Best and Worst of Restrooms

[OCGuy81]

Inspired by some recent messages on the Sears/Kmart thread, what are some of the best (and for fun, worst) places for a restroom stop.

To make it more interesting, let's rate them on a 5 star scale, 0 being a Tijuana truck stop and 5 being fancy to the point they have a restroom attendant.

Examples:

McDonalds.  Pretty reliable as a good bathroom stop, they're generally pretty clean.  4/5

Taco Bell: Dear God! Does anybody clean these? 1/5

[kphoger]

My top three worst of all time:

1.  Bus station in Ciudad Chihuahua, Mexico.

2.  Customs office near Allende, Coahuila, Mexico.  (I use this one every time I drive to Mexico, however.)

3.  Bus station in downtown Chicago, IL.

[kphoger]

As for the Sears/Kmart thread...  I hadn't thought about it before, but it is kind of weird that Target bathrooms seem to be in a worse state of cleanliness than Walmart bathrooms.  Odd.

[SkyPesos]

Gas stations with restrooms detached from the main convenience store building: 0/5

Outside of the US, I generally dislike public restrooms in Chinese cities. Squat toilets that no one flushes (same with urinals), lack of toilet paper because of theft issues, and the smell is unpleasing.

[Max Rockatansky]

Probably the all time worst was the Bob Evans in Breezewood.  It was filthy and had a dude in there who was smoking a crack pipe (and had...opinions).  Probably isn't like that all the time, but it was by far the worst stand alone restroom experience.

[jmacswimmer]

If you're looking for humor whilst doing your business, I highly recommend Jimmy John's restrooms.  Among other things, there are footprints on the floor in front of the, er, Jimmy John

Outside of the US

I recall the public toilets at London Paddington being rather off-putting (and I got to pay 30p for the privilege, too!)

London King's Cross, however, was far better (presumably because of the concourse expansion project finished in 2012).

[OCGuy81]

As for the Sears/Kmart thread...  I hadn't thought about it before, but it is kind of weird that Target bathrooms seem to be in a worse state of cleanliness than Walmart bathrooms.  Odd.

I thought the exact same thing...

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Worst in my recent memory was at the Wisconsin State Fair, I think 2016. I'm extremely picky on the road about where I stop; if not a welcome center. which is usually better kept than standard rest areas, it has to be newish, or a chain I trust like Holiday or Kwik Trip.

[OCGuy81]

Worst in my recent memory was at the Wisconsin State Fair, I think 2016. I'm extremely picky on the road about where I stop (if not a rest area it has to be newish, or a chain I trust like Holiday or Kwik Trip).

Was the state fair porta-pottys? I think we can exclude those as de-facto zeros.

[Max Rockatansky]

There is a gas station I frequent which has outdoor porta-pottys and indoor restroom.  I've found the difference between the two be negligible but indoor restroom always has a line.  More often than not I'll use the porta-potty given it's convenience factor.

[jmacswimmer]

There is a gas station I frequent which has outdoor porta-pottys and indoor restroom.  I've found the difference between the two be negligible but indoor restroom always has a line.  More often than not I'll use the porta-potty given it's convenience factor.

Prior to being rebuilt a couple years ago, I remember the I-95 Ladysmith rest areas in VA also had porta-pottys to supplement the way-too-small-for-the-travel-volume buildings.  The rebuilt buildings are much larger (and much nicer) - prior to the rebuild, I tended to avoid Ladysmith and stop at Fredericksburg (SB), New Kent (if headed to/from I-64 east), or the NC Welcome Center (if remaining on I-95 south)

[kphoger]

Worst in my recent memory was at the Wisconsin State Fair, I think 2016. I'm extremely picky on the road about where I stop (if not a rest area it has to be newish, or a chain I trust like Holiday or Kwik Trip).

Was the state fair porta-pottys? I think we can exclude those as de-facto zeros.

I've used decent port-a-potties before.  Especially if they're equipped with TP and hand sanitizer, they can be halfway good.  Of course, the less-used they are, the better they're bound to be.  Cool weather helps too.

The best port-a-potty I've used was at Hidee Gold Mine (near Black Hawk, CO) when my family visited a few years ago.  It was big enough for more than one of us to be in there at a time.



On the road, I generally try to plan fill-ups at truck stops because their bathrooms tend to be bigger, cleaner, and less likely to be out of supplies.

[OCGuy81]

I might need to retract my statement on porta-pottys.

A few years ago, my boss had a company picnic at his house.  There were two trailers brought up to the house that were portable bathrooms.

The inside was immaculate.  Super clean, nice lighting counters, I think they'd even snuck some scented candles in there.

I feel that's very much the exception, not the rule.

[Max Rockatansky]

I might need to retract my statement on porta-pottys.

A few years ago, my boss had a company picnic at his house.  There were two trailers brought up to the house that were portable bathrooms.

The inside was immaculate.  Super clean, nice lighting counters, I think they'd even snuck some scented candles in there.

I feel that's very much the exception, not the rule.

We had one of those trailers at my wedding, way nicer than I expected.

[CoreySamson]

Most Buc-ee's restrooms are 6 out of 5. 

On the topic of portable restrooms, I remember a popular local Tex-Mex place was remodeling their restaurant, and they got one of those portable restrooms, and I was genuinely surprised how clean and nice they looked. I'd say it was even an upgrade from the restaurant's old restrooms (to get to the old ones, you had to go halfway into the restaurant kitchen! That layout sucked).

Worst might be the one in the dormitory at my old church summer camp.

[Brian556]

As for the Sears/Kmart thread...  I hadn't thought about it before, but it is kind of weird that Target bathrooms seem to be in a worse state of cleanliness than Walmart bathrooms.  Odd.

Target is too cheap to have a janitor on duty all day. That's why their restrooms are like that

[kphoger]

As for the Sears/Kmart thread...  I hadn't thought about it before, but it is kind of weird that Target bathrooms seem to be in a worse state of cleanliness than Walmart bathrooms.  Odd.

Target is too cheap to have a janitor on duty all day. That's why their restrooms are like that

I had no idea Mal-Wart had a full-time janitor.

[Brian556]

I might need to retract my statement on porta-pottys.

A few years ago, my boss had a company picnic at his house.  There were two trailers brought up to the house that were portable bathrooms.

The inside was immaculate.  Super clean, nice lighting counters, I think they'd even snuck some scented candles in there.

I feel that's very much the exception, not the rule.

When our local Target was remodeling their restrooms, they rented restroom trailers called "Rolling Thrones". They were way cleaner than the indoor restrooms because this Target is located in a higher-income area, and the customers thought they were too good to use a portable restroom

[Brian556]

As for the Sears/Kmart thread...  I hadn't thought about it before, but it is kind of weird that Target bathrooms seem to be in a worse state of cleanliness than Walmart bathrooms.  Odd.

Target is too cheap to have a janitor on duty all day. That's why their restrooms are like that

I had no idea Mal-Wart had a full-time janitor.

I'm not an expert on Walmart, but I do see their employees cleaning their restrooms regularly. I did work at Target so I do know what goes on there

[kphoger]

As for the Sears/Kmart thread...  I hadn't thought about it before, but it is kind of weird that Target bathrooms seem to be in a worse state of cleanliness than Walmart bathrooms.  Odd.

Target is too cheap to have a janitor on duty all day. That's why their restrooms are like that

I had no idea Mal-Wart had a full-time janitor.

I'm not an expert on Walmart, but I do see their employees cleaning their restrooms regularly. I did work at Target so I do know what goes on there

I briefly worked at Target too.  There were plenty of times it ended up being the store manager who cleaned the restroom.

[Mapmikey]

Probably the all time worst was the Bob Evans in Breezewood.  It was filthy and had a dude in there who was smoking a crack pipe (and had...opinions).  Probably isn't like that all the time, but it was by far the worst stand alone restroom experience.

My worst adult experience with this was similar to this at a no-name convenience store in Oxford NC.

But for those not old enough to remember, the all time worst bathroom award is a 27,000 last place tie among all the gas station restrooms in the 1970s, some of which required a dime or quarter payment to access their filth.  Some fast food restrooms also had pay toilets.

Worst rest area were NC rest areas in the 70s-80s...had sulphur water.

Today it is not all that hard to find a decent bathroom given the large convenient store (these are bigger than the grocery stores of my early childhood) and truck stop chains that go out of their way to have decent facilities.

[hbelkins]

Sheetz tends to have decent restrooms.

Speedway is hit-or-miss. As are, in my experience, most every fast-food chain. It's like rolling dice when you head for the head in a McDonald's.

Most Walmarts where I've used the restroom have had clean facilities.

[dlsterner]

To make it more interesting, let's rate them on a 5 star scale, 0 being a Tijuana truck stop and 5 being fancy to the point they have a restroom attendant.

I dunno ... the time I was in a restroom with an attendant (probably a Las Vegas casino), I found it a bit ... creepy ... for some dude to be handing me a towel after taking care of business.

[GCrites]

Gas stations with restrooms detached from the main convenience store building: 0/5

There are very few of these left near me but I hear some other places such as Cleveland still have them:

The bathrooms attached to the gas station that had separated doors accessed from outside.

1. Go ask for the key first. It usually had a big block of wood or a yardstick attached to it

2. Enter. The door is gross and has been painted 50 times.

3. Now you are inside. You first notice how tiny everything is inside bathrooms before the Americans With Disabilities act happened. Stalls, sinks and all that are 2.5 feet wide or less.

4. Everything is slippery ceramic tile. Not the 12" tile you see today. 1" tile. Grout is everywhere and is super gross. Absolutely no drywall anywhere. Ugly drains in the floor. Also super gross.

5. Usually 2 commodes and a urinal or vice versa.

6. Head for the commode. Pass a mega dusty but also rusty electric heater built into the wall. It is tiny, often broken, noisy if working and the only source of heat in the room.

7. Open the stall. The lock hasn't worked in years and is gone. 2 inch hole that anyone can look through. Rust everywhere.

8. Toilet paper dispenser is very strange in some varied manner and is rusty chrome. Toilet paper has been peed on.

9. Roulette! Is there a paper condom for you to put between your butt and the toilet seat? There's a dispenser for one (much more likely than today actually, AIDS might have had something to do with it) but are there any?

10. The toilet seat. It's black. This is so you can't tell if it's dirty.

11. The toilet has a handle. No electric eyes for flushing back then. All the chrome has worn off. Major condensation on the pipes so much that they are green with corrosion.

12. Let's look at a urinal now. It goes all the way into to the floor. It stinks. There are probably a couple urinal cakes that are almost gone. They aren't helping. There are cigarette butts floating around. Brown ones, not Lights. There may be a urinal mat. The handle is even more worn.

13. Time to wash your hands. No hot water. The hand soap comes out of a chrome thing and is powder. You dry your hands on a long towel that you pull out of a roller with a noisy clutch. The roller has a small mirror that has clouded up on the inside. You then leave through the 2-foot wide door. If there are other men using the room they are hippies or guys who look like it's 1975 despite it being 1987.


Anyone have anything more to add? This is a living document.

[SkyPesos]

Let's look at a urinal now. It goes all the way into to the floor.

A urinal going to the floor reminds me of a Costco's restroom. Not that it's a bad thing in Costco, at least it auto flushes, unlike toilets I've seen at most gas station restrooms. I'll place the cleanliness of a Costco restroom at the same level of a Walmart one. Probably a 3/5 for Costco's restrooms.