 The intern with the shaved head was on her phone in the bathroom again. She seemed to regard the third floor ladies room at our office as her personal rec room which was...fine, if somewhat unnervingly intimate on occasion. I realized, though, that I'd severely, thoroughly, grossly underestimated her level of one-ness with these particular environment on the day several years ago when I saw her emerge from a stall, eating cereal. From a bowl. With milk. I get it - we're all busy people, caught up in this topsy-turvy, whiz-bang work world where news breaks in 140 character bites and we can gulp down songs, books, TV shows and films the second they burble to mind. It's a miracle that any of us can find a spare five minutes to brush our teeth, apply footwear and haul our info-riddled carcasses to our desks, but still, one should always find time to eat somewhere other than a public toilet. That's my wide, solid stance and I'm sticking to it. It is true that I did not know her life - aside from the fact that she was indeed in possession of a habitable work desk of her own, and that she spoke with a noticeable German accent. (My travels have as yet not led me to Deutschland, but presumably, their commodes do not double as breakfast nooks.) Nor can I begin to know the first thing about the culinary circumstances of the gentleman I recently spied eating boiled eggs from a Tupperware tub in the waiting area of a bustling Brooklyn emergency room seated in close proximity to an elderly woman with a seeping foot ailment, or the young couple a few rows away noshing on a (apparently home-packed) bagel, lox and schmear setup as a man bled from a facial laceration nearby. I'm clearly imposing my own bourgeois hang-ups about "hygiene" and "personal boundaries" here, but I can't help but think if you've sufficient time to locate a matching container and lid or the foresight to pack metal cutlery, you can eke out a second to gobble your snack from a perch that is somewhat less than 100% likely to have come into contact with someone's blood, lymph or feces. And perhaps the fellow subway rider I spied tucking into a deep-fried chicken sandwich while he leaned back against a trash can on the platform was oblivious to the gala performance of a rat ballet mere yards away. It's a shame he missed the chance at a show with his dinner; it was a doozy. In his case, the meal's locale was seemingly a matter of convenience. This was clearly a fast-food sandwich, still steaming hot, and he wolfed it down, brushing the crumbs from his chalk-striped suit jacket once he'd crumpled the wrapper and bag into the trash can/impromptu dining room furniture. He'd been hungry, probably woozy from lowered blood sugar, and dreaming of the moment he could break free of his corporate bonds and fill his mouth with crispy, salty, fatty dripping chicken. He enjoyed it, too, as evidenced by his closed eyes, deep, contented breathing and complete non-reaction to the guttural rasps of the man hawking phlegm onto the subway tracks behind him. I am glad that he enjoyed his sandwich - and the intern her stall cereal. It just disheartens me greatly that our culture has deprioritized mealtime to the point that it seems perfectly acceptable to picnic where rodents gambol and humans poop. I'm not suggesting that a Martha or Ina level dining pathology is in order, feasible, or the least bit sane, but there's got to be a middle ground between food fetishism and straight-up foulness. Perhaps this calls for some discussion - maybe even over dinner. Whaddaya say? Your stall or mine? Previously - Eating on the subway: yea or nay? |
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Dude. This blog site is awesome. How can I make it look like this !?
A lot of the time, the reason people get e coli is because they dont wash their hands after they go to the bathroom- yeah, they eat their own feces and infect themselves. clearly people eating in the bathroom feel the need to make this process much easier.
Marines don't need to wash their hands after hitting the head.
Know why?
Because Marines are trained not to get sh!t on their hands in the first place.
hey man, sometimes shit happens, and you gotta deal with it.
One of my coworkers eats in the bathroom everyday at 830 am like clockwork. While I think it's beyond disgusting and we have multiple breakrooms to eat in, she's not hurting anyone but herself. What REALLY bothers me is when she eats things like tuna or hotdogs, I really don't want to smell that in the bathroom. Many people have complained to management and it has been brought up in meetings but she still does it. Someone needs to take her aside and tell her it's not appropriate. I don't know her well enough to do it myself.
As long as the food items dont become projectile i dont see the need for the hang up of others to interfere with anyones dining choice. Quit judging
It's alright to eat in the bathroom because that's where you take a bath.
It's alright to eat in the toilet because toilet in French means a dressing room – hence eau de toilet.
The toilet, the British borrowed as an euphemism for the stinky room, was misunderstood by non-English non-French speaking immigrants as the stinky room.
Yes, I eat in the bathroom and in the toilet but not the stinky room. After all, you cannot call a bathroom a bathroom unless there is a bathtub I could sit in to enjoy my falafel or lox in bagel.
"It's a free country, we all need food to live, we're busy, and so long as none of it splashes on me, it's really none of my business how other folks get their grub..."
Yet you still felt the need to go forth and write one long, useless article about it. I thank you for that.
Hey, in high school I ate in the bathroom most days. It was one of the only places I was safe from bullies.
For a more thorough examination on germs, check out Dr. Jared Diamond's book, Guns, Germs, and Steel.
I have never considered eating while in a bathroom- in my home or in public.
Here's a fun addition to this vehement discussion on germs: read excerpts from Dr. Jared Diamond's book, Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Do you people drink your coffee by licking the bottom of the mug? Who cares where she sets the cup on the floor? I predict some germophobes will say "but then she'll put it on her desk, and carry the germs there, and she'll touch that same part of the desk and then forget and put her hands on her face and die." Those same germs are on every door handle, phone and copy machine you're using. Wash regularly with hot water and soap and we will all be fine.
someone needs to learn how bacteria and fecal matter works, along with the bathroom.
I bet you don't cover your toothbrush because it's not on your ass either, right?
OK, don't get the whole eating in a stall if you're an adult, but no eating at the ER? Really? Ever spend 8 hrs waiting?
I can't believe I have to say this, but I guess it's this generation or something... it is possible to not eat for 8 hours, without any real pain. In an ER, you have the choice of a Ho-Ho or if you can skurry out and find a cafeteria... but aside from that, just stop eating for a bit... wow...
Eating in the bathroom is not some trend we need to come out against. I've never even seen anyone do it. If you see someone do it, mind your business, don't gossip about it under the pretense of a "culture" article. I thought this article was going to be about some trend I didn't know about, not some bit off office gossip about one introverted German intern who doesn't want to eat in the break room with a bunch of gossipers.
Walked into the lobby restroom at work to find a woman standing there eating a donut. I almost hurled.
but donuts are wicked good!
Kat, I love that you reminded me of the bathroom eater. Here we have a stall talker – a woman who poops and makes cell phone calls. It's...unpleasant.
That's gotta be a strain.
loved this article, reminds me very much of the goings on I see day in and day out. I don't believe that that everyone is in a rush and trying to fit our nutritional needs in whenever possible, we've just become complacent to the point of...yuck!
I often write about my own observations in a silly little blog, just stream of conscious and they tackle the same ideas.
keep up the great work.
While I do subscribe to many of the good things and etiquette in life, I always maintain a certain degree of flexibility and adaptation incase the moment calls for it. The author of this story clearly exhibits a character that can only be described with this simple word – "sissy". So what if those people ate at places, or ate near places or people that society in general may define as wierd? Who here has stronger guts, adaptability, flexibility, bravery, and humility? ... certainly not the author of this story.
It is not brave, iconoclastic, wacky or clever to eat in a public bathroom. It's just sad and gross.
@bachmannwit...funniest comment EVER! I almost pe.ed in my cornflakes!!
* like *
what's the deal with body wash?!?!? is this for washing corpses?? why not call it what it really is-liquid soap
Come on people... that's just counterproductive
Probably more enteric disease transmission takes place in home kitchens than in restrooms, Provided no one has been recently ill, eating in one's own bathroom is probably not a big deal – the bugs you swallow there are probably your own or one of your family member's and you are just sending them back home to see the family they left behind. Bacteria do not crawl, jump or fly – it one were careful not to contaminate the inside of the bowl or spoon I suspect eating in a public toilet could be done safely. Although it is probably not a good thing, that is why we have immune systems and it gives your normal gut flora a chance to make new friends.
Germs are everywhere! I don't worry too much about it; I try to keep myself healthy through diet and exercise; things I can control
I'm never in too much of a hurry to leave my food or drink on a sanitary surface. Floors? Toilets? Garbage cans? I won't eat with someone's gross dirty bare feet anywhere near my food. Seriously. Take organic chemistry. Learn how dirty these surfaces are, and then see if you want your food sitting there. Yuck.
Wait. Did she just invite me to share her stall?
Ok, eating in the bathroom stall is a little gross, but people need to stop being germophobes. The best thing a person can do is get dirty and avoid antibacterial soap. Let your immune system develop. There are studies that indicate the cleaner a person is the sicker they get, so get out there and experience the world! Just don't forget to take a shower afterwards... haha.
Just as clarification, yes please do wash your hands after going to the bathroom because thats gross too.
There's a huge difference from being a germophobe and needing to eat in the ONE place in society where there's a communal waste dump.
It's a room for defacation, urination, and possibly more internal voidings. That doesn't just go down, it's also airborne and not just gas. It's the reason there are vents and bleach cleanings of public facilities in areas you don't do those things on...
READ. It saves your life.. and please, for the good of mankind, or at least your friends and family... look up Staphylococcus and E. Coli. Those are the two most prevalant, but not the only ones.
It's why most animals with a brain don't shit where they eat. I guess your better than those animals though...
In my office, no one but me washes their hands anyway. So, that means the office is just as gross as the bathroom. Bon appetit.
Sort of the flip side of this issue – really grosses me out that my male colleagues all seem to feel just fine brushing their teeth in the communal kitchen sink. i'm sorry, but personal hygiene shouldn't be shared in the sink where the rest of us prepare our foods or wash our dishes. For some reason the women (all two of us) don't ever do this, but the men do it routinely. Gross.
How is that any different than sticking silverware in and out of your mouth for a half hour and then throwing it into the sink? Or drinking out of a glass and throwing it into the sink to let your backwash spread all over the sink? I don't brush my teeth in the kitchen sink, but I fail to see any problem with it. Hot water kills germs.
Right on, Pete. Charlotte is a nutter.
eh, simple enough to smack them in the nose with a newspaper when they put something in the sink to leave it there.
It's easy enough to just rinse your stuff off your glass/dish and slap it into the dishwasher.
They'll learn soon enough.
While I think it's weird to eat in a bathroom stall, I don't care as long as they don't leave wrappers, sunflower seed hulls, or other trash for me to find when its MY turn to use the stall.
One more bathroom tip: When you flush with your foot, it doesn't matter anymore how clean the bathroom was; you've now made it dirty for the next person. And wash your damn hands!
The solution to this seems pretty obvious to me...unisex bathrooms with open toilet stalls.
How does that have anything to do with the article?
spelled out: Bobby's not going to do the eating on the toilet thing when a chick is next to him.
The idea of eating in a bathroom makes me lose my appetite.
Reminds me of a story a local radio host told of when he was in an airport public bathroom in Chicago. The room reeked of the usual odors, and a guy was leaning against the wall eating popcorn. The radio host looked at the guy and said, "are you crazy?" The guy looked at him and said, "What?" Radio guy: "Don't you realize the popcorn is soaking up every odor in the room like a sponge?". Popcorn guy turned his back and kept eating. Absorption issues or not, my question is why would you want to eat in a place that smells like that? Odor is closely related to taste.... yuk!
It was crappy popcorn,it came from Chicago.
You must have a very high tolerance for intoxicating smells if you could take a dump and eat inside a portable toilet.
I feel bad for the intern. While I agree with the author, the article seems like a passive agressive way to send the message to the intern, completely blowing it out of proportion and possibly causing mortifying embarrassment.
What about all the people that stick their face in anothers crotch for lunch?
Just sayin'. You'll have done it.....so just shut up.
Well, it is similar in the sense that you're sticking your face into a place where a hundred others have been before you.
The restroom is the only place at work that is acceptable for me to have my bowl of cereal with my pants down, so back off. Yes it is gross, but what other option do I have?
I believe the mature way of sending memos to your office mates is to write a CNN article about it. I know you're from Germany so you might not be familiar with our customs.
How about eating your smelly meal of chili, or hamburger or pizza BEFORE you get on the plane? I don't want to sit next to you. Next time, I'm going to ask the flight attendant if I can move, and I'll say why.
I had a roommate that used to eat his breakfast on the loo ... very gross. Now, having a brew on the loo is another story.
I think we can all agree that bringing food into a bathroom is gross. But, frankly, I don't see the point in arguing over the cleanest place in the bathroom to put food. If you're bringing food into a bathroom at all, it's probably out of some necessity that trumps obsessive hygiene.
To each his or her own. Nobody is forcing their questionable sanitation habits on anyone else. And nobody is forcing their hand sanitizer on anyone else. So what's the point in bickering or namecalling?
Because it's fun.
personally, i view it as a time saver, you will be coming back this way anyway to drop off the food you just ate, so its like a form of time mannagement. lightening fast i eat cereal high in iron and then i drop a sinker! o yeah! sometimes cause i'm lactose intolerant, after eating ice cream i drop a speciality stank nugget, its like a depth charge, explodes upon flush releasing its toxic stench everywhere... you a max of 3 seconds aftert the flush to vacate the area before you become a victim of your own creation!
ARRGGGH!!!! Pet peeve!!! I wish people would learn the difference between "lightening" and "lightning." In this case, you should be saying "lightning" because you are referring to the atmospheric electrical discharge. "Lightening" is actually a verb that means you are making something lighter (either in terms of color or weight).
Actually, "lightening" can be the present participle form of the verb "to lighten" or it can function as a verbal noun. Here's an example: Charlotte was troubled by the lightening of her chinchilla's left iris.
What about people that love eating pussy and licking and eating each shit?
what about disgusting scumbags like yourself who are only capable of getting an erection by posting inappropriate, pornographic stuff on what should be a somewhat better forum than you belong on?
Well, babies are forced to do it all the time, by intolerant adults who think that's where breastfeeding should take place. Why on earth should they be the only ones to eat in bathrooms? If it's OK for babies, it should be fine for everyone.
Absolutely. Where do you think the German in the article got the milk for her cereal?
Ha!
I work at a retirement home and everyones aides eat in the common bathrooms. No class!!!!
What's really gross is the bowl was EMPTY before she entered the stall... :P
Years ago, I recall reading a magazine in which the writer knew a friend with a term for eating on the toilet: Recycling
Nahsty
Never thought of eating in a restroom, never seen it and I have no idea why and article was even written about it. I think they should have wasted time writing about people who pick their noses and wipe boogers on the walls in restrooms, that is more gross and more prevelant.
What's even sadder: wow, how driven is this woman and what kind of slavedrivers are her bosses that she can't stop out into a breakroom, a cafe or even outside the building to eat?
The sinks and counters are just as gross. People are none too clean and people also seat their kiddoes on the counter. Park nothing where somebody's arse has been.
Although I wouldn't stoop to eating in the bathroom, there are plenty of other germ-ridden environments that don't have the same stigma. Take your car steering wheel for example! Absolutely covered in germs. How many of us have eaten in the car? A lot of us have.....myself included.
Think of this: You fill up on gas using a pump that hundreds of people may have used that day. It's only as clean as the dirtiest hand that touched it, and then you get in your car and touch your steering wheel. Haha, imagine if somebody gave you a burger, but only after it passed through a couple hundred pairs of hands, and then you ate it? That's basically what you're doing! Yum?
If everyone worried about these things all day we'd all have an obsessive germophobe disorder. Your immune system was built to handle germs and it has been doing so for millions of years. We all seem to be doing fine not worrying about them. Its just one of those questions you don't ask. Like, "How many spiders did I eat in my sleep last night this year?"
I'm a multi-tasker when it's efficient to do. It's just the way I was raised. If I'm getting ready to go out or even staying in I will eat part of a meal and use my iPod in the bathroom to save time. I've even eaten while taking a shower. Haha. If I know I'm going to be doing "the deed" for 5+ minutes I know I can eat a piece of fruit or what have you in that allotted amount of time. So may think that is "gross" but I call it being efficient. Besides, it's not like I'm wiping with the same hand I eat with.
When – Mid May of this year.
Where – Mens Room at Reagan national Airport.
The Activity – Man eating a fast food sandwich out of one hand, the other hand occupied with completing his time at the Urinal.
The conclusion – Some people are just plain disgusting.
at least he was aiming.
hahahahaha!
If the goverment can legislate that people not use tobacco becuase of the health costs to society, they may eaisly legislate things like hand washing and eating location.
Usually, I can find a purpose in these articles, but not this time. What are we talking about here? Is this what is on the author's mind today?
So many of the best things in life are so unsanitary. Se-x is so unsanitary, what with all that swapping spit, skin-to-skin contact–even with "protection." But so what. It all builds a stronger immune system. Which is why one of my favorite things is a dirty sanchez.
The title should instead be, don't eat where you $hi1
Right on!
Its amazing how much we hate that icky stuff that's was part of us before sitting on the seat :D
Do we really know what we are eating? some of our foods as so contaminated with by products that will EVENTUALLY harm us significantly...
Do we really know what we are eating? some of our foods as so contaminated with by products that will EVENTUALLY harm us significantly...
If you stomach can take it I say go for it.. I would not share a meal with you after seeing you do that though, but I will not condemn you.. Your life you choose..
The problem with eating in a bathroom is a higher likelihood of fecal bacteria. Yes everything is germ coated, but people don't usually poop on everything in sight. Therefore fecal bacteria is more likely to be found in a bathroom. So it's an increased risk for diseases like Cholera. I'll cop to noshing minus table and chair when I'm buying street grinds, but I think my gyro or hot dog or whatever is quite sanitary on a paper plate in my competent hands proceeding directly into my stomach.
Flushing a toilet or urinal aerosolizes the contents into fine droplets that get sprayed all over the room. That alone is good reason not to eat in a bathroom. If you're holding food when a toilet is flushed, it will get covered with micro-droplets. This is also why your toothbrush should be covered at home. No joke.
Why is this story on the home page of CNN, its boring and a waste of time I couldnt even finish reading it.
Why,'Cuz it wasn't in Spanish?
Nah. It's 'cuz he never developed a sense of humor.
I think one of the grossest things is a woman's purse. Think of how many times that has been put on the ground in a bathroom. YUCK!!!
Don't know many women, do you?
I assume you do? You must be the next hugh hefner
I knew a guy once who used to get 'serviced' by his wife while squeezing one out. Talk about classy.
Blumpkin.
Wow, completely pointless article. Does anybody know that average working desk and computer keyboard has more germs than any place in an average bathroom? An article was written about this approximately a year ago here on CNN.
They tested the ice in the soda machines at several McDonalds and also the water from the public toilet there. Guess which one had less bacteria?
You don't want to know the answer.
Leave your food where ever, i bet you more the half the people bring their cell phones into the stall, and use it as they eat too. Either way bacteria is moving without people really thinking about it.
Oh my gosh, this is a disgusting article and the comments are very amusing and entertaining. The only reason I can think why someone would eat in a bathroom is because a. they have no friends, b. they don't want anyone to see them eating because they have an eating disorder or c. they like to multi-task or they digest food really fast. Regardless, the bathroom is no place to eat. Most offices have breakrooms or allow employees at least a half hour to go somewhere to eat like, oh let's say, a RESTAURANT or CAFETERIA!
I totally agree with NOT eating in the bathroom, that is totally a place of getting rid of waste, and not for intake.
How someone can gulp something down, in the smelliest of places like a public restroom is beyond my imagination.
On the other hand the eating in the subway I could understand, as sometimes you could be so HUNGRY that you could bite someone's head off if they do or say the wrong thing to you. Not to mention that if you are short on time, because you have to go to a second or third job for the day, or maybe you are in a hurry to go pick up the kids to take them to the next activity, you learn to savor your food while in waiting for you ride at the train station. Growing up in Toronto the stations were always clean so I have no beef with that, but by the trash can, Really?
The floor is the most disgusting place. There are sooo many gross places people eat and give it no thought. Oh lets go have a picnic....either on a table that's probably never really seen a good cleaner, or on the ground where Fido just did his business 30 minutes ago. The edge of a water fountian....filled with germs. The floor....oy the floor! The average floor has more germs than anywhere else.
But its a gross fact that the lunch table you ate at, probably had just as many germs as the floor. I mean the attendant wiped it and everything....with the same cloth he wiped all those other 30 tables with....4 times today.
You can either sit and be disgusted about all the germs....or realize that germs actually play a key role in our lives weather we like it or not.
Many readers are focusing on the germ aspect of the eating habits of the people listed in this article. My concern is the fact that these people clearly can't find time in their day to day activities to sit down and have a proper meal– something that (as we've read) is physically unhealthy, but pyschologically. We need a proper lunch break to eat a healthy meal and reboost our system. Our society is lessening the importance of our three meals, and we need to take time for them!
I eat 1 meal per day (lunch) and then usually a snack at night. No breakfast. I'm fine... I exercise, have energy, and am in shape. Perhaps people eating 3 full meals per day are the reason we have such an obesity epidemic. If you're sitting around all day in an office, you really don't need all that food.
I'll bring my diet coke into the stadium bathrooms at baseball games. Is it to enjoy the fresh, crisp taste of diet coke while l relieve myself? Nope... It's to find a closed stall and mix my drink with the rum I snuck in. Screw 10 dollar beers..
Amen, brother. For 10 bucks, they could at least give you a real 16-ounce pint, too, not that 12-ounce cheater in a flimsy plastic cup. That's why I pregame on the way there on the subway.
A pre-game drinking buzz only lasts an hour or so. Buy a plastic flask, keep it in your pocket, (not your gf's or wife's purse, they check those at the entrance) give in to the 6 dollar diet coke, and head straight to the bathroom. It's bad enough we have to drop 20+ dollars eating food. Might as well save on the drinks.
It saves so much time in the morning to munch on my onion bagel with cream cheese while sitting on the pot. As long as I don't forget which hand is allotted which task. That's not so fun.
I ate General Tso's chicken, drank an IPA, and coupled that with a bowl of weedies while soaking in the bathtub the other night. Once done with the chicken, I finished up Intimacy by Jean-Paul Sartre.
Twas a truly existential night.
You manage to sound trashy and pretentious at the same time, I'm impressed.
When my former company suggested I use a bathroom stall to pump breast milk (instead of an empty office or conference room - please, folks; it only take 15 – 20 minutes a couple times a day!), I asked "Would you eat your lunch in here? because if you won't, it's not appropriate for my baby's meals, either. (They finally set aside a small room for nursing/pumping moms....it was so appreciated/well utiltized, that they had to expand it within a year...it's a money maker for employers, as moms are more inclined to return to work/take less sick days as breastfed babies get less colds...)
Does the company pay you for the 40 minutes per day you're sitting there pretending to be a cow? If so, you shouldn't complain.
Way to cross the line d!ckhead.
What? I'm tired of women acting like they are "special" because they did something 50% of the human population can do (have a kid). If you have a baby, stay home and take care of it.
Wow. Jealous much?
lol, I'm dead bro
What an a$$ you are, and an ignorant one at that. First of all, there are laws that allow women breaks ffrom work to pump breastmilk – and don't require that an employer pay them while on those breaks. Second of all, many women do not require a break to pump – amazingly enough they make handsfree pumping bras that allow you to pump while working.
The law does not require the employer to pay the employee who is pumping. Most pumping mothers actually wind up working an extra hour or two to compensate. You are an A-Class JERK.
I witnessed a Subway wrapper the other day on the stall floor ...
Someone took a shit_ in our office pool today. Disgusting.
We're this disgusted by this, and yet women are still continually asked/expected to breast feed in a bathroom stall. <>
ok, I'm off my stump...moving on.
Women can do that at their desks. I won't mind.
I used to eat in my car. I realize how disgusting and depraved that behavior is now. Don't do it. It's such a white trashy thing to do.
our college locker room terd bowl didn't have a door. i remember the coach trying to give an inspirational halftime speech while there was a guy in the background having a hard time wiping his a55 clean.
MDA that is a good point. The most I have done though is drink a bottle of water while making my pit stop....let me not forget the starburst. My defense I was hungry and it seemed innocent enough.
I see people do that nasty stuff all the time... Why do you fill the coffee pot in the bathroom when you have a perfectly fine kitchen, with a sink? Why are you bringing important paperwork to the bathroom? I know you’re going to give it to someone after you’re done. Drives me crazy and I don’t associate a bathroom with clean ever. I don’t care if it was steamed cleaned; because the first person who uses it has just contaminated the area. I understand nature calls, but I am not so lazy as to have to drag everything I need to do into the bathroom just because I don’t want to walk back to my desk. GROSS!! And because people are so unsanitary to begin with, it is not uncommon for your desk to be more disgusting than that bathroom stall.
My initial response was "It's icky, but it's their business," but as I thought about it a bit more, these are the people that bring additional diseases to the table. Sure, maybe they make themselves sick to begin with, but if their hygiene is this bad, it's doubtful it stops there. So I would have to choose, "Food in the stall makes bugs for us all."
This article brings back memories. When I was growing up my father was a stickler about table manners. If one of his five children acted up at the table he would threaten, "DO YOU WANT TO GO EAT IN THE BATHROOM!' I only remember my brother ending up there once. He took his plate, but he didn't eat it.
Not that I snack in the bathroom, but you bring your mouth into the bathroom every time you go...how is that any different than food you are holding that does not contact a surface? I could see concern over setting down your sandwich on the counter...but if you are holding it, it is touching the same air you are breathing. Do you get sick every time you breath in a public bathroom?
Nope sure don’t, but I do make it a point to not breath through my mouth or touch my lips while urinating, defecating and wiping. You may not be subject to any possible contaminates until you do any of those major bathroom functions but, is it really worth the risk? Also I can eat my own E Coli but I can’t eat your E Coli; so I prefer it if we don’t share that particular snack..
JMars, you sound like a person who has terrible allergies and a stomach that singes & dances at Indian Restaurants.
MMMM.. Indian food. I have no allergies, bowel issues, if Im really lucky I might get to call out of work for illness once ever 3yrs and I was in the Army so I have eaten my fair share of meals on the ground after sweating my butt off and covered in dirt..
my cat drinks out of the toilet
Gratz
Pssh ya'll are nuts. I bet ya'll are the same folks that stunt your babies immune systems with a barrage of germ killers and over clean eating sites, instead of letting them eat that cheerio that fell on the ground. 5 second rule people. Besides, its proven the more we're exposed, the healthier we are from building up our immunities.
What is the problem with eating on the subway, its not like you're wiping your sandwhich along the floor. I can kinda understand bathroom, but just because it seems uncomfortable to be doing those two bodily functions at once.
But people, those meals are wrapped up for a reason, your drink in a cup! So what if you stick it on an unfamiliar surface for a few minutes, its not like its dusting up the glob of dirt from its surrounding areas.
Do people really have such specialized ways for eating that they have to do it at someplace with a table? I personally have always felt more at home, on the couch, in my bed, on my desk, at school in the middle of class, or on the go, than someplace where cutlery is readily available. As long as you have napkins and aren't greasing up the place. Its cool.
Most of us agree that eating in the bathroom is not ideal, but how is it that it is acceptable and preferred that moms breastfeed their infants in bathrooms. I was recently at a restaurant and tried to feed my 2 month old using a nursing cover and was asked to go to the "privacy" of the women's bathroom. I fed him sitting on chair between the sinks and the trashcan. We have our priorities mixed up here...!
I am a new mom too. Did you know that 47 states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books protecting your right to breastfeed in any establishment??? Look up your laws, have a copy of your states law with you. If that happens again, contact your local La Leche League and breastfeeding advocacy groups (lot of them on Facebook). You can even arrange a nurse-in and have media present and the whole nine yards. It never ceases to amaze me how people say women flop their breasts onto to tables.... etc. As for the cover, I used to do that. Until my daughter thought it would be fun to play peekaboo with people while feeding. That was more of a spectacle, so it's much easier to treat feeding her like a non-event. And you know what? It normally is.
I used to do this in my youth when I worked at a large restaurant that didn't allow employees to eat anything while they were working, and without paying for it. To stick it to the man I used to prepare a nice steak dinner right before my break, and then sneak it into the single-stall employee men's room and enjoy a nice meal while sitting on the commode. When I was done I would stand on the toilet and lift a ceiling tile and toss my dishes and silverware into the ceiling so I wouldn't get caught coming out with them. The things you do when you're broke.
the thought of any food/cups whatever in the bathroom grosses me out... I cant even chew gum when I go in a bathroom...
This is absolutely disgusting!! I almost gagged at the image of someone on a toilet eating a BOWL OF CEREAL! How the hell did she do everything she needed to do properly??
Other than racism what was the purpose of identifying the accent as German ? Can you possibly distinguish between the accents of Germans,Austrians, Swiss, and even Danes or Dutch? Italians living in the northern part of the country(the South Tirol) speak German–could it have been one of them or could it have been someone from Chicago, Milwaukee, New Braunfels who lives in a German speaking Community? Of course not because it is so much easier to disparage people against whom one has an agenda.
so you think no one sneezed on the pizza shop counter before you perched yourself there to eat your meal? and what about every doorknob and car handle you touched on your way to the restaurant? think they're squeaky clean? Guess again! As long as the food doesn't touch anything in the bathroom, it's prbably safe (as gross as the location sounds).
What's sad is there are so many people out there that won't eat in a bathroom (I don't expect them to, yuck), but they expect nursing mothers to go into the bathroom to feed their babies because "it's gross."
I won't even take food into my bathroom at home, even though yes, I do clean it regularly. That's just gross.
I will never forget when a young lady at work, who had been talking on her cell phone rather loudly in the stall, came out and was slapped by another co-worker! The lady told her she shouldn't be talking on the cell phone while in the stall?! The older lady just walked out and the young lady was in absolute shock. No one was able to figure out who the other lady was. But it worked. The young lady never talked on her cell again while in the stall. LOL I have to admit I've done it from time to time especially when it's an important phone call. You can't always schedule important calls around your breaks or lunch: and with supervisors watching your every move, you just don't have any other choice. All I can say is the other lady was lucky it wasn't me she slapped :-)
No sh!t! Course I wouldn't have been on the phone in the toilet anyway. But HolyGodInHeaven you will NOT slap me and get away with it.
Did you see it happen or did you hear about it later?
My take on public restrooms: http://cutelypoisoned.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/potty-manners/
My boss not goes into the 'executive bathroom' across from my desk while on speakerphone, but he also brings his laptop. He'll be in there for at least 30 minutes at a time, with people outside able to hear him. He also has no qualms about flushing during these calls, and of course, not washing his hands. He would eat in there too if I brought him his lunch. Praise Jebus for cleaning products.
I almost always take my lunch in the bathroom if I'm eating a sandwhich. It's easy and convenient. I can set the sandwhich on the large toilet paper dispenser if I'm reading the paper.
As punishment for bad table manners or for picking at my food as a child, I had to eat my dinner in the bathroom.
How charming.
I don't eat in a public restroom, but I eat while on the can at home. I have Crohn's disease, it just means I'll have to get up one less time.
Easy in, easy out all in one trip.
Yet there are masses of people saying that babies (with their significantly weaker immune systems) should have to eat in bathrooms because his/her mom has made the decision to feed baby in the healthiest and most natural way possible. I hope the irony isn't lost on everybody...
EXACTLY – in a lot of work places, the only place to pump is the bathroom – I had to pump in a corner of the bathroom in O'Hare airport once... no other options available...
What a lot of judgmental people.
How can anyone eat in the bathroom? It could be one of the most unsanatized places in your whole entire house! Just impossible.
What if you are eating da poo poo?
That's only from the Fish Taco Truck,they are due at any time.
I used to work at an aircraft manufacturing facility in California and for breaks and lunchtime "roach coaches" would stop by as part of their daily rounds. I remember using the restroom one time, they were pretty gross, and seeing the wrappings from one of their burritos in the stall. GROSS.
This reminds me of freshman year in college, when I audibly noted the presence of a mostly-intact, apparently neglected Clark Bar. My roommate offered some sage advice: "Yeah, I try not to eat opened candy bars that I find on floors of gym locker rooms in New York." Words to live by.
Um I was in the middle of eating on at least 3 occasions when nature called. Rather than having cold food I took it with me. Mind you I did it in a sanitary manner. I don't make a habit of it but if it happens oh well.
Bonus to girlness- the top of the tampon dispenser makes a good shelf to put things on you don't want on the counter or floor of the bathroom.
I multitask to save time on some mornings. I often eat my breakfast cereal while sitting on the toilet with food moving in at the same time that yesterday's food is moving out. I thought I was the only one who did that so your article makes me feel better to know that other people do this too. It certainly isn't as bad as the guy at my workplace 25 years ago who routinely left an unflushed pile with no paper on top. That one caused a huge stir among my coworkers about who the culprit was.
once you garden and work with soil, you realize that the entire planet is just manure, whether it is bug, animal or people. Realizing he world is made of s**t and it flies in your face every day whether from dust form the field, or swim in the sea, you really get desensitized.
Hmm. I thought I was already pretty desensitized – I mean, I already confessed to eating Snickers bars in the stall . But your post touched a senstive area. Poopy everywhere, even flying through the air? Makes me wanna hold my breath.
Or starting singing South Park's "The Circle of Poo."
Great opinion piece!
Oddly, I was less disturbed reading about the person eating in the stall than by the people eating in the emergency room. Aside from the fact ER waiting rooms are some of the most unsanitary places known to man, it just seems wrong.
Don't get me wrong though, I'd lose my appitite if I witnessed someone eating in the bathroom too.
I have many "bathroom rules" (one is "no cell phone camera shutter sounds should be coming from any stall" – on three occassions, I have witnessed this), but this is one I never considered because I thought it obvious.
My list just got a little longer.
lol! I liked this article. The writing style was quite entertaining.
Wow, I may have to rethink my habit of leaving food in the stall for the next guy!
Sorry but the only place to eat is at a dinning table, whether at home or restaurant. Now let me ask YOU, dont you take your inseperable cellphone with you everywhere?? Bathroom, when you go out to eat, in bed, or in your pocket? It has more germs than a dirty floor.
Huh? Eat only at a table? My lord, I'd starve!!
But of course... breast feeding babies belong in the bathroom rather than someplace you would eat. Please... get a grip. If it ain't gonna cut it for you don't make it required for an infant.
Someone in my office drinks coffee in the stall and regularly forgets her mug on the floor. Inside the stall. I believe this may be the same person who once left spent sunflower seed shells all over the stall. Cracking seeds while sitting on the loo. Incredible.
You folks are too sensitive. Mother Nature put acid in our stomachs for good reason – to kill germs. So unless you're taking Nexium or some similiar acid-reducing drug, just chill. Humanity survived just fine before we even knew about germs. (Yea, yea, I know about the Black Plague, etc. But WE live in the age of bleach and Bactine. So if someone want to eat their Wheaties in the potty, so what? How does that harm you? Not that I would ever do such a thing – I confine my potty noshing to Ding-Dongs. And the occasional Snickers bar. (;^) Why? So I don't have to share . . . .
Um...I believe the acid is there to help with the digestion of food; not to kill germs. Let people do what they want, where they want to. Just don't tell me I have to eat food in a bathroom. However, in keying this in, I realize that I don't throw out the piece of gum or mint that I may be chewing or sucking on when I enter a bathroom. To each their own.
No, my dear, the purpose of stomach acid is to make drug companies rich(er). The pesky substance causes all kinds of ills, which then need treated with pricey pharmaceuticals. (Did that last sentence need a comma?) BTW, what's wrong with sucking a mint in the loo? Are germs going to hop off the commode seat and land on the mint? I'd be more concerned about what the mint is doing to your teeth. (;^)
What I find so interesting is that people are totally grossed out by the idea of someone eating in the bathroom, but have no problem telling me that I should pump my children's breastmilk in the bathroom. I pump in my office, with the shades drawn and door shut (in other words, I am not flashing anybody) and several people have asked if it would be more appropriate for me to pump in the bathroom. I'm sure these same people would be disgusted if I proposed that we move the microwave to the bathroom and prepare their lunch there!
You work with a bunch of insensitive jerks! It’s your office, the doors shut and the shades are drawn! The problem is not you, the problem is them! You're working for the wrong company.
Choconet, I agree!
I completely agree! And they insist you breastfeed in the bathroom because it makes them uncomfortable. It's gross and unsanitary for adults but perfectly legitimate for tiny babies with still-developing immune systems...
If you are alone in your office with the curtains drawn, how would anyone know what you are doing? I fully support the breastfeeding-in-public issue, buy I think some moms hope someone complains so they (the mom) can raise a stink. I consider this a dead issue. Feed away, anytime, anywhere. I don't even care if you show a nipple. Or two.
People know what I am doing because my door does not have a lock, and when I am pumping I put a sign on the door that says "privacy please." Otherwise, someone might just give a quick knock and then open the door.
Here in the Bachmann household we just throw our dirty buttplugs in the dishwasher with the pots and pans.
Your children must have no immunities.
By this same standard, are there people who urinate in their kitchen sink?
Inquiring minds want to know...?
SAVE TIME...BUY TOILET WITH BUILD IN MICROWAVE AND BAR...lol
Eewww! Eating on the toilet...sorry that's just too gross for me!
And yet, people see nothing wrong with telling a mother to go feed her baby in the bathroom. Because OMG someone might see part of her breast, doing what it was designed to do- how horrific!
Hell,I whip out my 46 triple F's and give my son a milkshake in public. Women are so jealous.
Breast feeding in public is fine provided it is done discretely, and that doesnt mean smothering the baby with a blanket a light shawl would do fine.
As for showing a bit of breast, well that is up to the individual, but dont complain if some nice gentleman decides he would like to see more!
If he wants to see more then he's not a nice gentlemen.
It turns out evil overlords are big germaphobes. I not only couldn't eat in a bathroom, even mine, I don't keep anything remotely ingestible in the bathroom. Medicines, even my toothbrush are kept in different locations. I will brush my teeth in the bathroom, but I wont even bring something like a water bottle in and set it on the counter and then drink from it again.
As far as I know, though, that's the only room I'm OCD about. I'm sure I've eaten in some gross places, and I know I've picked up my share of five-second-rule dropped foods and eaten them. I just do it well away from the bathroom. I guess we all how our own quirks.
Although, I have to say if I saw a coworker do that, I would not be able to look at them the same again.
Great!!! If they make a law re: food and where you can consume, I am outta here.
Strange how so many think eating in the bathroom is unacceptable for them to do, but won't miss a beat suggesting a nursing mother feed her child there rather than discreetly in public.
Oh here we go again.
If it was always discrete, it wouldn't be a problem. But the mothers who cry foul over that the most are usually the least discrete about it. Those are the moms people have a problem with.
Here we go again, somebody who thinks breastfeeding infants need to be smothered with blankets in order to be fed because they're afraid of seeing a breast performing it's natural function...
So please, sit out in a public place and show yourself for the world to see because "it's a natural function" and you have the right to do whatever you want concerning your child.
Then make sure to get outraged when your child is later exposed to too much cleavage on television.
Nursing in public is crude, unsophisticated and shows what a wallow of lowbrow culture you Americans love to wallow in.
Very funny, trying to stump me with big words like "wallow". I'll have you know us Americans never wallow, whatever that is.
Now excuse me, I just grabbed a quadruple stacked burger and ultra-sized fries from the Burger Barn, and I see a nice muddy pit to go enjoy them in.
Touche! Great point!
Its unfortunate that in the name of 'busy life', some people are not able to spend a few minutes exclusive for eating food in a respectable manner in a decent place. After all why are we earning . Isn't it to have a decent meal and to live along with the rest of the society
wow, interesting responses. admittedly I thought it was gross to think of someone eating their meal in the toilet stall...ater reading the comments, it made me think about cultural norms/biases. why does someone have to be a hifalutin OCD college graduate or other to have this reaction? true, there are millions round the world who don't have clean water, food, etc. and it gave me cause for pause to examine lmy reaction given that sobering reality ... but if one's own cultural norm is you eat sans WC I don't think that makes them evil or stupid. that whole bit about purses etc is a bit much also, should we shrink wrap ourselves? whoever you are, wherever you are ... a bit of common sense and reflection of those around you is in order. oh and in my opinion there is room for all sorts of articles on the great big ol' internet ... including opinion pieces like this AND food shortages, working moms struggling, poverty in the world and cultural differences. does not have to be an either/or matter.
Has nothing to do with that, and everything to do with not wanting to smell someone else's sh!t when you're eating your lunch.
The myth-busters proved the bathroom is cleaner then most kitchens.....Theres nothing wrong with bringing a drink into the bathroom...hell I play guitar on the pot.
I remember an old saying "Don't crap where you eat".
OH wow... well i don't live anywhere as urban as NYC but have reservations about where to eat. My own hatred is eatting in the car. I know people are busy but it just doesn't feel like a proper meal to not be eating at least in my own apartment or sitting in the restaurent. I dont mind the drive thru in general ( to take the food home), although i prefer to walk in and carry out, but just watching someone chomp on a taco while cruising down the block or at a drive-in restuarnet (Sonic anyone?) seeing people sitting in a running car just getting after those fries is just unsetteling and unsatisfying. Anyone else feel the same?
I don't like eating in the car because I'm not focusing on my driving ... or my eating for that matter. If I focus on the meal, I could wreck the car; if I focus on the car, I might make a mess. Not worth it either way.
Got no problem drinking & driving tho'. :D
I don't get eating in the car either! Don't want food crumps in my car – but then again I am very particular about keeping my car clean.
i helped a patient to the 'commode' at a hospital i worked at... She sat down and proceeded to eat her leftover cake from dinner while using the bathroom.... i could have died.
You've made it incredibly obvious that you don't like the article or most comments on it. If you dislike it that much, why on earth are you hanging around here reading/replying to all the comments?
because they have small minds and smaller pen!ses and no one else will listen to them.
WAAAAAAAAAAMBULANCE anyone?
I don't understand why we care what other people do! If she wanted to eat the food out of the toilet I could care less. I think it's gross but why would I care. I know we all read this title and said I got to read this but come on. THis is still a news site isn't? Really lets get our heads out of our *****, and start thinking before we post.
You mean "couldn't care less". To say "I could care less" means at your current level of caring, there is an even lesser level of caring that you could feel.
I doesn't surprise me that the author of the article is so grossed out by this... women's bathrooms are invariably more disgusting than men's rooms by an order of magnitude, and often smell far worse. My own theory is that women hold their gas in all day, so their number 2s are much more rank, but I could be wrong.
This is absolutely true. I'm a woman and I am regularly astounded by how freaking nasty ladies' rooms are. Especially considering that all these chicks seem to do is complain about how dirty bathrooms are, you'd think they'd try to clean up after themselves. Foul.
Chris, dear, you are wrong – women do NOT hold their gas in all day. Gosh, that would make our six-pack abs pooch out. No, we just tend to be a bit quieter about the matter than yous guys. For women, farting is not a competive sport. (;^)
I've got to say I can't agree with this one. I've cleaned some nasty public bathrooms, men and women, but the men's rooms were often far worse to clean. I think people are just disgusting in the way they treat public facilities altogether.
Do you use both washrooms then??
It's just another sign of the breakdown of decorum in our society. Forget germs, hygiene, sickness and disease, it's just a matter of manners – you dine in certain areas and certain situations, and in others you do not. Chalk this up to the existing assault on manners, common sense, propriety, and the other trappings of a civilized society; lump this in with over sexed teen media, Jersey Shore, and the fact that most Americans probably haven't picked up a single book except the TV guide in generations. When we're accepting of eating in a bathroom stall, we've crossed the line.
And that f**king loud rock n' roll music! Don't forget that! Durn whippersnappers... *mutter mutter rabble*
The scenarios described in this article, too trite to be believable, are a little too convenient for the author’s purpose. The article at best displays its author’s ignorance of other cultures, and at worst publishes the author’s nationalist chauvinism. Although I am a New Yorker and an American, with English as my first language, I do not appreciate the author’s liguicism towards her co-worker “with a noticeable German accent.”
Would the readers be so accommodating if she had referred to race instead of nationality? What if she had said the shaved head coworker sounded sounded Chinese or sounded Mexican?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauvinism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguicism
I wish the repulsion to eating in toilet stalls would extend to persons who believe that a nursing mother should feed her child in one.
I Like Breastesses.
Nursing anywhere outside of you OWN home is barbaric. Keep it covered Lady!
Hey puritan – breastfeeding is one of the most NATURAL acts on the planet. Hardly barbaric. Most breastfeeding mothers these days use "modesty" towels to cover up while doing it anyway. Grow the hell up – babies need to be fed, breast milk is THE healthiest thing for them (NOT formula), and being a new mother shouldn't mean you are confined only to the house until the child has been weaned.
It's idiotic attitudes like that that keep children from being breastfed long enough to see the statistically significant immunity and IQ advantage that they get if mom can hit age one without weaning the child. People like you make our country dumber and sicker on the whole. Congratulations.
So, since infants need to be fed on demand, and breast-feeding is the healthiest method of feeding them, you must believe that either nursing mothers should stay home and never go out with their babies, or that their babies should starve if they do go out. Except when infants are hungry they SCREAM. Would you prefer a screaming baby out in public or a happily fed one?
Yes, you are right. It's a shame. I think we are such a puritanical society and br easts have been se xualized so such a degree that people assume there is something se xual about nursing one's child. It's ridiculous. The formula companies have a lot of power in this country, too. Doesn't happen in Sweeden, etc were people are better educated about this and laws protect nursing.
I hope you're not from Sweden because if you are, you're not very well-educated. You misspelled your country's name.
Your spelling is atrocious, please either do something about it or dont comment on these pages.
And to think some people think breast feeding is "gross" and want to relegate infants to eating in these yucky places like bathrooms so other people don't have to see it happening in public. Eating is eating, and everyone should have the right to eat in a sanitary environment (or not, if they so choose).
When I was in the military, 10 years active, I was breastfeeding. They had no kind of room for me to use to pump and told me to use the bathroom. I went up my chain of command with that. I asked them if they wanted to eat their lunch in a bathroom since they were telling my daughter to do the same. Pumping means switching out bottles and baggies and you have to keep it all clean. Needless to say, they seen my point and gave me a room to use. I was the first female they had to deal with in that situation so they did not have a protocol to follow. I am proud to say that because of me that command now has a designated room with a sink.
I am glad it worked out for you.
But I dont think it is right that you breast feed your baby for all the public to see. You could cover yourself.
Why? What's wrong with it?
Um, she's in a "designated room," how is that for everyone to see?
this is exactly what I was thinking while reading! I will never forget the humiliating experiences of feeding my child, hunkered down in a stall, trying to prop up things off the floor and smelling the grossness! After that, I only found places that had actual areas, not bathrooms, to feed my child.
It can be difficult to find a safe place to hide your food before making a bathroom trip, but JUST DO IT. Stash the food before you go. Wash your hands well before resuming. Anything else is ridiculously gross and dangerous.
My own bathroom is clean because I know how I use it. I can go barefoot in there, eat anything, drop papers or books on the floor and pick them up. People generally however are dirty and careless (and therefore dumb) when it comes to using a bathroom.
if there is one thing I've learned in my short life, its that people are disgusting. we use a bar of soap to clean our unmentionables and then leave it in the shower for the next person to wash their face and that cycle continues until our filth has deteriorated the whole bar. hell even sitting in a closed area with a group of people is disgusting. gases exit from our lungs, stomachs, and colon only to inevitably be inhaled by again. if I can smell the cigarette smoke coming from the guy in the car in front of me, you better believe that when farts, I'm inhaling it whether i smell it or not. The human physiology really is a disgusting thing. Saying someone is gross for eating somewhere is merely an understatement of our grossness. hell, statistically speaking, there was far more bacteria present in that cereal-eating lady's mouth than on the toilet seat she just used. do I eat in the bathroom? never really been hungry in there, but do I care if others do it? like I said, we do much grosser things and never bat an eye over it.
haven't you ever heard that the average bathroom is much cleaner than the average kitchen?
I didn't know people used bars of soap anymore. I never have. Body wash man myself.
And that whole thing about smelling a fart being the same as inhaling tiny particles of poo is a myth. It's the gasses dimethyl sulfide and hydrogen sulfide that cause the smell. Nothing inherently gross about them.
many studies show that showering doesn't kill bacteria, but just spreads it to other parts of your body regardless of what method of showering you use. this is why surgeons are often told not to shower before work. and I'm not worried about poo particles. fact of the matter is, that air was born from bacteria that lives its entire life eating poo in your colon. i.e. you're breathing air that was just in someone else's butt. inhaling butt gas seems a lot grosser than eating on the can.
I would say packing food for an emergency room visit is a smart move indeed. Once you have started the emergency room process, you are often stuck there for many hours – and you can't just walk outside to go eat for fear of missing your name being called. Hopefully you are not, in fact, leaning on or being leaned on by someone bleeding from a head wound. If you are...you have bigger issues than your food.
I am not a germaphobe. I let my kids eat food that's fallen on the floor, and don't wince when my youngest eats dirt. Both are extremely healthy- and so am I. However, my one rule is that food or drinks does not go into the bathroom. Mostly because of the sort of germs that tend to live in bathrooms- on door handles and sink handles. Having had a couple bad stomach bugs, I'd really rather not have that happen again.
Germ-o-phobes. Cavemen didn't have Purell. Get a fokking life.
Cavemen also had a life expectancy of 32 years.
Cavemen also didn't have very long life expectancies. Child mortality rates were as high as 25-50% in some areas as recently as the 1700s.
This article was probably written by someone that is sitting pretty eating candy bars with a knife and a fork.........Listen no one cares, be happy you have a meal, this was a ridiculous article, there is so much going on i this world, why won't you write about the millions of families that are struggling to put food on the table and have to resort to food stamps or food pantries. Take that college degree yo mama and daddy paid for and write about something that makes sense.
My take on this is how & where someone else eats is their business unless they invade my space. Don't talk with your mouth full, don't eat at my desk and don't leave a mess wherever you decide to eat. Easy Peazy.
We have a Cell Phone Policy notice posted on the inside of each restroom door (I'm told) because our HR person was freaked out by someone talking on the phone in the stall next to her. It's good to be the queen, I guess.
About germs, remember the adage "ya gotta eat a peck of dirt before you die." IOW, if you live squeaky clean, you aren't giving your body the chance to build up immunities to fight off diseases. I'm just sayin'. :)
I can't say I blame your HR person re the phone ban in the WC/toilets. Some of us like a little peace while we pee! ;-)
Personally, I hate when people talk on cell phones on the pot. There are some things you should not have to listen to over the phone. The sound of someone releasing excrement is definitely one of them.
As an HR professional I can say it's not always so good to be the queen (and queen is not a fitting description, more like worst hated person in the office that gets shot first when someone snaps). I can also say, there is certain office/workplace etiquette that must be in place. I once was speaking with an insurance representative about benefits to offer my staff, and wondered what the odd sounds were (pausing, grunting, exhaling etc.). I realized what they were once I heard the agent's toilet flush (followed by a quick "wow I feel better now"). Needless to say, she did not get the sale!
SIGH. I didn't say all HR people are the queen. This HR person freaked and got a policy posted. That's all.
I worked in another company where the HR lady was packin'. Not the "queen" but Annie Oakley for sure.
I have seen women bring their little kids with their snuggly in the stall, LAY IT DOWN on the floor, help the kid do their business, etc...UGH!! By the same token I have seen many, many grown women put their purse on the floor. Do they just not realize? It grosses me out every time.
Deb do you care about this women who struggle to put food on the table as single moms, you people are such spoiled OCDs,,,,,,ridiculous
OMG. THERE ARE GERMS. ON THE FLOOR. Imagine that. Did you know there are germs all over you as well? On the door handle? In the air? EVERYWHERE
It's possible this lady has some type of eating disorder - maybe she doesn't like to eat in front of people. Or maybe she just doesn't care about the germ factor.
The fact that this is a CNN thread proves that Americans are sorely lacking in manners and basic decorum.
I must concur with you Patrickk. I laugh heartily at these smug Americans walking out of the Loo with toilet paper streaming from their shoes. They are disgusting.
Leonard, that toilet paper falls into the cups of coffee we leave on the floor outside our restrooms and gives it that special flavor.
This coming from the guy who trolls the message boards and leaves childish insults aimed at a country's population. Way to show your intelligence by generalizing an entire population! Your ignorance amazes me!
So what? As Americans we need to get over our sanitary selves...really. Take a trip around the world and reevaluate the context of your article.
Agreed, Renee. I've done some traveling in Latin America (and not to resorts!), experiencing all manner of accomodations and facilities, with no ill effect. Our germaphobia and obesssion with sanitizing our environment is detrimental in the long run.
That said, breakfast in the bathroom wouldn't be my first choice of dining location!
Agreed. I laugh, though, that all the germ-phobes will eventually be taken out by natural selection.
You mean the parts of the world that regularly experience cholera epidemics resulting from unsanitary practices? Those places?
I am an American living in Mexico and I can guarantee you that people get sick all of the time because of the poor sanitation here. I have been violently ill (I will leave it at that) 6 times in two years of living here. And it isn't just me, all over Mexico City is health warnings about cholera, etc and to not through trash all over the streets and sidewalks because of all the diseases that are caused by this.
No surprise that this piece brought out all the germ freaks! Germs are everywhere, not just in the rest room. There are probably fewer germs on restroom counters because they are (hopefully) thoroughly cleaned everyday. I routinely stop by the restroom, put my bag of food on the counter, and use the facilities on my way back to the office after going out to buy my lunch. So what?
Well, good luck with that and Mangia!
stupid article
Why not wipe your arse with the lunch bag and save a tree?
I bet you’re the carrier of "there's something going around the office" virus. Keep your flu/colds/virus to yourself! STAY HOME when you’re sick! It's not your co-worker's fault that you use your sick days for vacation and don't have any to use when you’re really sick!!!!
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Too perfect. Love this. What is the 800 number to order? I
1-800-BLF-DUMP
BLF? Big Lazy Fart?
Aww, you flunked reading comp, didn't you?
Do you guys sell "there's something going around the office"?. It’s a flu/cold like thing that spreads throughout the office and circles back around for good measure. You know just to make sure it didn't miss you the first time around.
Is the corn an add-on or does it come with the BLF?
A lot of people with social anxiety will go into bathroom stalls to avoid eating or even talking on the phone in public. Don't be so quick to judge. You never know what might be going on with someone internally. It may seem stupid to you for someone to be like that but it's just as stupid to them, and if they could help it, they would.
That's why we have cubes in office buildings now, or even conference rooms that are usually empty at lunch. If it's a social phobia, then they probably have other issues that prevent them from working in an office situation.
Wow really? Anxiety isn't limited to just office buildings and even then, some people are still not comfortable until they could be somewhere that they know locks and nobody could see into at all. Think about schools too.
1st of all, schools don't allow cell phones, or eating in bathrooms – at least not around here. And secondly, if your anxiety is that bad, you should be on some sort of medication so you can function in society. Not taking care of a mental issue is just ignoring it – it's not going to go away.
My meds make me constipated.
Everyone's social anxiety issues are different, and please remember that anxiety and phobia are two quite different things. I don't, but some people have severe anxiety over eating or even talking on the phone in front of others. Having social anxiety, or issues such as this, rarely means you can't function at all in public or hold down a job. Being on medication doesn't mean you're miraculously cured.
I have S.A.D and that seems like a bit of stretch.
The bathrooms in our office are located right beside the door. I see people on their way to a meeting stop by the bathroom on their way out and 9 times out of 10 they take their notepad or papers in with them. It makes my skin crawl every time I see it. I don't even want to think about where they are putting those papers while they are doing their business.
We all need reading material while letting loose.
I have never understood why people would want to read while on the toilet. I am a 37 yr old male, and I have never read in the bathroom. Not once. If you have a medical condition that causes you to be in there for long periods of time and you have issues physically relaxing enough to complete the task, then if reading helps I say go for it. For everyone else, take care of your business and get back to work. Its annoying thinking people do this on purpose to waste time.
C'mon DJay, everyone has to take a marathon crap every now and then. It helps to have a magazine.
.... or a GameBoy!
I worked for a disability insurance company and one of the physician's who used to review claims used to review the files while taking care of business- that used to disgust me! she of all people should be aware of how unsanitary it was!!!!!
...or that it's just not that big of a deal.
Oh, come on, stop being such germophobes. Just because you take something in the bathroom with you doesn't mean it comes out encrusted in feces and dried urine. What do you think these people are doing, wiping themselves with their notepads?
Chris you're nasty!!! You ever think about what hand are they wiping and with what hand are they picking up their materials? For that matter where did they lay their materials to wipe? Let me guess you’re the office jerk who grabs the community news paper off the break room table to read in the men's room while you do your business. Then after your done with your dirty restroom business you put it back on the break room table for everyone else to touch. And people wonder why there's "something" going around the office.
So Chris, let me guess you are "that guy" who desn't wash his hands either, or cover his mouth when he coughs or sneezes? You sound Classy!
Chris, don't listen to these mongrels.
They live in fear. I guarantee none of these people ever stand up for themselves in the real world. They are sheep. I'd LOVE it if I was in a public restroom and one of these pompous liberals tried acting so brave in person. I would LOVE IT. Why? Because they'd get destroyed. Not one of them has it in them to stand up for anything. So what do they do? They come here and comment about how self-righteous they are in their endeavor to spread their disinfected awesomeness.
Disgraces is what they are.
It's always these types of people that cry the most when something bad happens. They can't handle reality. They are afraid. Look at them. Living in FEAR. And I bet every last one of them adores the smell of their own gas.
The evil parental unit uses her bathroom as a library. I've stopped lending her books for this reason.
And do you notice that nearly all of them dont wash their hands either!
So what?
Cry about it. You're one of those fearful, easily offended types. I have zero respect for your kind.
What you do at home is your prerogative, but in public? Very gross.
I don't even do it at home – and I know how clean my bathroom is. If it doesn't smell of bleach, it's not clean to me.
I still wouldn't eat there... bleach smells awful. Good way to ruin a meal :)
@Mare: Yip, that's the kind of attitude that f##ks up your immune system AND creates resistant bacteria. But hey, the toilets are clean, so who cares?
Don't get me wrong, of course toilets have to be clean, but perma-bleach clean? No thanks...
I'll eat a steak while sitting on the toilet. I have what's called an immune system. I'm not a sickly little fella like the rest of these heroes. I'm sure your ancestors had to do far more disgusting things to survive in order for you to exist and cry about bathroom "etiquette."
And for the rest of you, shouldn't you be participating in some form of useless activism right now instead of whining about who eats in the bathroom? Bunch of hypocrites. I bet all of you have had one of those days where you didn't wipe properly and walked around all day at the office knowing you stank like a porta potty. You have all done something unsavory, guaranteed. Quit acting so bloody righteous. Pompous liberals. You disgust me.
Just wanted to say, that Germans usually don't eat at public toilets :-)
Greetings from Hamburg!
I've been to Germany many times. Germans certainly could eat in public toilets-because they are so clean!
But the concentration camps are so dirty.
Maybe the female skinhead intern (with the shaved head) who was eating in the stall, thought she was sitting on her butt, on the porcelain throne, when actually it was her head...and she thought she was evacuating the cereal out the south pole hole....
Reply to Pierce:
Who is talking about concentration camps???? That was over 60 years ago have you just woken up???
Idiot
Why do you guys still have Nazis over there? My brother in law got attacked with a knife and his face got cut up, by a bunch of skinheads, because he's black. Not cool. Thought you guys got past all that.
Way to blame the whole country you MORON! Little minds and all...
Chris dont be a tool
Oh, screw that. Most Germans hate us anyways, they're no different than the rest of the world.
There are Nazis in the US too. So nobody still "Has" Nazis but they do exist. What are you 15?
saggy pants and 'do rags don't go well over there.
Stick to classical dress and normal speech, dawg, know what ah mean?
He probably deserved it
And THEN Chris said: "Oh, screw that. Most Germans hate us anyways, they're no different than the rest of the world."
Why's that, Chris? They hate freedom, you suppose? Maybe the very attitude you sport angers people and makes them not want to be in your presence. Want to do the U.S. a favour internationally? Don't be a dick.
CANADA SUCKS,except for Jenn Salling. She's HOT.
Whats the difference, he could have got his face cut here?
But they gas people pretty well.
Idiot. We (Americans) kept slaves, killed Native Americans with small pox infested blankets, hung blacks because they fought for civil rights.... yeah, that all happened before I was born, but lets blame all Americans for that anyway
Yes, but America is worse.
Thanks Benedikt Ernst for your reply – I agree. To some of you – what's with all the German bashing? I have lived in the US for many years and I have high regard for all Amercans – who possess common sense – as decent, caring, very giving,wonderful human beings. You "bashers" out there – educate yourselves, and learn from history. You are showing your true character. And by the way, for someone who has not yet traveled to Deutschland for an extended period of time, as the author confessed – it's very difficult to distiguish between northern European countries accents while speaking American English. People ask me all the time – are you British, Dutch, from Luxemburg, Oesterreich, Denmark, Norway, Sweden or Finland. So folks – calm down – use the stall in the restroom what it's designed for and be kind to the other human being next to you where-ever you are – this might just be the person who might be standing next to you during a train wreck and safe your life.
I lived in Germany for 3 years and loved it. Great people, friendly, I miss it. THere are idiots everywhere, ignore them and my apolgies.
Sorry about the 2 misspellings – Americans and distinguish – just caught it after re-reading it.
All of that time wasted, because a troll got to a few morons that take things WAY too seriously.
How's that for irony?
I leave my coffee mug outside on the floor if I'm making a pit stop on the way to get coffee. It's just gross
On the floor? Do you know what's on that floor? Do you know what on the mop that, hopefully, touched that floor?
On the floor outside the bathroom – not in it. I know it's icky, but I figure it's less icky than bringing it into the potty.
Ahhh, I see. My ick factor just lessened considerably.
The floor just outside a bathroom is a MONUMENTALLY dirtier place than a raised sink inside that bathroom. Hygiene fail.
How can a floor outside a double door bathroom be worse than sitting it on the counter in a bathroom.
ridiculous piece
Mare, the floor just outside a bathroom receives much foot traffic from people entering and leaving that restroom. What do you think is on the soles of peoples shoes as they walk on that floor? Consider also that the floor outside a restroom rarely gets cleaned, while the sink surface inside the bathroom probably gets cleaned multiple times per day (in addition to not being WALKED on).
I don't know where you're working, but the floor out side our bathrooms is vacuumed 3 times a day, while the bathroom is 'deep cleaned' once, and spot cleaned after lunch.
Mare, does that vacuum pick up "wet" dirt?
I don't know, and honestly, I don't care. It's not surface issues I have, but air born. How many people cover their mouth to cough or sneeze when they are alone in a stall? I bet it's not as many as who do the same in public.
Mare, think. Where are air-borne particles most prevalent and most likely to be stirred up by foot traffic? Close to the floor, maybe? I'm done arguing. If you wish to remain healthy, keep your food and drink as far from the floor as possible. Especially if that floor is directly outside a public bathroom.
Why not leave it at your desk? In the car? Get a latching lid and keep it in a purse? Satchel? Laptop bag? Or take it into the bathroom and put down a fresh toilet paper fortress on the counter? Or, uh, hold it while doing your business? Boggles my mind.
I balance my coffee mug on my head during pit stops.
Mom, I mean, "Rachel," get over yourself. Mare wasn't arguing, only you were. You're annoying, not a Samaritan.
@Rachel M, I agree that you are annoying. I think your probably more OCD than @Mare is dirty.
@Rachel M, I agree that you are annoying. I think you're probably more OCD than @Mare is dirty.
they did a study and showed that bathrooms are cleaner than most work stations. a toilet seat is cleaner than a woman's purse. the gross part of the bathroom is the idea of what people do in there. the fear of germs vs. other places is irrational.
people don't feel comfortable eating where others are draining bodily fluids...that's why i won't eat around a breastfeeding woman. exposure to urine is safer than exposure to breast milk if the mother is infected with anything. i don't see how everyone doesn't understand the hygiene part of it.
Why wouldn't you swing by the breakroom/coffee station and leave your coffee cup there, rather than the floor outside of the bathroom? Even if it's a bit out of the way, it's got to be a better option. I agree that what you're doing is better than taking it in, but only marginally.
Why wouldn't I leave my coffee cup? Because it was not a coffee station, but a cafeteria.
Then Mare – go to the bathroom before the cafeteria – change up your order.
Why ARE we telling semi intelligent people this? I would think ALL this is very obvious.
A cafeteria? So, you're taking your coffee to an alleged unsanitary restroom, leaving it on the floor outside of the door where people track dookie droplets all over the place, and you think you're being sophisticated and self-important for all of us to see by not bringing it into the restroom and at least putting it on a sink counter?
Wow, you sure are a bright fellow!
I stick my finger is drink cups left on the floor outside of bathrooms
That's not what I stick in the cup.
hahahah :)
On the floor outside the bathroom....where people walk, after having been in the bathroom where their shoes were walking around on the urine covered bathroom flooer....Instead of by the sink that is probably cleaned mutiple times per day....wow, your rational decision-making skills leave a lot to be desired...
Really? The air space and floor outside of a bathroom would likely be much cleaner. Regardless of how often a bathroom floor is cleaned, one flush will spew particles everywhere, even near the sink. The floor outside of the bathroom may still be dirty but at least toilet germs are not flushed into the air and into the drink.
At least its not a mens room rofl. The floor is always sticky near the urinals :(
I like how KJcube just did that. While speaking about the men's room in context to the cleanliness of the floor he adds, and I quote, "ROFL."
You can't make that kind of stuff up, mostly because it's right above this comment.
@Esteban
Puns are my thing. I find them punny...
We live in a fear-filled society of self importance. People get sick all the time because they're constantly disinfecting everything. They're all afraid of germs. Oh no! Germs!
The more you disinfect, the shorter your lifespan will be. Darwin will win.
My question is: how often is that coffee cup cleaned? I know waaaayyyy too many co-workers who haven't cleaned their coffee cup in months! Now that's gross.
Take your coffee to your desk first and then go to the restroom. It's not that far.
Eating in the bathroom? Really? That's being way too busy.
A toilet bowl is cleaner than a sink is from what i heard. yeah the floor outside a bathroom is nasty. if you must leave your mug at your desk or find somewhere else to leave it.
Exactly. The sink area in a public bathroom is the dirtiest place in the bathroom, dirtier than the toilet bowl, tested and proven. I don't take anything at all into the bathroom with me that I'll consume. Ever.
you don't have a desk or personal workspace to leave it on before going to the bathroom? how many times has it been kicked over on the floor?
God, you people have issues. Personally, I wouldn't take my coffee mug on the way to the toilet, even if that meant I'd have to go back to my desk and then get it refilled, but that's a different point.
The point is, bacteria are everywhere, and that's good, that's how our immune system is kept active. I would claim that more people get sick from being overly hygienic than from constant, moderate exposure to harmless germs.
word to that.
May I suggest taking the cup in with you but placing it on the sink with a paper towel over it.
Take the cup into the bathroom, do wachoo gadda do. Then while you're washing your hands, wash the cup, too.
*screen name correction*
No shelf?? Better to leave it by the sink....
I leave mine in the lunch room and return to retrieve it. No way do I want anything used in the ingoing of food and beverage mixing with the outgoing from me – or anyone else.
This is just gross. We shouldn't have to discuss it – it's below anyone living in this country to eat anything in a bathroom. The homeless wouldn't do that!!
This is disgusting! Food should never be near a public bathroom – period!
You then Peter, are obviously not a real man.
We have a table outside of bathroom, I leave my coffee mug on the table before the pitstop! I am thinking, thats good enough!!
If I'm going #1, I just do that at my desk into my coffee cup, carry that to the restroom and dump it into the toilet. Then I wash out the cup and my hands and fill it back up with coffee.
Just kidding. I don't really do that.
Easy if you're a boy!
I work at the reception and although I havent seen anyone take food into the washroom, it really bugs me when they go in talking on their cellphone! I usually have to tell them its time to leave!!
Not to harp on this but I would be MUCH more concerned about leaving a coffee cup on the floor outside of the bathroom than taking it in with me and placing it on the countertop. Mare's issue is about airborn things – there are plenty of germs, bacteria, dust, etc. flying around at floor level. People cough, etc., You just never know. Not too much happening in the bathroom that goes beyond the toilet. Bacteria doesn't float around from urine. People wash their hands in the bathroom so I would think it's a cleaner place than outside on the floor. Strange.
I don't understand the obsession with being so uppity about these kinds of things. What, you're sophisticated? You want others to think you're sophisticated? Please.
No one cares. In the end, we all die. The earth will be vaporized by the sun when it expands in about 5 or so billion years. Nothing anyone has ever done on this speck of dust in the Universe will EVER matter. So if you want to sit and eat a steak while you're dropping a load, by all means, DO IT.
Sometimes eating on the can is the only peace and quiet you can find from uppity, self-important, sophisticated ramrods that feel the need to destroy any free will any of us have left by shining a useless light on useless subjects. I can't believe this garbage made the front page.
By the way, getting coffee in a cafeteria is probably more disgusting than drinking it while you're dumping, Mare. Cafeterias are by far some of the most unsanitary places you could possibly go for food. Think of all the people that just took a dump and then went to the cafeteria. The beauty is that unlike the food workers, customers aren't required to wash their hands. EVERYTHING you touch probably has every imaginable bodily fluid on it. And you're dragging your hands all over it, every day.
Sorry, but you haven't impressed anyone with how awesome you think you are.
You do realize that as people step, they create a "cloud" around their feet that's comprised of all the germs and filth which might be laying on the floor, and all those germs and filth settle onto and into your coffee cup? Yuck!
The reason the floor is better is because the little flying ecoli and feces germs that fly in the air in the bathroom, after the toilet is flushed and there are no lids. The only thing getting dirty from the floor would be the bottom of her cup. If she holds it ont he sides, she's not touching that part.... unless someone walks by and kicks dirt in it. I wouldn't put it ont he floor but... just saying. I often walk to the bathroom with a cup, set it on a shelf or int he work kitchen, and then go to the bathroom, come back and fill it up with water. I don't believe in food items of any sort being int hye bathroom.
@janelane....re: disgust with body fluids, ie breast milk...do you refrain from eating near people who are consuming cow's milk? How about dead animals? Or do you think of barn animals as having a higher level of cleanliness than humans? Or are you vegan? Just curious.