Originally Posted by vickiburton
I can't beat your stories of bad bathrooms per se, but, I can beat you on bad bathroom etiquette. I was in a bar/restaurant/nightclub/poolhall in a rural area of the south when nature called. The women were lined up around the wall, waiting for the single bathroom. As I got closer, the woman in front of me said, "You want to go in with me? It's a one-holer, but, we use the sink for a trough." Needless to say, I didn't wash my hands.
You
do get around! Given the height of the average restroom sink, I hope one of you had very long legs!
Closest I’ve come to that experience was at a Nathan’s in Manhattan with an out-of-order mens’ room. The (sadistic) manager tried to convince me and another patron that we were “out-of-luck”; that guy’s girlfriend took charge by ascertaining that the womens’ room was empty then standing guard outside so we could go.
My favorite line on this subject comes from “Colloquial Spanish” by A. Bryson Gerrard under the listing for “baño”:
“If you really get far out, e.g. in some of the wilder parts of Colombia, then ladies are simply not catered for and the “Gents” needs no title since it is in the corner for all to see. In such a desperate contingency ladies should try to have a word with the lady of the house; she well may be serving behind the bar, though a female friend who tried this was told:
No hay baño, hay campo.”