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3/13/2010

Squat toilets...

Something that continues to bring a smile to my face for no rational reason whatsoever is the squat toilets in my new office. For those who are unfamiliar with a squat toilet, just image the toilet seat on the ground. It's not that bad or disgusting... it's just different way of going.

Anyway, before my first day, during my interviews, I've used the standing toilets before and they are quite nice, with a large window that overlooks the entire Nanshan area (Shenzhen's version of Silicon Valley, if you will).

So on my first day of work, when I was ready for the stall, I was shocked to see a squat toilet upon opening the door. I opened another one: squat. And another: squat. And another: squat. That's 4 out of 5... arg... I was so disappointed that I just went back to my desk. I'm not squatting with my nice suit and shirt on.

Fast forward to my 7th day of work. We're meeting a foreign firm, and I went to the meeting floor - again, shocked to see that they have a sitting toilet!!!

Turns out the 5th stall I didn't open was the sitting toilet. Haha.

2 comments:

Justin said...

The worst thing about China is how some people still put used toilet paper in a bin next to the toilet, instead of flushing it away in the toilet bowl.

I know the story behind this, but it just feels gross doing your business next to a bin full of shit laden toilet paper.

Anonymous said...

Same thing happened to me when I was in Longhua factory (the infamous company with safety nets to prevent people from jumping to their deaths). All the toilets were squat toilets! And I had aching knees after 2 weeks there. The second time I was there, I discovered the VIP sitting toilet for customers at the very last cubicle which totally escaped my attention. I discovered it on the last day of my visit. ^&*)@#$!!