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female An Interesting Observation on Why the Ladies Room Line Doesn't Tell the Full Story


Do you often see a long ladies room line but the women in your group don't get in line cause of the length but still need to go?  

55 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you often see a long ladies room line but the women in your group don't get in line cause of the length but still need to go?

    • Constantly.
      3
    • Often.
      20
    • Once in a while
      16
    • Rarely.
      16


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This is something interesting that came up in a private message I was sharing with @DesperateQueue where they brought up the fact that there could often be a long line in the ladies room between classes and asked me how often that happened and it made me think of something that I think a lot of people overlook when it comes to the bathroom line or a long line for the ladies room.

I mentioned that I wouldn't say it was super uncommon but in general I think that most people if they going to the bathroom and see that many people in there they will realize there is no way am going to be able to get to class in time if I wait in this line. I mean I know that's the way I was, if I went in there and I saw anyone in line and I didn't get in a stall right away I knew that there was no chance I was going to get to go.


What I don't understand is that a lot of women will wait until the last minute before they even start attempting to go to the bathroom only to then be confronted with a situation like that. I would try to go every opportunity that I had regardless of how bad I had to go because you don't always know that you're going to get to go right away when it gets to be an emergency.


Once again as I have mentioned in my blog and in numerous threads it really is interesting how most women it seems will not plan for these contingencies even when they are a regular thing that happens all the time. But then I suppose most people are more spontaneous than I am!


 I actually think that's what limits the line in a lot of places in general. Basically if you see any place where there is a gargantuan ladies room line you can probably automatically assume that there is at least twice as many women who actually need to go to the bathroom but who saw the line and they just realize no way am I going to get to go.


Again that's one thing that I think a lot of people probably don't realize or think about as well. You see a long line of women needing to go to the bathroom and assume that that's the full extent of it but those are only the women who actually got in line, there are probably plenty who see the line and realized that it's not realistic they are going to get to go.


Like have you ever been in a situation where you were with a mixed sex group and all of the guys use the bathroom and there was a long line at the ladies room and a lot of the women with you didn't bother getting in line even though it may have been a while since they have gone to the bathroom? You might just think they don't need to go to the bathroom but it's actually safe to assume a lot of them really have to go but realize that it's not realistic to do so and simply don't want to let everybody else know that fact.

I think that this is an observation that most people don't take into account when it comes to desperation where they might not be realizing that others in the group are desperate simply because they are not getting in line for the toilet, it's not that they don't have to go, it's just that the line is so unrealistically long that it would be an effort in futility.


I decided to attach a poll to this so my question is have you ever been in a mixed sex group where all of the guys would go and use the bathroom quickly but all of the women would just not bother getting in line for the bathroom even if they hadn't gone in several hours or where you were one of those women who did not get in line because you just realized it wasn't even worth getting in line because it was so ridiculously long.


This is something I think a lot of people don't realize, the fact that the women aren't getting in line doesn't mean that they don't have to go, it just means that they might realize that as badly as they want to go it's just not going to happen!

 

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@Uniee

"If I'm desperate I don't join line.. easier to hold if not hearing peeing, see other desperate.. taps pouring"

If I am desperate I do join a line but only if I know that I'm going to get to go to the bathroom or even if I know that I'm not. Yes it's easier to hold if you're not hearing others peeing or desperate or the taps running but if you want to get to go to the bathroom you would have to wait in line, but sometimes it's just not realistic to wait in line.


The main thing I was getting at in the thread is I think that a lot of guys don't realize that when we don't wait in line it doesn't mean that we didn't have to go it's just that we realize that the line is so unrealistically long that we are not going to have enough time to go.

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"YEs, I suppose that was a bit tounge in cheek but....  If that's the only toilet, or the next one could be a long way or time away.....like on a train"

Well that is what I am getting at and since you brought up the train that I think is a good example. Like I remember one time in the city we all had to catch a train in like 15 minutes but there was like a huge line at the ladies room and I didn't bother getting in the line not because I didn't have to go very badly, I did, but because I realized there wasn't enough time to go because of the line. But then you get in a situation where the women will just not bother getting in line and I think a lot of people just assume it's because they don't have to go when really they are absolutely dying but there simply isn't enough time to use the bathroom.

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22 minutes ago, moiamigo said:

Been in that situation many many times myself.  The toilets at St Pancras always seem to have long lines, not as bad for us chaps, but I have come close!!!

I've seen so many people hobble to far side of platform to wee in London.

No chance of that at Paddington which is my main station.. gotta criss those legs..

 

Worst I've seen is 20something tipsy man piss himself trying to get 20p in slot at train toilets 

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1 hour ago, DesperateJill said:

@moiamigo

"Been in that situation many many times myself.  The toilets at St Pancras always seem to have long lines, not as bad for us chaps, but I have come close!!!"

If the men had a line I'm guessing the ladies line must have been phenomenal!

Yes it always is

42 minutes ago, Uniee said:

I've seen so many people hobble to far side of platform to wee in London.

No chance of that at Paddington which is my main station.. gotta criss those legs..

Would love to hear about those wettings, how,where etc!

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Just now, Uniee said:

Lol I've had too wee at end of hounslow East platform because it was that or knickers...

 

But yes the 20p at main stations catches lots of people ou.. only seen 1 full wet but many grabs and waddle aways..

Wow, i used to live in Whitton!

And of course anyone who says Whittin means Hounslow.... I was near the BR train station

I used to wet up against a building on a platform at Vauxhall on the way home late at night.  No one would go up that far so late at night and it was badly lit, so I would just stand there on the corner and pretend to be leaning.  I felt guilty but it was that or....

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9 minutes ago, Uniee said:

Lol I've had too wee at end of hounslow East platform because it was that or knickers...

 

But yes the 20p at main stations catches lots of people ou.. only seen 1 full wet but many grabs and waddle aways..

Train stations are great for desperation. A lot of waiting around and toilets not always available. I've done a couple of desperation dares involving train stations.

Thankfully, Paddington's toilets are now free, like most of the main London stations. But a few times I've been caught out by other stations closing their toilets in the evenings, and more than once I've wet myself on the walk home from my station after I found the toilet locked.

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Just now, mugfulloftea said:

Train stations are great for desperation. A lot of waiting around and toilets not always available. I've done a couple of desperation dares involving train stations.

Thankfully, Paddington's toilets are now free, like most of the main London stations. But a few times I've been caught out by other stations closing their toilets in the evenings, and more than once I've wet myself on the walk home from my station after I found the toilet locked.

That's good to know.. I usually drive to London dint get train.. 

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@mugfulloftea

"Train stations are great for desperation. A lot of waiting around and toilets not always available. I've done a couple of desperation dares involving train stations."

I haven't been on a train in a while but it really does sort of boggle my mind how they don't provide more bathrooms at train stations. These are the situations that are perfect for desperation particularly for women since there is often a very brief amount of time when you have to catch a train and if there is a line it often means not getting to go and having to hold for the entire train ride which I have done on more than one occasion! And then when you finally do arrive at the train station there is often like one less than amazing toilet available.


But those situations where there is not limited amount of time to use a toilet and limited amount of toilets are basically just a recipe for female desperation. Once again now at train stations I can ever recall seeing a really long line to the men's room, as always it seemed as though men were always able to walk in and out of the bathroom really quick and still catch a train where the ladies room often had a gargantuan lines so the women just simply don't go to the bathroom and that was kind of the thing I was getting at with this whole topic.


I do think that there are a lot of situations where the men will run into the bathroom quickly and the women will not even bother getting in line for the ladies room and the men just sort of assumed that the women just don't have to go when in fact they could be dying to go but there's just not an opportunity because the line is so long!

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I feel that if it’s a situation where there is a line that stretches outside the bathroom, then there is probably an equally long line inside, but not always.  In the school situation, I think it is fairly safe to say that if the bathroom line (especially for the girls) stretches outside the bathroom door, you may not necessarily know how many people are in that line, but you know that you don’t have enough time between classes to wait in line, pee, and get to class on time.

And yes, I also believe that if you see a long girls bathroom line, some girls just walk away without even getting in line even though they know hae to pee, so in reality, there are probably about three times as many girls that “need to pee” as the line would suggest.

For these reasons, if you are in a long girls bathroom line between classes (example: 5 minutes between classes, 3 toilets in the girls bathroom that are all occupied, and 6 or 7 girls ahead of you in line) and are in a situation where you can’t be late and can’t use the bathroom during class, you are not going to wait in that line UNLESS you truly are about to pee your pants. 

For all these reasons, it’s also interesting when some say “Is five minutes between classes enough time to use the bathroom and get to class on time?”, that the answers may be all over the place.  Are you a boy or a girl?  Do you have to pee, poop, or both?  Where is the closest bathroom, and how close is your next class?   Most importantly, how long is the bathroom line?  Generally speaking, the boys will have enough time to use the bathroom if they only have to pee because there is rarely a line for the urinals and it probably only takes a boy 30 to 40 seconds on average to pee.  However, the same can’t be said for the girls, because there is more likely to be a long line in the girls bathroom AND girls also probably take about twice as long to pee on average as boys (usually a minimum of one minute to pee for the girls) AND there probably aren’t as many toilets in the girls bathroom as there are combined toilets and urinals in the boys bathroom

Edited by DesperateQueue (see edit history)
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@DesperateQueue

"I feel that if it’s a situation where there is a line that stretches outside the bathroom, then there is probably an equally long line inside, but not always.  In the school situation, I think it is fairly safe to say that if the bathroom line (especially for the girls) stretches outside the bathroom door, you may not necessarily know how many people are in that line, but you know that you don’t have enough time between classes to wait in line, pee, and get to class on time."

Exactly, but I think the example that I often use is my time when I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where there was like a line 15 or 20 women snaking outside of the door and you were thinking hopefully when you get in the door that you are almost to the bathroom but then there were at least another 30 women inside.
Location does matter a lot because there are some places where the bathroom is very large and you can fit a large number of people inside and other ones where the bathroom is relatively small so people are spilling out far into the hallways because there isn't enough room in the bathroom itself.


In the case of the Museum the bathroom itself was small but crowded and you could fit a whole lot of people standing inside of the bathroom but then there was a line going out as well that doesn't give the full idea of just how many people are inside. So sometimes it's a case where you think as you get in the door you are at least close but sometimes then there are a lot of people in the bathroom as well.


Generally speaking if there is a line out into the hallway a lot of the times though it's just because there's only so much room in the bathroom.


But yes if you see a line pouring out the door and you only have a few minutes to use the bathroom you'll just see that and you won't bother in general. And I think that that's why the line never got especially long were usually out the door at school because if you could look in the bathroom and even see anyone waiting in line you would generally realize it's not even worth going into the bathroom.

"And yes, I also believe that if you see a long girls bathroom line, some girls just walk away without even getting in line even though they know hae to pee, so in reality, there are probably about three times as many girls that “need to pee” as the line would suggest."

Yes I was pretty much the main point I was getting at in this thread. It's assumed that if the women had to go to the bathroom naturally they would get in line but sometimes the line is just so ridiculous you see the line and you forget it. So it's not that they don't have to pee but if you are not reasonably towards the front of the line a lot of the people won't even bother because it will either be quicker to just wait until you get somewhere else where there might not be a line or because you don't have enough time to wait in that line in general.


I do think that this is a thing that happens very often where you will maybe try to get into the bathroom and being willing to wait in a long line or a certain amount of line but at some point the line just becomes prohibitively long that people just see the line and they don't even bother attempting to get in line or they will wait until the line dissipates to some degree before they tried to use the bathroom later.


Generally speaking though if you get in line it means you probably have to go pretty badly that you are not willing to chance going later. But I do think that there are large numbers of people who do see a prohibitively long line and they don't want to hold everybody up or they just can't realistically use it in time.
And the results of my long ladies room line survey I think make it pretty clear that this is a pretty common occurrence which is what I think a lot of guys especially don't seem to realize.

Have you ever foregone restroom access entirely due to the line being too long and possibly had to hold it in for an extended period of time?

    9% (8)     Virtually all the time.
    18% (15)     Very frequently.
    25% (21)     Moderately often.
    38% (31)     Occasionally.
    7% (6)     Rarely or never.

Have you ever been in a mixed sex scenario where male companions got to pee but you had to hold it in because the lines at the ladies room were long but the mens lines short to non-existent and/or because the men didn't want to wait for the women to use the bathroom?

    23% (20)     More times than I can count!
    38% (32)     Fairly often.
    23% (20)     On a few occasions but not regularly.
    14% (12)     Rarely or never.

Have you ever held your pee through intermissions or infrequent pee breaks (such as at meetings, plays, ballgames etc.) because the line to the ladies room was too long?

    18% (16)     Practically all the time.
    26% (23)     Usually.
    48% (42)     Sometimes.
    5% (5)     No I can usually get a chance to pee during breaks.

Have you missed flights, trains, buses or events etc. waiting in line for the bathroom or otherwise had to chose between attending an activity or using the restroom? (EX: In order to catch your train bus etc. you had to forgo using the bathroom and possibly had to hold it in for a long time)

    6% (5)     Yes all the time. I've often missed out on things due to waiting for the restroom (or consequently had to hold to attend to other duties).
    24% (20)     It happens fairly often.
    32% (26)     Sometimes but not so often I'd call it a regular problem.
    37% (30)     Rarely or never.

81 voters have answered this question.

In a related question which do you normally chose?

    55% (44)     Usually I will forgo using the restroom to catch my train/flight or attend my event.
    2% (2)     Usually I will catch a later train or skip my event to use the restroom.
    42% (34)     It's about 50/50 depends on the event and how badly I need to go etc.

As you can see from the results of the survey it's a very frequent or common occurrence for women to just forgo using the bathroom simply because there is a limited amount of time to go in the line is prohibitively long. So I do think a lot of people not realizing this will look at the line and think that it's a long line and assume that the women with them aren't getting in line simply because they don't have to go and not realizing that they might have to go very badly but they just don't have the time or don't feel it's realistic that they will get to use the bathroom when the line is that long. That is why think lines only get so long because at some point it gets too long for anyone to even consider getting in the line at all as an effort in futility.

"For these reasons, if you are in a long girls bathroom line between classes (example: 5 minutes between classes, 3 toilets in the girls bathroom that are all occupied, and 6 or 7 girls ahead of you in line) and are in a situation where you can’t be late and can’t use the bathroom during class, you are not going to wait in that line UNLESS you truly are about to pee your pants."

Once again my survey makes things clear.

In high school did you frequently miss chances to pee between class due to lines at the girls bathroom?

    17% (15)     I held it in all day all the time and was bursting by the time I got home.
    43% (37)     Fairly often I would have to wait several periods before getting to pee.
    25% (22)     Occasionally there were lines but I usually was able to pee between classes.
    12% (11)     No, I guess I was lucky.

As you can see that although there were lines at the bathroom for most of the girls they just either held it all day or had to hold it for several periods before finally getting a chance to go such that by the time you finally got to go would probably would be an emergency, which is why if you were smart like me you would try to go at every opportunity even if you weren't desperate instead of waiting for an emergency to just hope you're going to get lucky, but as you can see from the final response most people were not so lucky.

"For all these reasons, it’s also interesting when some say “Is five minutes between classes enough time to use the bathroom and get to class on time?”, that the answers may be all over the place.  Are you a boy or a girl?  Do you have to pee, poop, or both?  Where is the closest bathroom, and how close is your next class?   Most importantly, how long is the bathroom line?  Generally speaking, the boys will have enough time to use the bathroom if they only have to pee because there is rarely a line for the urinals and it probably only takes a boy 30 to 40 seconds on average to pee.  However, the same can’t be said for the girls, because there is more likely to be a long line in the girls bathroom AND girls also probably take about twice as long to pee on average as boys (usually a minimum of one minute to pee for the girls) AND there probably aren’t as many toilets in the girls bathroom as there are combined toilets and urinals in the boys bathroom"

Exactly. Once again it's a very skewed ratio where generally speaking boys almost never had a problem getting to the bathroom between class even that second year when they closed all but one of the boys bathrooms. I can honestly say in my high school career I never saw a line forming outside of the boys bathroom and even glancing inside you could never see a visible line inside of the bathroom, it really was entirely different worlds really.


And maybe I fixate on this more than most but I have to assume that other girls must have noticed this. I mean you can see a guy go right in and out of the bathroom like almost within seconds, it was really mind-boggling. It does seem that no matter how little bit men are given they can always make do and go quickly whereas girls even if they are given an abundant amount of toilets tend to still struggle to be able to go quickly and when there is a severe lack of toilets were like when they closed most of the bathrooms it becomes almost all but impossible.


I mean I can definitely remember numerous occasions in high school where I would be walking down the hall, one of the guys I know would use the men's room and before I got to the other end of the hall they had practically caught up with me!


Again it really is very mind-boggling and I think that most guys don't really realize just how much of a burden the bathroom line is for women, where you literally pretty much always have one whereas for guys it's never the case. Really that is something that I think a lot of people don't get, it's not a case of guys have a wait girls have a little bit of a wait, it is literally a case of the guys never having to wait at all and where the women almost always have to wait and very frequently a very long time. So we're not really comparing similar situations at all, it's literally entirely different situations based on your sex.


And I think that guys given the fact that they are never inconvenienced in this way simply either don't notice or if they do notice assume that it's something fundamental about the girls that is their fault that they take so much longer not realizing just how privileged they are to have urinals that allow them to go so quickly that the girls do not. It sort is of like a politician who makes a quarter of $1 million a year salary not understanding why the poor can't seem to just get by on their cash the way they can. So in this case it's guy saying why can't girls just go to the bathroom faster not realizing that they just don't have the adequate resources to do so cause the system in place is rigged against them.

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@DesperateJill

You make some good points about bathroom lines in general, including a school setting and usually the line doesn’t get that long because most girls know that if the line is too long, they don’t have enough time to wait in line, pee, and get to class on time.

However, if a girl does get into a bathroom line when all the stalls are full (like say 5 minutes between classes and 3 stalls in the girls bathroom), and there are 5 girls ahead of her in line, knowing the rules are that you can’t be late nor use the bathroom during class, and yet still waits in line to pee (and is probably late for class as a result), then what does that tell you about the situation?  I would guess that she must have been very close to peeing her pants if she is willing to risk a possible tardy and detention in exchange for peeing in that situation.  Either that, or she has lost track of the time and doesn’t realize how long that whole process takes.  Or maybe a combination of both.

As for my other point, one reason I didn’t mention earlier about gender-neutral bathrooms that might make it a good idea is that there are more “transgender” people in the world now than before (as in once a boy, now a girl, or once a girl, now a boy).  Might make it more fair to all people involved.  Or maybe you could have your standard boys and girls bathrooms for those who never changed sexes and don’t wish to deal with members of the opposite sex, and a “third” bathroom that is “gender neutral” that has stalls from floor to ceiling that transgender people can use and/or people who don’t have problem with using the same bathroom as people of the opposite gender use.

Edited by DesperateQueue (see edit history)
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@DesperateJill

But it also seems like a lot of girls are willing to wait in line or else lines won’t be that long. What makes a girl decide she would rather wait in a 20mins Linew — cause she’s super desperate or just doesn’t care. You don’t often see actual desperation in line

I raise this because once even a tiny line builds up formurinals guys just leave and hold it. Once there were two people in front of me for the urinals and a man came in and then left and said “f it. I will hold it” .the girls room had a longer line 

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