I’m continually amazed at how filthy public restrooms are. I saw this one at the Baja Fresh restaurant in Fairfax, VA — near Fair Oaks mall. Click on the pictures for bigger versions (but versions which are still blurry because these are iPhone pictures).
Now, I understand that a public restroom isn’t going to be as clean as my bathroom at home. It can’t be; too many people use the thing.
But I don’t think it’s too unreasonable to expect that the public restroom will be in at least as good a state of repair as my bathroom at home. At Baja Fresh — and I don’t really mean to single them out; I just happened to notice that the place was a disaster — we find:
- The toilet paper holder is hanging from only one screw, and cracked and broken tiles are peeking out from behind it
- The bottom of the mirror has been de-silvered from water getting trapped under the hanger
- The electrical outlet is cracked and loose — and the GFI capabilities probably no longer work, because the ‘reset’ button has been jammed in there, and broken
- The light switch is caked with filth
- There’s some kind of air-freshener holder whatsit on the wall, with nothing in it; and there are obvious scars on the wall from where similar things had been installed and removed over the years
- The grout in the wall tiles was white — except where it neared the floor, where a lack of cleaning had left it black. Not dingy: black. Dingy grout you can find near the sink.
- The sink is pulling away from the wall; the space thus created between the wall and sink has been filled with more and more grout, which is of course filthy.
Most of this isn’t really that big a deal. I didn’t need an electrical outlet in there, and the light was already on, for instance. What’s unsettling is what it says about their attention to detail, and the pride that the employees, owners, and management of the place seem to take (or rather that they seem not to take) in the operation.
It’s particularly interesting in that Baja Fresh is a conspicuously clean place; the cleanliness is part of their brand image, as they try to project an aura of freshness about the whole restaurant. The orders to keep the place clean and ‘fresh’ looking don’t extend to the men’s room, though, and so it undermines a lot of what they’re trying to do, and leads me to wonder whether they might someday also be tempted to take shortcuts with the food.
Comments
now I feel strangely compelled to go check out the closed Baja Fresh to me in Timonium…..
I tend to rate bar and restaurant restrooms / bathrooms / conveniences based on the following criteria:
Smell – self explanatory I would hope
Lighting – can you see what you’re doing without the need for your own torch?
Does the cubicle lock and is the actual equipment intact? i.e. is there a seat, does the flush work, is there paper?
Is there soap and paper towels or an electric drier?
Is the floor dry? i.e. are the urinals overflowing or is the plumbing effective?
Two points per criteria. Results on a postcard please
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Seriously, in the UK this is a major problem with a lot of bars and pubs. They just don’t seem to care. My experiences of most US restrooms is more impressive but you do have some absolute dives! After all, Americans strive to do everything better
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your dumb.Your photos fail to convey a since of shocking filth. it looks to be reasonably clean, while not ideal, i dont expect them to have someone standing, to clean it after each use.