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Post by TallPaul on Oct 21, 2019 13:48:46 GMT
I've yet to find myself in a theatre toilet at the same time as a cleaner (there is usually insufficient room), but it's increasingly common that, in somewhere like a shopping centre, cleaners of both sexes will clean the toilets of both sexes, often with a warning notice attached to the door, or a nearby wall. (One local shopping centre describes them as 'operating', despite being the last place you'd want an operation!) I do find it somewhat awkward, to say the least, when I find myself in the male toilets with a female cleaner, and although a job is a job, I don't imagine it's ideal for them either.
And can we please remember that it's not just babies that wear nappies, for want of a better word. Many adults do too, of all ages. I'm sure we don't want to bar them from attending the theatre, which is why an increasing number now provide 'changing places' rather than nappy change station(s), and quite right too!
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 21, 2019 21:20:52 GMT
I am sick to death of the soap dispensers at the Lyric thatre not working properly or not working at all. I have complained on several previous occasions, including in writing about a year ago. In the interval tonight (Showstopper, not Thriller) I tried all 5 soap dispensers across the 2 sets of ladies' loos & none of them worked. I found the theatre manager & complained & he took me to use the access loo. I then found that soap dispenser wasn't working either so he had to radio to another member of staff to fix it. Apparently the issue isn't that they run out of soap but they jam very easily then won't dispense any. Nimax will be getting another very hacked off enail shortly. For future performances I am considering bringing my own bottle of soap each time.
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 22, 2019 20:28:42 GMT
Blimey, even I've never sent a body part to prove my complaint to a company before... There's also good reason why I always bring a couple of paper towels and a small spray bottle of Response Beta hand sanitizer with me.
I always carry hand gel with me but the problem is if my hands are not clean from having just used the toilet I do not want to go rootling around my handbag to find the hand gel. Anyway, Nimax have had a complaining email (quoting the previous complining email) so I'll see what they say. If I bring my own bottle of soap then I will place it by one of the wash baisins before using the toilet and leave it there afterwards for other to use. If this costs me a couple of pounds a month in liquid soap then that's a price I'm prepared to pay & if the staff ask me what I am doing then I am more than happy to tell them. I do not believe there are any laws again leaving bottles of soap in public toilets.
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Post by TallPaul on Oct 23, 2019 12:16:56 GMT
Ah yes, good point. Very considerate to donate a bottle, and you are right, there is no law against it. Except at the Royal Court!
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Post by crowblack on Oct 23, 2019 13:26:31 GMT
Except at the Royal Court! God, they really don't think things through, do they? I have been using the same old supermarket plastic spring water bottle for months (getting on for years) which I infinitely prefer to an aluminium one because the latter are heavy, leaky, you can't see how clean they are inside and they're made of scrapyard aluminium recycled in China (where asbestos is still legal) so I don't fancy using them. At the mo they don't have the bottle-refilling facilities the Bridge and NT have - a little tap - and anyway, how are they going to police it? Bag searches? Confiscations? If they take it off you, do you have to go thirsty? Way to feel welcome!
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Post by peggs on Oct 23, 2019 18:23:22 GMT
What?! You can't take a bottle to the royal court?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 18:41:51 GMT
Apparently not... this is the latest piece of nonsense from the woke brigade at the Royal Court. They seem to spend so much time contemplating their navels it’s a miracle they manage to put any plays on: www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/oct/23/royal-court-theatre-ban-single-use-plastic-bottlesApparently ‘being told how to model your behaviours within the building will be a really calming thing for people’. I wouldn’t bet on that myself... ;-) Still, looking on the bright side - no water, less need to use their ridiculous loos.
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Post by Jon on Oct 23, 2019 18:46:24 GMT
Some on here really have unnecessary vitriol towards the RC
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Post by showgirl on Oct 24, 2019 3:34:22 GMT
Except at the Royal Court! God, they really don't think things through, do they? I have been using the same old supermarket plastic spring water bottle for months (getting on for years) which I infinitely prefer to an aluminium one because the latter are heavy, leaky, you can't see how clean they are inside and they're made of scrapyard aluminium recycled in China (where asbestos is still legal) so I don't fancy using them. At the mo they don't have the bottle-refilling facilities the Bridge and NT have - a little tap - and anyway, how are they going to police it? Bag searches? Confiscations? If they take it off you, do you have to go thirsty? Way to feel welcome! As do I, and I have multiple bottles for my various rucksacks and for my volunteering days; I just wash and sterilise them. It's obvious from their battered, label-less state that they've been re-used for years, so woe betide anyone trying to claim they are single-use.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 24, 2019 7:39:27 GMT
Blimey, even I've never sent a body part to prove my complaint to a company before... There's also good reason why I always bring a couple of paper towels and a small spray bottle of Response Beta hand sanitizer with me.
I always carry hand gel with me but the problem is if my hands are not clean from having just used the toilet I do not want to go rootling around my handbag to find the hand gel. Anyway, Nimax have had a complaining email (quoting the previous complining email) so I'll see what they say. If I bring my own bottle of soap then I will place it by one of the wash baisins before using the toilet and leave it there afterwards for other to use. If this costs me a couple of pounds a month in liquid soap then that's a price I'm prepared to pay & if the staff ask me what I am doing then I am more than happy to tell them. I do not believe there are any laws again leaving bottles of soap in public toilets.
The Phantom Soap Leaver of Olde London Town. You could leave a calling card too Dawnstar, like the Black Magic Man. You could be a living legend in the West End within a couple of years 🙂
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Post by The Matthew on Oct 24, 2019 8:12:18 GMT
The Phantom of the Soapera?
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Post by crowblack on Oct 24, 2019 8:32:49 GMT
unnecessary vitriol towards the RC And some entirely deserved upset about the toilets: for women, it's the loss of a safe space in a building which acknowledges it has criminals operating within it. Maybe the male cubicles don't have them so you aren't aware of this, but in the formerly-women's, there have been for some time signs inside the doors warning you about thieves operating in the building, which does not have obvious security guards and has a side door right next to a busy underground station. If it acknowledges people come in to steal, why can it not make the imaginative leap to also acknowledge some people want to prey on women? The doors do not meet HSE guidelines about women's safety and I no longer feel safe using them.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 24, 2019 12:07:55 GMT
Apparently not... this is the latest piece of nonsense from the woke brigade at the Royal Court. They seem to spend so much time contemplating their navels it’s a miracle they manage to put any plays on: www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/oct/23/royal-court-theatre-ban-single-use-plastic-bottlesApparently ‘being told how to model your behaviours within the building will be a really calming thing for people’. I wouldn’t bet on that myself... ;-) Still, looking on the bright side - no water, less need to use their ridiculous loos. “actually, I think it is really important that people have to think about how they come in to the space and what it means.” Vicky Featherstone. Seriously. These people.
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 24, 2019 15:37:52 GMT
“actually, I think it is really important that people have to think about how they come in to the space and what it means.” Vicky Featherstone. Seriously. These people. I would imagine most of the audience come into the space on foot, unless they're mobility impaired, and it means that they've come to the theatre.
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Post by Mark on Oct 24, 2019 21:55:01 GMT
If any theatres need some inspiration of how to do gender neutral toilets, they should check out the Turbine Theatre!
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Post by peggs on Oct 25, 2019 10:27:00 GMT
showgirl that is me too, different bags, different bottles. I won't now buy new plastic bottles I expect but until the ones I have become unusable I'll keep using them. I get their point but if I was challenged and then what binned it? It would hardly help.
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Post by queenie on Oct 26, 2019 7:48:28 GMT
Went to the newly re-opened Fairfield Halls last night to see Tim Howar and Louise Dearman and one of my first thoughts on exploring the multi million pound refurbishment was what have they done to improve the Ladies? I remember having to breathe in in the cubicles because they were such a tight fit. All that money spent and nearly three years dark and they hadnt finished painting around the entrance to the toilets in the foyer and the first cubicle had Out of Order on it. And then I opened the doors and there were men inside! Not real men, but pictures on the doors of David Bowie, Omid Djalili, Ray Davies, Omar from Duro Pistols and one with Cilla Black. Fancy, having them watching you while you go inside. Get out men it's the ladies.
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Oct 27, 2019 9:37:15 GMT
The Old Vic feedback survey for "Lungs" asks specific questions about views on the toilets ...
So I gave them some feedback.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 27, 2019 10:49:47 GMT
I wonder what they dislike about the word “toilet”.
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Post by crowblack on Oct 27, 2019 12:02:02 GMT
Not real men, but pictures on the doors A venue toilets I went in recently had a framed photo of some people on the wall inside the stall - it just looked like someone's iphone street selfie, but maybe they were celebs I'm too old to recognise. It was oddly unsettling though, to go into the cubicle and there are these faces looking out at you - they use that kind of thing in shops to deter robbers but it's not great in a toilet stall either tbh.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2019 19:21:12 GMT
The Old Vic feedback survey for "Lungs" asks specific questions about views on the toilets ... So I gave them some feedback. Ooh, can’t wait for this to arrive in the email inbox *rubs hands* Can’t help but feel Q13 could be clearer. If I was answering quickly I’d probably have just ticked ‘no’ but on closer inspection, probably what I meant was ‘no change’. (The ‘no’ implies ‘I waited longer’, but it’s not clear.)
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Post by ceebee on Oct 27, 2019 22:53:14 GMT
I wonder what they dislike about the word “toilet”. Bog standard terminology.
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Post by peggs on Nov 2, 2019 20:35:29 GMT
Well the ladies toilet, sorry loo queue, was as long as ever today at the Old Vic and just as squashed and daft a layout to queue.
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Post by lynette on Nov 2, 2019 21:01:38 GMT
Well the ladies toilet, sorry loo queue, was as long as ever today at the Old Vic and just as squashed and daft a layout to queue. Truly a missed opportunity to reconfigure the downstairs area. The amateur designers off the telly box could have done a better job.
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Post by peggs on Nov 2, 2019 21:11:07 GMT
For all the money spent seems really daft, I only went downstairs to look as I was curious and just packed people looking confused and peeved.
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Post by NeilVHughes on Nov 2, 2019 21:22:58 GMT
Agree, the toilets in the Old Vic this afternoon seemed as chaotic as ever.
The people queuing clogged up the whole space and the central table made moving around difficult.
Not sure that it was any busier than any other visit but getting around seemed much more of a chore. people using the box office against the natural flow as they left to go to the circles didn’t help.
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Post by foxa on Nov 2, 2019 22:08:38 GMT
It would difficult to argue that the Old Vic has solved the problem. Husband complained that even the men's toilet was crammed after the show and one man was complaining that he was told on exiting the Dress Circle that he had to go outside and then come back in if he wanted to use the toilet. He did as told but muttered 'I hate this theatre.'
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Post by peggs on Nov 3, 2019 16:45:34 GMT
Well I've said what I thought in my feedback survey, it was quite cathartic at least.
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Post by peggs on Nov 4, 2019 20:10:49 GMT
Sadly no pun intended, anything funny sadly accidental.
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Post by TallPaul on Nov 5, 2019 12:45:20 GMT
people looking confused and peevedPun intended, peggs? The people queuing clogged up the whole space and the central table made moving around difficult. Fork out £10 for a glass of wine, and you get to "enjoy" it with a desperate queue milling all around you. If wine is your thing, probably best to stick to red then! "That's funny, I don't remember my glass being quite so full." 🍷
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