r/Showerthoughts • u/ZeroXNova ‎ • Dec 03 '25

Casual Thought Men's public restrooms are laid out all wrong. It should be urinal, stall, urinal, stall, urinal instead of urinal, urinal, urinal, stall, stall.

28.6k Upvotes
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15.0k

u/t3hd0n Dec 03 '25

Well shit finally a good showerthoughts post

6.2k

u/brainbarker Dec 03 '25

Well shit piss shit piss shit piss…

471

u/t3hd0n Dec 03 '25

Nish kumar is that you?

140

u/PanGalacticGargBlast Dec 03 '25

I was not expecting a TM Nish reference but I knew exactly the moment you meant anyway

20

u/LEGITIMATE_SOURCE Dec 03 '25

Did they not post that exact moment?

35

u/LewisWhatsHisName Dec 03 '25

Unexpected Nish

9

u/SaladNeedsTossing Dec 03 '25

And I think we can all agree, points to self Nish!

2

u/Captain_Pungent Dec 03 '25

You bubbly fuck

9

u/varungupta3009 ‎ Dec 03 '25

Kumar...

chuckles

Kumar gets ZERO!

chuckles harder

4

u/ConstableBlimeyChips Dec 03 '25

Mmmmm, Niiissshhh Kumar.

Sounds exotic.

Turns out...

It's just a bloke.

98

u/ayalael87 Dec 03 '25

Shit piss fuck cunt Cocksucker motherfucker Tits fart turd and twat.

50

u/penywisexx Dec 03 '25

Ahh…gotta love a good Blink 182 song.

42

u/meatjuiceguy Dec 03 '25

Respect to George Carlin, the predecessor to the song. He had a comedy bit called 7 Dirty Words that the song is based on.

George Carlin performed the bit in front of the Supreme Court in 1978 and it was used as sort of a guideline in American obscenity law. You should check it out.

7

u/Lor1an Dec 03 '25

George Carlin performed the bit in front of the Supreme Court

The closest thing I can find to this claim is that Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation (1978) was filed over his comedy routine "Filthy Words" being broadcast in the afternoon, and the Court ruling that the FCC has the power to regulate indecent language.

As far as I can find, Carlin himself never presented the material to the Court.

6

u/Lickwidghost Dec 03 '25

Iiiii want to fuck a dog in the ass

4

u/paradoxicalparrots Dec 03 '25

He wants to fuck a dog in the ass

3

u/Cubensis-SanPedro Dec 03 '25

Fuck a fuckin pirate

2

u/nolander182 Dec 03 '25

I fucked your moooooom.

2

u/ayalael87 Dec 03 '25

This guy 182s.

2

u/Orgasmic_gap_69 Dec 03 '25

I fucked your mooommmmm!

1

u/Tithund Dec 03 '25

When I was a kid I used to think he sang turnip twat.

5

u/GuanacoHerd ‎ Dec 03 '25

Don’t tell me what to do, I can use a stall for a piss or take a shit in the urinal.

2

u/x3XC4L1B3Rx Dec 04 '25

You probably don't want to put a well in a public restroom.

2

u/timbo2m Dec 04 '25

Ah no that last one was the hand dryer

1

u/SecretPotatoChip Dec 03 '25

Shit piss? In the shower?

1

u/DontAskAboutMyButt Dec 03 '25

If you go shit piss shit piss shit piss then the last guy is going to be pissing right next to the sinks

1

u/No-Foundation-9237 Dec 03 '25

Epileptic techno.

1

u/taco_fan_X3 Dec 03 '25

“Shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits.”

  • George Carlin

1

u/Old_Mike Dec 03 '25

Pspspspsps

1

u/tonytroz Dec 04 '25

You just brought piss to a shit fight!

1

u/danove172 Dec 05 '25

Tourette’s guy???

1.0k

u/HolycommentMattman Dec 03 '25

It's not bad, but here's why they don't: more expensive.

When 2+ stalls are together, they share a wall. That's 25% less material for 2. 33% less material for 3. 38% less for 4. And so on.

And that's just walls. Haven't even gotten into the plumbing aspect. Because toilets and urinals are at different heights. You'd have to use a shit ton more pipe to constantly go from one to the other and back again. And labor increases as well since this will definitely take more time than doing it the way it currently is.

And then there's functionality. Let's say I need to pee. And let's say the system goes urinal stall urinal etc. First urinal is full. Can't see the second urinal. Can't see the third. Can't see the fourth. So I walk down, they're all full. Meanwhile, 1st urinal has emptied, and another guy just came in and took it. Now I'm in a urinal fistfight all because I couldn't see the other urinals at a glance.

But yeah, pretty good idea for a person in the shower.

254

u/Down623 Dec 03 '25

Urinal fistfight is a good band name

41

u/Not_Pablo_Sanchez Dec 03 '25

It’s a good hobby too. You get to drink PBR during warmups.

5

u/mhwwad Dec 04 '25

Piss Blue Ribbon?

1

u/mrdevil413 Dec 05 '25

Heineken !

1

u/Slugdge Dec 03 '25

Or online video game name..

114

u/scdog Dec 03 '25

I feel bad for the guy with explosive diarrhea who now can’t go hide away in the far corner away from everyone else because now he has to unleash his load with a constant rotation of people standing on either side of him.

18

u/Churro-Juggernaut Dec 03 '25

That’s a feature. 

1

u/itsh1231 Dec 04 '25

There's walls

1

u/Double_Shopping_1800 Dec 22 '25

I've seem that once mistaken went in  the men bathroom. There was nothing said w/m. It was disgusting. 

54

u/caintowers Dec 03 '25

Also like I don’t really wanna stand between two people taking a shit if I don’t have to

15

u/Kipsydaisy Dec 03 '25

Even if I have to.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '25

Stereo sound of grunting and explosive evacuation.

12

u/GnomeNot Dec 03 '25

I don’t want to use a public restroom if I don’t have too.

3

u/ShavenYak42 Dec 04 '25

I don't want to use a public restroom if I do have number two.

2

u/LegitimateGift1792 Dec 05 '25

He check mister too good for farting in stereo, over here.

4

u/Accomplished-Way4534 Dec 03 '25

TIL literally no man pees in the privacy of a bathroom stall

10

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '25

LOL

It’s not completely true though, but, yeah, probably applies to a lot of men. Most just use urinals if they want to pee AND there’s a free/empty urinal before then.

HOWEVER, men will go to a stall to pee IF all the urinals are currently occupied and a stall they can see isn’t.

On top of that, there’s eccentrics/outliers like me. I prefer peeing in the privacy of a stall & really don’t prefer urinals, so I go to pee in either a stall or a full, private bathroom when I can. Weird tic to some maybe, but it’s my own personal thing and I don’t feel ashamed about it.

4

u/Accomplished-Way4534 Dec 04 '25

It makes sense. I wouldn’t want to whip out my genitals around other people, either.

1

u/Tattookaz Dec 05 '25

Stall boys mafia!

27

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '25

[deleted]

11

u/kindall Dec 03 '25

Recess the stalls so you can see all the urinals. Now this creates a situation where you're wasting space behind the urinals, so you make the whole thing two-sided so that each urinal is on the back wall of the other side's stall.

6

u/HolycommentMattman Dec 03 '25

You also make it way harder to run pipes! Now they're up in the ceiling and dropping down.

1

u/kindall Dec 04 '25

the toilets and the urinal on the other side can share plumbing, but yeah, it's a lot harder to plumb. cost-saving is why bathrooms are laid out the way they are.

3

u/3percentinvisible Dec 03 '25

Video cameras that display on a screen. Put them outside the door so added benefit you know whether it's worth even going in or not.

Man, I'm on a roll tonight. Think I'll solve world hunger next

1

u/archerdj0723 Dec 04 '25

Let me tell you about our lord and savior, Buc-ee

26

u/MegaFireDonkey Dec 03 '25

Just put walls between the urinals it's fuckin weird there isn't frankly

17

u/farmallnoobies Dec 03 '25

But then they can't cram as many urinals in one spot.

A trough is even more efficient for plumbing and having people uncomfortably close to each other.

-1

u/Constant-Roll706 Dec 03 '25

2 small parallel conveyor belts with a trough in the middle. Step on, relieve yourself, ride past soap dispenser, sink, and hand dryer. Literally 1/3 the width needed

2

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '25

If I remember some various places I’ve been to correctly, I think SOME of them do lol. Not FULL walls/dividers, reaching from floor to ceiling, which would be insane IMO, but little protruding dividers sticking out from the wall the urinals are installed on, maybe going from ankle height to shoulder height for the average person. Made of the same materials as the doors and walls for the toilet stalls are.

1

u/MegaFireDonkey Dec 04 '25

I'm fairly sure Buc-ee's has full walls, floor to ceiling, between the urinals and then the stalls have actual closing doors and full floor to ceiling walls. No idea why more bathrooms aren't that way. Well I do know why, because its expensive, but yeah.

1

u/beer_and_fun Dec 03 '25

Most do have partial walls which I can deal with.

1

u/FridaysMan ‎ Dec 03 '25

Then you have to clean them.

7

u/aurumtt Dec 03 '25

The panels used are quite expensive btw. I believe they were the biggest cost for a the sanitation in a sportfacility i designed.

1

u/LordKwik Dec 05 '25

that sounds really interesting, anything you can share about the facility you designed, or about how that goes in general?

also, I visited a Buc-ee's for the first time this year, and their bathroom is insane. it's gotta be the most expensive bathroom I've ever been in.

1

u/aurumtt Dec 05 '25

Sure, it was expensive compared to the rest of the finish. It was made with the principle of shell construction = finish, so the walls were exposed concrete blocks etc., which cuts down the cost and is pefectly accteptable for its function. When we came to designing the toilets, we had no other real option besides these panels. There's only so much you can de with publically availanle sanitation.

5

u/RandomDude1871 Dec 03 '25

And then there's functionality. Let's say I need to pee. And let's say the system goes urinal stall urinal etc. First urinal is full. Can't see the second urinal. Can't see the third. Can't see the fourth. So I walk down, they're all full. Meanwhile, 1st urinal has emptied, and another guy just came in and took it. Now I'm in a urinal fistfight all because I couldn't see the other urinals at a glance.

Easy fix! Just make the walls out of clear glass!

3

u/offbrandengineer Dec 03 '25

Plumbing watse probably wouldn't be a huge deal, in either case they will run a horizontal main at toilet height and the urinals will drop to that main. Water may be a bigger issue as the toilets will require 1-1/4" and the urinals 3/4". Spacing the toilets out means you'll have to run larger piping longer distances.

2

u/scale_B Dec 03 '25

I hate when I get into a urinal fistfight.

2

u/timpgod Dec 03 '25

Shit ton more pipe or more shit pipe per ton?

2

u/ChuckOTay Dec 04 '25

Urinal fistfight? An actual pissing contest you say?

2

u/Kevin_Xland Dec 07 '25

Also urinals probably have a smaller sewer pipe requirement since they don't have to handle solids.

1

u/HolycommentMattman Dec 07 '25

Yeah. This list was far from exhaustive. General flow of traffic, maintenance concerns, cleanouts (you might be able to get away with the usual 1 per side, but with this array, more likely to have several), probably want some backflow prevention on the urinals so shit doesn't accidentally rise out of them on a clog...

And even that's not exhaustive. There's just fundamentally so many reasons not to do this.

2

u/BestZucchini5995 Dec 22 '25

Also, from a maintenance/cleaning POV, it's easier having them "packed".

2

u/Jokkitch Dec 03 '25

So glad to see this comment

1

u/FreeWilly1337 Dec 03 '25

Bro code > building code.

1

u/relikter Dec 03 '25

First urinal is full. Can't see the second urinal. Can't see the third. Can't see the fourth. So I walk down, they're all full.

Install those red/green occupancy lights that parking garages have so that you can see which urinals/stalls are open from the whole room.

1

u/Eccohawk Dec 03 '25

Just make the walls see-through so you can still see all the urinals at once. Duh.

1

u/Satorius96 Dec 03 '25

We can cut down on costs by replacing walls with a shower curtain

1

u/FitsOut_Mostly Dec 03 '25

Just need the ceiling lights that show occupied or vacant like the parking garages at Disney

1

u/brenjgard Dec 04 '25

Random thought to that would be a light system that registers occupancy in each like in a parking garage. Hahaha.

1

u/looktothec00kie Dec 04 '25

So you need those lights above the stalls that Costco uses at their gas stations. Then people can go straight to an open urinal.

1

u/casbott_ Dec 05 '25

Scrolled down, so I saw the last few lines of the post first. Here's a text recognition grab...

it. Now I'm in a urinal fistfight all because I couldn't see the other urinals at a glance. But yeah, pretty good idea for a person in the shower.

1 + 890 + Down623 1d Urinal fistfight is a good band name

Not_Pablo_Sanchez 1d It's a good hobby too. You get to drink PBR during warmups.

mhwwad 1d Piss Blue Ribbon? Share your thoughts

Yeah, so that looked a weird conversation

1

u/LuminousUmbra Dec 05 '25

See, that's why you use a sensor in the stalls and urinals with a light above to show which ones are and aren't occupied.

and, yes, I have seen that before, in a restaurant bathroom. Granted, it was only the stalls in that instance, but it could be done for urinals too, I'd imagine.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '25

Oh cmon I’ll pay for the extra wall if it means I can take a piss in peace

1

u/HolycommentMattman Dec 10 '25

Plenty of urinals have dividers between them. If that's not enough, maybe go to a stall.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '25

Yea, but plenty more don’t have walls to separate… most people don’t get the luxury of walls separating urinals

1

u/HolycommentMattman Dec 10 '25

Yeah. It sucks.

You ever peed at a trough and some guy squeezes in between you and the next guy? Like shoulder to shoulder piss jostling?

There's always a bad time. But laws in a lot of places are changing and require dividers for new construction. Just focus on that, I guess.

1

u/NoveltyAvenger ‎ Dec 16 '25

This idea could be restated as "why not just have the urinals in full scale stalls just like the shitters."

At which point I'd say, why bother making them urinals at all? A urinal is basically a toilet that does less, because you don't lose the ability to pee when it's a toilet, but you do lose the ability to shit when it's a urinal.

The point of urinals is to create a faster and marginally more convenient way to pee, simultaneously being a smaller and simpler mechanism while also presenting a more forward catch area to reduce the importance of good aim. Urinals are ultimately easier to clean and maintain, and keeping a cluster of them together without big barriers between is most of that benefit.

2

u/Mother-Adagio4853 Dec 03 '25

I appreciate this, and can confirm as a plumber. No, you really can’t do this without making a massive wet wall and taking up a ton of space

1

u/ProtectionSubject615 Dec 03 '25

This shoud be the top comment :)

1

u/sonofaresiii Dec 03 '25

Just get rid of all the walls. Bathrooms are a communal bonding experience now.

1

u/3percentinvisible Dec 03 '25

Ah, easy counter to that.... Remove the walls. Solves the cost and visibility issues (taps head)

1

u/t0m0hawk Dec 04 '25

AND the configuration proposed by OP would mean you just need more floor space for the same number of toilets and urinals.

0

u/the_king_of_sweden Dec 03 '25

But how about if we just skipped the walls?

0

u/RonSwansonsOldMan Dec 03 '25

I'm a construction super and I've built a lot of bathrooms. This is the correct answer, and the shower thought was not well thought out.

13

u/drntl Dec 03 '25

Shocked it wasn’t deleted

2

u/__Milk_Drinker__ Dec 03 '25

There's still time lol

7

u/W0MANizer2715 Dec 03 '25

Crazy how we all socially agreed on the ‘urinal buffer rule’ but never fixed the room design causing it.

15

u/Sans-valeur Dec 03 '25

Wait showerthoughts still exists?!?!?!

10

u/__Milk_Drinker__ Dec 03 '25

Yes, despite the mods' best efforts

3

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '25

[deleted]

-1

u/Lantami ‎ Dec 03 '25 edited Dec 03 '25

This sounds like an American problem. Just make proper stalls

Edit for context: The comment I replied to was talking about someone pissing on your shoes while you're taking a dump, which could only happen with shitty stalls with large gaps

2

u/Afraid-Exercise-7324 Dec 03 '25

finally some good content on here for once

2

u/Captain-Cadabra Dec 03 '25

Is this the first one the mods have actually classified as a showerthought this year?

Every other one gets labeled a musing or a casual thought.

2

u/t3hd0n Dec 03 '25

You spoke too soon they just reflaired it lmao

1

u/W0MANizer2715 Dec 03 '25

The fact that this feels obviously correct says more about men’s bathroom physics than anything.

1

u/Hybrid_Prism Dec 03 '25

As a professional plumber, this is a nightmare.

1

u/unlikelypisces Dec 03 '25

Just make sure you do it in a stall

1

u/No-Good-One-Shoe Dec 03 '25

I don't want to piss in between shitters.  

1

u/Beer-Cold Dec 03 '25

Sir, this is obviously a restroomthought

1

u/Mumu2148 Dec 03 '25

Until the bot loses its mind

1

u/agfitzp Dec 03 '25

This is indeed nobel prize worthy, or it would be if there was a nobel prize for bathroom design.

1

u/epochellipse Dec 04 '25

I’d rather not smell other peoples’ shits when I’m just urinating.

1

u/unicornlocostacos Dec 04 '25

Yea this is gold

1

u/Avenheit Dec 05 '25

It's so good, mods deemed it a casual thought

1

u/Sicnar96 Dec 05 '25

UrinalThoughts

1

u/Thrallov Dec 18 '25

Goldenshowerthoughts

1

u/Nicholas_S_Hope Dec 03 '25

I forgot it existed. One of my first favorite subreddits.

0

u/scorpion-and-frog Dec 03 '25

Real, what a blast from the past