Why Are American Bathrooms Strange? The Secrets To U.S. Restrooms Unlocked

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It might seem strange to have a post on bathrooms when visiting a country like the USA, which I feel like even if you’ve never been you know what to expect thanks to the millions of Hollywood movies circulating globally.

But if you’ve never been to American before and you happen to walk into a bathroom, or washroom as Americans call it, then you might be a little puzzled by what you find.

There are a few things about bathrooms in America that are different from anywhere else. So different that it warranted us writing a whole guide on it so you know what to expect!

What Do Americans Call A Public Restroom?

First rule is to call the area that houses toilets and sinks – you know, the place where you do a number 1 or 2 – restrooms or bathrooms.

Some Americans, particularly in the South, get a bit funny when you call it a toilet, and sorry for those Brits reading this, they will laugh at you for calling it “The Loo.”

You may hear some people call it the Powder Room, but we don’t live in the 18th century anymore, so most call it the restroom or bathroom.

I know, I know, it might not be that big of a deal to most, but for some it’s a weird etiquette thing.

One thing I know for sure is that I am certainly NOT going into rest or take a bath when I’m going to the toilet.

But, when in Rome.

What’s Different About Public Restrooms In The US?

Let’s first tackle the dunny area. For our non-Aussie readers, the dunny is our slang term for toilet – or bathroom, restroom, the Loo… whatever your native country calls it.

Years of living overseas has kind of erased this from my vocabulary, so it’s fun for me to write it here.

Just for kicks, why not ask your bar or wait staff where the dunny is? It can really open the doors for fun conversations and cultural exchanges.

Let’s look at a few distinct issues you may have with US restrooms. It’s always great to be prepared.

Lack of actual toilets

It’s getting better, but typically most bars, clubs, and restaurants have only 1 or 2 stalls in the bathrooms. It’s ridiculous, especially if you are in a packed bar.

Sometimes, we’ve had to line up for 15 minutes just to go to the toilet, and when we lived in Raleigh (before kids), my girlfriends and I almost always snuck into the men’s.

I just don’t do lines well.

In one bar in Raleigh, the line for the men’s toilet far exceeds the ladies. It’s the first time I’ve ever experienced that.

Personnel attendants

I’ll never forget my state of confusion the first time I encountered a public restroom, and a personal attendant was in the restroom. WTF do I do here?

They’ll pass you hand soap and towels, and will even have fragrances to spray on you. These are mostly found in night clubs and late night venues.

But you got to be smelling fine for whoever you are hoping to attract your way, right?

Be warned – they are not just doing it to be super kind. Which I thought. “Gosh, isn’t America lovely. Thank you.” Take the spray and walk away.

Oh no, no. These attendants are working for tips, but they won’t tell you that beforehand.

So unless you want to hand over a buck for the spray then kindly say, “no thank you” and walk out with your odor following closely behind you.

Gaps in toilet doors

Who the hell made this the protocol for toilet stall doors in the US? And why was it ever approved?

There are huge gaps between the stall doors, which makes it so easy for people to see you sitting on the toilet. This blows my mind and is very common.

It reminds me of traveling through China where there were no doors or walls separating you from your fellow pee-ers and those waiting in line.

I think I speak for everyone when I say what happens behind closed doors, should be no one else’s business.

At least there are no squat toilets in America…

They’re not always gender specific

It’s very common to find bathrooms in small cafes and restaurants that aren’t gender specific. It will be either labeled as “toilet” or just obvious as there is only one stall.

It’s fairly accepted for a woman to run into the men’s restroom if it’s one stall only and is empty. I think this is great!

Transgender restrooms are becoming adopted

You are also finding more inclusive bathrooms popping up over America. Some states have adopted the need to address the LGBTQ community and the use of restrooms by transgender people.

Some restrooms have signs indicating for transgender individuals to use public restrooms that match their gender identities, which is great!

However, there are others prohibiting it. One step forward, two steps back.

At least there are some who are trying to be inclusive.

Everything is automated

Am I the only person in the world who can never find the laser beam sweet spot to make the soap, water, and paper towels magically appear?

It drives me crazy. I spend minutes standing at the sink waving my hands this way and that.

I finally get the water to run and then I move my hands together and it stops. Then I start the whole process again, cursing as to why they can’t just let us turn the bloody things on ourselves.

I keep thinking they’ll go back to the good ole days when manual worked well and then I get more frustrated because they won’t and this will be my experience with every public toilet visit from now on.

Tell me your wave technique please!

Then you move to the paper towel and experience the same thing. Sometimes you’re fed up and you try and pull the sheet out yourself and end up tearing a tiny bit of paper to wipe your hands with.

The toilet flushes are automated too.

So you’re halfway through your business and you move your butt ever so slightly, which signals to the magic laser that you are off the toilet and swooosh, there goes the flush.

If you have little ones, they may get pretty scared by this and jump off.

If the automatic flush fails, look on the side of the contraption, there should be a small black button you can press which will fire the flush.

Toilets that are manual flush will just have the one button. Unlike Aussie earth friendly ones, which have the two flushes – the half flush for number 1 and the full flush for number 2.

I am starting to see more of them over here now!

Too much water in the bowl

There is a lot of water in an American toilet bowl. It is a significant difference to the small amount in Aussie toilet bowls.

It may concern you when you first look at it and think it’s blocked. No, I can tell you if it gets blocked, the water rises very quickly and overflows fast. As there is just too much water in there to begin with!!!

Apparently the water swirls in a different direction to Australia as well. Something to do with southern and northern hemispheres and the Coriolis effect.

To be honest, I am not that observant, so cannot verify it. And I have no intention of flying to the Southern hemisphere to confirm this – I’ll let someone else do that.

Urinals

For the guys, you can wave Goodbye to those unsanitary trough urinals with one drain!

In America, they use single stall urinals, which have a wall separating each one (usually).

Unlike single stall urinals in European toilets, American ones have a foot flush, so remember to flush after you pee.

Disposable toilet seat covers

Disposable toilet seat covers are easily found in almost every public toilet.

They are just as complicated as the automation and shower heads to figure out how to use.

They kind of kill my rule of being in a restroom for as little time as possible.

In America, don’t pee in public

Men, don’t go peeing in the bushes wherever you please. The “nature wee” is common in a lot of countries, especially Europe, the UK, and back home in Australia.

I know you’re okay with it back in Australia and possibly everyone else is too, BUT you could get arrested for indecent exposure in the US for peeing in public. Even if no one sees your Johnson.

Seriously, Craig’s been pulled over by the cops before and spread over our car while our friend, Bert, and I sat in the dark car in drunken hysterics, especially his response,

“Sorry mate. I’m Australian. It’s okay to do this back home.”

“Well you’re in America now Sir.”

I think the cultural misunderstanding may have saved him. You don’t want to mess with the police in the US.

Cleanliness is important

The good news is, except for late night venues, most restrooms in America are kept fairly clean.

Good hygiene is important in America, and they care about good sanitation and clean facilities – probably because of the suing nature in America!

I would say that some public bathrooms could do with renovation, but rarely do I think there’s too much dirt or grime that I can’t go.

Toilet paper gets flushed

In most countries, specifically in Asia and Eastern Europe, you will see signs asking you not to flush toilet paper in the bowl as it can block the drains.

Not in the US! Toilet paper goes down the drain with your waste.

Yep, I know, you might be worried about blockages given the amount of water in the bowl, but that’s how it goes.

Bidet’s are uncommon, but not non-existent

In Asia, bidet’s are the norm. They save waste as there’s no toilet roll, and some people prefer them for a cleanliness value.

However, public baths don’t often have bidets, and are usually only found in high end hotels or private homes.

They are rising in popularity though, so who knows where the trend will go!

Public bathrooms are not free

Lastly, expect to pay fees for using public restrooms. This is not always the case – in restaurants, cafes, and sometimes in national parks, the bathrooms are free to use.

However, in gas stations (service stations), parks, and general public restrooms, you may have to pay a charge which is to cover its cleaning cost.

The good news is you no longer need to rummage around for spare change, they usually accept card payments now. Don’t expect elegance though – a paid toilet is still just a toilet. Sorry, restroom.

How do I work the shower?

Moving on from public restrooms to bathrooms in apartments and vacation rentals – proper bathrooms with a bathtub and shower.

After you visit the US, come back to this post and tell me how many times you had to ring the hotel desk to ask them how to work the shower in the comments.

I am not kidding you – the way showers work in the US is confusing if you’re not used to it, but once you have figured it out, you will forget how everyone else does it.

You think it’s something as simple as turning the damn faucet in one direction.

Nope! Every shower is different. It’s mind baffling how they can take something so simple and make it as complicated as Einstein’s algorithms.

Be sure to call it a faucet. If you say tap, the odds are an American won’t understand you… or laugh at you.

I put an update on our Facebook page once to check it wasn’t just us who was confused by the showers. The response was no, it’s not, we had a flurry of activity of people sharing similar US shower woes.

It’s a US travel condition.

My advice to you is to not get undressed until you have the shower working. There’s a good chance you will have to redress yourself in order to get help.

Leave yourself enough time so you can fix potential shower issues and perhaps take notes as to how you made it work. I’m not kidding. It’s easy to forget once you get out exploring.

Usually the shower consists of just one faucet that combines hot and cold. The hot and cold direction can differ from shower to shower. Most baffling is that so many of them aren’t even labelled as to which direction is hot and cold.

Not even a small blue or red dot to help.

It often (perhaps always) takes FOREVER for the water to heat up. I’m talking sometimes over 2 minutes (the cold winters over there don’t help much with that!).

That’s a bloody long time and a bloody long waste of water. My love for Mother Earth causes much an ache in my heart every time this happens.

So, if the tap is not labelled hot or cold, you could have turned it in the wrong direction and be waiting waiting waiting for the water to warm up, but it’s not going to because you’ve turned it to cold.

So you spend forever turning it back and forth trying to figure it out.

Many hotel bathrooms will have the shower and bath combined. The bath faucet will have a lever to pull up if you want the water to run out of the shower head.

However, you must have the right water pressure of water coming out of the bath tap before the lever will stay permanently upright for the water to flow out of the shower head.

Too little pressure and it will flop back down and keep it running out of the bath faucet.

I told you, Einstein.

What about waterfall showers?

You may be fortunate enough to have a modern shower head contraption in your hotel – notably, the waterfall shower. These showers are so modern that you have two heads – one up high and a hand held shower head down low that can move up and down to adjust to your height.

Except, you cannot figure out with the three different knobs, buttons, and facets how to get the water out of the high head.

It’s a challenge to adjust the lower head, and the lower head is attached to a bendy cord that cannot be straightened so the shower head points directly on you.

The cord twists so the head spins around and cleans the tiled wall beside you. You have to wrap the flexible cord around the modern shower contraption so it stays put and washes you.

But, you don’t have long before it will pop back out and turn back to the wall.

You look longingly at how beautiful that high shower head looks, turn the knobs in various ways again, only to pick up the lower shower head and use it as a hand held shower as you can’t figure the damn thing out and you no longer have the patience or time to phone a friend for help.

I am absolutely not exaggerating.

Final Thoughts

We’ve travelled the USA in-depth for 12 months, visiting almost every state, and these issues were so common we felt it only fair to warn you.

I think I have the shower situation all worked out, and then I’ll arrive in a new hotel and it will be completely different again and 10 minutes later I’m on the phone saying; “Um excuse me, can you tell me how to turn the shower on?”

I’m not sure if the shower fixtures are improving or I’ve just assimilated so well that somehow my brain now just knows what to do.

I’m just not sure that it’s that clever to be honest!

More US Travel Tips

Are you planning your first trip to the USA and need more inspiration and guidance to prepare you? Here are some other helpful guides…

• Steps for how to plan your USA trip
• Essential things to know before you visit the USA
• Cool places to visit in the USA
• Things Australians should know when planning a USA road trip
• A guide for tipping in the USA
• Exciting winter family destinations

Do you feel my bathroom pain in America? What similar experiences have you had or funny stories?