the Gotta Goes: Customers leary of public Loos

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Per Washington Post, one barrier reopening businesses face to build public confidence, is the bathroom

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/coronavirus-reopen-bathrooms/2020/05/18/a6ed57fc-93ba-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html

But it turns out that one of the biggest obstacles to dining in a restaurant, renewing a doctor’s appointment or going back to the office is the prospect of having to use a public restroom — a tight, intimate and potentially germ-infested space.

It’s a hurdle vexing many business owners as they prepare to reopen in a time of social distancing, reduced capacity and heightened anxiety about the very air we breathe.

They report that:

A Texas barbecue restaurant reopened only after hiring for a new job category: a bathroom monitor, who assures that people waiting their turn are spaced well apart. In Florida, malls are installing touch-free sinks and hand dryers in restrooms before opening their doors. McDonald’s is requiring franchisees to clean bathrooms every 30 minutes. Across the country, businesses are replacing blow dryers with paper towels, decommissioning urinals that now seem too close together, and removing restroom doors to create airport-style, no-touch entrances.

In San Luis Obispo, Calif., the Sunset Drive-In held back from reopening even though the health department gave it the green light because the owner needed time to figure out how to address customers’ concerns about catching the novel coronavirus in the bathroom. “Before we open, we want to have the restroom problem solved for your safety,” the owner, Larry Rodkey, wrote on Facebook. “Sitting through approximately five hours of movies is a necessity for the enjoyment of the Drive-In.”

Especially if they want you to buy beer.

Laura Maxwell is eager to find an entertainment option that would let her take her children, ages 11 and 13, out of the house safely. Maxwell, who lives in San Luis Obispo, would happily return to the Sunset Drive-In, but the prospect of restroom queues is bothersome.

“Bathrooms are a problem,” she said. “They’re huge contact places, and if you’re shedding the virus, it’ll be all over. Maybe they could just open up without bathrooms and people would know in advance and make the decision not to go, or to wear Depends.”

Solutions to people’s anxieties might not be quite so simple, said Steven Soifer, president of the American Restroom Association, which advocates for safer and more private public bathrooms.

“Americans have always had a fear of contamination from public restrooms,” said Soifer, who also is a professor of social work at the University of Mississippi. “What we’re seeing now is part just heightened anxiety, but it’s also part reality-based. Public restrooms in this country generally have open toilet seats — no lids — and high-pressure flushes create a plume of droplets that extends at least six feet.”

The coronavirus has been found in human waste up to a month after a victim has recovered. And a study published last week concluded that droplets from human speaking can hang in the air for at least eight minutes.

On the streets of Paris, this problem has been solved by the Sanisette:
https://europeforvisitors.com/paris/articles/paris-public-toilets.htm
Sometimes free, sometimes costing 20-40 cents,  the toilet sanitizes itself after every use - but waits until after you leave
 

The Atlanta Transit Authority "MARTA" was testing a couple vandal-proof bathrooms with easy-clean features
https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2015/02/a-hands-free-self-cleaning-bathroom-for-transit-stations/385549/

I couldn't find out how the pilot project worked out, but they weren't cheap - $100,000 for the installation.  But, in the first month, 3,600 people used it.  Their bathrooms were free, but at a fee of $1-2 the bathrooms could pay for themselves in 1-2 years.
 

Would you pay $1-2 to use a public bathroom that sterilizes or at least sanitizes after every use?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gray Beard]

My wife and I recently drove from Utica to Connecticut and back (not on the same day, although we’ve done that in the past).  Three hours one way.  Usually we stop at a rest area about half way.  This time we avoided liquids for a couple hours before the trip to reduce the likelihood that we would have to stop.  It worked, no rest stops.  Kind of a bummer, because I enjoy sipping on coffee while I drive.

[The Dean]

In the "would you pay" situation, it would depend on what function I needed. If I had to sit down, I'd pay in a heartbeat. Just a pee---hell, I can always find a place to pee. I can slip out to my car, and pee in the bushes in the back of the parking lot, or something.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

18 minutes ago, The Dean said:

In the "would you pay" situation, it would depend on what function I needed. If I had to sit down, I'd pay in a heartbeat. Just a pee---hell, I can always find a place to pee. I can slip out to my car, and pee in the bushes in the back of the parking lot, or something.

 

Good point, I added an option. 

I was thinking more the situation quoted in the article, parent with kids, social outing with spouse or SO

[Nanker]

This is why Asians think our toilets are unsanitary. They just squat over a hole. No contact with surfaces that others touch with their bare bottoms that are bacteria Petri dishes. 

[The Dean]

45 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Good point, I added an option. 

I was thinking more the situation quoted in the article, parent with kids, social outing with spouse or SO

 

 

Put aside the pandemic for a second, I'd probably pay a buck or two to use a newly cleaned stall most any time! Those places can be disgusting!

 

Like George Costanza, I have a pretty good idea of where I can stop, in an emergency, and use a relatively clean potty. But I always prefer the home-bowl advantage.

Edited May 19, 2020 by The Dean

[LeGOATski]

I'm really not concerned, but I'm glad other people are....

 

Less bathroom traffic for me.

 

Do you guys make the toilet paper seat cover? I always do.

 

I can't believe other people don't. 

[Augie]

32 minutes ago, The Dean said:

 

 

Put aside the pandemic for a second, I'd probably pay a buck or two to use a newly cleaned stall most any time! Those places can be disgusting!

 

Like George Costanza, I have a pretty good idea of where I can stop, in an emergency, and use a relatively clean potty. But I always prefer the home-bowl advantage.

 

When I’m on the road, I often feel much cleaner if I touch NOTHING unnecessary and skip washing hands. But hey, if you gotta go, and it might be another 80 miles before the next option? You do what you can. I can’t believe how filthy some of these places are on the road!!! Who thinks that is OK????

[The Dean]

18 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

When I’m on the road, I often feel much cleaner if I touch NOTHING unnecessary and skip washing hands. But hey, if you gotta go, and it might be another 80 miles before the next option? You do what you can. I can’t believe how filthy some of these places are on the road!!! Who thinks that is OK????

 

 

I hear ya. If I'm traveling I'll do my best to see if there is a decent restaurant/hotel within a mile or two drive from the exit.  If I can hold out, I might drive 5 miles or more.

 

Then I can get a drink, too. Which is a bonus!

[Augie]

2 minutes ago, The Dean said:

 

 

I hear ya. If I'm traveling I'll do my best to see if there is a decent restaurant/hotel within a mile or two drive from the exit.  If I can hold out, I might drive 5 miles or more.

 

Then I can get a drink, too. Which is a bonus!

 

I usually pick an exit with a McD’s or a Wendy’s. If it’s just a gas station, some have third world conditions! YUCK! 

 

I was never one to freak out and wipe down the cart at the grocery store. When our kids were young, we learned that they went to pre-school, picked up the new germs, we all got sick......for a few years. Then it pretty much went away. Build up your immune system under normal conditions, like hitting the gym, but easier. Our niece was mostly a stay at home kid with mom or a nanny. When she started school she was a mess for YEARS. She had not built up any immunities. 

 

Oh........and CHEERS! 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Might I respectfully suggest that you alter the second question, third option to 'uncertain'.  I viewed it as a brand name, not an action.  ?

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

I’m not specifically speaking about Coronavirus .... I’ve always found public restrooms sketchy long before the pandemic and attempt as little contact with surfaces as possible 

[Just Joshin']

29 minutes ago, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

I’m not specifically speaking about Coronavirus .... I’ve always found public restrooms sketchy long before the pandemic and attempt as little contact with surfaces as possible 

The older I get, the more I get skived out.

 

I am developing a new public restroom move.  I am wearing gloves now when shopping in addition to the mask (cheap and easy - why not).  Go to the restroom and change out gloves.  No worry about sinks, air dryers (blowing germs?), doors, etc.  Make make this a post CV-19 process.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

I'm always concerned about public loo's when shopping.  

 

The eatery depends on the eatery

[Seasons1992]

@plenzmd1 please weigh in.

On 5/19/2020 at 7:53 PM, The Dean said:

If I'm traveling I'll do my best to see if there is a decent restaurant/hotel within a mile or two drive from the exit. 

 

This is absolutely the move.

[ExWNYer]

On 5/19/2020 at 4:56 PM, Hapless Bills Fan said:

A Texas barbecue restaurant reopened only after hiring for a new job category: a bathroom monitor, who assures that people waiting their turn are spaced well apart. In Florida, malls are installing touch-free sinks and hand dryers in restrooms before opening their doors. McDonald’s is requiring franchisees to clean bathrooms every 30 minutes. Across the country, businesses are replacing blow dryers with paper towels, decommissioning urinals that now seem too close together, and removing restroom doors to create airport-style, no-touch entrances.

 

Just curious...what are they proposing for doors that you have to pull when exiting the restroom? Nothing irritates me more than entering via a push door and seeing touch-free sinks and hand dryers without a paper towel option and then having to exit using a pull-handle door. WTF? From the time my boys were little (way before any of this started) and I would take them to the bathroom, I taught them to enter/exit with their foot for push doors and to turn off the water at the sink with either a paper towel or their elbow. If we had to exit via a pull-handle door one of us (usually me or whoever finished first) would open the door using paper towels and hold it open for the other two. The towels would then be properly disposed of while the other two 'foot held' the door. Without the paper towel option, I would always open it with my left hand (I'm right-handed) using the bottom of my shirt (ugh). I am not a germaphobe but I have always practiced good hygiene and made sure that my kids learned that from me, if they learned nothing else. That and saying, "Thank you" and "please".

[Gray Beard]

If I’m wandering around a city and I need to go, I have found that public libraries often have decent facilities.  That’s my travel tip,of the day.

[plenzmd1]

6 hours ago, Seasons1992 said:

@plenzmd1 please weigh in.

 

This is absolutely the move.

CDC has said prolly very little contact transmission. Prolly way more likes to get an STD than Covid is ya need to set a spell. 
 

there is a good app to use “ sit or squat” by Charmin. Got some reason I can’t post link. Not impeccable, but right more often than wrong. great for when you are traveling! 
 

BTW, cleanest restrooms in the world in the top upper deck potties at the stadium before 12:30. Those suckers are industrial cleaned before a game, you will be first to christen them, worth the wait over the port o potties at @Hammered a Lot

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

12 hours ago, Just Joshin' said:

The older I get, the more I get skived out.

 

I am developing a new public restroom move.  I am wearing gloves now when shopping in addition to the mask (cheap and easy - why not).  Go to the restroom and change out gloves.  No worry about sinks, air dryers (blowing germs?), doors, etc.  Make make this a post CV-19 process.

I’ve put my elbows to good use in many a head, but the mere act of opening the door to exit can be a challenge when paper towel dispensers are non existent