this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2025
957 points (98.6% liked)

memes

15694 readers
3051 users here now

Community rules

1. Be civilNo trolling, bigotry or other insulting / annoying behaviour

2. No politicsThis is non-politics community. For political memes please go to !politicalmemes@lemmy.world

3. No recent repostsCheck for reposts when posting a meme, you can only repost after 1 month

4. No botsNo bots without the express approval of the mods or the admins

5. No Spam/AdsNo advertisements or spam. This is an instance rule and the only way to live.

A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment

Sister communities

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] pyre@lemmy.world 83 points 5 days ago (2 children)

maybe you can't make the doors fit the stalls properly because you don't use the metric system.

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world 15 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (7 children)

No man, you don't get it, I was told that a foot is much better, because that's 12 inches and then 12 can be easily divided by 2,3,4,6

As if you couldn't just work with wood sizes of 12 or 24cms....

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 23 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

i would accept that if the rest followed.

it's 12 inches in a foot, 3 feet in a yard, 1760 yards in a mile.

meanwhile everywhere else in the world we just add and remove zeroes as needed. (or move the decimal point)

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 9 points 4 days ago

maybe you can't make the doors fit the stalls properly because you don't use the metric system.

It would be delightful if this phrase started appearing on affected bathroom walls.

[–] makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world 99 points 5 days ago (5 children)

Occasionally I hear people argue it's so you can catch IV drug users without bursting in. Personally I think it's that capitalism cares not for your happiness and it's fractionally cheaper to have shitty doors, and so that's what people do

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 30 points 5 days ago (8 children)

No its not a profit saving thing. It makes no difference cost wise to save a few cms of wood. Its intentionally designed that way. Go to any other capitalist country than America and you won't see gaps.

[–] Soup@lemmy.world 13 points 5 days ago

Uh, I know it’s because we’re unfortunately too close to the States but in Canada we have the same problem. It’s getting a little better, and we aren’t such babies about gender neutral bathrooms either, but we have our fair share of stall gaps.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 13 points 5 days ago

I have doubts about the IV drug users. It would imply that bathroom stalls used to give privacy before IV drugs were a thing, and after indoor plumbing.

I suspect the posted "cheapness" posted elsewhere, or so managers can check who is "slacking off". (Also so pervs can spy.)

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 83 points 5 days ago (3 children)

For all the puritanical shame Americans have of their sexual organs, we sure are lax when it comes to giving a little privacy when taking a shit and sometimes even just pissing in a trough.

[–] Malfeasant@lemmy.world 51 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It's because of the puritanical shame- without those gaps, people might (gasp) have sex in bathroom stalls instead of doing their business as god intended.

[–] kautau@lemmy.world 23 points 5 days ago

I mean, walking by and seeing

How could you not?

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 30 points 4 days ago (3 children)

As an American, experiencing European toilet stalls was one of the first tangible experiences where I was like “woah we are definitely doing it wrong”. Thanks, uh…Europe.

[–] bytesonbike@discuss.online 10 points 4 days ago

Going to Tokyo and every toilet being a sing-along butt rinser made me realized western toilets are barbaric.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 12 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Except for the ones where you have to pay, I can do without that.

[–] uniquethrowagay@feddit.org 9 points 4 days ago (2 children)

If it means I'm getting a clean toilet, I'd rather pay a Euro for that

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

It's never an either/or situation. Like, what, that Euro pays for someone to rush in after every use? Or is it a meaningless transaction meant to cause difficulty.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 days ago

I remember some pretty nasty pay toilets in Germany, but it of course varies.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Eheran@lemmy.world 54 points 5 days ago (5 children)

Am I too non-USA to understand this?

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 22 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

All you need to know is that toilet stalls in the USA (and Canada) have huge gaps around the doors, unlike other countries. You have to carefully position your head so you're not making accidental eye contact with people outside, and somehow relax knowing everyone can see you taking a shit.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 14 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)
[–] Eheran@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 44 points 5 days ago (7 children)

The stalls at my work have zero gaps whatsoever and the door/walls (which are made of wood) go almost to the floor. There's fairly high quality locking handles that indicate whether or not it's occupied. It's amazing and I don't know of any other public restroom in my area like it.

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 16 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Really? That's what I'd expect even in a run-down public toilet in a train station over here in Austria.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de 14 points 5 days ago

It always baffles me that this is considered a luxury in the USA while in Germany (and I assume most of Europe) this is the absolute standard. Stalls where the door doesn't lock properly or where the indicator on the outside is faded so that you can't reliably determine if it's occupied are already considered signs of bad maintenance. Gaps that you can look through without pressing your face right against them would be a "nope, I'll never visit this place again" level scandal.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] shirro@aussie.zone 11 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

As we dont have the gaps in my country my guess is it a US interpretation of Jeremy Bentham's panopticon as applied to the shitter.

I expect in the USA people, particularly the out groups, are believed to be inherently criminal/immoral and need to be observed to make sure they aren't doing anything undesirable.

As the US public toilet is primarily a place for moral judgement and not elimation of waste you then get the crazies questioning if people's gender and equipment meets moral standards for use of the facilities based on casual assessment of their appearance.

[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world 37 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

So trans women can be discovered, I suppose.

(Edit: immediately after posting this, it’s prolly way too dark but I’m leaving it there. Also it me, a trans woman terrified of using the stall for this exact reason.)

[–] Madrigal@lemmy.world 15 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I’ve always believed that the whole stall concept was developed by some kind of pervert.

I mean, even when they grant proper visual privacy, that’s just one of our five senses. You can still hear and smell what’s going on next door - and I swear in some cases just about taste it.

To me, “privacy” means all senses.

Not to mention having weirdos peek over the top of the stall, which has happened.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 13 points 5 days ago

As a man, can I just say that I have never enjoyed peeing shoulder to shoulder with other men.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] HulkSmashBurgers@reddthat.com 19 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Even worse are the urinals without dividers.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Ever used a trough?

It’s almost like that

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] VirgilMastercard@reddthat.com 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)

They should replace dividers with mirrors so we can look at other men's dicks while pissing

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] UnrepententProcrastinator@lemmy.ca 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I feel like you don't need that much intimacy when pissing but maybe that's just me.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] PeteWheeler@lemmy.world 23 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I assume it's because it's cheap infrastructure.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 15 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Yeah, being literally as cheap as possible is the main design driver for poop stalls with large gaps. Very forgiving installation, so the cheapest possible labor can put them in to inconsistently built bathrooms with cheap parts using the least amount of materials on the cheapest hinges with the cheapest paint and cheap replacement parts when whatever is in there fails.

Also cheap to repair when it breaks.

Also, some amount of gap at the floor level means the whole room can be sloped down to a single drain when a toilet backs up instead of being contained in a single stall. That is also cheaper.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 14 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

Eventually, enshittification will hit public restrooms hard and we won't even have dividers at all. Just a single, giant hole in the floor everyone is expected to pee and shit into while a bank of CCTV cameras watches every angle of the room.

[–] toynbee@lemmy.world 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I know of one rest stop that offers stalls with doors, but half of the door is removed so that they can see if someone is partaking of questionable substances in there.

I have heard of several, but that's the only one I've seen myself.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Tikiporch@lemmy.world 15 points 5 days ago (2 children)

So you don't suffocate in there.

[–] Anomalocaris@lemm.ee 17 points 5 days ago (1 children)

they explains why everyone in Europe is dead by suffocating in public toilets.

[–] Tikiporch@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I am, of course, not joking in any way.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

As someone from Europe I can guarantee you that 5-10cm (2-4") at the bottom and 30cm (12") at the top with almost no gap between the door and wall are by far enough to not suffocate. Maybe put a vent in the ceiling for good measure.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] bus_factor@lemmy.world 17 points 5 days ago (1 children)

You're all complaining about the gaps, but I once walked into a bathroom which had 5ft doors. The moment I walked in I locked eyes with a guy taking a dump.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] ssfckdt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 4 days ago
  1. Cheaper
  2. So they can be sure you're not secksing or drugging
[–] Brotha_Jaufrey@lemmy.world 16 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Let’s not forget the people who attempt to open the stall, notice that it is indeed locked, then proceed to knock on the door

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 13 points 5 days ago

My middle school didn’t even have doors on the stalls. That was f’d up.

[–] sundray@lemmus.org 13 points 5 days ago (6 children)

I've heard every excuse, from making sure people aren't doing drugs, jerking off, or having sex in there. The assumption being that if people are given total privacy they'll be up to "no good" in the bathroom stall. I don't know if any of that is true, but I once went to the men's room at a big-city library, and discovered the stall walls were only 4 feet tall. (If that was meant to prevent drug use it wasn't working, there were a couple dudes in there doing the fenty lean, but I didn't see anybody fucking, at least.)

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] jawa22@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The reality is that every American has experienced this for their entire lives at this point. The actual popular opinion is "I don't actually care because every public bathroom I have been in since the 40s is like this."

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 5 points 4 days ago

More like:

”I don't actually care because I never use a public bathroom, as long as my health allows, just as the building owners intended."

load more comments
view more: next ›