A bathroom properly equipped with toilet paper and a towel on which to dry your hands.
Have you ever wondered exactly handle tricky bathroom etiquette situations at home? Home bathroom etiquette is all about blocking innocent bystanders from having to experience the three senses: sight, sound, and smell (please, let's not even consider touch and taste!).
Sight
Close and lock the door when you are using the bathroom. Having someone walk in on you sitting on the pot not only makes you feel awkward (you're in a vulnerable position, after all), but also embarrasses the person who had to see you like that. When the bathroom is unoccupied, it is preferable to leave the door open for better ventilation, unless the bathroom is in a heavily traveled hallway where casual visitors would be subjected to the view unwillingly. And of course, keep the bathroom clean; leaving toothpaste splotches in the sink and a ring in the toilet is very poor manners.
Sound
Sometimes, bathroom activities elicit unpleasant noises. If you can hear them from the next room, the polite thing to do is ignore them, no matter how difficult that may be. Saying to your brother, "With all the splashing I heard, I thought you'd decided to go fishing in there," is in poor taste, no matter how tempting. If you're the culprit, use the ventilation fan to mask any sounds and spare your guests the bowel symphony. As for talking through the bathroom door, just don't do it. It requires your conversational partner to stand right next to the door, where she is privy to all the other noises she might not hear across the room. If you are talking to someone who is about to enter the bathroom, allow him a few minutes of silence to do his business. If the house isn't on fire, the conversation can usually wait.
Smell
Bathroom activities can stink. What can you do? Keep a can of air freshener in the bathroom to get rid of odors instead of covering them up with a floral scent. Put it in an obvious place (like on a shelf above the toilet, or right under the sink) so that guests can help themselves without having to ask for it. Another option is keeping a matchbook near the toilet so whoever makes a stink can light one afterward to get rid of the odor; it's cheaper than air freshener and reasonably effective. And if you are the holder of an unhappy nose under assault from someone else's bathroom activity? Manners dictate that once again you withhold comment. Leaving the room will be comment enough.
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