Friday, October 23, 2009

Men's & Women's Toilet At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

Yesterday when I picked up Miss Puerto Rico at Terminal D at D/FW Airport, due to being stuck in the airport way too long due to a stuck piece of luggage I noticed something that I don't believe was there to be noticed on previous visits to D/FW.

As in the signs for and pointing to the entities formerly named "Restrooms" have been changed to "Men's Toilets" and "Women's Toilets."

I don't know for sure why, but something about this struck me as being really tacky.

While standing in the airport, waiting for the luggage to get unstuck, I asked a few others what they thought of the signage. Strange, different and never seen that before was the general opinion.

The signs are not accurate. Yes, there are toilets in the former restrooms, but there are also sinks, diaper changing tables and for the men, urinals. It could be very confusing for someone desperately searching for a sink to wash their hands.

4 comments:

Jovan Gonzales said...

Maybe it's because Terminal D is the international terminal? In many other languages, I feel like "toilet" is the more appropriate or formal word for bathroom. We're pretty much the only culture that calls them "restrooms." I could see how restroom could be confusing for a foreigner. Still a stretch and weird. Maybe DFdub is trying to be classy/different for no reason.

Durango said...

Jovan----Maybe you're right. This was the longest time I've spent in the new International Terminal. Maybe it's always said "Toilet" in there. I think the use of easily recognized symbols makes clear to foreigners where the bathroom is. I mean, restroom. I think a person incoming from China to D/FW is not gonna know the toilet word. Or the restroom word for that matter. But they know to look for the symbol.

I can see where this is a serious issue that warrants further discussion.

Jovan Gonzales said...

I've never really spent enough time in TD to know if it was different or not. We could ask HKS since they designed it. Kidding. I agree with symbols, everyone knows what those mean -- unless you're blind. So are you saying we should just replace all "bathroom" signs with a symbol of a man and a woman? Who needs to read anyways? What does it say in braille? Men/Women? What if we just do that? "Men/Women" with an arrow? This will be the hot topic of debate amongst my friends and I, hahahaha!

Anonymous said...

While in the military that airport allowed a woman to sell
towels in the mens restroom right in front of the urinals.
I should have called the police to say she sexually me
and sue all those idiots for millions. Would they allow
a male to sell towels in the womans restroom!