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In my current travels to Croatia I was using the bathroom at a cafe and noticed that the men's bathroom has 2 parts. The first part has a urinal and a sink. The door that leads back to the cafe does not have a lock. The second part of the bathroom is the toilet with a lockable door, which leads into the urinal and sink room. From this setup I thought that it was designed as so because if someone just needed to use the urinal they would be able to and not block the toilet.

As I used the bathroom I closed the door leading to the cafe and proceeded the use the urinal. In the middle of my business someone came in and apologized and left. I double checked to see if there was a lock and there was none, and there was no sign that the lock as broken. I checked a few other bathrooms from restaurants and cafes, and the ones that matched layout above didn't have a lock. Am I missing something?

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    Perhaps he wanted to use the urinal too, and not visit the other part of the "bathroom". In the frequent case that there is more than one urinal in a men's room, would you expect there to be a lock on the door? – Weather Vane Oct 11 '19 at 21:21
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Urinoirs usually don't have any locks - if you just need to do № 1 use the urinal if you are comfortable with that.

If you need to do № 2, or if you are uncomfortable with urinals, use the real toilet.

№ 1: "Do the part of your business you can do standing up"

№ 2: "Do the part for which you should be sitting down"

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I thought that it was designed as so because if someone just needed to use the urinal they would be able to and not block the toilet.

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I checked a few other bathrooms from restaurants and cafes, and the ones that matched layout above didn't have a lock. Am I missing something?

Yes. If the outer room with sink and urinal were intended to be a place of total privacy, there would be no need to separate it from the inner room with the toilet. In other words, if the outer door had a lock, someone using the urinal would be blocking access to the toilet whether or not there was an inner door separating the toilet from the urinal and sink.

How to use a 2 part bathroom where the urinal and toilet are separate?

In the normal way! If you are uncomfortable with someone walking in from the cafe (or from the toilet for that matter) while you are peeing, you can wait for the toilet and pee in there with the door locked.

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  • It answers the question "am I missing something?" explicitly, in the affirmative. Maybe I didn't understand what information you were hoping to elicit. I didn't address the question title because I overlooked it as I often do. Is that oversight the reason for your comment? – phoog Oct 12 '19 at 18:29
  • The question "Am I missing something" needs a bit more clarification. I feel like it's a lack of efficiency to not use the toilet regardless of what you're using it for. Is it traditionally seen in Europe to separate the functions of the toilet and urinal? Is it common for this bathroom layout to not have lock on the front if someone is urinating? Is it common in response for people just to come in and apologize for seeing you in the urinal? The bottom line of what I'm trying to figure out is, why is the bathroom setup the way it is. – LampPost Oct 15 '19 at 17:00

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