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March 18th, 2013 · 47 comments

Apparently the patrons of this restaurant in Durham, NC thought that the ‘Out of Order’ sign on the bathroom stall was just a hilarious ruse.

A close-up of the lower right corner:

related: Is this a toilet?

FILED UNDER: actually totally reasonable · North Carolina · restaurant · toilet

47 responses so far ↓

#1 KittenPlaysTheViolin

When ya gotta go, ya gotta go. It is better to use the dysfunctional toilet than the elevator.

Mar 18, 2013 at 4:51 pm rating: 90

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- #1.1 Leaping Lizard
  
  Either way, it’s a shitty situation for someone…
  
  Mar 18, 2013 at 7:24 pm rating: 90
- #1.2 nunavut guy
  
  This toilet being the last one in the universe?
  
  Mar 18, 2013 at 7:37 pm rating: 90
- #1.3 Serenity
  
  It’s not a case of if you gotta go…there’s more than 1 stall. Even if they were occupied, if you can’t wait the 2 minutes, it”s time for the adult diapers. This happens at my work sometimes. We put a sign on the door, and even tape it shut…and without fail some idiot blatantly ignores those not so subtle hints, and rips it open. Sometimes, they’ll even come tell us afterwards “hey, that stall is broken!”. Ya don’t say…
  
  Mar 18, 2013 at 9:00 pm rating: 90
- #1.4 KittenPlaysTheViolin
  
  Please explain your assumption that there is more than one stall. Explosive diarrhea waits for no broken toilet.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 11:30 am rating: 90
- #1.5 H for Toy
  
  Wouldn’t they have to close the restaurant if there was no bathroom at all available? I don’t know much about food service law, but that’s my understanding.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 12:55 pm rating: 90
- #1.6 KittenPlaysTheViolin
  
  @ H for Toy, you’re reaching. Perhaps that’s true, but I have certainly never heard of a law requiring a restaurant to have a restroom, let alone a functioning toilet.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 2:46 pm rating: 90
- #1.7 H for Toy
  
  I had heard of it. In NYC, a restaurant with 20 or more seats, established after 1977 must have a working toilet for their patrons. In IL, “All food service establishments that sell or serve food or beverage to be consumed on the premises (regardless of their gross area) shall provide readily accessible restroom facilities for the public… and they shall be available for public use at all times that the food service establishment is open.”
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 3:10 pm rating: 90
- #1.8 Aidan
  
  H for Toy: Food service laws vary from state-to-state. There is no national standard. So, while that may be true in your state, that doesn’t mean it carries over to other states. I worked in a place that didn’t have a toilet, period, for anyone to use and if you had to go, there was a toilet in the office building upstairs.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 3:11 pm rating: 90
- #1.9 H for Toy
  
  That’s why I said I wasn’t an expert. I just understood that to be the law, at least in some places. Apparently in NY and IL it is, but I don’t know about NC, and I’ve already exceeded my limit for toilet law research for the day.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 3:15 pm rating: 90
- #1.10 Serenity
  
  Kitten, it is a rare rare thing to see a restroom in a restaurant with just one stall. It happens, but not often, so doubt it. Combine that with the fact that I obviously know how many stalls are in the restroom at my work (hint:more than one) and as I said, this kind of thing happens there almost everyfriggintime we have 1 closed, and yup, still going with my original statement. Oh, and also, use of the word “stall”, generally points to more than one, or else it would be just the bathroom, as a single person restroom has no need for a stall, and usually doesn’t have one.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 4:17 pm rating: 90
- #1.11 KittenPlaysTheViolin
  
  @ Serenity, often times there is one stall and a couple urinals in a men’s restroom
  
  Mar 20, 2013 at 7:59 am rating: 90
- #1.12 Serenity
  
  Not in the ones I’ve seen, but if you want to continue making excuses for someone being gross and inconsiderate, you go right ahead.
  
  Mar 20, 2013 at 12:43 pm rating: 90
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#2 tch tch

Confession time. I used the toilet in the hospital after the birth of my first child. When I went to flush nothing happened. Closer inspection revealed it wasn’t even connected/plumbed to the wall or cemented to the floor! I put the lid down and never said a word…

Mar 18, 2013 at 7:54 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #2.1 H for Toy
  
  The one in your room?!
  
  Mar 18, 2013 at 8:43 pm rating: 90
- #2.2 tch tch
  
  No, it was in a toilet stall in the baby changing/bathing area. There were some other baby furniture type items “stored” in there as well. It was an area the size of a disabled toilet and had an occupied/unoccupied type door lock. It must have been meant to be a toilet originally but maybe the hospital ran out of funds.
  
  Mar 18, 2013 at 11:07 pm rating: 90
- #2.3 The Elf
  
  Yeah, I did the same thing during a potty emergency. The bathroom was under construction and I thought it was just the floor/walls that still needed work……
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 7:10 am rating: 90
- #2.4 H for Toy
  
  That’s not as bad. At least you had a working toilet in your own room. It’s surprising it wasn’t labelled though, given the uncertainty of women’s insides after giving birth.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 7:12 am rating: 90
- #2.5 spoko
  
  I would blame whoever set that toilet there. If you don’t want someone to accidentally use it, lay it on its side or something. Half a bit of common sense, really.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 9:17 am rating: 90
- #2.6 Tesselara
  
  Spoko! Genius! What a great functional way to deal with that issue!
  
  This has given me a great idea! It’s a sad fact that for every 30 people who read a sign and move on, there is one person who will not. As much as we would all like to live in a world where people heed signs, we do not. Time to get practical.
  Solutions:
  1) carpet nail strips taped across the toilet seat. Keep them on hand for situations like these. A sign: “Really. Don’t use this toilet.”
  
  2) A giant box to cover the entire toilet, flaps duct-taped to the floor. Ditto with keeping this on hand for deployment at need.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 11:56 am rating: 90
- #2.7 SilentPsycho
  
  Tesselara, that’s being generous. I tend to find that for every one person who reads a sign, there’s usually ten others who don’t, especially signs like “Please do not take food and drink out of this room” and “The Museum is shut on Fridays during term-time.”
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 12:32 pm rating: 90
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#3 SeeYouInTea

Tangentially related: My friend and co-worker had to unclog a toilet one day, and didn’t know that we would give him gloves if he needed to dig in. He reached his bare hands in the toilet and pulled out the big ball of tissue that was clogging the thing. There wasn’t feces or piss in it, but still gross as shit.

Mar 18, 2013 at 8:22 pm rating: 90

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#4 Techie

Had dumbasses at the grocery store I worked for do this to me. I put an OUT OF ORDER sign on the door, I put the CAUTION WET FLOOR sign in front (in my county-its against the law for bathroom doors with more then 1 stall to lock) And while going back to get the mop-i come back to find someone moved both and went in, and then he got pissed cause he almost fell on the wet floor

Mar 18, 2013 at 10:43 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #4.1 Rene
  
  Yep. Have had that happen, too. But it was the floor of our store (not the bathroom) that I was mopping. Had the wet floor sign, guy actually walked around it without even looking to see what it was, & then slipped.
  
  Mar 20, 2013 at 10:16 am rating: 90
- #4.2 Techie
  
  I was once written up for not putting a wet floor sign out at a spill. I asked another employee to watch the spot while i went and got it-and he left while i was getting it.
  
  Mar 20, 2013 at 10:51 am rating: 90
- #4.3 L
  
  I was at a DQ once and watched a guy trip over the wet floor sign. Not really related but it amused me greatly.
  
  Mar 23, 2013 at 3:27 pm rating: 90
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#5 Brent

As a maint. guy, I was working in a women’s rest room. Closed sign on door, my maint. cart propping door open and every thing.. Woman pushed cart aside and came in. From under sink I said Hello. She replied Hello and went into stall and closed door…. Bumped my head on sink and left as quickly as possible…

Mar 19, 2013 at 7:06 am rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #5.1 H for Toy
  
  Poor Brent I’ll be honest, if I have to go badly enough, provided there’s a stall door between us, I wouldn’t care if you were in the bathroom either. But it was nice of you to leave.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 7:16 am rating: 90
- #5.2 Rene
  
  Ditto. I was at Walmart once & they had both bathrooms closed, one “out of order” (all four stalls?) the other being cleaned. When you gotta go, the trek from one bathroom to the other at Walmart can be a harrowing ordeal. I just went to the second bathroom & walked to the stall like a boss & told poor janitor dude “Tell your manager that I said you can’t have both bathrooms closed!”
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 7:35 am rating: 90
- #5.3 Bee Good
  
  Brent- what a wuss; scared of girls? And Rene…a trek and harrowing ordeal? Jebus.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 9:20 am rating: 90
- #5.4 Rene
  
  Bee Good: it was one of those “we’re never eating at that restaurant again!” situations. It hit my boyfriend, too. We decided to buy some Immodium & gtfo out of Walmart and attempt our shopping the next day.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 10:10 am rating: 90
- #5.5 The Elf
  
  Bee Good – I think it’s less “scared of girls” and more “scared of lawsuits”.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 10:45 am rating: 90
- #5.6 redheadwglasses
  
  I’m pretty uptight about public restroom usage, but my mom friends all say the same thing: “Oh, I used to be that way, but once I give birth, I lost all sense of personal shame and dignity, and I no longer care about who hears me doing anything in the bathroom.”
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 12:48 pm rating: 90
- #5.7 Caiman
  
  When I was a janitor, one of our stops was a factory. Most of the employees there are older dudes. At the time, I was a teenage girl. I always set a bucket in the doorway when I cleaned them, and usually didn’t have a problem, but there was this one creep who I swear to god made a point to come in and try to use the urinal–in my sight–when I was cleaning in there oh my /god/.
  
  You can’t tell me his reasoning was just ‘I don’t care who’s in here!’ It bugs me even more because I’m gay. Freakin’ disgusting, ugh.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 9:57 pm rating: 90
- #5.8 Raichu
  
  If she knew you were there and went anyway, she probably didn’t care. (I wouldn’t. If the stall door is shut that’s enough privacy for me.)
  
  Mar 20, 2013 at 8:47 am rating: 90
- #5.9 Raichu
  
  Caiman, the urinal is a whole ‘nother story. Gay or straight, that’s disgusting. I’d be creeped the hell out too. He can go in a stall if he needs to piss while I’m there ffs.
  
  (Also, general comment: “gtfo out” is redundant. sorry ;-;)
  
  Mar 20, 2013 at 8:54 am rating: 90
- #5.10 Rene
  
  LOL! Sorry. I know that, too. I’m so ashamed.
  
  Mar 20, 2013 at 10:19 am rating: 90
- #5.11 sushimama
  
  For women, I don’t think anyone needs to be embarrassed at what they do in the bathroom, as long as you do it in the stall and everything lands in the toilet. And if there’s noise, there’s noise. That’s where you’re SUPPOSED to do those things. It’s not like you’re out taking a dump in the middle of the aisle, or walking around farting every time you take a step.
  
  Mar 21, 2013 at 3:55 pm rating: 90
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#6 Jdaniel

Well all I can say is that Home Depot had 15 shiny new commodes all lined up in the plumbing department. There were no signs suggesting that they were for display only. Honestly, some of their managers can be very rude; all I asked was for a roll of toilet paper.

Mar 19, 2013 at 7:21 am rating: 90

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- #6.1 AP
  
  I was in some home store- don’t remember which- that had product information pinned across the opening of the bowl, so no one would get confused/be tempted to use it as a toilet.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 10:49 am rating: 90
- #6.2 Lil'
  
  Unbelievable, Jdaniel…I mean, you get to lay on a mattress before you buy it, test drive a car, sample frozen yogurt. How else were you supposed to know if it was the right choice for you? I hope you took your complaint right to the top.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 11:45 am rating: 90
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#7 Rene

Seriously, people just don’t care. We have a locked door that says “employees only” but without fail, at least once a day somebody will physically (& you can see mentally) struggle with the concept of a locked door. It didn’t open the first time, dude. It won’t open the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th time, either.

Mar 19, 2013 at 7:40 am rating: 90

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- #7.1 Rene
  
  I’ve also seen one of our customers BLATANTLY ignore a “wet cement” area, complete with large sign & crime-scene type yellow tape that said “wet cement”. This area was very well labeled, we weren’t joking around. We DID NOT want footprints in our cement. So the boss & I are standing near it smoking cigarettes, and dude STEPPED OVER the yellow warning tape (TWO GRANDKIDS IN TOW!!) and then got mad AT US that he got cement on his & the grandkid’s shoes. And my brain-mouth filter totally failed & I actually said “Are you fucking stupid?!?!?” I thought one of my boss’ eyeballs was going to shoot out of its socket with fury at this guy. The guy scurried off dragging his poor grandkids. I cannot imagine how much shit he caught from his wife & the kids’ mother when he got home.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 8:47 am rating: 90
- #7.2 Tesselara
  
  ::applauds Rene:: Good.
  
  Mar 19, 2013 at 12:04 pm rating: 90
- #7.3 L
  
  Sometimes I wait to walk my mom home after she gets done work. I can’t wait in the store while they close it so my favourite game is watching people walk up to the store and haul on the locked door. The highest I ever got was 6 seperate people. (My town has 1400 people and everything EXCEPT my mother’s store closes at 6pm, besides the grocery store being open until 8 on Thursday.) (Also the hours are ON the door they’re pulling on.)
  
  Mar 23, 2013 at 3:31 pm rating: 90
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#8 depro

If this is a restaurant, I certainly hope there is at least one working toilet at all times, or I hope everyone works one hour shifts.

Mar 19, 2013 at 9:30 pm rating: 90

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#9 Lizzy

My brother once peed in a display toilet in the front window of a hardware store. In his defense, he was 3 years old. My dad was mortified and offered to clean it up, but the owner said no need, that was funny as hell and totally worth the cleanup time.

Mar 19, 2013 at 9:34 pm rating: 90

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