A video recently shared on various Chinese news and social media sites shows a set of timers installed above a row of toilet cubicles in a female washroom, with each stall getting its own digital counter.

When a stall is unoccupied, the pixelated LED screen displays the word “empty” in green. If in use, it shows the number of minutes and seconds the door has been locked. ‘We won’t kick people out midway’

The original video was reportedly taken by a visitor who sent it to the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald, a state-run local newspaper.

'We won’t kick people out midway’

The original video was reportedly taken by a visitor who sent it to the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald, a state-run local newspaper.

“I found it quite advanced technologically so you don’t have to queue outside or knock on a bathroom door,” the paper quoted the visitor as saying.

“But I also found it a little bit embarrassing. It felt like I was being monitored.”

  • lurch (he/him)
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    314 months ago

    if it shows hours someone likely died in there again. i think it’s okay to knock and check on them.

    • @[email protected]
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      64 months ago

      Well they either died in which case checking doesn’t help, or they didn’t in which case checking doesn’t help either.

      • @[email protected]
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        54 months ago

        Well if you check and they died you can get the body out and then the stall is free again.

        • @[email protected]
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          14 months ago

          Whether you make a policy of knocking on bathroom doors, based on that reasoning, should be based on whether you’ve actually experienced a stall shortage caused by undetected death in the stall.

    • @[email protected]
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      34 months ago

      To not even consider being stuck on a toilet for that long, I’m jealous of your non-IBS digestive tract.