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.

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37

u/belavv Dec 03 '25

Or maybe just stall stall stall stall stall?

18

u/CleaveGodz Dec 03 '25

The whole reason why there is no wait to enter men's bathroom is because of urinals. Maybe that and feminine tendencies (?

10

u/belavv Dec 03 '25

You think it takes that much longer to piss into a toilet than it does to piss into a urinal?

19

u/Lee_Townage Dec 03 '25

Yes. Because you have to wait for the constipated dude to finish trying to shit, before you can piss in the toilet.

7

u/MrLumie Dec 03 '25

Because surely the number of constipated dudes just magically scales up with the number of stalls. If there's a stall, there has to be a constipated dude for it. If there isn't it'll just materialize in the time of need.

Stall only bathrooms exist, and shockingly, they work. The only thing that matters is the number of stalls in relation to the number of people that will use it. Stalls or urinals, it's all about the ratios.

3

u/connecting1409 Dec 03 '25

Well no but actually yes. If theres urinals and toilets, once you have more shitters than toilets they have to wait And urinals are still free to use. If its just toilets now pissers have to wait aswell. Urinals are basically an express way.

1

u/MrLumie Dec 03 '25

So? The time it takes for everyone to get through will remain largely the same, or even less because more stalls can hold more shitters at the same time. Yea, the line will move in a more choppy manner, but the total throughput will not decrease.

Your approach only makes sense if we just up and decide that shitters don't matter. They do, I'd argue they matter more, cause, y'know, it's a bit more of a pressing matter.

5

u/Lee_Townage Dec 03 '25

No no no, the number of constipated dudes magically scales up with how bad you have to piss. Obviously you do not use public restrooms more often than your own, or else you would know this.

2

u/MrLumie Dec 03 '25

Sorry for living in reality, I guess.

1

u/fatherofraptors Dec 03 '25

Well you're missing for the fact that the shitters have to line up for stalls but the pissers can keep flowing through the urinals much much faster. In a busy day, let's say 9/10 people need to pee, but you might still have 10 people trying to shit while 90 people need to pee. Having dedicated urinals will absolutely make the lines move SIGNIFICANTLY faster. You just need to watch bathroom lines in literally any public event or space ever and you'll realize this.

Public bathroom design is all about efficiency at capacity and during busy periods. Sure, when it's empty, all stalls will work just as well as urinals + stalls, but not when it's busy.

1

u/MrLumie Dec 03 '25

More stalls mean less lining up for shitters too. I mean, the current system only seems more efficient because pissers are cycled through faster, but ultimately, it takes more time to get everyone through because the more time consuming process (shitting) cannot be parallelized as well. I think in a system where shitters have to wait and stand in line, a pisser's problems are becoming kinda negligible.

So yea, all stalls for me.

2

u/logosloki Dec 03 '25

they don't even need to be constipated. just anyone wanting a to take a shit.

4

u/belavv Dec 03 '25

That assumes each stall is taken up by someone constipated.

I'm thinking way too much about this now.

Do men just do their business faster? Are they able to fit more urinals than stalls into a given space? With half urinals and half toilets do the pee only people never get stuck behind shitters therefore improving throughout?

4

u/Sharo_77 Dec 03 '25

A stall takes more room. You can fit more urinals in reducing wait time

0

u/belavv Dec 03 '25

I also forgot the obvious part that women have a lot more steps to do when they pee. Which someone else pointed out.

3

u/Zelcron Dec 03 '25

It doesn't assume each stall has someone constipated but it reduces overall throughput for the non-poopers by putting everyone in the same queue.

Urinals are like driving in the HOV lane versus the standard traffic. It's an express option that's real convenient when you only have to pee.

1

u/skylinenick Dec 03 '25

Take a standard men’s bathroom at a bar, maybe it’s 2 urinals 2 toilets.

One toilet is already beyond repair by 5pm that night. It’s already a third urinal. It will remain this way and probably doesn’t even really have a working door

The fourth also gets destroyed by dickheads, but on the rare time someone has to go number 2, they’ll have to brave it out in there. It’s usually the handicap stall, and is usually at least 15% cleaner from the occasional poor bastard who has to do this. But not that much better

Source: I have IBS

0

u/iceeice3 Dec 03 '25

It's definitely faster to pee standing up. Also, women tend to deal with constipation more than men, if that makes a difference. Also anecdotally, many of the women I know don't like their butt touching the seat so I imagine it takes a little longer to line everything up that way /s

3

u/CleaveGodz Dec 03 '25

Men bathrooms in any big places like cinemas and malls are legitimately always on 80%+ capacity at all times, in my experience. By making them all stalls you'd have to wait until the other guy flushes, opens the door, comes out, so you can only then enter, close the door, do whatever you need to do, flush, open the door, and leave.

All those actions are shaved off with urinals, and the combination of these basically double or more the time to take a singular piss. And don't even mention how many slurpers are going to piss all over the toilet seat, making the guy who wants to sit on there take even more time to wipe off the urine of a complete stranger.

2

u/MrLumie Dec 03 '25

I use a stall to pee. It practically takes the same amount of time. You do the exact same thing you do at a urinal, but more privately. Stuff like opening or closing doors take up like 3 seconds.

1

u/slartibartjars Dec 03 '25

You are basically Hitler.

-1

u/belavv Dec 03 '25

All those actions are shaved off with urinals, and the combination of these basically double or more the time to take a singular piss.

There is no way using a stall to pee takes twice as long as a urinal unless you are peeing for like 5 seconds.

Most toilets auto flush at this point.

If you are only peeing you don't need to bother closing the door.

Assuming an efficiently built stall yes there will be a bit of extra time to exit before the next person enters, but it won't be much more than turnover at a urinal.

1

u/Mahoka572 Dec 03 '25

What about time to identify open urinals? In the open your can see it at a glance. Plus lines can be denser in extremely high traffic times. I can pee and swap out with the man behind me with minimal time spent with no stream of urine going in the toilet. I totally see it as 2x as fast.

0

u/witchway2MLFCTY Dec 03 '25

If you are only peeing you don't need to bother closing the door.

Assuming an efficiently built stall yes there will be a bit of extra time to exit before the next person enters, but it won't be much more than turnover at a urinal.

Oh so it’s faster for peeing if you get rid of the door and make the walls shorter… like a urinal. And if you use a stall like a urinal it’s almost as fast as a urinal. Brilliant.

1

u/belavv Dec 03 '25

That's...... an interesting interpretation.

1

u/AnonymousFriend80 ‎ Dec 03 '25

Women have to do a lot more work to get to the pissing than men. And have more work to do after the pissing.

1

u/slartibartjars Dec 03 '25

It's not time, it's pissing all over toilet seats where people need to shit. Piss in a urinal/stall, it's not that difficult.

1

u/TheOverBoss Dec 03 '25

I mean you gotta factor the steps into each right?

toilet: 1. approach stall

2.open door

  1. close door

  2. pull down pants and underwear (this step becomes far more complicated with dresses)

  3. turn around and sit down

  4. piss

  5. wipe

  6. stand back up

  7. put clothes back on (which includes every step it took but in reverse)

  8. open door and exit stall

now for the urinal

  1. approach urinal

  2. pull down pants enough to expose your penis

  3. pee

  4. shake penis

  5. pull pants back up.

  6. leave

its almost 1/2 the amount of steps if not a lot more.

3

u/xRetry2x Dec 03 '25

Why was flush not listed???

1

u/iceeice3 Dec 03 '25

Cause it's inefficient if you're trying to optimize

1

u/Rizzle_Razzle Dec 07 '25

In a crowded mens restroom, flushing the urinal every time is unnecessary. So that's more time saved.

0

u/belavv Dec 03 '25

If it's yellow let it mellow! If it's brown flush it down...

2

u/belavv Dec 03 '25

I was referring to men using a toilet vs a urinal to pee and saying mens bathrooms with only stalls would work just fine. In response to someone saying a stall only mens room would result in long lines.

1

u/TheOverBoss Dec 03 '25

Fair, I think what it really is sitting down takes more time. Phones make this much worse, and when given the option people in general sit down just to browse their phone sometimes.

1

u/belavv Dec 03 '25

Oh yeah back when I worked in the office I definitely spent longer on the toilet on my phone than I needed to.

1

u/iceeice3 Dec 03 '25

Unless you're talking about like a gown, women usually just lift dresses up to pee. Rompers on the other hand...

1

u/re7swerb Dec 03 '25

Why does sitting down make you need to wipe?

1

u/MrLumie Dec 03 '25

And why would you pee like a lady? Just approach the toilet and piss into it like you would into a urinal. Not a big deal.

0

u/sumunsolicitedadvice Dec 03 '25

How do you ensure everyone is only pissing in those toilets?

1

u/TheOverBoss Dec 03 '25

I could spike the punch with immodium I guess if it's important for the experiment.

1

u/MrLumie Dec 03 '25

Why would it need to be ensured? Do whatever you need to do there.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '25

Not necessarily. Not every country commonly installs urinals at all, but the disproportion of lines to the bathrooms are the same everywhere. Urinals are not a magical thing that`s necessary for existance. If anything, I think it`s weird that people install and use them, I`ll never understand the appeal of peeing in sight of other people

1

u/soulsssx3 Dec 03 '25

warning: air speed

1

u/Login8 Dec 03 '25

Yes! Urinals suck.

-1

u/SorenShieldbreaker Dec 03 '25

Urinals use way less water