Have you ever been grossed out by a public toilet in Malaysia? Not Marissa Wong.
The influencer and stand-up comedian has made it her mission to visit and review every single one.
With nearly 150,000 followers on social media, the 28-year-old blends humour and comedy to bring this important topic to public attention.
This week she joins Aida Ahmad and Farid Wahab on their third episode of Life and the City podcast, where she talks about the insight gained after having reviewed more than 300 public toilets in the country.
She recounts what inspired her to start such reviews and the key message she wishes to convey to the Malaysian public. Together, they draw from personal experience and give suggestions on what we may do to better upkeep these facilities.
Catch this latest episode at www.youtube.com/@thestaronline/podcasts or www.thestar.com.my/metro
The podcast series airs fortnightly and highlights topics related to urbanites.
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
The influencer and stand-up comedian has made it her mission to visit and review every single one.
With nearly 150,000 followers on social media, the 28-year-old blends humour and comedy to bring this important topic to public attention.
This week she joins Aida Ahmad and Farid Wahab on their third episode of Life and the City podcast, where she talks about the insight gained after having reviewed more than 300 public toilets in the country.
She recounts what inspired her to start such reviews and the key message she wishes to convey to the Malaysian public. Together, they draw from personal experience and give suggestions on what we may do to better upkeep these facilities.
Catch this latest episode at www.youtube.com/@thestaronline/podcasts or www.thestar.com.my/metro
The podcast series airs fortnightly and highlights topics related to urbanites.
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
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NewsTranscript
00:00We have a stinker of a topic today, Farid, which will be fun.
00:08Yes, hopefully.
00:09Our guest is raising the bar and lowering the egg factor, so to speak.
00:17Welcome to our third episode of Life in the City podcast.
00:20Before we get to our topic today, here are some trending topics on Star Online and The
00:30Some residents have proposed for traffic disposal ideas with regards to the controversial PJ
00:39DeLink project.
00:40This is going on for a while, so that should be interesting.
00:43The Stakeholders and Residents Association have been pushing this since, I think, for
00:49as far as we know.
00:53There is an attraction for shore excursions, Farid, when people land at the Port Klang
01:00Cruise Terminal.
01:02This is certainly a plus point for tourism in Selangor.
01:07And the other story is there's going to be, apparently, a shortage of teachers in our
01:13government schools because about 12,000 of them are going on early retirement.
01:20So, that might be a problem for the new school year.
01:26Anyway, our guest today is an influencer and stand-up comedian, Marissa Wong.
01:32Farid, why don't you introduce Marissa?
01:34Hi, listeners.
01:35So, we are happy to introduce our guest today, Marissa Wong.
01:40I'll probably let Marissa introduce herself, but just a brief introduction.
01:44Marissa has been doing a lot of reviews about the state of public toilets in our country.
01:50And I think either you and I are very familiar with the state of our public toilets.
01:54I think we've been to a number of toilets with questionable cleanliness.
01:59But before we start, I would like to have Marissa, I mean, to let Marissa introduce
02:03herself.
02:04Hi.
02:05Yeah, sure.
02:06Sure.
02:07Hi, I'm Marissa Wong and I am known for doing toilet reviews online.
02:12So yeah, I am also known as the Queen of Toilet because apparently I've reviewed like over
02:18300 over toilets up till today.
02:21That's a lot.
02:22Yeah.
02:23That's a lot.
02:24You actually, for the past two years, I've been posting reviews of Malaysia's public
02:28toilets on social media, calling it Berat Bersama Marissa Wong.
02:32Yeah.
02:33That's a...
02:34That's my tagline.
02:35Quite a name.
02:36Winning tagline, actually.
02:37Exactly.
02:38She has close to 150 followers on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
02:42Thousand followers.
02:43150,000, sorry, followers.
02:44Yeah.
02:45On your various social media pages, right?
02:50Yeah.
02:51One of the interesting thing is, one of your reviews of Bangsa E3 garnered 1.2 million
03:01views.
03:02Correct.
03:03Yeah.
03:04Wow.
03:05Okay.
03:06That is quite something.
03:07Farid, do you have an interesting question for Marissa?
03:13Yeah.
03:15Marissa, before we begin, I just would like to know a little bit about you.
03:20What do you do, and how did you arrive?
03:24How did you get to this point?
03:26Maybe you can tell our listeners about that.
03:27Yeah, sure.
03:28Definitely.
03:29I currently work in a FinTech company as a manager, and on top of that, I do content
03:36creation and I also do stand-up comedy.
03:39So how can I explain this?
03:41I started it all during COVID time, where I graduated from Popular Music and Arts, actually.
03:48Oh, that's interesting.
03:49Yeah.
03:50Yeah.
03:51So after that, it was COVID time, no one's going to employ me.
03:54So I started self-learning how to do content, and just like any other content creators,
03:59I am doing food reviews, I am doing skincare reviews, doing skits and all.
04:04But then it comes to a point where it gets too overwhelmed.
04:08I don't know what I'm doing.
04:09I feel like I'm not contributing and I'm not getting that fulfilling feeling every
04:14single time.
04:15So one day, I just started to brainstorm and see what other people are doing.
04:22So for example, food reviews are a hit.
04:26And why are they a hit?
04:28Because people can relate to it.
04:30We have food reviews in Star Metro.
04:32Yeah.
04:33And we eat every day.
04:35So that's what people do every day.
04:36So one day, I sat down and I thought, I have a great thought and I'm like, what is that
04:40one thing that people also do every single day, regardless of age, other than eating?
04:47Which is number one and number two.
04:49Correct.
04:50Processing what they eat.
04:51Exactly.
04:52And that's the first thing they visit after they wake up.
04:55So I started going to eateries, I started from eateries to hotels, to public places.
05:02And I am very surprised with different places and my expectations because certain places
05:08that you thought is going to be bad, like petrol stations, are now generally quite good
05:15compared to cafes where the ambience is very appealing, but the toilet is not so.
05:22So that's when I started to review a lot of toilets everywhere I go.
05:27It is also a niche where I don't need to plan ahead because toilet is easily accessible
05:32anywhere.
05:33Hence the saying, just go.
05:36Just go.
05:37Marisa, was there any specific or particular experience that prompted you to start doing
05:43toilet reviews?
05:44Yes, actually, I started doing toilet reviews because I visited a lot of toilets that is
05:51really, really bad.
05:53But I've never had the urge to complain about it publicly or I've never had the urge to
06:00just walk out of the toilet and start discussing it.
06:02And I've never seen anyone discussing about the topic.
06:05Well, actually, we do among our circle.
06:08We go somewhere, let's say petrol station or restaurant or cafe and we come out saying,
06:14God, toilet is horrible.
06:16But it was just a while and then people get over it because then they visit the next toilet
06:20which probably will be slightly better.
06:23And they just forget about the horrible toilet.
06:25So that's when I started thinking like, what if I review toilet?
06:31But then I scared I get offended, of course, and a lot of backlash because it's a very
06:35sensitive topic in Malaysia.
06:37Not everyone can accept it if I have not reviewed it in a funny way.
06:41So I didn't plan to do like a lot of experiment on it.
06:47So starting, I was doing a lot of toilet reviews with a lot of automatic captions.
06:55But it works.
06:56It works online, but it wasn't working for Malaysians.
06:59Interesting.
07:00Yeah.
07:01Yeah.
07:02So that was going to be my next question.
07:03Do you have a crew that comes with you?
07:05Yes and no.
07:07Sometimes I go alone.
07:08Most of the times I'm alone.
07:10But sometimes I do have like a photographer or videographer to follow me along, especially
07:16if I heard a lot about that toilet.
07:18And I really want to do a big review on the public toilet, especially like R&R toilet.
07:22They are very big.
07:24And recently the government just renovated it as well.
07:26Wouldn't the people around be concerned with the fact that you're bringing cameras and
07:32what into the toilet?
07:33Correct.
07:34So that is actually a lot of people ask me how I actually do it.
07:37But if you realize my video, you will never see anyone's faces in it other than me.
07:42It's always a back of a person because I will wait for the right moment, even if it's
07:47a peak period.
07:48And I've never bring an actual camera into a toilet.
07:53Everything is done through phone.
07:55My video shooting, my editing, my publishing, everything, captions is done from my phone.
08:00Now, did you start off on a particular social media platform?
08:05Yes, I do.
08:06I started off on TikTok.
08:08And from TikTok, I started realizing a lot of youngsters, Gen Zs are on TikTok compared
08:14to older generations.
08:15So I started posting on Instagram and I sync it to Facebook as well.
08:19So the older viewers, they like to do this one thing.
08:24They like to share the video to the WhatsApp group like good morning.
08:27And one day I just, I know the video is working when my father actually received a WhatsApp
08:31forward message of a good morning text with that toilet review.
08:36Like, is that your daughter?
08:38Yeah.
08:39What was your dad's feedback?
08:40He was like, not bad lah.
08:42Yeah.
08:43That's funny.
08:45Yeah.
08:46So you mentioned that you post these videos on multiple platforms.
08:51Is there any specific message that you're trying to get across?
08:55Yeah.
08:56Actually, I want to actually bring awareness to the public actually on their actions because
09:02some toilets are generally very good, but it's very much destroyed by Malaysians.
09:09Like I always voice over in my message, in my videos and tell people that, hey, this
09:15toilet is very good.
09:17When I enter, it's dry.
09:19And the next time I went, it was all wet, like the water park.
09:23Because you people, we Malaysians play water in the toilet apparently.
09:26People don't know how to use the bidet.
09:28Yeah.
09:29They don't know how to use the bidet.
09:31They destroy it because it's not their home.
09:33You know, they don't take care of it.
09:34They throw rubbish on the floors, things like that.
09:36So I do video and sub in all this public awareness on the cleanliness as well.
09:43Yeah.
09:44So another fascinating thing about Marissa is she speaks four languages.
09:47Oh.
09:48Yes.
09:49So Bahasa, English, Mandarin and Thai.
09:52Yeah.
09:53Mandarin and Thai.
09:54Yeah.
09:55Marissa is half Thai.
09:56Oh.
09:57Yes.
09:58Yes.
09:59So when you started off your channel.
10:01It was in English.
10:02Correct.
10:03Do you also do multi languages?
10:06Before English, for toilet reviews, I only do English and Malay.
10:12But for the other videos, before I got viral on this toilet segment, I was doing a mixed
10:18language.
10:19So sometimes I do a bit of Thai mix, Thai accents, sometimes a little bit of Chinese
10:23because I went to Mandarin Chinese school.
10:26So that was my previous content.
10:29And then I diverted to English and English.
10:31I realized that because the TikTok algorithm will actually share it with people who understand
10:37English.
10:38So it means that my local video that I am intending to let Malaysians watch are going
10:45to U.S. instead.
10:46I see.
10:47I've been watched by U.S. and a lot of other countries instead.
10:51So that's when I switched on to Bahasa, fully Bahasa Melayu and I really target Malaysians
10:57only.
10:58Yeah.
10:59So right now, my audience are Malaysians, Singaporeans, Bruneians, Indonesians.
11:04So this would touch on you realizing the algorithm was targeting the wrong audience.
11:12Exactly.
11:13So how did you realize the impact for your content creation?
11:18It impacted a lot because the view count is right now 90% Malaysians compared to last
11:26time.
11:27Malaysians are probably 10% and the rest is just, you know, people are actually watching
11:32it for fun.
11:33But right now, Malaysians are actually watching it and they can relate to it.
11:37That's when I feel like everywhere is talking openly and are willingly talking about this
11:42toilet topic whenever they go anywhere.
11:45They will actually share feedback and comment to actually ask me to go there for a visit.
11:51So these are the things that I want.
11:54And I also want public to actually realize that, you know, cleanliness is our responsibility
11:59as well.
12:00Yeah.
12:01Marisa, you mentioned that you've done reviews on other topics before, like food, for example.
12:06So how do reviews on toilets compare to the other types of reviews?
12:12Is there a difference in the way how you review them and how's the reception to these topics?
12:17I guess food is very general.
12:21If you see 10 content creators, they are probably talking about the same thing, about the same
12:25dish.
12:26So, but for toilet, I would say it's a lot easier compared to food.
12:31It's just that your experience might not be as nice as food.
12:37You know, you go in toilet, sometimes it can be nasty, sometimes it can be nice.
12:41But the whole process of filming and editing and processing is a lot easier than food.
12:48It's a lot lesser because you are not trying to please the audience to come to the toilet.
12:53They need to use the toilet anyway.
12:55That's interesting.
12:56And you don't need to pretty anything up.
12:57I don't need to change on the lighting because I'm trying to show the audience this is what
13:01I see.
13:02It is what it is.
13:03It is what it is.
13:04So a lot of process are a lot shorter.
13:08And yeah, my video taking is a lot shorter as well.
13:11No need for filter.
13:12No need for filter.
13:13No need for captions.
13:14Yeah.
13:15And my video has no captions because I want the audience to actually listen to my voiceover.
13:21Speaking of filter, say it's a really bad toilet.
13:25I imagine that would be unsavory to watch.
13:28Do you then filter?
13:31I would decide whether I want to post it up or not.
13:34But sometimes I do put stickers to actually cover the image.
13:38Yes, because it's not really appealing and not platform friendly as well.
13:45That's interesting.
13:46Not platform friendly.
13:47Do you get warnings from the social media companies if your content is too jarring?
13:53Okay, yes.
13:54I experienced that from my previous toilet reviews in English where I didn't censor anything
13:59at all.
14:00So one day it will pop out something like this video has some graphic content, something
14:11that you might see online as a viewer.
14:14That is actually what happened.
14:15But they won't take down my videos.
14:16It will just slow down the audience.
14:20So then I decided to block it and people can already imagine.
14:24I just let them imagine how bad is it.
14:27Marisa, your fascinating background, right?
14:33You studied pop, music and arts and you came back and then COVID happened.
14:38And you had to pivot completely because you couldn't find a job.
14:43You pivoted towards fintech.
14:45I mean pivoted to fintech.
14:47I landed a job there as a customer service, slowly getting promoted.
14:53And three years later, I'm actually a manager for their communications team.
14:58And then on the site, I actually do video as well and my bosses are aware of it.
15:05And I do stand-up comedy.
15:07How did the stand-up comedy come about?
15:12One day I was doing TikTok.
15:13It was probably two years ago where actually Harry Fiskanda liked my skits, my funny skits.
15:22And one day I went to his, back then it was called Joke Factory's comedy clubhouse to
15:27watch a few stand-up comedy shows.
15:31And that is actually my first time watching a live stand-up comedy show.
15:34And one day they just opened up this little thing called Open Mic Night.
15:39So I went up and tried.
15:41I tried for three minutes and people are laughing.
15:43I just talk about my toilet stuff and people are like, okay.
15:47People are laughing because they can relate to it.
15:49Then that's when I started doing a little bit from three minutes to five minutes to
15:5210 minutes, 15 minutes and then to actual shows till today.
15:57Was your stand-up comedy a precursor to your social media reviews on public toilets?
16:04Yes.
16:05I see.
16:06So from then on, you gauged the audience and you went on to do this.
16:10That's interesting.
16:11Correct.
16:12Okay.
16:13What was your first toilet you reviewed?
16:16Oh, very good question.
16:17I think the first toilet I reviewed was very, maybe let me think back.
16:25I think it was a petrol station toilet.
16:29It was a petrol station.
16:30I don't know if I can name it but it's like Shell.
16:32So I went to Shell and I thought it's going to be bad.
16:34It's going to be real bad.
16:36Because I remember 10 years ago as a kid.
16:38My parents would say, don't go to the petrol station.
16:41Let's just wait until you go home.
16:42But right now when I enter the petrol station, it surprises me.
16:46I was like, oh, they don't lock the doors anymore.
16:48The toilet is clean.
16:50There's ventilators.
16:51It's dry.
16:53That's when I started to review more and more toilets and cafes, especially cafes.
16:58Mamak's, I always thought Mamak's toilets are bad.
17:01But to my surprise, like sometimes I just enter a random Mamak toilet, it happens to
17:04be clean.
17:05Yeah.
17:06Marisa, can you maybe tell us, I'm sure you've come across some really memorable moments,
17:12surprising moments.
17:13They can be bad.
17:14They can be good.
17:15Yeah.
17:16So maybe you can walk us through those moments.
17:17Oh, yes.
17:18I think the worst toilet I've ever been to in my entire life is this one duck shop, like
17:23this duck shop rice in Pudu.
17:27The shop is tasty.
17:28It has been there for 30, 40 years.
17:31It's amazing.
17:32Like people go there for the food and when I go to the toilet, they actually make people
17:36pay one ringgit for the toilet.
17:39And when you open it, the squat toilet is broken and it's flooded.
17:44It's flooded with nasty waters.
17:49They have pails with buckets of water that's probably contaminated.
17:53And I actually took a review about it and people are commenting like crazy because they
17:58have never, people, their customers have never visited their toilets.
18:02So sometimes there are certain shops where you have never had the thought of visiting
18:06a toilet.
18:07Right.
18:08But then one day you realize that this eatery is having such dirty toilets.
18:12But then you happen to be questioning yourself about the hygiene of the food at that point.
18:19So that's one of the worst toilet ever.
18:21And it's one ringgit.
18:22Okay.
18:23Yeah.
18:24They make you pay.
18:25Just wandering at a mall, which will not be named, where they charge you a fee to go
18:31in the toilet.
18:32Is it one ringgit or more?
18:34I've been to a toilet that charged me two ringgit.
18:36Yeah, two ringgit.
18:37But it was clean.
18:38One ringgit is crazy.
18:39Correct.
18:40Like when you need to charge people for the toilet, it must be premium, like really premium.
18:44Right.
18:45Like this particular mall.
18:46Yeah.
18:47You go in and there's someone handing you a towel, tissue paper, right?
18:51And there's lotions and anything you can freshen up with.
18:56But this one is one ringgit for a deplorable toilet.
19:00Correct.
19:01Marisa, how about good ones, good experience?
19:05Good experience.
19:06I went to petrol stations.
19:09I mean like different petrol stations.
19:11One of the petrol stations is really good.
19:14It's just like hotel toilet.
19:16Inside there's air freshener, there's a mini fan blowing onto you, there's music and there's
19:23decoration.
19:24Like piped in music.
19:25Yeah.
19:26Like real hotel music.
19:27Yeah.
19:28Yeah.
19:29So, it's one of our very common petrol stations.
19:33And it's just perfect.
19:35And that petrol station is very busy.
19:36It's relatively very busy.
19:38Like people would go there, like we'll go to pump the petrol there.
19:42So I'm very, very surprised.
19:44Yeah, with the toilet.
19:47How do you balance humor with the seriousness of this issue?
19:53Because it is a serious issue.
19:55Correct.
19:56Like we mentioned before we started this podcast is that it takes two, right?
20:02Exactly.
20:03It's not only us relying on the cleaners, but it's us as human beings practicing our
20:10civic consciousness.
20:11Yes.
20:12Right?
20:13Yes.
20:14Yeah.
20:15So, it is a somewhat serious issue.
20:16So, how do you strike that balance in your posts?
20:18Okay.
20:19So, in my video, to prevent people from suing me or putting legal actions against me and
20:25to prevent people from cancelling me or people feeling negative about a video, even no matter
20:31how bad it is, I will never criticize that toilet.
20:36I will instead give suggestions.
20:38So, if people wash my toilets, I always give suggestions and people can already see by
20:44itself and I will just complain a little bit on the smell, then I give such suggestions
20:49for them to actually counter it just in case the owner sees it.
20:53Yeah.
20:54It pretty much works.
20:56In terms of the wording, I believe captions are very important and the message you put
21:02out there is very important.
21:03So, it's all about wording before I, I mean, writing my lines before I actually put them
21:11on the voiceover.
21:12Yeah.
21:13I think that's a good approach because I've seen some reviews overseas where the person
21:18just trashed whatever they see and I think that's not helpful because, you know.
21:23Not the bad, just lambas.
21:24Yes.
21:25Yes.
21:26So, this is actually a good way to tell them, okay, this is how you can improve and do better.
21:30I'm sure you've received a lot of feedback from your viewers, so some may be positive,
21:36some may be negative.
21:37Can you walk us through some of those that you remember?
21:40Yeah, sure.
21:41Mostly, my viewers, they are all very supportive.
21:45I would say 99% are really, really supportive.
21:48They will actually give me free suggestions on which next toilet they want to see.
21:53They give me suggestions on my videos, feedbacks, they say like, hey, previously 10 months ago,
21:59you were better.
22:00So, I would then look back, but I do have viewers who felt like I was doing too many
22:06toilet videos and they want to see more of my personal life instead of the toilet videos
22:10because when you start engaging yourself into content creators, you get very, very desperate
22:17to know what they do other than toilet, right?
22:20But for me, I'm not planning to run out of that topic at any time.
22:24As we go off tangent, yeah.
22:25Yeah, yeah.
22:26So, for me, I just want to do toilet reviews, just make people happy, it's relatable and
22:30it's easy for me because it's something that I can do forever until I'm old.
22:36Even if I'm on a wheelchair, I can test out the OKU toilet.
22:38You never know.
22:39That's really important.
22:40Yeah.
22:41We talked about it in our last season.
22:42Correct.
22:43In our podcast.
22:44That's really important.
22:45Yeah.
22:47And when I'm sick, I actually review the hospital toilets.
22:52And yeah.
22:53Also a good topic.
22:54Correct.
22:55So, anywhere I go, in whatever state I am, I feel need to use the toilet.
22:59Yeah.
23:00So, it's something that I thought about a while ago and it's been with me and it's been
23:05a no-brainer for me.
23:06So, every day I wake up, I don't need to think of which toilet I need to go and review.
23:12I just make sure I don't repeat and there's too many toilets in Malaysia that you won't
23:16repeat.
23:17Are you limited to just Klang Valley or do you also go outside?
23:20Everywhere.
23:21So, whenever I'm on holiday, I would review the different countries' airport toilets,
23:27their shopping mall toilets and compare it to Malaysians like, look, they have bidet
23:32too.
23:33Everyone is using it.
23:34Why is it wet in Malaysia?
23:36You know, things like that.
23:38That's the point of contention in our public toilets.
23:41Exactly.
23:42The usage of bidets.
23:43Bidets.
23:44Yeah.
23:46I remember one toilet I went to when I was, I also studied in the UK.
23:50They didn't have bidet.
23:51They just had, you know, what's it called, tissue?
23:53Tissue.
23:54Tissue, I think.
23:55Yeah.
23:56I don't know.
23:57Some people find it difficult to adapt to but for me, I actually prefer it that way
24:01but Malaysians prefer their bidet.
24:03So.
24:04That is true.
24:05But the thing is, like we were talking about earlier, some malls in Klang Valley, they
24:13have done away with bidets because people just flood the toilet.
24:17Exactly.
24:18So I was surprised when I went to this particular very well-known mall and saw that, oh, they
24:26removed the bidets.
24:27They removed all of it.
24:28Yeah.
24:29I'm fine with that.
24:30True.
24:31But I'm sure it was a shocker to the general population.
24:37Yeah.
24:38Marisa, has there been any, I mean, has any business or local authorities reached out
24:44to you about your reviews?
24:45Maybe they, like for us in the media, when we highlight something, it's common for local
24:49authorities to come back to us and ask us how to improve.
24:52How about you?
24:54For me, they don't ask me back how to review, how to improve their toilet because I usually
25:01mention it in the video.
25:03But what happens if, for example, the viral video that got 1.2 million views, that is
25:10actually a very famous cafe in Bangsa.
25:14And one day, I decided to go back for a visit and have my breakfast there and they recognized
25:20me.
25:21And instead of them being angry, they actually invited me to go and see their newly renovated
25:27toilet.
25:28More importantly, did they pay for your breakfast?
25:29Yes.
25:30They gave me a lot of food vouchers.
25:31A lot of food vouchers.
25:32A lot of food vouchers and yeah, just waffled chickens and a lot of free coffee.
25:37They gave you more reason to use the toilet afterwards.
25:39Correct.
25:40So they actually added more ventilation because I was complaining about the smell.
25:45They were putting antibacterial sprays in it.
25:49So I felt like sometimes if you review things honestly and with caution in word placement,
25:58I guess people would take it a lot more positively.
26:00Well, here's a question.
26:02When you start your toilet reviews, off the bat, do you mention the establishment?
26:07Correct.
26:08I will mention.
26:09I see.
26:10Okay.
26:11I mention every establishment I am in and whether sometimes in my recent video, I didn't
26:16get to review the toilet but I still mention the establishment.
26:18I said because your place is full house and there's only one washroom to use, one cubicle.
26:26So end up I gave up and I let my viewers go and try and give me a feedback in the comment.
26:31So in terms of this cafe, did you see any improvements?
26:37Not yet.
26:38Yeah.
26:39Not yet.
26:40Yeah.
26:41So do you do follow-ups to a particular establishment that calls you back to ask you to sort of
26:48come and see our improvements and performance?
26:50Yes.
26:51Yes.
26:52Yes.
26:53Actually, some they invite me to go back.
26:54Some, I have to go back because the food is too good.
26:58So I still go back for the food.
26:59Did you go back to the place in Pudu?
27:01The one you said was there.
27:02Yeah.
27:03But I just go and tapau.
27:04That's all.
27:05So some place I will still have to go back because it's a very famous place and I believe
27:11toilet reviews are good if you do at famous place, especially tourist areas.
27:15You know what the outsiders are seeing Malaysia as.
27:19So I have to review as famous place and I have to go back and still face the owner of
27:25the shop.
27:26Yeah.
27:27But most of their places, they will refinish the toilets, of course.
27:31So far, you've never met any establishment owner who is not welcoming of you after your
27:37reviews of their place?
27:38No.
27:39No.
27:40Actually, they are very happy that I'm doing free promotion for their place.
27:41Yeah.
27:42Exactly.
27:43Yes.
27:44It's good publicity.
27:45Yes.
27:46But it also keeps them on their toes.
27:47Yeah.
27:48Correct.
27:49That is true.
27:50Yeah.
27:51What are some of the changes that you would like to see?
27:52I feel like I want to see more changes in terms of our Malaysians' behaviour when using
28:00toilets.
28:01That's right.
28:02I feel like no matter how much the government try to refurbish our public toilets, R&Rs
28:08and so nowadays, our R&Rs are perfect now because they renovated the toilet, they revamped
28:13the whole system.
28:14But then I can still see Malaysians doing vandalism, you know, they even steal toilet
28:21bowl covers.
28:22For what?
28:23What?
28:24That's right.
28:25Yeah.
28:26I've seen that.
28:27Missing toilet bowl covers.
28:28Yeah.
28:29Missing toilet bowl covers.
28:30They will steal the bidet head.
28:31That's why you see a lot of bidet right now.
28:32They don't have a head.
28:33The pipe.
28:34The pipe is missing.
28:35Yeah.
28:36The pipe is missing.
28:37They will steal the head home.
28:38Like, people are still doing things like that.
28:39So, I guess.
28:40Yeah.
28:41I guess that's the thing I want to see changes in Malaysians.
28:44I've seen soap dispensers yanked off of the wall.
28:48Yes.
28:49They will take it back home to use it for their own.
28:52So, our R&R toilets are far from perfect.
28:56Far.
28:57Yeah.
28:58Yeah.
28:59Right now.
29:00Yeah.
29:01There's still a lot of improvements.
29:02So, I think that what you're trying to say is at the end of the day, you know, you can
29:04have first class facility but if the people still, you know, behave like monkeys.
29:08Yeah.
29:09Exactly.
29:10That is true.
29:11We need to improve as Malaysians and as human beings.
29:15Yes.
29:16Yes.
29:17Yeah.
29:18So, what are your thoughts on how, you know, social media or media in general can drive
29:23social change especially when it comes to maintaining cleanliness at toilets?
29:28I guess, maybe come up with a poll and do like a voting just to correct.
29:34Or podcast.
29:35Yeah.
29:36Yeah.
29:37Or podcast.
29:38Or podcast.
29:39And get general point of view like what should we punish offenders with, you know?
29:45Like, for rentalizing.
29:46For rentalizing.
29:47Yeah.
29:48Make them wash toilets.
29:49Make them, punish them by making them do social services.
29:52And, you know, that is the case because in an organization, for example, we have a lot
30:00of people who have that attitude of, it's not my toilet, so why do I even bother?
30:05It's fine.
30:06The cleaner will do it.
30:07Exactly.
30:08But the cleaner is also a human being.
30:09Correct.
30:10Correct.
30:11She's not working like a robot.
30:12Yeah.
30:13And for me, I felt like even traffic offenders, instead of giving them some months, it never
30:17works anyway because Malaysians, they don't pay some months.
30:20So make them wash the toilet.
30:21Oh, they wait for the time when there's a discount.
30:23Correct.
30:24Discount.
30:25Discount.
30:26Yeah.
30:27They will wait for the announcement on their birthday for special discounts.
30:28So make them wash the toilet, the local public toilets.
30:31Yeah.
30:32I have a, you know, I stay at hotel a lot, you know, because I travel a lot.
30:37So I have this habit of, before I check out, I would clean up, clean the room up a little
30:43bit.
30:44Correct.
30:45And I always used to say, you know, the person who comes to clean it up will have, will think
30:49negatively of you if you don't.
30:51And when I was a kid, I was like, why do I care?
30:53I'm not going to meet this person.
30:55I don't even know this person.
30:56But as an adult, when I think about it again, there's some truth to that, you know.
31:01Even though this person, you don't know this person, but it says something about you personally
31:05when you have this mindset.
31:06That's not my job.
31:07I'm not going to have to do it, you know, but it says something about you, actually.
31:10Yes.
31:11I agree.
31:12Correct.
31:13And it's easier for the cleaners as well.
31:16Yeah.
31:17So, Marisa, as Marisa the toilet cleaner, you juggle your full-time job, your content
31:26creation, your stand-up comedy.
31:28That's a lot to juggle.
31:31I'm sure your time management is spot-on and I'm sure I can learn from you as well.
31:39What's in your future for pursuing more passion projects?
31:44For me, I remain the same.
31:47For me, I've never thought of quitting my full-time job because it's still my rice bowl.
31:50I felt like content is something that I want to do and probably if it's monetizing, I want
31:59it to monetize while I'm not putting effort in it.
32:02That's the whole goal of it.
32:03Rather than converting.
32:04It's a lot of anger.
32:05It's a goal, yeah.
32:06Correct.
32:07Rather than trying to monetize from it so that I can quit my full-time job, I felt like
32:11it should be something that's running happily without any stress while generating money.
32:17So that's my goal.
32:18So it's going to be a very long time.
32:20I see this probably 10, 20 years ahead with no changes.
32:25Probably maybe more diversity.
32:30Maybe I'll have part-timers helping me to review toilets as well in different regions
32:35but still doing my full-time job.
32:37You're going to have a one-woman show anymore.
32:43You're going to have a whole crew.
32:44Correct.
32:45A whole crew happily reviewing toilets because it's their passion.
32:49Yeah.
32:50You mentioned that you hold on a job but you're also doing this on the side during your free
32:56time.
32:57How do you balance all of it?
32:58Because I'm sure people throw suggestions at you all the time.
33:02So going to those places, it will take time.
33:05It requires fuel, it requires time.
33:07How do you balance all of this?
33:09So for me, I always do things at my convenience because I'm working alone.
33:13I don't have a manager.
33:14I don't have any assistants.
33:16And if I have, it's always the freelancers.
33:18So I juggle my full-time job from let's say 8.30 to 5.30.
33:22After that, while I'm going home or while I'm going to a next station of work, like
33:27Starbucks and all, I find places that I can stop by conveniently without putting too much
33:33resources in it.
33:34So just any petrol stops will do.
33:37Any nearby eateries will do.
33:40And that's how I actually save a lot of time.
33:43So it doesn't cost much time to actually visit an eatery, have your meal there and then just
33:48casually visit the toilet.
33:49Stop by the toilet.
33:50Correct.
33:51And my editing never exceeds 7 minutes, I would say.
33:55You know what I would love to see?
33:57Marissa's spreadsheet on the toilets that she's reviewed.
34:00Yeah.
34:01Yeah.
34:03Do you have a spreadsheet?
34:04I don't actually have.
34:05But if I were to extract it, it's a lot.
34:06It's about 300 plus toilets.
34:08I'm sure.
34:09Yeah.
34:10Yeah.
34:11Marissa mentioned earlier that the show must go on and it's going to be another couple
34:17of hundred toilets that you're going to review.
34:19Correct.
34:20Correct.
34:21So per year, I will review about 100 old toilets.
34:23Wow.
34:24Yeah.
34:25So you've seen so many toilets.
34:26Can you describe for us your perfect toilet?
34:28My perfect toilet, it doesn't need to be beautiful.
34:32It doesn't need to be very interior designed material.
34:35But for me, it's cleanliness.
34:37When I enter the toilet, I don't smell bacteria.
34:41You get that feeling?
34:42You don't smell the urine.
34:43Yeah.
34:44The putrid smell.
34:45The putrid.
34:46Yeah.
34:47Yeah.
34:48And of course, the lighting is very important.
34:49Lighting.
34:50If the toilet is dark, you can't see what you're stepping on.
34:53That's bad.
34:54Yeah.
34:55There must always be accessibility to water.
35:01And of course, it cannot be dry.
35:04It needs to have good ventilation, whether is it a fan.
35:08And I hate toilets with air cons.
35:11Really?
35:12There are toilets with air cons?
35:13Actually, yes.
35:14Correct.
35:15There are toilets with air cons and it actually circulates the bacteria into the air con even
35:20more and that's worse.
35:21You're breathing in little stains.
35:24Yeah.
35:26I'm curious about air conditioned toilets.
35:27Correct.
35:28What's your perfect toilet for it?
35:30Pretty much what Marisa said, but the air con one that's new to me, I've never been.
35:36I mean, in a mall, yes.
35:38Yes.
35:39But now I'm imagining a closed box that smells with air conditioning.
35:44Exactly.
35:45I've been to some eateries that have air conditioned toilets.
35:48I just found it strange.
35:49Yeah.
35:50And carpet.
35:51Whoever put carpets in toilets are the worst.
35:54Oh, carpets.
35:55I've never seen that.
35:56Yeah.
35:57I've never been.
35:58I've seen carpeted toilet.
35:59It's so horrible.
36:00Like they try to put carpet to make it look elegant, but actually that's a lot of bacteria
36:05on it.
36:06Gosh.
36:07Yeah.
36:08Yeah.
36:09Well, you'll tell us which ones.
36:10Correct.
36:11This podcast.
36:12Yeah.
36:13My perfect toilet.
36:14Okay.
36:15What I mentioned to this, to you earlier, before we started recording, I have friends
36:20who are either eatery managers, operations managers, co-owners, and they asked me, if
36:28you came to our eatery, what is the one thing that you want to see?
36:34It's a clean toilet.
36:35Yeah.
36:36I don't think it's only a female, a woman thing.
36:40Correct.
36:41I'm sure you guys want clean toilets as well.
36:43We all do.
36:44Yes.
36:45Yes.
36:46Exactly.
36:47So what you said earlier, lighting.
36:48Yes.
36:50We freshen up.
36:51Correct.
36:52We need to look good.
36:53Correct.
36:54So I've been to a restroom in a restaurant somewhere in KL, and it was perfect.
37:05You know why?
37:06Yeah.
37:07Because there's a little basket in this very clean toilet with women's sanitary needs.
37:13Exactly.
37:14Some toilets have that.
37:15Yes.
37:16Yes.
37:17And I thought, well, this is the first I've seen.
37:19Correct.
37:20Correct.
37:21So that's really going beyond.
37:22It's very thoughtful and they know what we need.
37:24Yeah.
37:25Correct.
37:26And as usual, you know, when we go to hotel toilets, there is a seating area.
37:31Yes.
37:32That's like a seating area, a waiting area, like a chill area.
37:35Yeah.
37:36Although I know how many people want to chill in a restroom.
37:39Yeah.
37:40Those are hotels for you.
37:44Is there anything you want to share regarding your future in this?
37:52Although I know you already said it, but what would be the...
37:58Is there an end goal to your project?
38:01For me, there is no end goal.
38:03It's always reviewing toilets more and more and to see the evaluation of people towards
38:11my content.
38:13Of course, I want to see progress in the future toilets as well.
38:17You never know 10 years from now how our toilet is going to be and then we can compare it
38:21to before.
38:22And of course, I do want to create awareness to a lot of creators out there, especially
38:28young creators that they want to pursue content creation.
38:33That there will always be a niche out there, but do something relatable and something impactful
38:38to the public.
38:40Instead of doing the normal trends, just set a trend that you can relate to.
38:45Start reviewing potholes.
38:46There will be lesser potholes.
38:48We do that on a daily basis for it.
38:50Yeah.
38:51I'm bored of potholes now.
38:52Yeah.
38:53And like drains, clogged drains, stuff like that.
38:58If creators start doing that, sometimes people might feel like they want to listen to creators
39:04more than medias.
39:07Don't know why.
39:09I felt like, oh, maybe this person has a certain personality that I like.
39:13It's cuter.
39:14Or maybe creators can do things that probably media sometimes can't, you know, in terms
39:19of the wording, their personal thoughts.
39:23We do our best and make sure we appear cute for it.
39:26Yeah.
39:27Cute.
39:28Not sure about being cute, but yeah, I would love to be described as that.
39:32Yes.
39:33People in the media, being cute, reviewing potholes.
39:36Yeah.
39:37Yeah.
39:38Yes.
39:39Thank you very much, Marisa.
39:40Thank you for having me as well.
39:42Any parting thoughts for it?
39:43Well, this has been a stinky topic.
39:46Yeah.
39:47And I'm going to review your toilet very soon.
39:49Marisa is coming.
39:51Yes.
39:52Very soon to a toilet near you.
39:54So flush away any uncleanliness.
39:56Yes.
39:58Thank you again, Marisa.
40:00Thank you so much.
40:01Make sure you tune into our next episode in two weeks and you can view our previous episodes
40:07of Life in the City podcast on our YouTube channel at TheStarOnline and TheStar.com.my
40:13slash Marisa.
40:14It's been really a pleasure talking to you.
40:16Yeah.
40:18Thank you for having me.
40:19How do you feel about your toilet here?
40:21Ours is okay.
40:23It's okay.
40:24Yes.
40:25Later I'll go and see.
40:26Okay.