Malaysian public toilets often leave me much to be desired. It is a necessity for many people yet you would find there are people who do not know how to use them properly let alone treat them with respect. It would not be that bad if people are able to observe simple etiquettes to keep the public toilets clean and in reasonable condition.
Making things worse would be when you have to pay to use the public toilet but its cleanliness is not even up to scratch. One of my top pet peeves about the Malaysian public toilets would be their extremely wet environment. I wouldn't mind if the toilet in my own home is wet as there are very few people using it. However, when you have to share the public toilet with hundreds of other strangers, it is entirely a different matter altogether.
Not only that, some people have the habit of hogging the toilet without any care in the world, even when there is a very long queue of people waiting to use it. This phenomenon is extremely prevalent in the ladies' toilet. My own experience often saw me waiting up to 15 to 20 minutes just to use the toilet for a small business due to some inconsiderate people who decided to hog the toilet cubicle. I also often encounter people who would leave little pressies after they are done using the toilet.
Sometimes the attitude of people using public toilets baffles me. More so if they are supposedly to be well-educated and well brought up by their parents. If most people can keep their own toilet at home clean and tidy, why can't they just do the same when they are using the public toilet? I guess it all boils down to the mentality of many Malaysians - when something doesn't belong to you, you would treat it according to your whims and fancies.
Public properties should be treated with respect as they are built using taxpayers' hard-earned money and/or money spent in retail and services business transactions. People should stop and think for a moment that it is their hard-earned money being used to build public properties around the country as well as hiring personnel to upkeep them. Even if it means you have to pay to use them.
As we are moving towards the direction of a developed country, everyone should play their role to treat public properties with respect, especially public toilets. And it is something NOT to be peed about (pun intended) because it often becomes the first impression foreigners have on our country.
I salute you,Su-Ling,as much as I am very fast and efficient and tidy and tedious and considerate,I just can't bear the stench these days at certain unattended public toilets.I remembered when I was a little girl,my Mom used to take me to see the movies at the cinema,and there were stories of 'GHOST' inside the toilets;as years go by,I believe them to be vandalism or even rapist on the loose,so I always am on the lookOut for unsuspected people loitering near the doorway or corridors......
ReplyDeleteI know about the public toilets in Malaysia, filthy. I try to avoid them.
ReplyDeleteIn my house, the bathroom/toilet is as clean as my kitchen.