Bathroom suckage - Warning, might be gross

[Blade_Raver]

Okay folks, before I go about this post... I have no hatred towards anyone for their size/shape, race, creed, religion, sex, etc. etc.

But this just pisses me off...

Okay, on the floor where I work the men's restroom has 1 large stall, 2 smaller stalls, 2 urinals...

Let me set the situation:

I'm an obese guy. Nature calls. I go into the restroom... and the large stall is taken.

Now, the smaller stalls.. yeah.. I'm way too large for them for all functions necessary to take care of business.

So.. I decide to take a smaller stall and handle business the best I can... then I hear the large stall open and who walks through that I see through the gap in the door and the wall? Some skinny dude with no disabilities.

Okay, that pisses me off.. That skinny fucker should be using the small stalls... that's what they're there for...

Grr.. I know it's a little embarrassing.. but it's hella frustrating...

Blade_Raver

[Kiwi]

That skinny fucker should be using the small stalls... that's what they're there for...

Blade_Raver

I assume when you say a large stall, you mean a Wheel chair access stall and 2 regular stalls

I hope you realise there are disibilites that are not visible to the eye, my friend J has leukaemia right now, and when he is well enough to go out, he needs to take it easy. He also has to have one of his friends or family stand guard outside the stall incase he falls. I know, my boyfriend has done it many times over the last year.

He uses the larger stalls because they have handles for him to hold on to as he is pretty weak.

Not to mention people who have kidney failure and may need to empty their catheter bags (I had one of those as a kid for a year), may have bone cancer or any number of other illnesses or injuries. Not every person who "needs" to use the larger stall looks like it physically.

If this guy didnt have anything wrong with him, then fine I can understand your annoyance, but the way your post comes off, it seems as if just because he is a "skinny fucker" he MUST use the smaller stalls. I dont think thats a cool attitude at all!

[Norton]

There was a thread on Fratching recently on the subject of using handicapped stalls in bathrooms.

The general consensus was that non-handicapped people should not use the handicapped stall unless there is no other option. Say, if both other stalls were filthy or out of order, or if there's a long line and no obviously disabled people waiting, then it's ok.

In this case, if the skinny guy was not disabled and the small stalls were useable, he should have used a small stall just in case someone else needed the large one - which is what happened.

[Ironclad Alibi]

It is possible the other stalls were in use when the skinny guy came in. Was he supposed to wait for the smaller stalls to be vacated instead of using the larger stall? I wouldn't.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

So.. I decide to take a smaller stall and handle business the best I can... then I hear the large stall open and who walks through that I see through the gap in the door and the wall? Some skinny dude with no disabilities.

Okay, that pisses me off.. That skinny fucker should be using the small stalls... that's what they're there for...

What an interesting assumption. Kiwi's right; not all disabilities are immediately apparent.

One more thing--is your weight that much of a disability that you absolutely need to use the handicapped stall? Because what happens if somebody in a wheelchair or a mobility scooter--you know, the types of people those stalls were designed for--enters the restroom and needs to use that stall while you're in it? They'd have just as much a right to be pissed off as you were, because to them you're a person with "no disabilities" using the handicapped stall.

[Blade_Raver]

I was pointing out that these are people that could have used the smaller stalls...

I understand you guys giving them all the benefits of the doubt, but they really don't apply in this case.

It's just a matter of them being inconsiderate is all that I want to point out.

They think that they're the only ones working on this floor so late at night and don't stop to think that others might as well.

[texasbelle5]

Since when is being fat a handicap? That's what others would say about you.

And since when is waiting 2 minutes to go into the big stall such an inconvenience?

You want the super size stall-you have to wait sometimes. Deal with it.

[myswtghst]

This is why I'm grateful I work someplace that has multiple bathrooms nearby, some with multiple handicap stalls.

We have a woman in our building who, I swear, spends hours in the bathroom at night, washing her hands and badge repeatedly, all while singing to herself. And while I have nothing against anyone with OCD, or anything similar, it's rather disconcerting to try to pee while she's doing all that. Couple that with her complete lack of understanding of other peoples' personal space, and we all tend to avoid her, whenver possible. Lucky there's another bathroom nearby - and that her singing tips me off she's in there before I even open the door.

To all in this thread - I think the proper response is to take it to the thread on Fratching, but I'll also add this - I like to think of CS.com as a place to come bitch and moan relatively freely. While it is possible that "skinny" dude had a not-visible handicap, or that the other two stalls were full up when he walked in, I get the impression from Blade Raver's story that this was something that happened at work, at a relatively unused bathroom, so chances are, it was just a skinny coworker using the handicap stall because he could.

In any case, I think we're generally being a little insensitive to the OP. If he can't comfortably use the skinny stalls, and there is only one handicapped stall, being used by someone who most likely does not need it, he has every right to be annoyed, and do a little whining about it. Hey, it's not like he accused skinny guy to his face of anything, or "took revenge" - he simply did what many of us do - he came here to vent.

[marty]

I don't know, I'd just hate to see someone get pissed off at my skinny mom for using a handicapped stall because she had brain surgery last October and needs something to hold onto in case she gets a dizzy spell standing up. She still goes to work everyday and you wouldn't know unless she told you. There is always the chance that the guy really needed to use that stall.

In any case, I don't think the guy was being intentionally inconsiderate, maybe he didn't realize you needed that stall. If he did, and he's not disabled, shame on him then.

[Blade_Raver]

Ahh well.. just wanted to vent some frustration. Thanks for the replies.

[Kogarashi]

Blade_Raver, I will admit I thought you came off sounding a bit insensitive too. I think a lot of that is the folly of trying to gauge emotions and tone of voice over the Internet.

That said, if the guy was using it just because, and the other stalls were free, I can see that as possibly being insensitive. Could've been a lapse in judgement, or he just simply didn't realize either, but hey. This is a venting place, no?

I've done the mental slip thing before and gone straight for the handicapped stall, but I usually go for whatever's nearest (rarely the large one). I have used the handicapped stall a couple of times in various places when the restroom didn't have adequate baby changing facilities (Hynes Convention Center, I'm looking at you). I instead put a portable changing mat on the floor in the handicapped stall and did my business with Baby's diaper there, taking care to keep Baby herself off the floor. (Ew.)

I worked in a place before that had some really small stalls. Like, the "handicapped" stall was regular-sized, and the "normal" stall was an exercise in compact parking. Now, I'm by no means small (5'11", but rather skinny), and I was knocking knees against the ill-placed toilet paper dispenser, and whacking my elbows against both stall walls. Ugh. I've never felt so claustrophobic in a restroom in my life, and I've been to places with closet-sized bathrooms before.

[Blade_Raver]

Thank you for your empathy. Again, I have no issues against people of disability or whatnot..

Yes my words may sound cold upon reading them... they're not intended that way.

[Ironclad Alibi]

My wife has told me on many occasions she has gone into the restroom to find a line waiting for the stalls, and nobody is using the handicap stall. So she uses it, and doesn't have to wait. Her reasoning is that only parking spaces are reserved for exclusive handicap use, not restroom stalls.

[unholypet]

Not trying to TMI, but I use big stalls and I'm average sized!

I can fall out of my car, but sitting down i have to kindof fall

I've had arthritis since 3, and my knees don't bend like they used to.


Only 20, and I have to grab hold of the wall-bar to sit on the potty without my knees and hips going into agonizing pain =p

[bainsidhe]

I agree with others here that this lovely forum is a place where we can vent our frustrations, which is how I read the post, btw. I'm also not a small person, though I don't have trouble using bathrooms stalls most of the time. That's because most stalls are average size. But I've been in places where the wall is so help me less than an inch from the side of the toilet seat. That's too close for even a regular size person. For me it means I'm not entirely on the seat. Talk about uncomfortable.

Sadly, I'm afraid I'm guilty of using the handicap stall when there was really no need. In certain establishments it may be the most comfortable and cleanest (don't ask me why) stall, so I don't even bother looking at the others if my favorite is available. Sucky? Probably. I'd never do it to intentially offend or inconvenience anyone. Aside from specific stores, I usually go for the nearest or cleanest I find first.