The recent Burning Question about restaurant restroom shortcomings provoked an outpouring of reader responses. Most people agreed with my complaints (lack of toilet paper, no soap, unfortunate soap, lack of paper towels, inefficient paper-towel dispensers, faulty stall-door locks). Many more sent in their own.
The No. 1-by-a-mile complaint among respondents: Stalls with no hook to hang a handbag. About a third of you vented frustrations about having to put your bag on the floor or hold it while you attended to ... other tasks.
Next, small stalls and stalls with doors that open inward. An inconvenience for many people, the inward-opening door is an impediment for those in wheelchairs. I got complaints about toilet-paper dispensers packed so tightly you can extract only shreds of paper from them. There was frustration about stalls without trash cans, and stalls with gaps between the panels that subvert the privacy they are supposed to afford.
A small but vocal minority complained about automatic-flush toilets, citing poor water pressure and their tendency toward "possession" - when the toilet decides it's time to flush, regardless of the user's stance.
Exiting the bathroom presents its own problems. The belief that exit-door handles host a seething mass of microorganisms motivated some readers to demand doors that require pushing out (instead of pulling in), as well as trash cans for the paper towel you use to touch the door handle.
Erica Marcus writes for Newsday. E-mail your queries to burningquestions@newsday.com, or send them to Erica Marcus, Food/Part 2, Newsday, 235 Pinelawn Road, Melville, NY 11747-4250.