By: James Thomas

Public restroom experiences can be sub-par; the main reason is that people ignore common bathroom etiquette.

Bathroom etiquette is the way to act in a public restroom when there are people around. A lot of these etiquette problems can be fixed by common courtesy or hygiene. A lot of problems are well known these would be: flushing, not looking in on occupied stalls or urinals, smoking, throwing away feminine hygiene products in correct receptacles, and the most neglected, but easiest: washing your hands.

Most people will encounter etiquette offenders at some point in their lifetime. People who do not follow simple bathroom etiquette by nature will be less hygienic than someone who does follow the etiquette.

Public bathrooms should probably be avoided at all costs if they have high traffic or are not well maintained.

There are ways around getting germs from people who are not cautious about restroom hygiene:

1. WASH YOUR HANDS
2. Use a napkin or paper towel to open doors. People who have not washed their hands have most likely touched the same door.
3. Check for stalls that are cleaner than others.
4. Wipe the seat before you sit you just never know what you might sit on.
5. Nobody wants to see that.
6. Don’t touch anything that you don’t have to, it may be contaminated.

If you follow these six simple steps you will be able to leave a public restroom environment cleaner, and with fewer germs. Just remember to wash your hands!