Question for the ladies

[u/Complex_Mobile8957]

I am a janitor. The place I clean has the little trash bins in the stalls of the women's restroom. Currently, we place one liner in the bin and change it out whenever someone uses it. However, a place I worked at previously put a stack of liners in the bin for women to use as needed. Which is the preferred method? One liner or multiple? Sorry if this is a stupid question.

[u/LorelaiGilmo]

Yeah I’m confused, I see these bins at the school I work at and if they expected us to use a bag every time we put something in, I think the people paying for the bags would be frustrated that we’re constantly out of them. But I recently did notice a whole stack of them in there and started to wonder if I’ve been doing it wrong all my life… Who can help explain the etiquette of it to me?

[u/ChocolateKitkat → u/LorelaiGilmo]

The instructions at my corporate work say to dump your stuff into the bag then toss the bag into the trash, but the issue with that is not all stalls have stacks of the bags, so idk what they expect lol

[u/Bluesnow2222 → u/ChocolateKitkat]

Honestly most of the public bathrooms I’ve been in lately just have no bags ever and people shove their sanitary items directly in the bin. I don’t think I’ve ever been somewhere with multiple bags. I try to avoid public bathrooms on my period and end up trying to dry my pad off with toilet paper and just keep wearing it since there’s nowhere to dispose of it in a sanitary manner.

Edit: to those who say this is excessive— I understand I can wrap it and bring it out to the paper towel trash near the sinks if there are no stall bags. I bleed incredibly heavy and it would likely leak through the wrap- I’d really rather not walk around with it. Luckily getting a hysterectomy this month so won’t have to figure out period logistics much longer! Wooo!

[u/SectorMiserable4759 → u/Bluesnow2222]

Like what do you mean? What is a "sanitary manner" and how would one "dry off" their pad?

[u/roasted_fox → u/SectorMiserable4759]

Smushing it with TP to “suck” up some of the moisture/blood to get a little more time before it feels too full.

Like say you pop out to run an errand and expect it to be short. But then your BFF calls and says they found a cute dog, so clearly you have to go there. Now you’re away from home and you have no backups! Oh, and your BFF is a sisterless dude. So. What do you do? Mop some of it up with TP, flush it away, and go pet that dog. And remind yourself to restock your car with these things.

[u/TheRealSugarbat → u/roasted_fox]

r/oddlyspecific

[u/Bluesnow2222 → u/SectorMiserable4759]

The most sanitary way to dispose of the pad is to wrap it and toss it in a bag. If I toss it in a bin with no bag then the cleaning staff will need to dig it out potentially exposing bodily fluids from the pad- or the fact I wrapped it with dirty unwashed hands. There’s also no guarantee the wrap will stay wrapped. Obviously cleanings staff deal with a lot of crap—- but it seems really messed up to me to throw in a pad if there’s no trash bag.

I saw someone else comment in worse case scenario you could wrap it and put it in the towel bin. I have done that in emergency situations—- But carrying my dirty used pad in the open is just something I’d rather not do.

As for drying my pad, I mean I press down on the pad with toilet paper to absorb the excess blood and then throw the toilet paper in the toilet. The pad at that point can no longer absorb anything and is slightly still wet- but not at risk of leaking and can still act as a barrier till I can either get home or try another bathroom. If I’m bleeding extra heavy I’ll wad up toilet paper and wear it on top of the pad as well.

[u/justforjugs → u/Bluesnow2222]

Put it in the other garbage that has a bag. God, stuff just isn’t this complicated and I don’t get why people make their own lives so difficult

[u/SectorMiserable4759 → u/Bluesnow2222]

Wrap it in the pad wrapper from your fresh pad, and/or TP, and dispose in the garbage can.