Why do people find it impossible to clean up after themselves in public restrooms?

Question

Using public restrooms is one of the things I despise in life. Whether at a restaurant, the mall, or an airport, it seems as though people think it's okay to make a mess.

I regularly encounter pee on seats, un-flushed toilets, p**p remnants, etc...

It's not like I visit dirty places-- I live in a resort area. It just seems like people don't care at all if they leave the restroom a mess.

I hate having to clean up someone elses pee so that I can use the toilet. Even then, I put TP on the seat, and in the bowl (to prevent backsplash).

What is the reasoning behind people doing this? Do they just not care? Do people have a complete disregard for anyone who is using the restroom after them? Is it the inherent selfishness of people nowdays? Does anyone have insight on why people do this?

Answer 1

People have the attitude that it's someone else's job to clean the seats.  I absolutely hate using men's restrooms when I have to go number 2.  Unless the restroom was just recently cleaned, it's pretty much a guarantee that some guy left the seat down while he was standing and pissing and pissed all over the dang thing... absolutely disgusting..

Answer 2

its disgusting and u dont no wtf was on that seat

Answer 3

I've been considering making a stack of fliers which say:

"If you sprinkle when you tinkle,

please be neat and wipe the seat!"

and posting them on the inside of stalls in every public restroom I can.

Seriously, it's disgusting!  And from the few peeks I've had at men's rooms, it seems like ladies are so much worse!

Answer 4

I think alot of it has to do with the sheer volume of people in one area that isn't constantly being attended to. One uncaring,"dirty"person is bad enough,multiply that times MANY..you get a disgusting environment..and who among us wants to be the one to police the already dirty public restroom?:)

Answer 5

using public restrooms is a privilege and people just seem to not take advantage of that the right way. i wouldn't be surprised if one day they stop allowing public restroom service.

i've seen some of the nastiest things around toilets and sometimes i can't just let it pass by, i go ahead and flush it down my sake, the janitors sake, and for other customer's sake. its downright wrong, filthy, lazy and rude.

Answer 6

one they are lazy, and two being a public place i assume they expect someone else to clean it up.  very immature and selfish people

Answer 7

i don't see this very often where i live. but..without a doubt lots of people are pigs.

Answer 8

if you think here is bad, go to france it's 10 times worse!

Answer 9

Honestly, people just fail to have responsibility for themselves in public, especially if no one is watching them.  I worked in fast food for close to two years trying to save up money for college.  I was always the person who had to clean up the messes.  The men's bathroom was typically much worse than the woman's.  We would have a lot of factory and construction workers come in and use this bathroom.  The sink would typically be caked in dirt by the time I would get around to cleaning it and paper towels would be all over the floor.  Most of the time, if there were something on the floor in the woman's bathroom, someone would come get me and tell me.  However, one day I had to clean p**p (sorry!) that had been smeared from top to bottom in a woman's stall.  While some would automatically assume that this was probably a small child playing around, I honestly think that someone did this to be funny.  Obviously it's not funny...especially when you are the one cleaning it up (me) or someone trying to use a restroom with this mess in it.  All I have to say is even though people are paid to clean restrooms, they aren't there 24/7, are not maids (I was a cashier), and do not find disgusting messes funny.

Answer 10

Its like that in my high school... ppl are so gross, leaving things that women use monthly on the floor and other gross things on seats. I feel bad for the janitors even though its their job.  I suppose some people don't care about hygeine and cleanliness...

Answer 11

because some people just are filthy scumbags.

why is it so hard for them to wash their hands too?

Answer 12

I think a majority of the time people are in a rush to get in and out of the bathroom as quickly as possible. They may be on a break or have to go really badly or know that the bathroom is a mess before they even get there and so aren't paying attention to what they are doing and don't pay attention to what everyone else has done.

I agree that a lot of people are very messy and do seem to have a disregard for the cleanliness of public properties, bathrooms especially. Very often, I find that the trash can looks like it is overflowing but it isn't. It's just that people have been in too much of a rush or are too germaphobic to push their towels through the flaps.

I work in a hospital and while the cleaning staff is very good at their job, I always try to help them out. If I go into the bathroom and there is water all over the sinks or paper towels hanging out of the trash can, I'll use the restroom myself, clean it up and then wash my hands and arms thoroughly.

There are also a lot of places, even nice places, where the bathrooms just aren't checked as often as they should be and since the general public doesn't say anything to a staff member or manager, it goes unseen until the next shift worker comes in.