My office renovated a few months ago and now we have a nice big wheelchair friendly bathroom. Now, obviously I'm not actually against toilets being functional for those with mobility issues but why oh why must they be designed in such a way that if the door doesn't lock properly that someone could very easily catch you doing your business??? They are purposely designed to have the toilet far away from the door - there is no way to thrust your arm out and stop the door from opening!
I think it should be mandatory for these bathrooms to have a secondary lock system like one of those little slidey thingies, basically something that goes into a slot that I can visually verify that the door is indeed secure. Why don't I just double check when I go into these types of bathrooms you ask? Well, first of all, they all have the simple push button type lock rather than a twisty one (I hope I'm not losing you readers with all my technical terms like slidey and twisty...) and this is so that folks who don't have good dexterity can easily use them. Which means that if you try to check it, you are basically going to unlock it.
The other problem is, and the Timmies in Portage referenced earlier has this problem, is that if for some reason the door doesn't close completely (even though it seems like it's closed, I mean, I know how to use a door!) then "locking" the door by pushing in the little button doesn't do a lick of good because the catch isn't engaged properly. Thankfully, my paranoia caused me to discover this flaw before someone discovered me.
So, I therefore call for a secondary lock system, completely optional to use, for those who want that extra bit of security. Or if someone can at least put one in on my work bathroom that would be appreciated :)
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A quick note related to my usual rants...Today a Winnipeg family has lost their home in a fire. I'm not sure yet what they might need but I hope Winnipeggers reach out to them once we find out. The CBC, like most of the media outlets in town covered this story. I appreciate that they left "North End" out of the headline, because for those that get their news by only reading the headlines I'm sure the reaction would have been a typical one along the lines of "must be arson", "it's the North End, it's always on fire anyway, who cares" and so on. Now, of course, it did technically happen in the North End, so I couldn't have faulted them even if they had chosen to use the neighbourhood name in the headline, but I truly believe little things like this make a difference to how the rest of Winnipeg perceives us.
Although I really like the single-stall accessible bathrooms because of the privacy they give (when the door stays locked), I'm totally with you on being paranoid about the door opening.
ReplyDeleteI actually had a really bad experience at the downtown Portage la Prairie Timmy's. I was in the bathroom going about my business, and some guy kept knocking on the door very loudly, and I kept yelling "Occupied!" I guess didn't hear me, because he convinced an employee that someone locked the door while it was empty because the employee came with the master key and opened the door while I was still sitting on the toilet! It was hugely embarrassing for all of us, but I mean, how dumb can you be? If the door is locked, assume someone is in there... period. If the door is locked, why would you even knock? Who does that?
So yes, a secondary twisty of slidey lock is needed. Also, one male and one female single-stall accessible washroom is not nearly enough. There should be four of them for an average-sized Timmy's, and all four should be unisex.