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>It seems, Americans don't trust one another to sit alone in a toilet; I still don't know if it's for security purposes (to check if someone has a heart failure
by 52-6F-62 9y ago
>It seems, Americans don't trust one another to sit alone in a toilet; I still don't know if it's for security purposes (to check if someone has a heart failure?) or puritanical reasons (make sure people aren't having sex?) but it sure feels strange, and very difficult to get used to when one comes from a different culture.
I've always thought it was far less interesting than that:
they're cheaper and faster to install. Minimal thought was probably given to the people using them.
- baumandm 9y agoIt's also easier to mop the floors since you can go under the partitions.
- baddox 9y agoThat makes sense, but it would still be a huge improvement to eliminate gaps everywhere but the floor. The cost argument makes sense, but it doesn’t explain why it’s ubiquitous in the US but not in Europe, since the cost-saving incentive should be roughly the same in both regions. Perhaps it started in the US because of safety or puritanism, but has now simply become a de facto standard in the US building industry. I doubt most building developers still think about safety or puritanism and specifically request this type of bathroom walls.
- 52-6F-62 9y agoThe gaps are an improvement. I take it you never had to piss in a trough? :P
- toast0 9y agoMy favorite: when the only way to tell the handwashing trough from the urinating trough is the height on the wall.
- Terr_ 9y ago> but it would still be a huge improvement to eliminate gaps everywhere but the floor It would, but then in larger bathrooms you'd have to be able to hang some of the weight off the ceiling, and you'd still have issues with things swinging or bending.
- __s 9y agoThere's regulations on minimum gap size (had a client in the industry) https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/26620/why-do-public-toilets-in-the-us-have-large-gaps-no-privacy https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/26620/why-do-publ...
- charlesdm 9y agoWe learn something every day
- sunstone 9y agoWhether we want to or not.
- adrianratnapala 9y agoOk, so cost and cleanability might be incentive so have doors like that, but not incentives to make regulations. Those regulations likely there for "decency and safety". E.g. to discourage people having sex, or to make it more obvious if someone passes out. That is: the regulations really are there to make reduce privacy. There might be good arguments for reducing privacy, but that is still the proximate goal of the rules.
- jjeaff 9y agoI've heard that they were more to discourage illicit drug use than "indecency".
- bandrami 9y agoI think the end goal is making it harder to do heroin in a bathroom.
- drewmol 9y agoHaha, probably cocaine as well. Some public restrooms seem designed to minimize flat surfaces, private access to clean water, and secluded locations, while others (like in some night clubs) have randomly placed shelves with hard, easily wipeable surfaces, etc.
- mrfusion 9y agoI always thought it was for ease of mopping?
- bayareabronco 9y agoIf you visit an upscale hotel, the "public" restrooms in the lobby typically have larger stalls with fully enclosed doors/rooms. I think you're right. It's mainly a cost cutting issue.