The Semiotics of Toilet Paper
Ever notice that one of the main signifiers of socioeconomic class in Metro Manila’s malls is toilet paper? Specifically, the availability of toilet paper in their washrooms. The toilets in the SM malls (We still call them Shoemart, because we remember when they were just shoe stores, which means we are old), which target the lower middle classes, do not have paper. However, little packets of tissue paper are sold in vending machines. Glorietta and Shangri-La malls, which target broader demographics, have both free toilets (no paper) and pay toilets (with paper). The more “upscale” Podium, Promenade, Power Plant, Greenbelts 3 and 4, and Bonifacio High Street (which looks like that outlet mall in Barstow outside Las Vegas) have t.p. in all their washrooms.
Interpret.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:58
Ive once sniffed at this very subject in a blog entry, from which I quote:
“In Western culture, using paper is an unmistakable mark of a civilized man because it exhibits some kind of tool-use, something that differentiates higher animals from lower ones. The more developed the tool, the higher the animal on the evolutionary ladder. More primitive animals, so this theory goes, don’t clean their bums at all. Somewhat higher animals use leaves, exhibiting a propensity for manipulating the environment for its own use. And man, the pinnacle of evolution, uses bleached, scented, processed wood pulp, neatly arranged in rolls, to clean their bums,showing how far they’ve come from the time their ancestors scraped their arses on smooth stones near the riverbank.”
The upscale malls you mentioned are ones–and youve touched on this before–that wish they were somewhere else instead of here in Metro Manila (High Street?) From this we can infer that, at any given time, habitues of these places bums stink.
August 22nd, 2007 at 16:18
I think maybe the management of these malls (sm, gotesco, etc.) are just smart enough not to put toilet papers in their toilets because we all know that some are notorious of collecting them and/or abusing them :D
These are not good places to have LBM during shopping (oh memories!).
While these upscale malls let you have toilet papers but you have to pay and janitors are sniffing around from time to time checking the stocks.
August 22nd, 2007 at 19:31
Maybe most SM shoppers just use soap and water. That’s why toilet paper is advertised as an all-around tissue because most Pinoys just don’t wipe their bums. They wash instead. And almost every washroom has running water and soap.
And the malls save a lot by cutting t.p. totally off the budget.
But, just to be safe, whenever one is in Metro Manila, it’s always good to have toilet paper, wet wipes, and alcohol in your bag. Because, sometimes, emergencies happen when one is not in Glorietta 4 with their nice pay washrooms.
August 22nd, 2007 at 21:16
Why do we have to pay these snotty malls for toilet paper or the use of their toilets? Is it some sort of privilege to be able to rest our butt cheeks on their porcelain thrones? It makes me want to puke… or crap.
August 22nd, 2007 at 23:34
It’s a shame that only the high-brow mall clientèle get the benefit of toilet paper in their loos in the Philippines.
Here in the UK, even the most backwater high street toilet facilities have loo rolls (hard on the ass, yes, but nevertheless…). I think it may have more to do with strict Health and Safety regulations (we live in a nanny state, after all!) than the socio-economic class of the patrons.
But we also have pay toilets, usually in train stations – presumably to ward off the usual selection of vagrants.
August 22nd, 2007 at 23:56
I totally agree with steffi-san. A friend/doctor who once worked in a college located at Taft ave. noted that the rich/foreign born students usually have crap around their a**holes when she examined them during annual physical exams. The locals rarely exhibited such bottoms.
I remember a Joy bathroom tissue commercial where a lady was singing about the absence of TP on the spot in a ricefield where she had to unload hence “…ipahid na lang sa pilapil…” Ouch!!!
TP in the malls is indicative more of habit than socioeconomic status. Although kuripot talaga ang SM.
August 23rd, 2007 at 03:13
Kevin Smith and his cohorts ruminated about toilet paper during a recent podcast. He mentioned that pre-TP Americans utilized used up corn cobs and rubbed them between the buttcheeks for use. A rinse bucket was also available to dispense the crap-filled ears. For the record, Smith himself nowadays uses the grown-up version of baby wipes and won’t go back to regular TP.
I also came across a Rex Navarrette rant about the lack of TP in The Philippines. His rich aunt in Manila was being very stingy about her stash and even kept the supply in a safe…hilarious!
September 6th, 2007 at 12:55
For the longest time I didn’t know how to use those paper covers that look like onion skin shaped like a toilet seat whenever I visited CA. I didn’t know you were supposed to flush the danged thing, hehe walang ganyan sa Pilipinas! Kung TP nga wala e.
Then when I got to visit the midwest, they didn’t have those onion skin things in public toilets. La lang, observation lang.
September 26th, 2007 at 12:57
maybe because pinoys take toilet paper?
the first time i saw a toilet seat cover was when i went out of the Philippines, there in northwest airlines and in Narita airport. i don’t even know how to use it.
for a change, i don’t have to bring tissues with me or even wet ones because the restrooms here have toilet seat covers, water, soap and toilet paper, they even have a checklist over the door that if you think the restrooms are dirty you can complain about it immediately. why can’t we be like that?
the funny thing though, whenever you go to a filipino store or restaurant, their restrooms aren’t at par to the american restaurants. i don’t know why?
it’s true, midwest and NY city doesn’t have toilet seat covers so when you’re planning to go there, buy the charmin folded toilet seat covers, it will be handy. at least they have toilet paper, water, undiluted handsoap and paper towels or hand dryers.
it’s funny that you have we have a pay- to go restrooms.