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Question of bathroom etiquette

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Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

15:06 / 30.09.02

I often use the handicap stalls in the mens room. I enjoy the greater space and higher seat. I feel like a king!

But I fear the day when I leave the stall to find a someone in a wheelchair who has been waiting for what is technically their stall. Is using the handicap stall considered forbidden according to polite society? Not that either answer would stop me, but I'd like to know regardless.

ONLY NICE THINGS

15:13 / 30.09.02

Wow. That post was moronic on so many levels that it may be necessary to put in an elevator to improve access for wheelchair users.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

15:18 / 30.09.02

So is that a "yes" or a "no"?

Matthew Fluxington

15:24 / 30.09.02

I would say that if your aim is to be ethical, you should not use the handicap stalls unless it is an emergency.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

15:29 / 30.09.02

Pah! If you were truly hardcore, you'd use the handicapped stalls in the LADIES' restroom. (Sorry, toilet.)

16:54 / 30.09.02

it's fine. Just fake a limp on your way out....

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

17:28 / 30.09.02

Hehehheh heh heh...a limp.

Another thing to for me to worry about is other non-handicapped people's reactions. Dave Barry once wrote about his seething hatred for people who park in handicapped spaces despite their noticeable lack of a physical handicap. He proposed that security forces should be authorized to rigorously test anyone parking in a handicap spot who could not immediately prove his or her handicap. The test would involve lots of needles and prodding, the idea being that if you were not handicapped before the test you sure as hell would be after.

I suppose this is different, though. Closer parking is always preferable, but the desire for a certain stall isn't nearly as fierce.

17:49 / 30.09.02

the desire for a certain stall isn't nearly as fierce

But the desire for the only stall you can use just might be...

17:56 / 30.09.02

I suppose you could claim you suffer from a moral handicap, you wouldn't have to lie.

18:28 / 30.09.02

I suppose I would find you terribly droll if it were not for the years I spent married to someone who often used a cane or walker when she could and a wheelchair when she couldn't. I still treasure my memories of the day she took a swing with her cane, whacked and deflated the tire of a Cadillac driven by an able-bodied fellow who had parked in the only available handicapped spot near the post office. There was a hullaballoo. The police came.

Fuck your precious, self-conscious rebellion against middle-class politeness, you asshole. People use the handicapped facilities because otherwise they would have no access at all.

Go shit in public if you're so fashionably rebellious.

19:46 / 30.09.02

Something in me says there's a difference between the handicapped stall and the handicapped parking but I'm not quite sure what it is, or even if that little voice is telling the truth.

00:22 / 01.10.02

Jesus, you guys are being too hard on Johnny. The man likes to be comfortable when he takes a shit. So what if a handicapped man has to wait? Everyone has to hold it in once in a while, no big deal. I myself use the handicapped stall sometimes. I'm not saying that it's okay to put a stick in someone's wheelchair spokes on the way to the toilet, but c'mon. There's a difference between making a handicapped person walk an extra 50 yards when they've only got one good leg and asking them to hold their bladder for another 60 seconds.

ONLY NICE THINGS

00:25 / 01.10.02

What if they don't even have one good bladder?

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

00:28 / 01.10.02

Fuck your precious, self-conscious rebellion against middle-class politeness, you asshole. People use the handicapped facilities because otherwise they would have no access at all.

Who the fuck said anything about rebellion? I just like shitting in a larger room with a higher seat. I was asking, asking, mind you, if this was considered forbidden by polite society. A simple "yes" would have sufficed.

Go shit in public if you're so fashionably rebellious.

Yes, because god knows defacation in general is so fashionable these days. I wish I wish I wish I was so cool as to be able to shit where I please. If you're going to look down on me (which I don't mind, honestly), do it because I'm too ignorant to know the case here and not because I'm trying to be cool.

Good lord. I'm not trying to be rebellious. Why the hell would I? I'm a white male between the ages of 18 and 45. In this country, that puts me on top in a lot of things (perhaps not bathroom territory, but then that's what we're discussing here, isn't it?). Do I deserve to have these advantages? Probably not. But that doesn't really matter. Here I am, here I stay.

00:40 / 01.10.02

Well Haus, I suppose Johnny would be obligated to spring for a new pair of pants and trousers

ONLY NICE THINGS

00:50 / 01.10.02

This could be an expensive habit you've got going there, Johnny. I mean, if I were disabled, given the likelihood of there being another disabled person in the restroom at that exact moment, I'd be minded just to let fly, then stick you with the bill when you came out. On avergae, that could mount up to a lot of clothing purchased.

(P.S. You were asking, but had stated early that you didn't intend actually to stop doing it in any case. Which might beg the question of why you were asking in the first place, unless it was so people like Jack could tell you you were an idiot. I'm just sayin')

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

00:54 / 01.10.02

Back to the point...

What if they don't even have one good bladder?

A worthwhile point. I would never ask a handicapped person to wait while I used their stall, and should the case arise where I exit the stall to find a handicapped person waiting, I would naturally apologize profusely and probably feel terrible for the rest of the day. So then, why do I use it in the first place? Because I've never even once seen a handicapped person use one. No doubt they do use them, but I think it's rare enough (where I go to school, which is the only place I've ever seen them [the stalls, not the people]) that the chances of someone having to wait are miniscule at best (going by only my own experience here, I admit. I haven't seen any figures on this sort of thing).

Or is that just me making excuses so I can continue my one man crusade against the hordes of handicapped people and their sympathizers trying to control my urge to shit in a slighty bigger box than I would be able to otherwise?

On another note: My brother, who has been reading this thread, suggested I try taking a crap in a handicapped parking space. What a cad.

ONLY NICE THINGS

00:58 / 01.10.02

I'm just thinkin'....you must be spending a *lot* of time in those toilets if environment becomes this important a factor. What exactly are you doing in there? Smoking some o' that mari-juania? Yeah?

01:32 / 01.10.02

Back to the point...

Fair enough. You're a prick using a service strictly not intended for you and you do it for no other reason than you want to - whilst normally a suitable alternative is available.
It's selfish and uncivil. I'll take a stab and guess most people are pissed off by this antic of yours because we realise if everybody did it the people deserving the special toilets would end up being denied. If we're socially responsible enough to not only realise that but also respect it in the way we act, I think it's only fair we find you a reprehensible member of society for feeling you're some special case who doesn't have to respect other people. Scumbag.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

02:28 / 01.10.02

Haus: Nah, none of that. Basically, it started like this: for some reason, I have always prefered using the stall furthest from the door, which nine out of ten times is the handicapped stall. I came to enjoy the extra space and not having to sit so close to the floor (I have really long legs).

D: Thanks. That's all I wanted.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

02:47 / 01.10.02

Jeeze, why's everyone being so politically correct? It's not like these sit'n'spins are exactly hard done by, is it? With their special toilets and their special parking spaces-- dammit, who do they think they are anyway? Taking up a whole parking space when they don't even work for a living. It's us who's handicapped by them!

Let's face it, they're just not like us. When was the last time you went to a gig, a club, or a cinema and saw one of these wheeled freaks actually trying to fit in, to get along with the rest of society? Probably never, that's when. I mean, why would someone, y'know, like that want to go and see a film about able-bodied people?

If you see a wheelchair user (or should that be abuser!) in an enclosed space frequented by normal folk, the only acceptable course of action is to grab that chair and shove them out of the nearest exit! Why? Because they're a fire hazard, that's why! They're only in the building for one reason: to BURST INTO FLAMES AND BURN THE PLACE DOWN!

Or possibly to steal our women. One or the other.

03:22 / 01.10.02

This is crazy. Say it with me- JOHNNY JUST LIKES A LITTLE ROOM WHEN HE NEEDS TO TAKE A DUMP. This is not a major attack on the handicapped. If anything it is only a minor transgression, one that can be easily be laughed at and overlooked.

03:57 / 01.10.02

I think J.O. should be able to use the handicapped stall whenever he damn well feels like it. But he should break his legs first...then see how much he enjoys the 'extra room'.

04:39 / 01.10.02

just use the freaking stall. get out of the way if you need to. or, you know, don't if you're going to take forever or if it's durring peak crapping hours.

fuck, what a non issue

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

17:04 / 01.10.02

Good lord. This is the second biggest argument about where I take a shit I've ever been in.

I think J.O. should be able to use the handicapped stall whenever he damn well feels like it. But he should break his legs first...then see how much he enjoys the 'extra room'.

No doubt I would love it even more. Why would it be otherwise? What point are you making exactly? If it's just "you're a tool", I'm going to be really disapointed.

00:13 / 02.10.02

i dunno if this argument is a result of america vs britain differences, but if i'm not mistaken, a handicapped icon on public restrooms in the US means that it is for anyone and has been built to insure accessibility by the handicapped. it shares none of the sense of the handicapped icon meant for parking spaces. you will often see restrooms that have only handicapped icons and no non-handicapped icon. this doesn't mean that those who can walk must walk to another.

the icon is meant to let you know that if you need a wheelchair accessible room, this one will do.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

01:17 / 02.10.02

I don't care what other people do in the bathroom as long as they don't drop their pants to their ankles when they are using the urinal. For the life of me, I have yet to figure out why someone would do that.

I'm still creeped out by it.

04:13 / 02.10.02

Before any chucklehead leaps in, no, it isn't because you're "that big".

08:03 / 02.10.02

Well, i thought Johnny's original post was funny. Maybe I'm just childish. At least you didn't post it in Headshop.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

08:09 / 02.10.02

Johnny- "Good lord. This is the second biggest argument about where I take a shit I've ever been in."

Second biggest? Do tell.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

14:59 / 02.10.02

I'd rather not. This is far more emotional public discussion about my bowel movements than I normally prefer as it is.

Murray Hamhandler

16:58 / 02.10.02

...as long as they don't drop their pants to their ankles when they are using the urinal.

Dear sweet Christ in heaven I concur. What is that all about, exactly? That and the slightly less disturbing yet still puzzling "Look, Ma! No hands!" arms akimbo method. These fellas must have Jayna-level control over their urine flow.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

19:31 / 04.10.02

What weirds me out is transvestites who queue up patiently to use the women's bogs at a nightclub... and then they leave the seat up afterwards. Defeats the whole object if you ask me.

20:14 / 04.10.02

[threadrot] D, Jack Sprat, have you two exchanged phone numbers yet? Better yet, scrawl them on the walls of a (non-handicapped) stall... [/threadrot]

Less searchable M0rd4nt

20:49 / 04.10.02

[threadrot]Hey, in Cynthia's Wine Bar they've got full length mirrors on the cubicle doors. On the inside.[/threadrot.]

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