[Marilyn]

I'm Canadian, and the toilets are almost always the same here. It bugs me too that there are almost always gaps around the edges of doors, and if I'm waiting in a line up, I try to avoid looking in, but I'm sure there are other people who don't. Plus, once in a while you get a curious little kid in the next stall who is waiting for mom to finish and who sticks his or her head under the divider.

I've never been to Belgium, but I have found that Europe doesn't have as many public toilets available, and I've heard of people having to pay to use them. So perhaps our cubicles are scant here because all of our public toilets are free, and restaurants just follow suit.

I have been in a few swanky places though where the walls go right from the floor to the ceiling, as do the doors, and it's much more preferable.

I would also hesitate to guess that Belgium is more refined than we are here in North America.

Now that you mention it, I had an English friend visit once long ago and she always made a point of checking out the washrooms wherever we went, even if she didn't have to go. Perhaps she was in awe of our indecent toilets as well and was just too polite to say???

Very interesting blog! Your English is impeccable, by the way.

[Bidets]

I absolutely got your point but most of the toilets were designed that way. It's pretty obvious on what people are actually doing while inside on it.

[d]

This is great information, have you ever used this bathroom cleaner before?

[Marc]

I completely agree with you ,people opt mostly privacy using bathrooms and toilets and what you have shown in your picture just annoying ,i want bathrooms having good bath room sink ,toilet facility with most privacy.

[celebrity oops]

Americans are toilet people.

[Shower Stalls]

HAHA I could not agree more good call.

[Shower Tray]

Nice :)

[Marta]

I've been to US many times and I was always annoyed by the same things in the toilet! I simply do not understand why they have these gaps between doors. What is the true reason? Is it because they want to "control" people and prevent drugs or sex in the bathrooms? If so, why to do it in family restaurants, amusement parks, etc. I've always tried to hang clothes and bags to cover up these gaps, but still, when there is a line, people (even if they try not to) can see it all. What is up with that?

Big amount of water is also quite funny. Maybe they wanted to join toilete with a washing device at the same time ;) There is one more annoying thing about them - toilet paper which is located very low (like 30 cm from the ground) on a huge roll, so that when you try to tear a part you end up tearing 5 cm of it at the time which is really annoying. Maybe this one is about savings ;) Truly curious case!

I live in Belgium too by the way and find local toilets perfectly good. (except from the fact that you have to pay for them even in cinemas!)

Good and funny blog post!

[hollywood bistro]

Explore other choices and stick with the one which satisfies the heart most.

[bidet toilet gal]

Wow the next bathroom adventure is in japan? you'll be surprised how different the toilets in japan are in the US. They have high tech bidets :O like, the ones that keep the toilet seats warm, has a "deodorizer", heck, it even has a button that when you push it, a "fake flushing sound" will go off, probably to mask the sound that you're actually doing :P