Dubai: This is an awkward conversation, but one that needs to be had. Restrooms are filthy, germ-filled places, and bad etiquette makes things worse.
As public washrooms go, UAE residents have it pretty good compared to many other countries. Most public restrooms are kept relatively clean by maintenance staff.
Why, then, do people fail to follow basic hygeine practices? From unflushed toilets, to water sprayed all over the floor to toilet paper and hygeine products thrown outside waste bins, the experience of using a public washroom can sometimes be horrifying.
But what about the people who end up cleaning after us? How much worse is their experience?
J.C., a cleaner at an office building in Dubai, said that despite signboards in every cubicle asking users to flush, people failed to comply.
“Maybe they think it’s a public washroom so it’s okay,” she said.
Another cleaner, 33-year-old Jl May Carmel Uayen, worked at an office facility for some time. For someone obsessive about cleanliness, her experience cleaning smelly, misused restrooms was tough.
“There was a woman who worked at the office who would never flush. One day when she left the cubicle, I told her: ‘Excuse me, ma’m. Can you please flush your own mess? I don’t want to offend you.’”
While the woman apologised and did the needful, that was the only day it was done.
“May be they think it is my job, that’s why they don’t do it. But my job is to clean the washroom, not their personal mess,” she added.
To her, such manners were shocking.
“My mother taught us to clean our washrooms first. She says ‘clean your washroom before you clean yourself because you can see your personality in how clean the washroom is.’”
When asked why people failed to follow basic hygeine rules, most Gulf News readers said it was due to a lack of empathy.
“The reason is simple — they are not the ones cleaning it,” Mahnaaz Shaikh, an Indian expatriate said.
Several comments on the newspaper’s official Facebook page echoed the sentiment.
Babitha Vasanth wrote: “Many do not appreciate the fact that the staff clean better than the user’s own home. I have often seen people messing up the area inspite others looking at them. I and my daughters always let the staff have a smile and a touch of happiness. At times, I even tip them for a thank you. Hats off to them.”
— The writer is a trainee with the Readers Desk at Gulf News
