Unattended consequence of COVID. The public restroom

[vash]

Yesterday I went to some no-name lakes with my kayak. In the boondocks. Wineries and orchards. Oh and spectacular mansions.

I was driving along happy, sipping hot strong coffee, eating granola. I was 20 minutes early from the meetup. So I topped off my gasoline. GRUMMMMPHYTTHHH! Goes my internals. Oh o. Code red! I go to look for the room.

“Closed due to COVID”.

Oh oh x 2. I jump back in the truck and backtrack way back. Closed closed, you wish, in your dreams.

I got to a mini mart. The lady sees me heading back and screams. “The toilets are not open to the public”. She looks at my face. I don’t know what I look like, but she silently waves the key at me. As soon as I finish fumbling with the keys, my friend texts me, “I’m here”

Haha. Come on! With hand washing, a bathroom can’t spread the virus can it? At that moment I didn’t give an eff. Saved me from soiling someone’s orchard.

Totally worth it.

[speeder]

Nice photo! I agree that restrooms are not big spreaders of this virus, IMO and from everything I've read and heard. Of course, the thinking on that and a lot of other things has evolved over the last year.

I took some road trips in 2020 and the only time I felt like there was a hazard was in a shared restroom at a big truck stop, (think airport restrooms), when some guy was coughing or it was just too crowded in the space for comfort. In one-at-a-time restrooms, as long as they have good soap and hot water+paper towels, (so that you don't have to touch door handles), I don't see the problem.

And FWIW, public restrooms that are not kept clean and do not have hot water/GOOD soap/paper towels gave me the creeps before any of this started.

[speeder]

I just reread your post...hot coffee and granola in the morning? Dude, you might as well have been ingesting fertilizer and kerosene. Need to plan that one better next time or BOOM!

[cabmandone]

You had the MUTP look on your face. "massive urge to poop"

Sometimes when I'm hunting my friend will see me walking back to the truck. He'll text to ask where I'm going. I simply reply back SUTP (sudden)

[GH85Carrera]

On one of my many road trips I pulled into another of the many small convenience - gas stations in the USA. I was on a mission to buy beer for my overnight hotel room stay, and in no need of the facilities.

There was a guy in what looked like a level 5 HAZMAT suit with a power washer about to enter the outside men's bathroom. No kidding, he was ready for the worst. I went inside and browsed the "beer cave" and made my selection. I commented on the poor guy cleaning the bathroom and the clerk said he is pretty sure someone's bowels just exploded in there, and it was indescribable the mess. He said it was the definition of a real 5hit shower. It was everywhere and he had no idea how it was possible to make that big of a mess. I got my beer and got out of there.

I have never paid for sex, but I have been in the situation where a $20 was worth it to "borrow" a bathroom. I always try to leave it in the same condition I found it.

[speeder]

There are a lot of sick people out there, both physically and mentally.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by cabmando

Sometimes when I'm hunting my friend will see me walking back to the truck. He'll text to ask where I'm going. I simply reply back SUTP (sudden)

I know the feeling.
I always have a bit of the bog roll in my backpack when I'm in the woods.

Nice fish, Vash.

[Nostril Cheese]

Originally Posted by speeder

There are a lot of sick people out there, both physically and mentally.

Im reminded of a while back.. Just minding my own biz, being silent when a few stalls over, there is some guy, loudy going "UUUUUUUUUUUHHHLLLLL!" (think German accent) over and over again...

[wdfifteen]

Nice fish.

Lazy people use covid as a way to get out of working harder. CDC recommends frequent cleaning, not closing public spaces.

[Zeke]

If you've ever worked at a truck stop (I have) then you know what a mess really is.

Enough said. I don't want to go TMI like Cheese just did.

[Baz]

On all the road trips I ever went on McDonalds was ALWAYS the place you could count on to have decent bathrooms. And they were conveniently located along most Interstates and main highways.

[Nostril Cheese]

Originally Posted by Zeke

If you've ever worked at a truck stop (I have) then you know what a mess really is.

Enough said. I don't want to go TMI like Cheese just did.

That happened at a Flying J, fittingly.

[unclebilly]

I dunno. Restrooms freak me out a bit these days. Taking my kids skiing every Saturday and Sunday forced me to use the restroom in the lodge... dropping my very expensive ski gloves next to the urinal when I was fumbling with crutches... cleaning the feet in the crutches when we got home... needing to use the handrail in the handicap stall to get off the toilet...

Germ central.

Regardless, I wash my hands and hand sanitize and SO FAR have kept the Covids away...

[red-beard]

Too bad you don't have Bucee's

https://buc-ees.com/

Huge Restrooms, always clean. All stalls are closed door.

[unclebilly]

^^^ yup been to buc-ees. Crazy amount of urinals for a place that doesn’t serve beer.

[aigel]

I had a buddy here in the Bay Area who worked as a gas station attendant in HS out at the edge of the central valley. Lowest guy on the totem pole - it meant he was also responsible for keeping the bathrooms clean. He had PTSD from cherry season, when masses of people from the suburbs would hit the farmland to pick cherries and buy them on the side of the road, of course eating their fair share ...

TMI but I would have been in an orchard. I haven't been out much, only outdoors stuff, I have not been to a public bathroom for a year. There is some risk with air born particles from feces and the small space. If a guy was breathing heavy in a small bathroom for 10 minutes and dropped / flushed a deuce right before you walk in, you may have some risk. The bigger the bathroom and less usage, the better.

G

[thor66]

"a bathroom can’t spread the virus can it?

it's a small, enclosed space so yes it can

or to put it another way: the can, can

people are worried about contacting surfaces, maybe overly worried since they have nor-virus in the back of their minds

and the easiest, least effort thing for them to do is to close the can

[unclebilly]

^^^ back in high school, I worked at what was at the time the busiest gas station on Vancouver Island. The few times I had to clean the bathroom, I ran the fire hose in there (hose for cleaning the car wash bays) and stood back. The doors opened to the outside and the water just ran out into the parking lot. A few minutes of that and they were ‘clean enough’...

I was a gas jockey, not a janitor.

Oh and for the view from your office thread... 16 year old gas jockey and here was the view from my ‘office’...

[stevej37]

When Covid struck in last spring...biking was a great outlet to get out and exercise.
The bike trails around here, have either rustic outdoor toilets or port-a-johns.
They closed them all. wtf?
Someone made a knee-jerk decision.

Later on, late summer they started opening them back up.

[john70t]

Despite bacterial cells outnumbering human cells 10:1...much of our DNA considered non-human and morphing...the largest human organ being the breathable skin in contact with everything...a mask made of any material fixes everything.

(Or so I've been told by premier scientists)