Most stalls are bolted together pieces of cheap metal with the most basic latch you can imagine. If an indicator adds 10 cents to the cost it’s not going to happen.
The US is cheap. We even famously have large gaps between the door/stall panels. I can only imagine it is to accommodate temperature/humidity changes so that they don’t jam.
Nicer places sometimes have actual deadbolt locks connected to a vacant/occupied indicator on the exterior. But it is rare. Usually it’s just a gapped stall with a sliding lock that will often not even line up correctly without wiggling the door.
In some instances I have had to use my gym key fob in place of the missing sliding mechanism to secure the door.
It’s to shame you out of doing drugs and having sex in the stalls. It doesn’t work because people who are going to do that in a public toilet are usually immune to said shame.
Never seen one in the US. Also in the US, 10% or so don’t even close right. Plus a 30 cm gap on the bottom and a half cm gap on both sides of the door.
It’s only an illusion of privacy; anyone can look through the door or under the stall.
I did this to someone once because the signage didn’t quite match the locking mechanism, and it was not a secure lock… like at all. If it makes you feel any better, the shame was horrific and immediate, and I still feel the aftershocks today, so that lady probably does too.
In the US just peer through the crack between the door and the wall. Ensure solid eye contact with the current occupant. Determine how much time they’ve left. Adjust plan accordingly.
Wait till you see Kansas City airport they have lights outside showing you how many occupied, and lights inside showing you red or green for what’s empty full
Basically they skimp like mad on this basic infrastructure because they don't care. Whatever companies make the standard shitty metal toilet cubicles in the US have a lot to answer for.
Exactly! I genuinely learnt something from this post. What a strange world we live in, something so basic for over a century is not used by the hegemon
I’m genuinely curious to know where in the world you live. I would be horrified if someone was peeking under the stalls or bothering people by knocking on the doors.
Idk about OP but where I live most public stalls do have indicators but not all of them. Often custom bathrooms for places like restaurants tend to be missing them since they’re to some degree custom designed to match a certain aesthetic and I’m guessing in those cases indicators are easily forgotten or just left out of more niche bathroom stall door designs.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is also an issue in older bathrooms with older stall designs because I remember indicators being less common when I was a kid. But I usually knock if I’m checking a stall like that and don’t try to look underneath until I’ve tried less invasive measures. Honestly usually you can tell just by looking at the shadows on the floor and seeing if there’s any movement or not, without having to bend over to check for feet.
When I frequented small cafés before the epidemic lockdown, it was typical in San Francisco to get frequent impatient door-knockers.
Part of the problem is the lack of publicly available restroom facilities. Shopping malls often might have two restroom pairs, usually at the food court and by the movie theater, and then one each at thr major department stores, typically hidden by the changing rooms.
I cannot say how this compares to other towns or other nations, but designing public lots in The Sims 2, I quickly learned to make sure there were facilities a short walk from everywhere. (Also skip the sinks and install showers, since sims dress and undress with a quick spin)
I don’t know. The Sims 2 was the last of the series by Maxis rather than by the eldritch maw of post-Origin EA lurking in the chaos void
There may have been placeable bidets that weren’t useable. That said, it wouldn’t be too difficult to mod one together so that a sim sits down on it (as per toilet objects) and it increases hygiene.
I did like that divicrats (floor threshold dividers) were regarded as room separators for matters of privacy and environment wheb I wanted a relaxed household where everyone poops and dresses in the open.
The mega travel center in the South Eastern US, called Buc-ee’s, does have these indicators. However the last time my family was there, my wife encountered a Karen who was concerned she couldn’t tell which stalls were open and my wife pointed out the red occupied/green unoccupied indicator on the locks and she was like, “No, I don’t know, I’ll wait for someone to leave.”
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