20h ago

Does anyone else readily choose the handicap stall if it is available?

I will always choose the handicap stall because I like the space between myself and the next stall. It seems like the US bathroom system encourages games of battle shits and I’m not willing to play. I’ve only had one instance where I walked out and a person who actually needed it was waiting. I felt terrible, but it was only once out of hundreds. Does anyone else do this?

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This may be unpopular, but the stalls are handicap accessible, not reserved.
I do try to be considerate. I keep time short and at work, where I am aware of where people who would have a greater need than I are located, then I go to the restroom they're least likely to use.

Duh. They're handicapped ACCESSIBLE, not reserved

Well, yeah, but I'm in a wheelchair sooo...

if the other ones are nasty dirty. sure. or if it's the only one available.
but given a choice of equally-suitable poop receptacles, i'd choose the 'regular' one--especially if it sits lower than ada height

Yes, for my own physical needs.
The default stall is frequently so small that I tend to get my back twisted or smacking a knee on the bowel trying to navigate the inward opening door that almost hits the toilet in a stall barely wider than my shoulders. I'm not even a big person, extremely average. But normal stalls in the US are built like airplane seats.
Work stalls are a little bigger than businesses so I use the regular ones there.
So yes, if the normal stall is tiny I use the big one and that is generally the case. In all my decades I only held up someone who needed it once, but was in there because the other stalls were taken.
- I'm trying to picture the contortions you have to go through to smack your knee on your bowel.
  
  When the space is limited enough, I frequently have to be as close to the side as possible (yellow) for the door (purple) to swing shut (blue). Trying not to lean on the gross wall covered in pee splash means doing a little shuffle trying to turn so I can close the stupid door and bending a knee means it has to go somewhere. Since my back is towards the wall, that means knee goes forward.
  Being clumsy means sometimes I move a little too far and hello hard porcelain, here I come. It isn't an issue if the stall isn't so tiny that the door is almost hitting the toilet. But so many of them are that tiny.

I usually go for the non-accessible one first, but if that one is occupied or dirty or something I readily use the handicap accessible one.

I do, but I'm handicapped.
ETA: I don't really care if a non-handicapped person uses it.

I only use the handicap stall if all the others are already occupied and I am literally about to shit myself. Otherwise I'll just wait for a normal stall. I don't wanna be the reason someone with a wheelchair couldn't get a stall in time and shat themselves.

It's a morality choice for me. People who need a handicapped spot should not be inconvenienced by me ever. I don't care how far out I have to walk or how quick I plan to stop, I will never take up those spaces. At work I drive a truck with EX plates and I don't even park that in the handicapped stalls. There is no justification.
- He's talking about basically bathroom stalls, not parking spots. No one should use the parking spots if they didn't need them and there are even fines for doing so. Bathroom stalls are a little more ambiguous.
  
  Ooooooooh I'm an idiot. Also the stall closest to the entrance is usually cleanest because fewer people use it.

At work, yes. They made room for the handicap stall by narrowing the other stall to the point where my shoulders brush the walls. Too f'ing awkward.
- Oh God you just reminded me of a funny story. I had a boss that was probably 600lbs+. He was huge. The bathroom was a single occupant situation, and the toilet was positioned what I would consider a normal distance from the wall next to it. Typical distance to allow reach to the to dispenser.
  This monster of a human had literally crushed a crater into the drywall from sitting on the toilet and being pushed up against wall. Every time I used the bathroom and saw it I laughed a little. I think I was just amazed this person could actually function.

every time first

My peeing experience is not tangibly improved by more leg room, there's plenty in regular stalls.

I use whatever stall is open and clean.

Nah, I just shit on the floor 😎
(why are there weirdos with uniforms surrounding me?)

I use it often, and have never walked out to someone waiting for it. If I did, I wouldn't feel bad, because I take like 1 minute to poop.
- I take like 1 minute to poop
  What sort of wizardry is this?

I usually only use it when I need it. Be it when I am having a hard time with mobility or it's the only one left. Doesn't really bother me if someone else that may or may not need it is using it (you can't always tell just by looking).

I'm disabled

Of course. Plenty of bathrooms are only disability accessible by default these days and I won't go shit in the garden because I couldn't find one that wasn't.

No. I don't need it, other people do.

People taking away resources meant for people who actually need them just because they feel like it are assholes.
- Ensuring there is a stall large enough for someone with disabilities is not the same thing as car spaces for the disabled. The larger bathroom stalls are not reserved.
  Not to mention that in a lot of bathrooms there is a single stall and the law ensures that one stall is large enough for anyone to use.
- How do you feel about seeing foot traffic on the wheelchair ramps :(
- Fair point. In my workplace, I’ve never seen it being used by someone who needed it. It is either taken by people who prefer it or when the other two stalls are filled up. Understand your point though.

Do you also park in handicap parking spots?
- That's different, at least in the US. Stalls are accessible, not reserved. Parking is reserved for handicap identified vehicles only.

No, those stalls are reserved for people who actually need them. They’re not for your comfort or convenience, they’re a basic necessity for people who have very different daily lives than you.
Even if all the other stalls are occupied, you should still pretend that the handicap stall is also occupied, even if it isn’t. There’s always the possibility that someone who needs it will arrive after you’ve gone in. You don’t park in handicap parking spaces, do you? Same deal, just one is based more on the honor system and basic human decency, and the other could get you a ticket.
- Eh, I save the handicap stall for last, but if the rest are taken I'm 100% going to use it.
  The stall isn't reserved for people with disabilities, it's there for if they need it. Someone who uses a wheelchair needs the extra space, but if someone is waiting either way, their bladder isn't automatically more important than mine.
  In the case of someone with a disability that requires them to have immediate access to a handicap stall, that is unfortunate, but I'd assume some sort of arrangement could be made with HR so that everyone knows that the handicap stall on x floor is off limits or something. But I feel that's such a fringe case that we shouldn't be expecting everyone to hold their pee over the possibility.
- Do you often see parking lots where there is one regular spot and one handicapped spot? What if there is one toilet in the whole establishment which is also handicapped accessible? Not sure where you draw the line, but the analogy to parking is a poor one.

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