In the U.S., if a male janitor has to clean the women’s restroom, or a female janitor the men’s, they put up a little sign and close that restroom while they’re cleaning.
Here, I’ve noticed that the MRT cleaning ladies will enter the men’s restroom, while men are using it. (I haven’t observed male staff entering the women’s restroom–probably this wouldn’t be accepted.)
This makes me feel funny. It’s one thing if the entire culture lacks a taboo on public eliminations, but this way (a) takes away my choice to avoid exposure, and (b) forces me to treat the cleaning lady’s gaze as less significant than that of other women–in other words, a class issue. I realize that the cleaning ladies don’t care, but it’s not about that. The “men” sign on the door ought to mean something, just as the “women” sign does.
And another thing. Often, urinals will be positioned within full view of the door–or in small places, they’ll even be right where women have to walk past them on the way to the enclosed stalls. This too is a class issue–i.e. it makes me wonder if the designers have any!
You will find that in my office too. If the women were young and attractive, I would like to wawe my third leg at them in order to embarass them… Too bad they aren’t.
Once I was in the Jiantan MRT station when I walked into the men’s restroom to find a whole crowd of middle-aged women, ordinary travellers, not cleaning ladies, in there waiting for the stalls. Apparently the women’s room stalls were too full, so they just decided to use the men’s room. Men kept walking into the men’s room, stopping, going back to check the sign, then coming back in to stare in confusion at these women, but nobody said anything or asked them to leave.
You can imagine, however, what kind of fuss these same women would kick up if even a male cleaning person went into the ladies room, much less a crowd of men!
I once used a public restroom in Tibet that consisted of a long trench that could be used by four persons lined up simultaneously, with one foot on each side of the trench and a 3-foot high divider between each so that if you were standing up you’d be looking down on the squatters, and if you were squatting you’d be looking down the trench at the heads of other squatters, unless you were at the end of the trench in which case they’d be looking at you. By comparison, Taiwan’s restroom ladies are a minor intrusion. I doubt that they like their job though. I would think some of them must find it extremely humiliating.
You could always - mid pee - spin around in shock and spray the offender or scream - run out screaming with the wee fella still hangin’ waving in the breeze.
In college, it was pretty common for women to use stalls in the men’s room at football games. Some even stopped to chat about what a great idea the piss trough was. Most everyone was pretty well drunk and no one seemed to mind too much, although I did seize up mid-stream the first time.
We have an old cleaning lady at work who has the habit of making unannounced bathroom tours. One problem is that the bathroom is quite small and as a result, she almost has to squeeze her way past to get to the cubicles. Fortunately, she keeps to herself (in an “I’m busy at work” sense, if you know what I mean), but I still feel really uncomfortable about the intrusion.
Even worse however, are the kids from the buxiban on the same floor, who come in everyday to use the same, old, broken urinal, which results in a constant flooding of the bathroom floor (as a result, the place resembles a lake).
The strangest thing for me though, is when I go to the bathroom in order to brush my teeth. Now I understand that the mere sight of a foreigner actually bruishing his teeth may rightly be the subject of some derision, but when I look at those little buggers laughing at me - smiling through their crooked brown and grey teeth - while they flood the bathroom floor, I know I’ll have the last laugh…
man or woamann who cares. I do not like anyone in the room while I’m taking a “rest” no matter if its a doo doo or a wee wee. I do not like this topic. Please people, get back to work y’all sound like a pack of beavis and buttheads.
But male cleaners do go into the MRT women’s rooms here, and I’ve never noticed any women freaking out about it. They don’t put up a “run for your lives!” sign or anything…
But then we get to close the doors…it sure is tough being male…
or scream - run out screaming with the wee fella still hangin’ waving in the breeze.
and Ohh babe, let’s go for it 
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