Lavatorial angst.
By Fiacre Banks
@xFiacre (14196)
Ireland
February 8, 2026 3:49pm CST
I don’t often eat out because there is nowhere, but nowhere, that I find acceptable in our part of the world. Disappointment follows disappointment.
But today we risked going out to a Japanese restaurant that always gets full marks from me about 10 miles along the coast.
Bummer - when we got there it was closed in spite of the lights being on and the web site declaring it to be open. They’re a bit like that, but the food is really good so I was disappointed yet again.
So, with empty bellies, we shuffled reluctantly into a diner right next door with no expectation of anything delicious being served up to us.
The food however was passable and my mood lifted. But then disaster struck when I noticed people going in and out of a door just beyond our table - it was the toilet of course. We were parked beside the lavatory and I couldn’t help thinking about trousers being dropped, skirts being hoisted up and underwear being rearranged just inches behind the wall that I was propped up against.
I really am a victim of my own whatever you want to call it. I really do know how to spoil any occasion.
12 people like this
10 responses
@Ineeddentures (16799)
•
16h
That's not good.
I've done that as well.
And once you are sat down and eating it's a bit awkward making a move to another table
3 people like this
@xFiacre (14196)
• Ireland
14h
@ineeddentures What was particularly disturbing was that on some occasions a person would enter the little room and then emerge with no sound from the hand drier.
3 people like this
@Ineeddentures (16799)
•
14h
@xFiacre
Oh well it's worse when sitting on the toilet on such a place and a fellow lavatory user either emerges from a cubicle or zips up at a urinal and walks out without washing his hands
I am not sure if I would notice people leaving said lavatory, returning to seat and me not hearing hand drier
You just know thenext time Yvonne and I are out for a meal, I will be listening for the hand drier
2 people like this
@Orson_Kart (7958)
• United Kingdom
16h
I’d be the same. It has happened to me before, so now I am so particular where I sit in a restaurant, that it could even be in another one.
If you’ve watched TBBT, then how Sheldon chooses a place to sit, is exactly like how I do. 
3 people like this
@xFiacre (14196)
• Ireland
14h
@orson_kart Sheldon’s habits, though often mocked, are usually quite sensible.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (167388)
• United States
15h
Shut the imagination off when you enter any type of restaurant, be it a diner or a 5 star restaurant. There are some things you just don't want to know or think about while you're eating or talking with other guests in the room.
IF you had mentioned that while you and I were eating, I would have rolled my eyes and ignored you. 2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (167388)
• United States
7h
@Fleura 
I was more thinking about what other people have under their clothes, but sure, I don't want to know disgusting things about the kitchen, either. True enough. 
I was more thinking about what other people have under their clothes, but sure, I don't want to know disgusting things about the kitchen, either. True enough. 1 person likes this
@Fleura (33842)
• United Kingdom
6h
@DaddyEvil Well, what other people have under their clothes is presumably something that's always present, not just in restaurants 
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (93995)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
17h
That would have made me just get up and march right out. THings like that greatly bother me.
3 people like this
@Fleura (33842)
• United Kingdom
7h
You really didn't need to think about that in so much detail. I mean if you think about anything enough you can probably find something bad about it. Just think about that delicious food going into your mouth, being chewed up into an unrecognisable mush, pushed down a tube, mixed with acid... makes it seem less appealing doesn't it?
@LindaOHio (213242)
• United States
5h
What a disappointment. I can't stand public restrooms; so I feel your angst.
