At work i used to share a restroom with 2 other women and the occasional visitor. Now, the second bathroom has been demolished for renovations and there are now 6 females and 5 males. (single toilet and sink together, and only 6 ft from my desk) My problem: Not everyone is using the manners that they were taught. We have one person that everyday at 10 am goes in an takes care of business for 20 minutes or so and then sprays half a can of air freshener, and for the next 4 hours or so, i feel like choking, as does any one else who follows. People dont wash their hands, they finish the paper towels or toilet paper and dont put the next roll on, leave the toilet seat up, dont clean up after themselves if the make a mess on the toilet, splashe water everywhere….its bad!! So! My question is, what do i do? I have already made mention to the owner and he kind of laughed it off and said “we’ll have to work on that”! is there a polite way to handle this?
i understand taking 20 minutes….but everyday! i can set a clock by his bathroom habits! he leave immediatly afterward to do sales, why does he have to do it here!!
i understand a bathrooms purpose! i just feel that there are more appropriate times, places and ways of using a ahared facility
That’s a tough situation. Its amazing to see how dirty people can be, makes you wonder how they treat their own homes.
I’d keep a running log of all the issues. Every time someone does not flush, or throws paper on the floor, or leaves the water running, etc, list it in a log. After a couple weeks or a month, take it to the owner and show him the issues.
Or ask to be moved to a new office/cubicle perhaps?
I had the same problem a few years back at a job. The one that REALLY gets me is when they leave messes (or hair….*vomit*) on the toilet seat. I just grabbed the toilet cleaner everyday and gave it a good wipedown before using it. And, I complained about it in the office too-they may get the drift, they may not.
I have a similar issue in my office – posting a sign on the inside reminding people to treat this bathroom as their own is a good way – or Googling bathroom etiquette and posting that in the bathroom as well was helpful here. But definitely keep a log of infractions – this will help your case with your boss.
Hi
Draft a letter a notice for all toilet users and show the owner and have him sign it Management. Be kind and polite in the letter and spell everything out clearly what you want to see and expect.
The owner sounds like he is just to busy to handle it but he will allow you to put management on the bottom and he will probably sign it to.
I think that’s your best answer. It’s what I would do
We’ve posted several signs in our company’s restrooms.
The number of females employees in my office has greatly increased in the last year, and frankly, so have the messes. I became fed up with it and after several complaints from myself and others were lodged with HR, we just ended up putting up signs requesting “courtesy” and reminders to clean up after oneself. It seems to have helped without actually calling out the one or two people that are the main perpetrators…
i had the same problem for a while at work.
i got so fed up with the mess (the women’s’ room was much nastier than the mens’ room) that i would walk in after each person and inspect the restroom; if it was nasty or anything was out of place i would go to the person and ‘call’ them on it.
i was known for a while as ‘ the potty police ‘ (with a laugh)
it worked.
no one wants to be known around the office as the ‘ messy potty maker ‘.
it takes a rude person to make the mess; you don’t necessarily need to be nice about someone being SO nasty.
Your hands are tied actually. Other than cleaning it before YOU use it and buying a small, personal fan to blow the smell out of your work area, what else can you do? You can ask your boss if you can put up a “Your mother doesn’t live here” sign or something similar to let everyone know that safe hygiene and bathroom etiquette are everyones responsibility. But other than that, live with it or find another bathroom.
I don’t see a problem with the first scenerio (the person taking 20 minutes). They can’t help it if it takes that long to go, and at least they are using air freshner for everyone. What choice do they have?
As for the rest, perhaps you could suggest to your boss that you send out an email with polite wording reminding people to clean up after themselves when using the bathroom. They are not children and it’s sad you even have to go there. Another thing you could do is start mentioning things by word of mouth. Eventually it’ll get passed around the office and people might be embarassed enough to start cleaning up. It’s not a very mature way of dealing with it, but hey, neither is not cleaning up after yourself!
So, you don’t want the people in the bathroom to use it. I don’t get your gripe about the person who goes in and takes care of business. Should they go in the bushes outside? Would that not offend you?
It’s a bathroom. It’s a place were people defecate and urinate-that’s not going to be a lovely place. If the roll of toilet paper needs to be changed, change it. If the paper towel is empty, refill it. If not you, then who?
Do you guys have a cleaning person? Can they check it every few hours? That’s a lot of people for just one bathroom.
Put up on of those “Please keep our restroom neat and tidy” signs.
Well your job is not to be the bathroom police. The air freshener problem directly affects you however, and stand up and say something. I had the same problem in my office. This woman has worked there for 20 years and thinks she owns the place. She does no work and emails friends and shops online all day long. She also puts “plug-in” air fresheners in every socket in the place. Finally one day I just told her (with the boss within earshot) that the smell is giving me a headache everyday, and if I have to go home, nobody else is going to cover for her. She got the point, and even tried to feign working for awhile. As for the messes in the bathroom, be prepared to scrub the seat every time you need the facilities.
Unfortunately, everybody has to poop, and we just can’t force our bodies to hold it in to spare someone else’s tender sensibilities (it can cause serious gastro problems).
The most expedient change would be if you could relocate to another part of the office so that you aren’t right by the bathroom, or maybe switch desks with someone who isn’t so sensitive. If that’s not possible, perhaps you can ask your boss about drafting bathroom rules to post where they can be seen by those using it (a very comon practice, I assure you).
I suggest this because everyone doesn’t always have the same expectatons of what is polite or proper, though it may seem like perfect common sense to others. I learned this the hard way my first year of college when I chided my two roomates about not replacing the TP when using the last and they looked at me blankly, not having that same rule in their housholds growing up as I had. You might also speak to your boss about replacing the can of air freshener with a plug-in or battery operated one, like those sold in any drug store, to automatically dispense the scent and keep the room smelling nice all of the time. Perhaps since you are the one most passionate about this and seem to have the time to put so much into it, he’ll let you spear head this effort. You can also post signs about handwashing or even get some of that stuff they use to teach people about washing their hands. It’s a lotion that you put on your hands and then put them under a special light (included with the lotion) to see the “germs”, then you wash your hands and put them under the light again to see if you’ve gotten them all off, very educational, and when I used it at a staff meeting at my former place of employment, people started washing their hands more and in a more effective way. The kit also includes a powder that you can put on items like doorknobs, pens, etc to demonstrate how germs can get passed around. I can’t remember what it’s called, but I found it by googeling “handwashing, instruction” or something like that.
Ultimately, you’re going to have to decide to not get so pissed off about this stuff, though. You can’t change anyone who doesn’t want to be changed and if you continue to let yourself get upset by stuff you can’t change, you’re going to give yourself a stroke or something, and you really don’t deserve anything like that. Hope this helps.
the fastest way to put a stop to it is to tell the person face to face what he/she is doing wrong (like telling a 4 year old).
not everyone has bathroom manners – especially when they know they have to share the bathroom and there is no ‘potty police’ for real. so you need to be the potty police or stop complaining.
womens restrooms are far worse than mens restrooms THAT’S for sure.
when someone walks out make sure to ask , “did you wash your hands and clean up after yourself? ” .
or
when someone gets ready to walk in say ” make sure to wash your hands and clean up after yourself”.
or
make sure to tell them “i’m not your mama. clean it up”.