The Office of the Future Will Still Have a Terrible Bathroom
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Re: The Office of the Future Will Still Have a Terrible Bathroom
#2> it's unease around the gap between the door and the partition
Why is this a thing in the US? I legitimately don't understand it.
As to the article overall: This is an interesting topic that is rarely discussed. I often see embarrassed bathroom patrons utilise the disabled-accessible bathroom because it is it's own room (i.e. not stall-separate, wall-separate).
I have no issue with gender neutral bathrooms, but from what I hear around the watercooler, women's bathrooms are a LOT nastier than men's (or at least that's how women tell it). Too many women trying to hover and getting it wrong.
But it would be interesting if companies starting doing a "private bathroom" as a perk again, something that was popular some time around the 1980s.
Re: The Office of the Future Will Still Have a Terrible Bathroom
#3Everything about the stall door was irrelevant. They are made so cheap and with such gaps because, they are cheaper that way. They won't go down to the floor because, that would be 12" more material cost. They won't ever fit closely because, they sag and bend because they're cheaply installed. All the blather about how they could be different is ignoring the cost factor, which would be large.
ON a different note, I visited a dept store bathroom recently and was surprise to see, it was a hallway of individual bathrooms! Irrelevantly, they were marked Male and Female. If only one person is in it, why does it matter? The one at my house, upstairs first door on the right, is unisex.
Re: The Office of the Future Will Still Have a Terrible Bathroom
#4I'm surprised to hear that people have found the bathroom going experience so suboptimal, but I can understand where they are coming from. The vertical gap between door and frame is sometimes more than a finger wide!
Personally, I mostly find the situation funny. I figure I've heard/smelled/been adjacent to my colleagues going to the bathroom more than any other member of my family. There's also something humanizing about seeing your VP walk out of a stall (eye contact optional) after you just smelled them commit acts most foul.
Re: The Office of the Future Will Still Have a Terrible Bathroom
#5Gender inequity in tech has one downside if you are a male -- lack of bathrooms. If there is one male and one female bathroom on the floor, and male-to-female gender ratio is 5:1, then you're gonna have a bad time. :)
Re: The Office of the Future Will Still Have a Terrible Bathroom
#6I have always wondered why US toilet cubicles are so "gappy". In most of the UK offices I have ever worked in, in the cubicle the toilet door is floor to ceiling and closes completely - like being in your own mini-room with a toilet in.
Re: The Office of the Future Will Still Have a Terrible Bathroom
#7Everything about the stall door was irrelevant. They are made so cheap and with such gaps because, they are cheaper that way. They won't go down to the floor because, that would be 12" more material cost. They won't ever fit closely because, they sag and bend because they're cheaply installed. All the blather about how they could be different is ignoring the cost factor, which would be large. ON a different note, I v…
I never understood when a place has two single occupancy bathrooms with one marked Men and the other Women. Maybe there's a law that requires this in some places or are they just catering to social expectations?
Re: The Office of the Future Will Still Have a Terrible Bathroom
#8Gender inequity in tech has one downside if you are a male -- lack of bathrooms. If there is one male and one female bathroom on the floor, and male-to-female gender ratio is 5:1, then you're gonna have a bad time. :)
Men cycle through a bathroom much faster than women when urinating (ever been to a sports event?).
I imagine someone must have urination vs defecation stats. I'd like it be like 30:1 or something.
Re: The Office of the Future Will Still Have a Terrible Bathroom
#9Gender inequity in tech has one downside if you are a male -- lack of bathrooms. If there is one male and one female bathroom on the floor, and male-to-female gender ratio is 5:1, then you're gonna have a bad time. :)
Men cycle through a bathroom much faster than women when urinating (ever been to a sports event?). I imagine someone must have urination vs defecation stats. I'd like it be like 30:1 or something.
> I imagine someone must have urination vs defecation stats.
Might make for a tricky office survey.
Re: The Office of the Future Will Still Have a Terrible Bathroom
#10Everything about the stall door was irrelevant. They are made so cheap and with such gaps because, they are cheaper that way. They won't go down to the floor because, that would be 12" more material cost. They won't ever fit closely because, they sag and bend because they're cheaply installed. All the blather about how they could be different is ignoring the cost factor, which would be large. ON a different note, I v…
>Irrelevantly, they were marked Male and Female.
Anecdotally, my office has about 60 employees and 8 individual bathrooms. They're fully enclosed with sinks and their own heavy closing doors. They also are all equipped with a white noise machine that's connected to the ceiling light switch. I guess we're pretty lucky to have this setup.
About two years ago, however, someone complained that all of the bathrooms were becoming "too dirty" in between weekly cleanings and it was blamed on the men. Therefore, three of the restrooms are now women only, while the remainder are unisex. It seems a bit unfair, but nobody has cared enough to complain.