Women’s Restroom Etiquette Question
When at a public facility/restaurant, is it appropriate to use the handicap stall if you are not disabled?
At one of my girlie outings, one of the women got accosted by someone in the women’s bathroom for using the handicapped stall without being handicapped.
So the question is this: Are handicapped stalls just intended to be handicap accessible or are they exclusively for handicapped individuals?
Enquiring minds (who don’t want the public humiliation of a women’s restroom brawl on their hands) want to know…
well you know me and bathroom humor! had i been the one accosted for using that handicapped stall (and i do use them because they are much roomier), my response would have been “excuse me! i actually AM handicapped! my crotch is SO stretched out that i need the extra large toilet so my lady garden doesn’t hit the water!” OR “how DARE you! (in a joan rivers voice) how would you presume to know whether or not i am handicapped? should i have a handicapped symbol tatooed on my forehead? shall i show you my dirty diabetic needle and my urinary catheter? or would you rather i hand you my colonscopy bag to throw away in return for being so rude?”
Lewie – perhaps you should think about your night at the casino restroom and avoid public bathrooms alltogether… just tellin’ ya.
I would say use the “party room” if no other stall is available
I agree. I hate feeling all claustrophobic and having to touch anything in public restrooms.
Listen to mother nature if necessary and the
hell with Emily Post and the toilet nazis.
If you don’t see a handicapped person in line, you’re all set. Go for it!
When you gotta go..you gotta go…and why is it that someone who is handicapped can’t be second in line too? I have yet to see someone go RACING into a handicapped stall so …..all is fair in public restrooms.
Now…should there be a wheelchaired, walker-welding person coming in the door at the same time I am heading there…well, I will pass on the oversized option…
this blog cracked me up as it has that Carrie from Sex in the City vibe to it!
I have a whole string of thought processes that occur when faced with a handicapped stall:
*If there is a non-handicapped stall that is clean and available, I use it first.
*If they’re all occupied, and the handicapped stall is open and there are no people who are handicapped waiting for it, then I will use it.
*If I am with my newly potty-trained, but still needs supervision daughter, then I will use it because it’s a tight squeeze in the regular one and she likes to hold on to the bar.
I like the larger stall because of the parallel bars. I keep looking for the chalk so I can do a proper dismount. I’m also tempted to ask the person in the next stall if they’ll spot me. n’kuk
it’s funny, so many women at my work race for the handicapped one first, even when all the other ones are empty…perhaps because it’s more spacious, or because the metal bars give them the warm reminder of knowing they are able-bodied? Not sure….Personally I couldn’t care less if able-bodied women use it, and at work I happen to know that no one on our floor is even handi-capped, so I suppose it’s fair game….as for bathroom brawls in restaurants etc, a nasty germ-filled public bathroom is no place to get physical, so if I felt like a fight, I would totally take it outside by the dumpster