Loos in offices - private or suite - your preference?

[AnnO'Neemus]

having worked somewhere with private loos - the downsides are these:

when they are occupied, you have to loiter outside in the corridor, and everyone knows you're waiting for the loo. Whereas noramlly you could wait in the sinks and mirror bit.

when someone has made the loo smelly, the smell drifts straight out into the corridor when they open the door. When the door is then closed, the remaining smell has much less chance to dissapate than it does over and under traditional stall partitions.

toilett rolls seem to be allowed to run out more often. if the loo is occupied, there's nowhere for the cleaner to leave the spare loo rolls.


you're right about the positives, but the negatives make me prefer a cubicle and lobby format, having experienced both.

Wasn't there a post in the office scolding email thread about that issue, about people doing smelly poos in loos that opened straight onto a corridor and people being told off about offensive smells because visitors to the building had to walk through that corridor?

So, yeah, single loo opening straight onto a corridor/thoroughfare would be awful.

And I was going to mention all those reasons Badger Kitten said as well, about women crying in loos and office gossip and getting ready for going out after work stuff, so you need that communal basins and mirrors area. And that bit about men taking reading material into loos and contemplating their navels and making them smelly, so it being better not to have unisex loos. I reckon that American law series Ally McBeal has a lot to answer for. Single sex communal loos are the way to go.

 

[ViolentPanda]

so...1 accessible cubicle and 3 inaccessible ones?

I saw a sign for "differently abled" parking at the airport in Port of Spain a few months ago

why not say loos for wheelchair users....a blind or vision impared person my have other requirements.

CYCLISTS

so, in this workspace, if I cycle to work...where do I get changed/dry etc. How about a cubicle on the ground floor with a shower?

Because not all people who need to use accessible loos are wheelchair users. I explained that earlier.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

I understand what you mean. But you know what else goes on where people congregate?

I'm thinking of doing this on that project. What do you think?
Do you think that I should ask him to do this project?
We're having a meeting on Thursday. Why don't you come along?

The fact is that a major reason why women are struggling in the institutionally sexist corporations is that they rely on meetings as being the points that decisions are made rather than realising that the decision has generally been made long before the meeting ever started. "Corridor meetings" are where internal networking happens and internal networking is 70% of career advancement.

I already mentioned earlier that just this morning I ended up speaking with the CEO in the loo about some project that is going on. By definition, all women were excluded from that impromptu meeting. It may seem trivial to you, but it adds up to a major pattern.

*sigh*

In which case, kabbes, since you're against the idea of women having a bit of an informal, impromptu gathering area, by the hand basins in a works loo on the ground that it gives women preferential treatment by being able to meet and discuss important projects, conversations from which men are excluded in the case of single sex loos...

... Are you also going to campaign for companies to do away with the generally quite sexist corporate hospitality initiatives, involving tickets for the football, cricket, rugby, F1, etc., with lots of beer and perhaps a trip to a lapdancing bar to top it off at the end of the night? Or what about golf days with different firms and clients? Because that kind of thing excludes women much, much more than being able to cry over relationship woes - or workplace bullying - or ask for some sanitary goods or paracetamol for period pain in the handwashing area of the ladies loos.

In the grand scheme of things, ladies being able to share a little bit of office gossip in the loos that excludes men, or you being able to bump into the CEO while you're taking a leak at the urinals, is really the least of anyone's worries when it comes to equality of the sexes in the workplace.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Before this thread I never knew that women borrowed tampons off each other.

i don't think they ever give them back though

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

...CYCLISTS

so, in this workspace, if I cycle to work...where do I get changed/dry etc. How about a cubicle on the ground floor with a shower?

Good point!

 

[Quartz]

Really? What would you prefer? Private WC or WC suite shared with others?

Design both. Present both to customer for their choice.

 

[haushoch]

Thanks to everybody for replying, it's been extremely helpful and quite an eye-opener...

There are existing showers in the basement by the way. I think these are being refurbished as well, but at some later stage.

 

[TopCat]

Unisex loos are a pain at work, because men do smelly poos in them in the morning/vanish in there for ages with the papers. Not all men, just some men, but you only need one smelly poo-er/bog-hogger to really piss off all the ladies on the floor.

Having a women's loo space to bolt into for a weep/urgent gossip is helpful at work.
You can't do that in a unisex handwashing/mirror area.
So I go for the separate women's and men's spaces, even though it is always nice to go into a loo and have your own sink and mirror in there.
Because I think the loo serves a purpose at work other than just being a place to wee in.

Does womens shit smell good? Better than mens?

 

[subversplat]

Does womens shit smell good? Better than mens?

This calls for an office-wide HR survey.

 

[Badger Kitten]

I have already covered this point, twice, in the OP and in a later post.

Unisex loos are a pain at work, because men do smelly poos in them in the morning/vanish in there for ages with the papers. Not all men, just some men, but you only need one smelly poo-er/bog-hogger to really piss off all the ladies on the floor.

See what I did there?

Women, anecdotally, prefer not to poo in the work loo. If you want to check this out for yourself you can do some kind of survey.

 

[Upchuck]

I've got yer six BK. You and I know more about the happeneings in women's loos at work than these menfolk. And you're right. Women rarely poo at work. Stick it to 'em.

 

[tarannau]

Ancedotal stories are clearly a load of shit though, even more than usual in this case.

How the hell would you anecdotally know a representative proportion of your colleagues' toilet habits anyway?

 

[spanglechick]

I have always been lead to believe that men are more likely to train themselves into doing one poo a day at a specific time, whereas women tend to go when they need it.

I furthermore have believed that men were more likely to have to strain (and run the risk of piles) because they may be coaxing out a poo that isn't ready. This would also make pooing a more time consuming, gassy business - which would in turn lead to more smells.

Fatty, meaty diets are also likely to make your poo smellier, as do diets high in specific veg, like cabbage. I don't know if there are gender divides in terms of these dietary preferences.

 

[tarannau]

Eh? Who gave you that impression?

FWIW I go for a poo when I fancy one, not at some prearranged time that men get together and strain their bowels at - The One Plop Poo Club or whatever you're imagining?

This gets weirder and weirder. Where do people get these preconceptions? And what makes them think they've a representative overview of gender based toilet habits?

I'm proud to say that it's not a subject that's concerned me greatly in the past.

 

[Upchuck]

When I was growing up my Dad had his own loo because he used to poo and read and was in the can for ages. And it stank. And everytime I have walked past any mens loos at a workplace and the dorr has swung a breeze there has been a terrible pong. Men's loos are way smellier than women's. End of.

 

[tarannau]

An anecdote from the mistress of perennial wrongness herself. It doesn't get any more useless that that

 

[Upchuck]

It's true. Men's loos are smelly places. I wouldn't want to share loos with the men. Having said that I remember once being in a stall next to a woman I looked up to in AA and was kind of my ideal of how to live sober. Anyway, we were in adjacent stall and I couldn't believe that she farted and proceeded to dispense a sloppy one. She knew I was in the next stall. As soon as I heard it I thought wtf and really took another look at her. I was shocked at her lack of etiquette and put her down as a vile human being from that point forward. I mean there's being free and comfortable in yourself, and there's being an ignorant farting menace isn't there.

 

[6_6]

I'm an architect and I've been giving the exciting task of designing WC suites on 9 floors in an office building.

I've developed two approaches, one is the standard one, where you basically enter a shared lobby with the washbasins, mirrors & hand dryers, etc and then you have WC cubicles off that lobby, enclosed by the typical fairly light-weight partitions. One suite for the guys, one suite for the women, one separate unisex cubicle for wheelchair users.

The other approach is to do away with the suites altogether and have private WC cubicles off a corridor, enclosed by standard plasterboard walls. These are more spacious as you do not need any lobbies anymore, etc. They are also private, it's just you in there. The washbasin & mirror are all there inside the same space. Theoretically these could be unisex for more flexibility (the staff male / female ratio is 50/50 in this case), but of course, they can equally be allocated just for the guys or women (there is always a separate wheelchair user WC, which is unisex).

I like this option better, because I know that I would prefer to be in a more private space (plus selfishly it gives me way more scope for designing something nice for the space).

The boss reckons that people in offices like using WC suites, as they can have a little chat with each other, while washing their hands / checking their make-up / hair, or to pass the time of day (his words).

Really? What would you prefer? Private WC or WC suite shared with others?

I like the private WC idea and voted for it.
But how many suites can you have in the office?
waiting in line going to the loo ain't fun...
and people will know you're the one that just pooed

 

[dwenfish]

this thread is fantastic! dear god, the amount of time and energy some of you spend worrying about toilet habits is astonishing!

bk- why are you trying to portray woman as emotionally unstable waifs who need to run to the bogs for a sob at any given moment?

and upchuck- post of the year i reckon :"It's true. Men's loos are smelly places. I wouldn't want to share loos with the men. Having said that I remember once being in a stall next to a woman I looked up to in AA and was kind of my ideal of how to live sober. Anyway, we were in adjacent stall and I couldn't believe that she farted and proceeded to dispense a sloppy one. She knew I was in the next stall. As soon as I heard it I thought wtf and really took another look at her. I was shocked at her lack of etiquette and put her down as a vile human being from that point forward. I mean there's being free and comfortable in yourself, and there's being an ignorant farting menace isn't there."

"ignorant farting menace" fucking class

 

[drachir]

As I use the work toilets mainly for playing Rope'n'fly whilst hiding from the painful mundanity of my job, I'd prefer private suites.

 

[beeboo]

Women, anecdotally, prefer not to poo in the work loo. If you want to check this out for yourself you can do some kind of survey.

So what do these women do, put a cork in it?


Anyway, definite preference for 'suite' from me. I've never been compelled to ask anyone for tampons, painkillers or lipstick in the toilets. If I need to have a bit of a cry then I'd prefer privacy and the opportunity to check my mascara outside of the public gaze. I don't think I've ever worked anywhere where there was an sense of the toilets being some kind of female sanctuary, it's something I've only ever seen on office based sitcoms and adverts.

 

[kabbes]

There's a definite logical fail going on here. "It's not all men that do smelly poos -- just some! And it only takes one! But most women don't poo at work!" Er, isn't that basically saying that both genders have some offenders whilst most do not? If it really only takes one then women are just as much at risk as men!

Besides, it's not healthy to constipate yourself just because you are afraid of using the toilet for its actual intended purpose.

*sigh*

In which case, kabbes, since you're against the idea of women having a bit of an informal, impromptu gathering area, by the hand basins in a works loo on the ground that it gives women preferential treatment by being able to meet and discuss important projects, conversations from which men are excluded in the case of single sex loos...

... Are you also going to campaign for companies to do away with the generally quite sexist corporate hospitality initiatives, involving tickets for the football, cricket, rugby, F1, etc., with lots of beer and perhaps a trip to a lapdancing bar to top it off at the end of the night? Or what about golf days with different firms and clients? Because that kind of thing excludes women much, much more than being able to cry over relationship woes - or workplace bullying - or ask for some sanitary goods or paracetamol for period pain in the handwashing area of the ladies loos.

In the grand scheme of things, ladies being able to share a little bit of office gossip in the loos that excludes men, or you being able to bump into the CEO while you're taking a leak at the urinals, is really the least of anyone's worries when it comes to equality of the sexes in the workplace.

You have SPECTACULARLY missed the point. Women suffer a LOT more than men when it comes to being excluded from the places that decisions really get made. The only way those inequalities are going to be managed, however, is to deal with them. So yes, that means stop the kind of corporate jollies that are heavily gender-biased. And particularly stop the incredibly sexist trips to things like fucking lapdancing clubs! Jesus fucking Christ!

Frankly, I am bemused and offended that you would think that I wouldn't want to stop that kind of behaviour, given what I've been saying. What, you think that I'm just worried that women might be able to have a chat amongst themselves? Do you think I'm stupid or something?