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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 :D
Quote from: SkyPesos on June 18, 2021, 02:25:08 PM
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).
Quote from: kphoger on June 18, 2021, 02:22:56 PM
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...
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.
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on June 18, 2021, 03:04:04 PM
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.
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.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 18, 2021, 03:10:36 PM
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)
Quote from: OCGuy81 on June 18, 2021, 03:06:01 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on June 18, 2021, 03:04:04 PM
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.
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. :bigass:
I feel that's very much the exception, not the rule.
Quote from: OCGuy81 on June 18, 2021, 03:54:02 PM
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. :bigass:
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.
Most Buc-ee's restrooms are 6 out of 5. :sombrero:
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.
Quote from: kphoger on June 18, 2021, 02:22:56 PM
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
Quote from: Brian556 on June 18, 2021, 04:52:01 PM
Quote from: kphoger on June 18, 2021, 02:22:56 PM
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.
Quote from: OCGuy81 on June 18, 2021, 03:54:02 PM
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. :bigass:
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
Quote from: kphoger on June 18, 2021, 04:52:48 PM
Quote from: Brian556 on June 18, 2021, 04:52:01 PM
Quote from: kphoger on June 18, 2021, 02:22:56 PM
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
Quote from: Brian556 on June 18, 2021, 04:57:26 PM
Quote from: kphoger on June 18, 2021, 04:52:48 PM
Quote from: Brian556 on June 18, 2021, 04:52:01 PM
Quote from: kphoger on June 18, 2021, 02:22:56 PM
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.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 18, 2021, 02:33:11 PM
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.
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.
Quote from: OCGuy81 on June 18, 2021, 02:13:49 PM
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.
Quote from: SkyPesos on June 18, 2021, 02:25:08 PM
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.
Quote from: GCrites80s on June 18, 2021, 09:15:08 PM
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.
Worst bathroom: Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, Russia, 1995.
I have found surprisingly clean porta-potties, but it's a dice roll. Walmart bathrooms are surprising as well.
Quote from: CoreySamson on June 18, 2021, 04:26:45 PM
Worst might be the one in the dormitory at my old church summer camp.
Upon further reflection, that one was the worst, but it wasn't public. Worst (I think) was the Tiger truck stop (https://www.google.com/maps/@30.4176602,-91.435699,3a,75.9y,185.26h,90.8t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sWvjjO4CKcK0ZcH8Fx4Aqlw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) in Grosse Tete, LA.
Best Buccees, they have attendents in there at all times. Worst any small gas station or busy bar.
A few years ago, I used to go to local festivals all the time. (I don't think I went to any last year. I'm not sure why.) Portable restrooms always had pee and poo everywhere. Best all, people used to put things in the toilet bowls all the time. I saw plastic Kroger grocery bags, a metal pickle jar lid, a cardboard Cheez-It box, a Geico Gecko fan, a phone book, and other items in the toilets. I remember one time, someone put a pair of jeans in the toilet, and I saw the maintenance crew fishing it out.
Also, the restrooms at my high school always smelled like pee mixed with cigarettes, and people used to put things in the toilets all the time.
And I remember one time in college, there was poo all over the wall above the urinal. A professor saw it and said, "I hope that's mud."
Quote from: GCrites80s on June 18, 2021, 09:15:08 PM
Quote from: SkyPesos on June 18, 2021, 02:25:08 PM
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.
#7: That two-inch hole has a purpose.
^ signature wildly appropriate
Lowes and Home Depot have surprisingly large, clean bathrooms.
14. The smell of smoke.
Hotel restrooms are good. Gas station restrooms suck.
Personally, I find any public restroom to be hit or miss. You might go in right after someone shits all over the place, or you might go in right after it's been cleaned. Maybe it's a busy day and nobody's been by to refill the towels. Basically, while some bathrooms are chronically neglected, even the best ones can be total pits if you go in at the wrong time.
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on June 18, 2021, 03:04:04 PM
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.
While I definitely prefer a clean bathroom as well, I have to admit that I'm not picky enough to strategize or plan ahead to ensure that I can use one. Given that I'm usually in and out in two minutes tops, I just suck it up if it's suboptimal. That said, there have been a few times I've turned around and left right after entering, but not too many, really.
Quote from: Scott5114 on June 19, 2021, 01:53:55 PM
You might go in right after someone shits all over the place
It's always hilarious when this happens.
The two worst I've ever used:
Men's room at Rasta's on the east side of Cozumel. I had to take a dump. No toilet seat. There was a piece of wood hanging from the wall and a stick, alongside a hook. I quickly realized you were to hang your shorts and underwear on the hook and use the stick for balance while positioning your arse over the bowl. When you were done, there was no running water to flush; instead, you went outside to a huge rain bucket, dipped a pail in it, and then poured that down the toilet. It wasn't overly clean, either. (Throwing the TP in a wastebasket didn't bother me because that's not unusual in that part of Mexico.)
Worst in the USA: I went down to Blacksburg in 1994 for a football game and I had to take a dump when I got there. The toilets were in a small building in the grass field they were using for parking. There was one crapper and it wasn't in an enclosed booth or stall. Rather, there was a cinderblock wall that came up about shoulder-high, but what made it worse was that across from it, there was a folding chair set up facing the shitter for the next guy to use while he waited. WTF, are you supposed to sit there looking at each other having a conversation? I'm sure I've used dirtier ones, and I've seen others with no privacy (the ones in my high school had no doors and the TP was chained to the wall and invariably sopping wet), but that one at VPI sticks out in infamy because of that arrangement with the folding chair. Plus I had to go badly enough that I didn't notice the folding chair until after I was sitting on the toilet. At least nobody came along to wait while I was doing my business.
As far as "best" goes, I don't know. I'm not all that picky about where I stop to take a leak, and I try really hard to avoid having to take a dump when in transit from place to place. I tend to remember the nasty places and forget the good ones.
The stinkiest bathroom I've ever used was last July when I went up to Muncie. There was a gas station bathroom that smelled absolutely horrible. It smelled like a rhinoceros ate a bunch of Brussels sprouts and then exploded all over the place. But everyone in the store was smiling their asses off as if nothing was wrong.
Also I remember going into a McDonald's restroom once on a roadtrip and noticing it smelled of vomit.
The best restroom in Seattle is the semi-public one on the 40th floor skylobby of the Municipal Tower. Clean, well-kept, and comes with a great view in the lobby and a working water refilling station.
Quote from: GCrites80s on June 18, 2021, 09:15:08 PM
Quote from: SkyPesos on June 18, 2021, 02:25:08 PM
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.
3 1/2. No baseboards on the walls. There's spider webs, spiders, and maybe you'll spot a few house centipedes and/or roaches if you're lucky. Somehow things other than bacteria manage to live in this god-forsaken excuse for a restroom. Also, a lot of visible piping. Fluorescent lights which may or may not have a casing, buzzing their miserable life away. "
Why here?" They might be thinking. "
Why not a nice clean office in Seattle? Why an awful, unmaintained gas station bathroom in Podunk County, Midwest, population 4, not counting hogs? What did I do to deserve this?"
3 3/4. You may have to turn the lights on when entering. They're flickering and dim.
7 1/2. Graffiti and etchings everywhere inside the stall. Mandatory: Dick drawings, "fuck you", swastikas, a suspicious phone number, and racial slurs. It's like a throwback to middle school.
10 1/2. The toilet bowl has visible lines of build-up where the water flows in to refill it.
12 1/2. The lever on the hand soap dispenser is gross and wet.
13 1/2. The sink is really small, the flow is horrible, and you have to get your hands up against the ceramic just to get any amount of water on your hands, which feels disgusting. Drainage is also horrible.
14. You walk out. There may or may not be a filthy mat for you to wipe your shoes on. You notice the bottom of your feet are sticky and there's no mat, so you decide to step by a puddle of rainwater and scrape your shoes on the asphalt furiously to get the piss syrup off the bottom of your shoes, as to not get it in your car.
The worst was a gas station on US 11 in Middlesex, PA. A Texaco once had the dirtiest bowl I ever saw. Brown shit all over it. Stunk to high hell. And outside the station too.
Quote from: bandit957 on June 19, 2021, 02:24:58 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on June 19, 2021, 01:53:55 PM
You might go in right after someone shits all over the place
It's always hilarious when this happens.
Not if
you have to shit!
Clifton Springs Service Area bathrooms on the Thruway were decent.
Quote from: index on June 19, 2021, 10:04:41 PM
13 1/2. The sink is really small, the flow is horrible, and you have to get your hands up against the ceramic just to get any amount of water on your hands, which feels disgusting. Drainage is also horrible.
Alternately, such a mass of hard water buildup on the aerator that the water sprays out in a cone and is so high pressure it hurts your hands when you put them under it.
Quote from: renegade on June 19, 2021, 11:30:36 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on June 19, 2021, 02:24:58 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on June 19, 2021, 01:53:55 PM
You might go in right after someone shits all over the place
It's always hilarious when this happens.
Not if you have to shit!
No shit was growing on the side of bowl. Not skid marks.
Y'all need to find better places to do business. :popcorn:
Quote from: Rothman on June 19, 2021, 11:35:11 PM
Clifton Springs Service Area bathrooms on the Thruway were decent.
Last time I was there they were spotless. Clifton Springs was also the last place I had Roy Rogers.
Walmart are always way better than normal. When I worked there in the late-90's they always had a maintenance person on duty, and on busy weekend periods sometimes two at once.
Cumberland Farms tends to be very good, which is impressive because sometimes they've only got two total people on-duty.
I am amazed how generally clean most port-o-potties are, considering some are only cleaned once per week. Cycling I sometimes have to depend on the system of them out there (and Covid sucked for that since many last year that were seasonal were never put into service). I love the wheelchair-accessible ones, considering they're big enough I can bring the bike in with me.
Grossest can tend to be gas station ones that aren't accessible from inside the store, but I think we've reached consensus on that in the thread :-D
Quote from: index on June 19, 2021, 10:04:41 PM
3 1/2. No baseboards on the walls. There's spider webs, spiders, and maybe you'll spot a few house centipedes and/or roaches if you're lucky. Somehow things other than bacteria manage to live in this god-forsaken excuse for a restroom. Also, a lot of visible piping. Fluorescent lights which may or may not have a casing, buzzing their miserable life away. "Why here?" They might be thinking. "Why not a nice clean office in Seattle? Why an awful, unmaintained gas station bathroom in Podunk County, Midwest, population 4, not counting hogs? What did I do to deserve this?"
Oooh, how about the circular florescent lights you used to see? Maybe one or two for the entire bathroom. Shadows everywhere.
Special shoutout in this thread to All Nippon Airways with their bidet style toilets in their lavatories. 5/5.
Quote from: texaskdog on June 18, 2021, 09:58:58 PM
Best Buccees, they have attendents in there at all times. Worst any small gas station or busy bar.
I can't say I agree with this either. Bathroom attendants are not a positive thing, in my view.
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on June 20, 2021, 09:52:41 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on June 18, 2021, 09:58:58 PM
Best Buccees, they have attendents in there at all times. Worst any small gas station or busy bar.
I can't say I agree with this either. Bathroom attendants are not a positive thing, in my view.
Why not?
IMHO, among local chains.
Sheetz. Agree with HB, usually solid.
Speedway. Hit and miss, depends on when the place was built.
GO Mart. Total filth. Also not ADA compliant and they don't care.
Little General. Slightly above GO Mart level, but not much.
State rest areas:
WV - average, vending machines are Pepsi, which is gross.
WV Turnpike - slightly below average, often dirty
OH - average, but special extra points for having rest areas on non-interstates, such as US 35 and OH 32. I have even seen a few in rural areas which have "primitive" facilities. But most states would not bother at all, so good on them.
KY - average, but have closed too many.
VA - above average, cleaner than normal, but a lot of preachy posters rather than tourism stuff.
NC - above average, seem to do a tear down and rebuild on a regular schedule.
Porta johns. Friend of mine got me into the luxury tents at the old Greenbrier Classic PGA deal. They had like 5 RV type vehicles which were all restrooms. Went in the door and every room was a rest room like you would have at home. AC, clean. Apparently they just drive these from tournament to tournament.
We stopped an an Indiana rest stop on I-65 yesterday north of Indy. That left a lot to be desired. The place definitely needed a tear down and rebuild.
Quote from: SP Cook on June 21, 2021, 11:40:02 AM
IMHO, among local chains.
State rest areas:
WV - average, vending machines are Pepsi, which is gross.
WV Turnpike - slightly below average, often dirty
OH - average, but special extra points for having rest areas on non-interstates, such as US 35 and OH 32. I have even seen a few in rural areas which have "primitive" facilities. But most states would not bother at all, so good on them.
KY - average, but have closed too many.
VA - above average, cleaner than normal, but a lot of preachy posters rather than tourism stuff.
NC - above average, seem to do a tear down and rebuild on a regular schedule.
Ohio went on a closing spree of primitive rest areas in the late 2000s-early 2010s. Some of the ones they tore out had just been rebuilt a decade or less before. Population went from probably over 25 down to 3. Of course some were the real oldies that were built of wood.
Quote from: Rothman on June 20, 2021, 10:00:11 PM
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on June 20, 2021, 09:52:41 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on June 18, 2021, 09:58:58 PM
Best Buccees, they have attendents in there at all times. Worst any small gas station or busy bar.
I can't say I agree with this either. Bathroom attendants are not a positive thing, in my view.
Why not?
In part, it's because I find the services they provide to be things I can do for myself. I can get my own hand soap and paper towels without assistance, and having someone give me these things is not something I feel is worth tipping over. But mostly, I just think it's weird and awkward to have someone in the bathroom who isn't there to go to the bathroom.
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on June 21, 2021, 10:47:27 PM
Quote from: Rothman on June 20, 2021, 10:00:11 PM
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on June 20, 2021, 09:52:41 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on June 18, 2021, 09:58:58 PM
Best Buccees, they have attendents in there at all times. Worst any small gas station or busy bar.
I can't say I agree with this either. Bathroom attendants are not a positive thing, in my view.
Why not?
In part, it's because I find the services they provide to be things I can do for myself. I can get my own hand soap and paper towels without assistance, and having someone give me these things is not something I feel is worth tipping over. But mostly, I just think it's weird and awkward to have someone in the bathroom who isn't there to go to the bathroom.
They also may be keeping it clean for you.
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on June 21, 2021, 10:47:27 PM
Quote from: Rothman on June 20, 2021, 10:00:11 PM
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on June 20, 2021, 09:52:41 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on June 18, 2021, 09:58:58 PM
Best Buccees, they have attendents in there at all times. Worst any small gas station or busy bar.
I can't say I agree with this either. Bathroom attendants are not a positive thing, in my view.
Why not?
In part, it's because I find the services they provide to be things I can do for myself. I can get my own hand soap and paper towels without assistance, and having someone give me these things is not something I feel is worth tipping over. But mostly, I just think it's weird and awkward to have someone in the bathroom who isn't there to go to the bathroom.
At Buc-ee's? The "attendants" are in there constantly cleaning the bathroom. Not giving you services. That would be weird.
Quote from: SectorZ on June 20, 2021, 07:53:03 AM
Grossest can tend to be gas station ones that aren't accessible from inside the store, but I think we've reached consensus on that in the thread :-D
Last time I used one of those was at the Chevron in West Wendover. It actually wasn't too bad. I've seen worse inside stations.
The worst restrooms are those outhouse pit toilets you'll find at trailheads and such. In fact, by far the nastiest restroom I've ever encountered on a road trip was the pit toilet at the "visitor info" center just outside Walden, CO (https://goo.gl/maps/oRjLEQrPXyfSG8a38). Shit absolutely everywhere... and swarms of flies to go with it.
I would imagine if you were pooping into an outhouse and saw this, it would qualify as worst of.
https://www.wmur.com/article/man-pulled-from-women-s-outhouse-tank/5142933
He escaped a jail sentence, which was smart, because then he did it again...
https://bangordailynews.com/2009/09/01/news/man-admits-crawling-into-outhouse-pit-again/
Quote from: SectorZ on June 22, 2021, 08:07:43 AM
I would imagine if you were pooping into an outhouse and saw this, it would qualify as worst of.
https://www.wmur.com/article/man-pulled-from-women-s-outhouse-tank/5142933
He escaped a jail sentence, which was smart, because then he did it again...
https://bangordailynews.com/2009/09/01/news/man-admits-crawling-into-outhouse-pit-again/
Dangit, Bandit, we told you again and again to stop that!
Quote from: SectorZ on June 22, 2021, 08:07:43 AM
I would imagine if you were pooping into an outhouse and saw this, it would qualify as worst of.
https://www.wmur.com/article/man-pulled-from-women-s-outhouse-tank/5142933
He escaped a jail sentence, which was smart, because then he did it again...
https://bangordailynews.com/2009/09/01/news/man-admits-crawling-into-outhouse-pit-again/
This guy either has an extreme golden shower fetish, or he watched one too many "two girls, one cup" video.
The only situation in which I can imagine it being even remotely rational to hide in an outhouse pit is in the disturbing scene in Schindler's List where the boy jumps into a toilet to hide from the Nazis.
Worst I have experienced would probably be a squat toilet in China...
I peed into a tree once
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on June 23, 2021, 07:33:42 PM
I peed into a tree once
Have you ever taken a nice fat leak out in the open, in nature, where the nearest person on the trail is at least a 20-minute walk from you? It feels liberating. Like it was meant to be. It was at that moment I felt like I was truly one with nature.
Quote from: GCrites80s on June 20, 2021, 08:49:02 PM
Quote from: index on June 19, 2021, 10:04:41 PM
3 1/2. No baseboards on the walls. There's spider webs, spiders, and maybe you'll spot a few house centipedes and/or roaches if you're lucky. Somehow things other than bacteria manage to live in this god-forsaken excuse for a restroom. Also, a lot of visible piping. Fluorescent lights which may or may not have a casing, buzzing their miserable life away. "Why here?" They might be thinking. "Why not a nice clean office in Seattle? Why an awful, unmaintained gas station bathroom in Podunk County, Midwest, population 4, not counting hogs? What did I do to deserve this?"
Oooh, how about the circular florescent lights you used to see? Maybe one or two for the entire bathroom. Shadows everywhere.
Bonus points if they're flickering (like I mentioned earlier)
and they're flickering in such a way that it hurts your eyes. Like looking into an old CRT display that doesn't have the right refresh rate. When I was younger I had an old Magnavox TV in my room that was like that. Eye strain through the roof.
Quote from: index on June 23, 2021, 09:04:07 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on June 23, 2021, 07:33:42 PM
I peed into a tree once
Have you ever taken a nice fat leak out in the open, in nature, where the nearest person on the trail is at least a 20-minute walk from you? It feels liberating. Like it was meant to be. It was at that moment I felt like I was truly one with nature.
Or when you pee off of a cliff and your pee turns into little spheres.
Quote from: index on June 23, 2021, 09:08:01 PM
Quote from: GCrites80s on June 20, 2021, 08:49:02 PM
Quote from: index on June 19, 2021, 10:04:41 PM
3 1/2. No baseboards on the walls. There's spider webs, spiders, and maybe you'll spot a few house centipedes and/or roaches if you're lucky. Somehow things other than bacteria manage to live in this god-forsaken excuse for a restroom. Also, a lot of visible piping. Fluorescent lights which may or may not have a casing, buzzing their miserable life away. "Why here?" They might be thinking. "Why not a nice clean office in Seattle? Why an awful, unmaintained gas station bathroom in Podunk County, Midwest, population 4, not counting hogs? What did I do to deserve this?"
Oooh, how about the circular florescent lights you used to see? Maybe one or two for the entire bathroom. Shadows everywhere.
Bonus points if they're flickering (like I mentioned earlier) and they're flickering in such a way that it hurts your eyes. Like looking into an old CRT display that doesn't have the right refresh rate. When I was younger I had an old Magnavox TV in my room that was like that. Eye strain through the roof.
And that just makes the buzzing more annoying since it's uneven.
Quote from: index on June 23, 2021, 09:04:07 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on June 23, 2021, 07:33:42 PM
I peed into a tree once
Have you ever taken a nice fat leak out in the open, in nature, where the nearest person on the trail is at least a 20-minute walk from you? It feels liberating. Like it was meant to be. It was at that moment I felt like I was truly one with nature.
That's kind of a regular experience for me, since my current job is remodeling a barn in the middle of a 45-acre lot. We have four walls and some semblance of a roof, but no plumbing yet. You could walk all the way up the hill to the farmhouse and use the toilet...or you could just go behind the trees where nobody can see, and take a leak there.
Quote from: index on June 23, 2021, 09:04:07 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on June 23, 2021, 07:33:42 PM
I peed into a tree once
Have you ever taken a nice fat leak out in the open, in nature, where the nearest person on the trail is at least a 20-minute walk from you? It feels liberating. Like it was meant to be. It was at that moment I felt like I was truly one with nature.
I have. It feels good.
I'm getting anxious for the Buc-ee's to open in Madison County so I can go see what all the hype about their restrooms is about.
I've also found that chain truck stop bathrooms (Love's, Pilot, Flying J) are usually in pretty good shape.
I should also mention that Costco usually has decent (and roomy) bathrooms, though it depends on the store layout.
Quote from: SectorZ on June 22, 2021, 08:07:43 AM
I would imagine if you were pooping into an outhouse and saw this, it would qualify as worst of.
https://www.wmur.com/article/man-pulled-from-women-s-outhouse-tank/5142933
He escaped a jail sentence, which was smart, because then he did it again...
https://bangordailynews.com/2009/09/01/news/man-admits-crawling-into-outhouse-pit-again/
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/85/5a/9e/855a9e399998212d2e633310e475397e.gif)
Iroquois Service Plaza, WB Thruway: Pretty mediocre, but usable.
Buc ees has one of the best. The Beaver has a full time attendant inside keeping it that way.