Problems in the ladies' room

[PastryGoddess]

It never really occurred to me people used their hands on those prongs in public restrooms. As I initially stated I have that type of flusher in my home. At home I use my hand. But in public I have always known them to be foot operated.

Sort of like at home I might lick my fingers while eating but in public I would never do that.

Just to be sure of what you're saying, are you implying that flushing a public toilet with one's hand is as gauche as licking one's fingers while eating in public?

I think you might be reading more into that quote than is necessary...I got what she was saying just fine

[Erich L-ster]

I wish there could be a poll added because i my experience too, most people are foot flushers. That wand style flusher is practically all I ever see in public restrooms It's actually been many years since I've seen a regular home type toilet in a public restroom.

If poll is possible it should be stipulated that it pertains to that type of toilet with the stick/wand flusher.

It would be great if polls could be added in threads after we see a divide of opinions.

[Psychopoesie]

I'd also be interested to know where people are from. Curious if this is a US specific thing or broader. The handshake thread has been really interesting in this regard.

[PastryGoddess]

I'm in the US.  Maryland

[MariaE]

Denmark - never heard of flushing using your foot till this board. It'd be pretty impossible to do in most public toilets here.

[Psychopoesie]

Australia. & the same - never heard of foot flushing before now.

There are some public toilets like the one pictured with what I'd call a hand lever - they're flushed by hand (AFAIK). Most have buttons on the cistern or wall above the toilet. A few older style public loos (mostly in small country towns) still have a chain that's pulled to flush.

I vaguely remember a toilet on some form of public transport (long distance train, maybe) having a pedal flush arrangement. The pedal was on the floor though and looked a bit like the pedal used to open a kitchen rubbish bin. Don't remember if that was here or overseas tho.

[RingTailedLemur]

Denmark - never heard of flushing using your foot till this board. It'd be pretty impossible to do in most public toilets here.

UK, same thing.

[perpetua]

Denmark - never heard of flushing using your foot till this board. It'd be pretty impossible to do in most public toilets here.

UK, same thing.

UK too, and as far as I know we don't have those type of toilets here. I've never even seen one before. I posted upthread somewhere a picture of what our flushers are like, they are, I would think, impossible to flush with your foot unless you're some kind of circus performer. I'd also never heard of foot flushing until I came here and thought it most odd until I saw the picture of the toilets in question.

[Goosey]

I just got to say, I'm so thankful most public toilets are becoming automatic from what I've seen! Sure, they may flush at inconvenient times occasionally, but they DO flush and you don't have to worry about putting your hand in whatever dirt people have tracked in on their shoes when you try to flush them!

Now we just need to work on the sprinklers. Although I did go to an airport bathroom once that had automatic disposable seat covers. You just pressed a button and it replaced it for you!

[Twik]

I'm not sure what the horrors of touching the flushing mechanism with your hand are. I'm pretty sure that the odds are in your favor that the previous occupant did not have leprosy.

And honestly, if the previous occupant had something icky on *their* hand when they used the flush mechanism, they're likely to have spread it to the door handle, sink, faucet handles (if not automatic), etc. You're not escaping any contamination.

[stargazer]

I have to say I'm not really sure why you are fighting me on this so hard. I'm 37 years old. Before e-hell (4-5 years ago?) I never heard of someone flushing a (public wand stye) toilet with their hand.

Funny, I'm the same age and in the US and until EHell never considered someone would flush a handle with their foot.  A pedal close to the floor - I would get it.  But it's up in the air a few feet so it seemed obvious to me it was for hand use.  Interesting.

[VorFemme]

I've used my foot only when the toilet is so low that it is easier to stand on one foot to flush (I'm slightly over average height for a woman - 5' 8" - although I tower over the women in some ethnic populations - and have since I was eleven).  Tower would mean that the top of their heads is even with or below my shoulders.

My mother and grandmothers always used their hand to flush - unless their hands were full with a baby sister or brother - or possibly cousin - then I might be told to flush for them. 

The only time I remember using my foot - there was "something" caked on the toilet handle that was clearly in need of being cleaned off of it - I don't remember now what it was - might have been chocolate, dried blood, something nastier, or even just a bad case of rust - but I didn't want to touch it, even if I was going to wash my hands afterward...

[WillyNilly]

I'm not sure what the horrors of touching the flushing mechanism with your hand are. I'm pretty sure that the odds are in your favor that the previous occupant did not have leprosy.

And honestly, if the previous occupant had something icky on *their* hand when they used the flush mechanism, they're likely to have spread it to the door handle, sink, faucet handles (if not automatic), etc. You're not escaping any contamination.

I think the practice of using one's foot is more for two reasons:

1. Simply put, habit. Long ingrained habit. If its what someone has always done, they are simply going to keep doing it.

2. If a person comes from a position of 'this is what is done by everyone, always' then its never a consideration of what the previous person had on their hand, so much as what the previous persons - possibly hundreds of them - had on the bottom of their shoes. And the bottom of the shoe germs are not nearly as likely to have been spread to the door handle, sink, faucet handles because those aren't operated with one's foot.

[esposita]

I'm not sure what the horrors of touching the flushing mechanism with your hand are. I'm pretty sure that the odds are in your favor that the previous occupant did not have leprosy.

And honestly, if the previous occupant had something icky on *their* hand when they used the flush mechanism, they're likely to have spread it to the door handle, sink, faucet handles (if not automatic), etc. You're not escaping any contamination.

At least for me, its not about what is on the handle from previous users, its about what will be sprayed into the air when the water is stirred up by the flushing. Its the leaning over the toilet with my face that bothers me.

[gramma dishes]

I have to say I'm not really sure why you are fighting me on this so hard. I'm 37 years old. Before e-hell (4-5 years ago?) I never heard of someone flushing a (public wand stye) toilet with their hand. I admit its not a conversation I've had with any sort of frequency but none the less it truly never ever occurred to me. To me, it was just absolutely unconditionally normal and taken for granted that everyone flushed with their foot unless there was some major reason they could not. Its what we did in my elementary school, and junior high and high school. Its what my parents and grandparents and extended family taught me. Its what my friends do. Its just the norm in my experience. I don't know why that statement is shocking or unbelievable or offensive. It simply is what it is. I'm not insulting anyone, or judging anyone. I'm just surprised its not as common place as I believed it to be (although I'm not convinced its not the more popular method - other posters have also said they always flush with their foot).

WillyNilly, I'm almost twice your age and your experience is the same as mine.  I've never known anyone who flushed that type of toilet with their hand.  Isn't it interesting what is so surprising (and apparently disgusting) to some of the people here is totally 100% "normal" to the rest of us to the point that trying to imagine someone flushing with their hand is just ... almost unimaginable.   Not a BAD thing.  Just a new concept!