Bad Things That Can Happen While Using a Porta Potty (… and How to Avoid Them)

Some people are actually afraid of using porta potties. They’re not afraid of strong smells or seeing something gross. They’re afraid of actual calamity striking while using them. If you have portatoiletphobia (we’re probably the first ones to coin that term), don’t fear! Here are five bad things that can happen while using a porta potty, and how to smartly avoid them:

Dropping Your Phone in the Toilet

If you carry your phone in your back pocket the chances of you dropping your phone into a toilet are high. This is true both at home and elsewhere. This is the most common accident, topping the list of bad things that can happen while using a porta potty.

If this happens, you shouldn’t try to get it out yourself. The blue chemicals that go into a portable toilet shouldn’t come into contact with your skin for long periods of time. (And who knows how long it will take you to fish your phone out.) Additionally, there’s the obvious dangers of coming into contact with other people’s waste. Instead, just focus on not dropping it in the first place. If the portable toilet unit has a shelf, use it to store your phone while you use the facilities. Otherwise, tuck your cell phone elsewhere into your clothes or a bag to keep it safe. Better yet, ask a friend or family member outside to hold it while you use the bathroom.

No Paper

Running out of toilet paper can be daunting no matter where it happens. Before using a porta potty, always check to make sure that it’s fully stocked with toilet paper. If it’s empty, get out of the unit and get back in line to wait for another one to become vacant. As a backup, always keep some tissues in your pocket when using a public bathroom of any kind just in case. This will help to safeguard against a situation where all the available toilets are out of paper.

No Hand SanitizerJust like toilet paper, check to make sure that the unit you’re about to use is stocked with hand sanitizer so that you can clean your hands after using it. If there are hand washing stations or hand sanitizer banks elsewhere, you can always do your business and then head for those locations after leaving the porta potty.

Stepping in Something

Since portable toilets are designed to provide bathrooms outdoors, it’s always possible for someone to step in something unsavory and track it into the bathroom on their shoes. If you’re the unlucky person who uses it next and then steps in what they left behind, your shoes can pay the price. Before using a portable toilet, check the floor to make sure no one has left anything yucky in there. Since it’s harder to see at night, you can always bring a small flashlight to help illuminate the unit.

Getting Stuck Inside

This is the kind of thing that childhood folk lore and weird news stories are made of, but the odds of this happening are so extraordinarily slim, that it’s not worth worrying about. You really can’t get stuck inside a portable toilet that’s still standing upright.

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