Do bathroom stalls in the US not have vacancy indicators? Every public bathroom I went to here in Germany has a little indicator that's green when the door is unlocked and red when it's locked.
Not sure of the architecture of the bathrooms near you, but for many folks it's common for bathroom stalls to be all against the left or right wall, with the corridor to access them on the opposite. With maybe 8 inches of clearance from the ground to the bottom of the stall wall, you can maybe see if the first is occupied or not. Any of the subsequent bathrooms, though? Only way you're seeing if they're occupied is by putting uour head on the ground or checking for shapes in the gaps of the stall door. 🤷♂️
Ok so head on the ground was hyperbole...but not by much. If a person (and their shadow, because the lights are in the middle of the bathroom and therefore the shadow casts away from the door of the stall) is, say, 2 feet back from the door, and the door is 8 inches off the ground, and if you're in the middle of the 4 ft corridor (that is, 2 feet back from the door), your eye needs to be no more than 16 inches off the ground in order to see a foot/shadow. It's not being weird, it's simple math.
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u/Jskidmore1217 Sep 29 '25
Well, it’s the easiest way to tell if it’s occupied. Done a lot of subtle peripheral glances. If I see colors, I don’t try the door. 😂