Toilet Etiquette

Working in the professional world, I guess I make some assumptions about the level of cleanliness some people have.  No, cleanliness is the wrong word...I guess more it's respect of others around you and how your behavior impacts them.

In the past 7 months or so, we've made a few new hires in the office.  Most of them are women.  We have two cubicles in our bathroom area.  One is marked as women's and as a sink in there, and the other is marked as men's.  Outside of the two little cubicles (I would say stalls, but they are like little rooms more, with floor to ceiling walls and doors) is a bigger sink, and then a door where you exit the bathroom area from.  Directly next to the bathroom area is the kitchen.

Also in the past 7 months, we've had problems in the ladies room.  People are not checking to see if the flush is effective (this building is like, hundreds of years old and I'm pretty sure that was the last time any kind of piping was updated), there's toilet paper on the ground, it just plain smells, etc.  I've tolerated it for a while, with no idea how to correct this kind of behavior.  How do you tell 27-45 year olds to not do number two in the toilet on our floor, go to the public stalls on the other floors?  And how do you say, and if you happen to do a number 2, take care of it.

Well in January I finally hit a breaking point.  After almost throwing up from the stench in the bathroom in the morning, I had a breakdown.  Out loud.  That involved lots of yelling about how I'm tired of working in a frat house.  Three hours later, I went back into the bathroom and found a floater.  I returned to my desk and then managed to find the way to toilet train 27-45 years olds.  In a mass email. To the entire London office:

To:  London offices
Subject: Toilet Etiquette

Hi all,

For those of you who were witness to my rant earlier this morning, I apologize.  Despite the fact that my rant was loud and obnoxious, it was clearly not effective. 

Just as a reminder to us all, this is an OLD building with poor plumbing.  This is also a tiny office space.  When you flush the toilet, take a second to look back and make sure everything goes down.  No one likes walking into someone else’s toilet leftovers.  I have twice today and it’s not a pleasant experience.  Also, there is a toilet brush in there.  It’s easy to use. 

As a reminder, we also have access to the ladies on the second floor and the gents on the fourth floor.  You don’t need a code, just turn the knob.  They are great to use if you require more privacy. 

I know we are all adults here and probably don’t live in filth at home.  There’s no need for it in the office. 

Thanks all,

Kat   

Later that day I was in the kitchen my CEO walked by.  

CEO: "Toilet leftovers?"

me: "well...I couldn't figure out how to spell remninces."  

I still can't.