From the article: How to Find a Public Rest Room
Public toilets are at times a necessary evil. Sometimes you get lucky and find a clean restroom with private stalls and a cheerful attendant. But, let’s face it, sometimes we all are forced to use public restrooms that are a horror show -- filthy dirty, with smells that could make you gag. What was your worst experience with a public toilet? Get your revenge by telling the world! Share Your Tale!
Worst loos are lacking in privacy dign
- Unrestricted access given to male cleaners to access female loos when in use. Finding myself on my own in a MOTO service station in what was supposed to be a womens toilet facility according to signs-when a strange man entered without warning and made me feel intimidated and did not respect my need for privacy. I was distraught as I had no idea this was likely to happen. It could have been a child and he could have been a pervert, This is wrong.
- —Guest Hammerji
Festival Joy
- Well, I agree that SC restrooms are generally bad, bu there in NC the worst, so far, was the porta potties at the Scottish Festival. Stinky, sticky, toilet paper all over and a bunch of jerks banging on the door wanting you out in 2 minutes. Never again!
- —Southfire
Dirty South
- Due to being blessed with Crohn's Disease I have seen more public rest rooms than I care to count, However, the one I encountered recently in a popular grocery chain in South Carolina was the worst! First of all the place stunk to high heaven, second, there was a damp filthy roll of toilet paper laying near the enterance of the stall, and third there was a large brown smear of god knows what on the stall wall (I suppose the wall was used in lieu of toilet paper from the last person). I used the toilet out of sheer desperation, but hope to never ever encounter it again!!!
- —Guest Kelly
In Turkey
- I was in a very rural area of Turkey when we stopped for a restroom break. I went into the stall and discovered a hole in the ground, and tiny faucet and a small bucket. No toilet, no TP, no nothing else. Do you have any idea how hard it is to aim for that little hole and maintain your balance while squatting? You could hear the gasps from my friends up and down the row of stalls as they made the discovery of what a public bathroom looks like in rural Turkey. At least one of my friends had a stash of tissues, which we passed down the row. More than one person missed, had to wipe off their foot/leg etc.
- —SurgeryRN
Never Ride a Harley in a Bikini
- Years ago, when I was young, thin and carefree, I was camping out at the Kern River with a bunch of my biker friends. I asked one of the guys for a ride to the store and away we went, me in my tiny little bikini and him looking dapper in his leathers and chaps. When we arrived at the store, I had to use the restroom, which, out in the boonies as we were, was an outhouse, of course, with no toitet paper. Well, and this is kinda gross, I had to go number two and toilet paper would have been most essential, but there was none so I just roughed it, so to speak. I finished up and walked into the store and then back out to the bike. I got on the bike and to my dismay, remnants of what I just did in the outhouse were smeared down my legs. I was never so embarrased in my life. When I got off the bike, I made more of a mess on the guy's seat and the rest is history. I cleaned it up but the humiliation still remains, and this was about 35 years ago.
- —Guest Dee (not my real name)
Outhouse in the Middle East
- When I was a kid traveling with my parents in a middle eastern desert region (in the summer, no less), we came to a rest area where there only "bathroom" was a small wooden shack with a hole in the ground. Period. That was it. Hot as blazes, and it stunk to high heaven. I've traveled a lot since then and had lots of bizarre toilet experiences, but that was by far the worst ever.
- —Guest Nancy
Chinese Squat Toilet
- On our first trip to China, we landed at the Beijing airport. I had to go - found the right door - and was astounded to find doorless stalls with just a hole in the floor - no way to flush - and no toilet paper. After that, I always carried tissue with me.
- —breastcancer
Bad place to lose your wallet
- I think the worst one I've encountered was a gas station restroom in LA. Dirty toilet paper on the floor, disgusting filth everywhere, and a woman's wallet with both cash and cards on the floor! I gingerly picked it up and we turned it in at a branch of the bank on her checks, as we were traveling from another state. Second worst was the outdoor bank of johns at the airport in Pisa, Italy. They were flush toilets and water plus excrement was leaking out and running out the doors. In general, the construction portajohns I often use on daily walks are clean, have no smell, and usually have hand cleansing gel dispensers! While many disdain them, I find them cleaner than many public flush toilet restrooms.
- —Guest WB
McSorley's Pub
- Maybe they have upgraded the facilities, but the bathrooms used to be co-ed horse stalls! It took a lot of bad beer before I was brave enough to enter.
- —Guest melanie
