Problems with bathrooms left disgusting and messy by coworkers

Question

I work at a large Fortune 500 Company in a very tall building. Each floor has about 200 or so people. Recently the men's restroom has been a disaster, it is frequently trashed with garbage everywhere and excrement all over the seats and I do mean all over.

When I complained to management the culprits admitted to trashing the bathroom but then complained about me complaining about them. Management took no action saying they didn't know who did it (even though the people admitted to it) and we weren't allowed to complain about peoples bathroom activities they merely suggested I just use a bathroom on a different floor.

How do I resolve this?

There's probably some angst against the management from a particular team and they're using this behaviour as a protest. Unless your company really does employ troops of Chimpanzees (in which case, give them some fruit and close the door on them). — , Aug 22 '17 at 16:08
From management's point of view, this would be a duplicate of Some of the employees don't check if everything has been flushed properly and that the bowl is clean, but as just an employee, it's not your problem to fix. — Bernhard Barker, Aug 22 '17 at 16:23
A large company, there must be someone whose role is specifically in regards to health and safety. Can you bring it to their attention? A bathroom used by 'chimpanzees' would invite all sorts of nastier things to go there. Depending on where you come from, it could be illegal in its uncleanliness. — , Aug 22 '17 at 16:23
I'm actually surprised that people really admitted to trash the toilet. The main issue with that kind of (very usual) issue is usually to find the responsibles or find the reasons why they do this. Please note that it might also be a cultural thing. Having sometimes the same issue at work and doing some research, I realized (how ignorant!) that not everybody knows how to use a western toilet, sometimes because they were raised in other countries where toilets are really different, or where you have people dedicated to cleaning it, etc... — Laurent S., Aug 22 '17 at 16:39
Seems to me that if this problem actually exists and isn't being overblown by the OP, then the clean up crew will be pointing it out to their management. Who will then be taking it up with the building owners. Who will then be talking to this company. I know the building I'm in had a problem like this. Ultimately, the company whose employees were doing it was forced to leave. — NotMe, Aug 22 '17 at 19:26
Might depend on the country you're in, but if there's actually excrement all over the place then I would be surprised if it's legal to ignore the problem, as your management appears to be doing. You could talk to the building owners (assuming that's not your company, too) or, if necessary, to the local branch of your government's Health and Safety department. This is going outside the scope of the workplace, though, into legality. — Steve-O, Aug 22 '17 at 19:59
@LaurentS. I dunno, where I work there are people dedicated to cleaning the bathroom, but that just means it's rude to them as well as the other users if you leave a mess. — MissMonicaE, Aug 22 '17 at 20:32
@MissMonicaE I totally agree this is a lack of respect in our culture. This isn't necessarily the same in other ones... — Laurent S., Aug 22 '17 at 20:39
Your real action is to consider that you work for an employer who doesn't care if that's the working conditions you have. Perhaps that's an indication that you should work for a different company. — Andy Lester, Aug 22 '17 at 21:56
if management uses the same bathrooms and this is fine for them..., you need to talk to someone else, or do an anonymous call to the agency that inspects this sanitation issues in your country — Felipe Pereira, Aug 22 '17 at 23:50
Same problem at my company here (Belgium-Ghent). Perhaps even worse, the toilets get clogged up every 2 to 3 months because some people actually flush everything through.... I personally go to a different floor where the people are less disgusting and have at least some baseline of hygiene — User999999, Aug 23 '17 at 07:03
Just poop before or after work so you don't have to sit down on the toilet while you're there. — helrich, Aug 23 '17 at 12:43
"Management". Are you sure you spoke to facility management rather than the wrong person? I wouldn't speak with CTO or HR, neither with my direct supervisor about this. Normally such large companies have people dedicated to this task, could it be an office secretary or entry guard. Those people are normally well aware of who is responsible for cleannes of the restrooms. "Responsible" either means who directly cleans them (who may not be attending schedules) or just supervisor, who could recall everyone on keeping the place healthy. The point is to find the right interlocutor — usr-local-ΕΨΗΕΛΩΝ, Aug 23 '17 at 15:04

score 59 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 22 '17 at 16:48

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Take a picture of it and provide to management. If you are over reacting they will say so, if it's really as bad as you say, then the picture will do all the talking for you.

In the meantime use a different bathroom, but just provide the picture and indicate that you just wanted them to see what you are talking about.

answered Aug 22 '17 at 16:48

mutt

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Very reasonable approach. If management has their own private rest rooms (which I suspect) I doubt it will help him though – smith Aug 22 '17 at 19:53
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@smith - If management won't respond, then go to HR -- while it's often said that HR is not on the employee's side and is only there to protect the company, this is one time when HR and the employees are on the same side -- the company is legally required by OSHA to provide sanitary restrooms and if they are in the condition described by the poster, they clearly not sanitary. – Johnny Aug 23 '17 at 01:38
If HR don't listen, go to the press anonymously. I'm sure plenty of outlets would leap at the chance to push a "fortune 500 company employees are disgusting!" article. At least then it would get addressed. Or even just tweeting the picture and tagging the company (anonymously of course - i.e from a throwaway account) – ESR Aug 23 '17 at 04:14
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@EdmundReed, I'm not sure how anonymous you'd be after raising this issue with management and HR and providing them the picture. – Celos Aug 23 '17 at 06:43
If the conditions are as bad as OP claims they are, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume other people would get wind of and complain about the conditions. – ESR Aug 23 '17 at 06:53
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@Johnny how can you claim what the company is legally required to if you even have no idea what is the country of the question? It's a pure speculation. – Aug 23 '17 at 09:46
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I would advise against going to the press as Edmund suggested in the strongest terms possible. It is a terrible idea and is almost certainly against company policy. I would only ever go to the press over something I felt strongly enough about to be fired and given a terrible reference, because that is exactly what I would expect to happen. – kleineg Aug 23 '17 at 14:35
Genius......................... – Neo Aug 23 '17 at 15:49
@EdmundReed depending on location, it could bring an OP a wolf ticket. So effectively you are advising an emigration because of a broken toilet... – Danubian Sailor Aug 24 '17 at 05:32
@DanubianSailor If the problem isn't so severe that other people are reporting it, then perhaps the problem isn't so severe? If the problem is just "a broken toilet" that isn't the situation OP described. OP made it sound like a pretty serious health and safety violation. If no one is doing anything about it and multiple people are reporting it, I don't see where the paranoia about getting fired should come from if making an anonymous tip. – ESR Aug 24 '17 at 05:42
@EdmundReed from the OPs post is quite clear, he has received warning from the management about escalating the issue. So it would be clear to them who have made an anonymous tip. – Danubian Sailor Aug 24 '17 at 18:34
The important thing regardless is to make the point without jeopardizing the relationships. Telling management they are wrong or they need to think a particular way would do just that. The point is to bring it up in such a way that they agree with the OP after making up their own mind. Personal experience is the best way for this and since they likely don't have to use the bathroom themselves then a picture is the next best thing. Going to the news, above the manager, etc... takes a place of contention and opposition with management thus jeopardizing the positive relationship. – mutt Aug 24 '17 at 19:08
Trying to maintain secrets like that is not so easy and often is found out even if the other person doesn't want it found out. Not to mention it puts someone in a place of keeping secrets in the work place which causes distrust regardless of if it's exposed or not. – mutt Aug 24 '17 at 19:09

score 29 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 22 '17 at 16:29

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There are really two options here.

First, the simple option of just using restrooms on a different floor. I would recommend this approach frankly.

The fact that your management (at a Fortune 500 company!) isn't actively taking steps to address this is a bit weird to me, which strongly is suggesting something else is going on that you are unaware of - or your claims are greatly exaggerated here.

However, if you really want to fight this, your second option is this. You need to be very objective and delicate (particularly since you already tried and got shot down). I would recommend waiting a few weeks since you first complained to the management and then, if the problems continue, setting up time with those management in person and calmly raise the concerns of:

The bathrooms are unsanitary to the point of unhealthiness
It makes you uncomfortable working in an environment where there are significant health concerns
Verify your management understands what actually are the problems
You would like to know what steps are being taken to prevent the problems in the future

Come away from this meeting with action steps of some sort.

If you are not 100% confident in being able to do this in a respectful and polite way DO NOT DO THIS. Your post has the tone of someone who would not be good at the sort of nuance required for this, it might not be so, but this sort of approach will require a good deal of office politiking.

answered Aug 22 '17 at 16:29

enderland

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Sadly the OP's story agrees with my experiences and anecdotes heard from friends at Fortune 500 companies. Management asks you for list of issues bothering you (in a manner which makes you believe their life depends on it), you enthusiastically offer the list of issues, then the list falls into a bottomless chasm and you never hear back from them (unless the issue is serious enough that multiple people quit over it, and sometimes not even then). Over time, I have learned to follow this mantra: "It is my job to give feedback, it is their job to decide how to respond to it." – Masked Man Aug 22 '17 at 17:47
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I am not really surprised. The management will be using their own private rest rooms most likely and expects the employees to be able to work these issues by themselves – smith Aug 22 '17 at 19:51
@MaskedMan This seems to be true on a variety of issues. It took us 11 months to get new chairs and the company paid 8x the market value of them. No ones phones work and we are constantly told to open fake accounts. – user75914 Aug 22 '17 at 21:26
@user75914 Fortune 500 only mean the company is big. That in general don't means the company is a good one. I try to avoid Big Companies because the only way you can 'evolve' in this enviroment is by bureucracy navigation and 'smile & hand wave' while honding a backstabing dagger. Unfortunately this is the ideal place to find slave wages monkeys. Instead try to find a nice culture company where you can focus in actually producting something usefull. – jean Aug 23 '17 at 14:05

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 22 '17 at 16:02

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How do I resolve this?

Do what you're told and use a bathroom on a different floor if it bothers you that much.

I realize you don't want to read this but in the grand scheme of things, you're making a mountain (of poo) out of a mole hill. You did what you should have. You went to management. Management gave you direction. Ignore that direction and take other avenues at your peril.

answered Aug 22 '17 at 16:02

Chris E

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But the entire seat is covered? How is that a mole hill. – user75914 Aug 22 '17 at 16:16
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Depends on the size of your moles @user75914 – DarkCygnus Aug 22 '17 at 16:17
@user75914 because if that's your greatest concern in this life, I'd switch with you in a minute – Old_Lamplighter Aug 22 '17 at 16:20
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@user75914 Because there's a simple solution. Do what management said. You may not like it and I know I wouldn't either. But the simple fact is that you're not management. You've done what any normal person would do. It also isn't preventing you from doing your job. If it takes longer and someone says something, say "I have to use the bathroom on 3 because this one has crap on the seat". But you can still do your job. That's while it's a mole hill. – Chris E Aug 22 '17 at 16:21
I never said I couldn't do my job and please don't doubt my commitment to management, its total! – user75914 Aug 22 '17 at 16:27
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-1 as this is not just a preference thing. Sanitation is for disease prevention, not just convenience and prevention. If you want to look at black plague and the way it spread and was contracted the #1 condition for that is poor sanitation. If it was just urine that is one thing as alot of the bacteria that spreads diseases is not in mostly sterile urine, but the fact it is excrement is a huge reason for concern on disease spreading. The excrement doesn't have to be diseased coming out as it's prone to bacteria growth and will attract disease by being left exposed. – mutt Aug 22 '17 at 16:34
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@mutt He was told what to do. He avoids the problem by using another bathroom on a different floor like he was told. There is a process for doing things. He did it. They responded. He won't get "diseased" if he follows it. Unless he has some condition that prevents him from using the bathroom on a different floor (such as an bladder or bowel issues) then going around (or pushing) management will not have favorable results. – Chris E Aug 22 '17 at 16:40
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use a bathroom on a different floor - honestly? You think the solution to 3 people failing to use the restroom properly is to force the other 197 people into obstructing the restroom for 200 people working on another floor? That's one of the things one shouldn't do because if everyone did it, there would be mayhem – crizzis Aug 22 '17 at 20:57
@Christopher Estep I always do what I am told, please do not report to management otherwise. – user75914 Aug 22 '17 at 21:25
@crizzis No, I don't think it's the solution. Apparently management does. And if everyone starts having to use those bathrooms then that'll help. But let's be real, this whole question was just a troll anyway. – Chris E Aug 22 '17 at 22:41
@ChristopherEstep I know someone who's work has to give a "bathroom lesson" about once every 6-months because people do this. They end up with poop on the floor on a regular basis. This may not be a troll question, this could be legit. – BunnyKnitter Aug 23 '17 at 15:46
@SnyperBunny actually, it's not the question that makes me think that (alone) it's some of the comments.But I shouldn't make troll accusations anyway. It's against the "be nice" rule. But hey, it got me 8 downvotes, so there's that. That's worth an upvote and a half! – Chris E Aug 23 '17 at 16:15
@crizzis You are just shooting the messenger here. The management is ok with that mayhem, because (apparently) letting those 3 people crap all over the place is more important to them. Christopher just pointed that out. If you feel so strongly about it, you should bring that up with the management. Not sure how Christopher or anyone else here can do anything about it. – Masked Man Aug 24 '17 at 01:26

Problems with bathrooms left disgusting and messy by coworkers

3 Answers3