Office Bathroom Etiquette
Do’s and Don’ts in the Workplace Bathroom
© Melissa Dylan
Jan 8, 2007
It's a delicate issue, but one that must be addressed: etiquette in the company restroom.
A friend of mine had a coworker who would duck into the bathroom to find her, even passing files under the stall door. Friend did not like this very much. (For one thing, where is she going to put them? Ew.)
Here are some do’s and don’ts.
Don’t… Conduct business. Let your coworkers do their thing in peace. In fact, don’t chit-chat, period, while in the restroom. Some people (and by that I mean me) get weirded out about talking to people while going. It can’t wait ten seconds? (Exception: if you’re both at the sink, a “weather’s been nice, huh?” conversation is fine. If someone is behind a stall door, consider them out-of-bounds.)
Do… Tidy up. No one wants to navigate around your mess. Yes, there are usually janitors, but a.) it’s rude to make them pick up your stinky tp, and b.) until they come in, your office mates are forced to use a bathroom that is filthy. Throw away your trash, wipe up excess water on the countertops, and for God’s sake—no sprinkles on the seats.
Do…Flush. And check to make sure everything went down. This should go without saying. Operative word: should.
Don’t…Take your time. If people are waiting, please hurry, particularly in situations where the toilet and sink are in one room. I’m not sure why, but women disappear into single bathrooms and it’s like they step into a time warp. What are they doing in there? As a fellow woman, I don’t see any reason why it should take more than a minute or so, tops. If you have to freshen up your lipstick, do so discreetly in the hallway if women are doing the pee-pee dance outside. This is not the time to change your hairstyle, examine your pores for pimples, reassess your outfit choice for the day, etc. P.S. Even if no one is waiting when you go in there? Chances are a line is forming outside. So step on it.
Do…Cover up your stink. Bring in an air deodorizer to keep in the bathroom, and spray liberally.
Do…Treat it better than your bathroom at home. Perhaps you don’t mind your own mess, have no issues with going unflushed, fling water around the room like you’re having a personal water fight, but in an office environment, be respectful. Keep the place nice for others, if not yourself.
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Comments
Jan 26, 2007 10:57 AM
rose
:
We recently moved offices. At our old office, we had one women's restroom for the whole floor, which included once office with very, very smelly women.
Thankfully, we just moved. We now have our own floor, and one women's restroom that's just for us. Fantastic!
Or is it?
Before, if something smelled, or was messy, or someone was in there long enough to go swimming, it was easy to blame on the three other offices on the floor. Nameless, faceless women peed on the seat, forgot to flush, or made even the hall smell like moist dog food.
But now, we know. If something, anything happens in there, it's one of us. When everyone is in the office, there are five women, total. So, we know the game. We know who is playing. We know who caused the smell.
This has led Zest Girl to start using the bathroom on the second floor. I feel bad for them.
Jan 29, 2007 11:34 AM
Melissa Dylan
:
Ah, yes. It's delicate stuff. Be grateful you don't have a unisex bathroom. Boys are gross. GROSS, I tell you.
Feb 8, 2007 3:04 PM
rose
:
OH, man, I totally agree. I share a bathroom with a guy at home, and, let me tell you, it is SO NICE to not have to worry about a wet toilet seat.
Mar 24, 2007 9:53 PM
Megan McConnell
:
We share a very nasty bathroom with a Korean student service. Now, the bathroom is very old and not nice to start with, but the girls from the Korean company are all Koreans, and we've discovered that their bathroom habits are very different from what is the "norm" for Australians.
Unfortunately, nothing that we do seems to get them to change their habits - from eating lunch in there (yes!) to stuffing the sanitary disposals full of used toilet paper (and the cost of changig the bins twice a week, instead of once is now being passed onto us).
It's equally unfortunate that we can't claim that we're mistaken, as the ladies from the rest of the floor have all caught them at it several times.
At least our problem is less bad than the men, who find urinals not flushed, as well as some other gross-out things.
I've discovered that the hardest thing about multi-culturalism is the differnt bathroom habits!!!
Apr 1, 2007 4:56 PM
Melissa Dylan
:
While that does seem strange to us (eating in the bathroom? ew!) at least the toilet paper thing can be solved by putting a few extra bins in each bathroom stall. If I grew up in a world where flushing paper meant a living room full of sewage, I'd be hard-pressed to change my ways, too!
Jun 5, 2007 2:22 PM
Marilyn Burton
:
I'm trying to tactfully let a socially ignorant (male) employee I supervise know that it's not OK to leave the toilet seat up at work, in a unisex bathroom. A open list of department problems with it written on the list didn't seem to do the trick.
Any etiquette articles or books on this? I can't discuss and open the floodgate of "sexist" issues with him.
Any references would be helpful!
Thanks
Aug 3, 2007 4:51 PM
Melissa Dylan
:
Unfortunately, some men will successfully argue that it's sexist for men to have to put the seat down; why not women putting the seat up? This might be what you mean by "opening the floodgate of sexist issues."
Chances are, however, it's not a matter of sexism--he probably simply forgets. If he doesn't live with females (or lives with tolerant women) he isn't in the habit of putting the seat down, and a departmental memo that he reads nowhere near the restroom isn't going to help.
You can always go the route of taping a sign to the bathroom door reading "Did you put the seat down?" Annoying, but harder to ignore. And works along the lines of signs reminding employees to wash their hands before handling food (which ick me out in and of themselves, because if employees need signs reminding them not to handle food after using the bathroom, what else might they forget? But that's another matter entirely).
However, you did ask for references or books on the matter. I've not read it, but heard good things about this book: The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't.
Good luck!
P.S. PLEASE stop sending out memos that passive-agressively target one individual, because it irritates the 99% of employees you are not referring to, and the person you ARE trying to reach doesn't realize it is them.
