Has anyone noticed that there seems to be more problems with the ladies' restrooms this year than before?
Well opening weekend was my first and only time there. But I would agree to there being issues with the facilities.
I'm not sure what issues you are referring to...but there are issues with the mens this year for sure.
By 10:30....they already smell like Paris.
I really with they would send someone in there a few times per day to CLEAN them. There's rarely paper towels.... there's never soap.... and they are just nasty.
Are these the issues you are referring to on the other side?
I agree with Merlin they are not what they have been in the past.
The one by the elephants has always been less than stellar, but opening weekend it was completely shut down.
The handicap stalls have been 'out of order' a few times in that one and the phone by the falcon stage.
My skirts don't fit into the regular stalls so the lack of the larger stalls is a difficulty for me and I'm sure other ladies.
Those are my specific observations.
I noticed that the lines were quite a bit longer during RenDezvous weekend than they seemed last year during Memorial Day weekend, indicating a need for expansion, or at least more locations, throughout the grounds.
That's why I just hold it all day!!! :P
Well, I never did see a line on the men's side... :P Soooo not fair!
oh they definitely could use more facilities for us ladies, but isn't that the issue at most venues...
i hope they fix the problems
There have also been sink issues with either the faucets not putting out hardly any water at all, falling off, or not really working at all.
And I'd gladly set up a collection fund to make all the ladies privvies have doors that open OUT instead of IN!
I noticed last weekend that they had reworked the plumbing on the men's side on the privy beside the elephants. Don't know about the ladies' side, though. I did notice that if you try to run the faucet when there's a minimal amount of flushing, you get better pressure.
Quote from: Rani Zemirah on May 04, 2010, 02:51:28 PM
Well, I never did see a line on the men's side... :P Soooo not fair!
That's why Willa ended up running over to use the mens cause she didn't want to deal with the line. Had a gent stand guard for her outside too. :D
I actually used the privies because they were cleaner than the ladies rest room, and shorter lines. I've never been to a faire where they had designated mens and ladies privies. I thought it was a great idea. The ladies were very clean, and I visited several times a day, both days of the weekend. I usually don't use privies because they're a mess and germ-filled (must be careful with my kidney transplant), but the ladies at least were decent.
Quote from: eloquentXI on May 04, 2010, 08:11:24 PM
Quote from: Rani Zemirah on May 04, 2010, 02:51:28 PM
Well, I never did see a line on the men's side... :P Soooo not fair!
That's why Willa ended up running over to use the mens cause she didn't want to deal with the line. Had a gent stand guard for her outside too. :D
Oh, I know, I was there, also! I felt bad for not volunteering to guard for her, but I was too afraid of losing my place in line!!! There was an
awful lot of potty dancing done that weekend... :D
That's very true, Lady Renee. The porta-privies were quite a bit easier to get in to, and they were very well kept the two times I was in them. I usually try to avoid them because of the heat, though, but even that wasn't too bad since they had at least a bit of shade in the area.
For the Ladies my wife always recommends using the privies by the Bird Show.
Drac
I definitely noticed they were MUCH dirtier than in years past- just having flushies does not outweigh the need to keep them clean! TRF's flushies have attendants all day, from what I have seen.
The ladies flushies by the falconer stage were out of order Sunday of rendezvous...
There was an issue with a power outage on the entire Hollyfield side of the festival on the Sunday of Rendezvous. There was a blown transformer (I think it was a transformer, not sure on exactly what piece of equipment it was), and nothing over there had any power for several hours as I understand it.
The women's flushies do have attendants all day. Victoria works the Falconry privies most of the time and does an amazing job at not only trying to keep up with the mess, but always has those little "extra" things that women sometimes need and don't have with them. There have been a couple of days this year when she hasn't been there, but that's her usual spot for the most part.
Some of the ladies who work there do an excellent job with their sides of the flushies, and some just don't really seem to care that much, but it really IS a hard job. Sometimes I'm just in awe of how little people care about property that isn't theirs and the kinds of things they do to said property. I certainly wouldn't want the job these ladies have. Victoria loves it, she tells me, because she gets to meet and talk to so many people. She's got a bigger heart than I do, apparently, because I would just want to kill someone by the end of the day, I think. *grin*
Kinda off topic but I worked at a service stations decades ago when they where full service. Cleaning the ladies was the worst task. In fact if you were given that task you knew you had really messed up on something that week, it was punishment detail. The ladies were always much worst than the mens.
I know 2nd weekend I had to walk from Iris and Rose to the Falconers stage because the Ladies privy by the elephants was backed up. Some sort of plumming issue took half the stalls out. I've seen more lines at privies this year than I have in the past. I'm just glad we have flushies to be honest.
Oh yes, I'm grateful for flushies. I've become accustomed to wearing my full court garb because of the convenience of the flushies.
I just noticed that this year, as opposed to prior years, there appears to be more technical problems.
But perhaps that is only an impression.
I've only been out once this season, and while I didn't notice any "technical" problems, I did notice that the ladies privy over by the falcon stage already had an unpleasant odor very early in the day. I'm always so grateful that we have flushies at faire, and I'd gladly pay a bit extra on my entrance fee in order to keep the bathrooms fresh and maintained.
There does seem to be a lack of care toward the privies this year but could some of that be due to an increase in attendance as well. Certainly hope the managment has someone on here that is passing along the concerns.
Quote from: lys1022 on May 05, 2010, 08:11:52 AM
The women's flushies do have attendants all day.
AND there are tip jars generally out for these ladies. They are worth their weight in gold in my opinion! (the attendants that is!)
Maybe the mens' privvies need some attendants too.
I haven't noticed any privy issues but I would like to see some flushies by the joust. The portables there are great but that area seems quite far from any flushies. I've mainly used the ones by the chess field & have had no problems (although someone needs to tell the men who use those that their conversations can be heard by the female side if they are loud enough! ;D ) .
Another rather minor improvement I'd like to see are more full-length mirrors in the womens privies. Elaborate costuming sometimes means more 'fussing' & 1 mirror is just not enough. Even 1 or 2 more per privy would be a vast improvement IMO.
Quote from: Merlin on May 04, 2010, 07:48:29 AM
By 10:30....they already smell like Paris.
Ahh... Wee Wee!
I DEFINITELY experienced some 'technical' issues two (or three) weekends ago.... Every toilet I visited seemed to...er...'burp'.. when other toilets next to it flushed... Don't know if anyone else..um.... 'experienced' this as I did. lol Still am very thankful for the facilities though - prefer them much more to port-a-privies and certainly much more than none at all/well positioned car doors on rural roads/greenery. Just am more aware of my surroundings when I go in. :)
For whatever reason (perhaps the new water line being put in by the local MUD) water pressure has been way down this year. That has created a lot of problems with all of our flush privies because there is not enough pressure on occasion to handle all of the flusing that is required. Some changes have been made to the privies to compensate for the lower water pressure and it seems to help.
You might like to know that on the day that the Elephant ladies privies had to shut down, the lines had clogged and one of our people actually climbed in the tank of sewage to reopen the pipes so that we could reopen the ladies privies. Now that is dedication!
We are planning on building more privies in the future, that is why we put in the sanitation system last year - so we could add more flushies. Of course, as we all know, last season was a rough one and we had to put off building the new privies.
As to the cleanliness of the facilities, that problem has been noticed and is being addressed by management. Remember all of the staff and management use the privies as well.
Hope this helps to clear matters up a bit.
Good to here a positve response. Thanks.
Thank you for your response. I can't imagine climbing into a sewage tank myself so Huzzah to the brave lady!
Quote from: DonaCatalina on May 06, 2010, 02:55:21 PM
Thank you for your response. I can't imagine climbing into a sewage tank myself so Huzzah to the brave lady!
Amen to that! I am especially thankful for brave souls!!!
Great! thanks for the Update ;D
Yea that is a bad job I know from personal experience one of the jobs I did in my youth was working for a company that cleared plugged sewrage lines. As the youngest member of the crew you can guess who go the S***ist jobs. Thanks for the up date
Such a brave person. Many congrats and thanks to them.
Wow... give that person a RAISE!!!
We were there for preview weekend (low load) and opening weekend (heavy load) and didn't experience any problems. I think my only facility use was at the new privy farm near the Kings Pavilion. I'd love to see them put in additional flushies on the west side of the village, but fully understand the immense cost involved. It wouldn't be as glamourous, but the FoF funds might be of some help.
I noticed improvements with the privies this weekend. Huzzah.
my only real complaints with the women's privvies are thus:
doors need to open OUT, not IN.
skirts and belts and pouches and parasols and whatever else you may have strapped to your person are hard enough to keep out of the toilet, let alone when you're trying to squeeze through the door without falling in yourself!
AIR CIRCULATION!
those privvies (flushies at least) could really use some fans to at least MOVE the air cuz it gets murderously hot (and stinky!) in there. if i'm not sweating from hauling my butt all around Scarby, i SURE am coming out of the privvies!
otherwise, thank god for flushies and privvies'o'plenty. though i still try to go as little as possible, mostly for the reasons above (and cuz adjusting corsets and other garb for that sort of thing is a terrible pain in the keister!).
This past weekend conditions were much better than they have been. Thanks to Berit and his hard working crew.
Quote from: Trigger on May 11, 2010, 10:39:02 AM
AIR CIRCULATION!
those privvies (flushies at least) could really use some fans to at least MOVE the air cuz it gets murderously hot (and stinky!) in there. if i'm not sweating from hauling my butt all around Scarby, i SURE am coming out of the privvies!
Plenty of wind in the guy's restroom! :o
I think we should be very grateful to Scarby for having a variety of restrooms for us. This year, I noticed photoelectric eye flush mechanisms. I think this is great. Hands-free, so we're not dropping garb pieces while trying to hit the handle.
Why can we not be grateful for all the things we have at Scarby? It is an outdoor venue with a huge audience. The restrooms are far cleaner than many I have been in at other festivals.
Is griping all that we can do when we are blessed with the best festival on the entire circuit?
I don't have a lot of comparisons with other Ren Fests, but at far as public facilities for large crowds, I'd have to give them a better than average score. Nevertheless, it never hurts to add a little comfort to the patrons and playtrons.
Well, I don't think 'grateful' in the context of a toilet is the right way to put it. Something to do with public health codes and all....
The observations are reflective of this season and the people who have patronized Scarby for years. We all love attending faire and we show that by how we pay the admission, we pay for the food, the drink, buy trinkets and/or garb and we tip the performers.
Also, once the circumstances were brought to light by Berit, the response by the people here was with understanding.
My better half said the doors opened out last week in the ladies side. True?
Quote from: cyberrennie on May 18, 2010, 04:45:30 PM
My better half said the doors opened out last week in the ladies side. True?
that would be awesome! trigger had it right on that suggestion. if i recall correctly, the doors in the privys at trf swing out and that has been convenient. who woulda thunk it!
Quote from: cyberrennie on May 18, 2010, 04:45:30 PM
My better half said the doors opened out last week in the ladies side. True?
It's a mix in the ladies privies. If memory serves, the ones over by the Dirty Duck Pub and the Falconer's stage open out. The ones by the elephants open in. I may have that mixed up, but there is definitely 1 that opens in. I'd gladly bring a screwdriver one weekend to fix that! :)