Restaurant Restrooms

I’m going to write this in as delicate a manner as possible; but, know that this is not a delicate issue.  And, I can only speak from the woman’s perspective.

Have you thought about public restrooms, especially those found in restaurants?  I think about them every time I find it necessary to enter one.

First, let’s talk about the temperature in most of them.  They are COLD – really COLD!  Sometimes, I think they are cold because they are usually located along the outer walls of restaurants.  Maybe, but there seem to be no working heat vents in those rooms.

This may have no meaning to the half of the population who can take care of business without taking off half of their clothing.  I can just imagine some mechanical engineer (undoubtedly male) receiving instructions from the restaurant owner (also male?) to turn off the heat.  “Keep those rooms cold,” I can hear the owner/manager say.  “Those folks need to be out here in the restaurant buying breakfast”  Or, lunch.  Or, dinner.  Or, just something to snack on.

And the toilet stall doors!  Except for some large stalls (designated for use by the handicapped individuals) that have doors that open outward, the doors of the toilet stalls open in – toward the stool.  The space inside is just large enough to get one leg inside of the stall.  To get the other leg inside, one often must straddle the commode.

Sometimes, the stall is so small that both sides of the user’s body touch the walls of the stall!  And, when something has happened to the hook that is usually on the door, there is no place to hang one’s purse, or bags, or coat.  And, the floor is not a good place for these items.

Again, I say, this may not impact the half of the population who don’t have the need to sit to take care of most of their business.  Women, on the other hand, must sit for every process.  When you are a woman and have completed the chore, try getting paper away from the toilet paper dispenser.

Some engineer decided that dispensing two pieces of paper before the paper tears is enough.  To get enough paper from the dispenser, one must inch and inch the roll of paper to pull off enough paper to clean the body areas in question.  I’m sure that engineer who designed the single-sheet dispensing toilet paper dispenser never in his life had to deal with a menstrual period.  It takes more than two pieces of paper to deal with that situation!

Stalls planned for handicapped persons have the safety bars mounted on at least one side of the stall.  That’s good.  The paper dispensers that are mounted in the stalls for handicapped persons – UNDER THE SAFETY BAR.  That’s bad – really bad.  They are usually the dispenser with access to the roll of paper through an opening in the bottom of the dispenser.  Sometimes, if the user is lucky, there will be paper hanging down, out of the dispenser.  Then, there are the times when the paper does not hang down, but is torn off in such a way that the “tail” is up in the dispenser.  The opening is, maybe, fifteen inches from the floor.  Try, just try, getting paper out of that dispense without being a contortionist.  You want to rip that dispenser off of the wall of that stall to get to the paper!

You can imagine that I’ve been observing these toilet situations for several years.  I can tell you that, in the case of women’s restrooms, the best one is at the Perkin’s Restaurant at East Buchtel and South Colorado Boulevards.  Everything about that women’s restroom is right.  It is not cold.  The stall for handicapped persons is arranged so the person in a wheelchair can transfer from the chair to the commode.  The paper dispenser is above the safety bar, making access to the paper easy.

Wash basins and the paper towel dispenser are close to the exit door allowing the user to wash and dry hands, using the paper towel to open the exit door and drop the towel into the trash container on the way out.  And, it takes a flip of a switch to let management know that the restroom needs attention by staff.  Those machines that blow air to dry hands are particularly suspect in this day of the airborne COVID 19 pandemic!

I make an effort to let the management know, often, that I appreciate the appropriateness of this facility.

 

Be safe and well.

 

The Cranky Crone

 

If you have thoughtful feedback or questions, please let me know with a comment below.