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Opinion: My number one pet peeve

A trip to the men’s room, as do a few other things, brings out the worst in me.
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The toilet is an amazing, useful invention.

Last week, I was sitting in a men’s restroom in a place called Wawa, Ontario. I was having a ‘wee-wee in Wawa’. You’re likely thinking...TMI - too much information. But there’s a reason for me sharing this personal information with you.

As I was ‘resting’ there, I noticed a sign on the wall in front of me. There was another one above the toilet on the wall behind me. It said, “Please be respectful…please clean up your mess.”

For me, the sign was preaching to the choir. I always flush the toilet, I pick up scraps of tissue I might drop, I make sure I clean the sink after washing my hands and even, at times, pick up paper towel bits off the floor. Restrooms are often cleaner when I leave them than when I enter.

But the signs got me thinking about one of my pet peeves. I hate walking into a filthy washroom. I just don’t understand how people – men in my case, since I don’t get into women’s restrooms very often – can be so inconsiderably messy.

I don’t regard myself as an ornery, crotchety old man. Old…maybe, but not those other descriptors. I think I’m easygoing and see positives rather than negatives and I believe most people see me the same way.

But a trip to the men’s room, as do a few other things, does bring out the worst in me.

The toilet is an amazing, useful invention. Along with the tank, it includes a lid that opens and shuts…there’s a second piece, the seat, the round part that flips up and down, and then the bowl under the seat…where the water is.

I haven’t researched this, but my guess is that the seat layer was intentionally designed with hinges so that it could be flipped up for those who stand while doing their business. To prevent those with bad aim from splashing all over the part that the next user might need to sit on.

It doesn’t take much effort to raise the seat. Even a child can do it.

But I’m amazed at how often that layer isn’t lifted…and how often the seat has ‘fluid’ all over it. Which results in one of two things for the next patron. They either have to use another stall – if there is one – or worse, they have to take the time to clean up some other person’s mess?

Believe it or not, and yes, I have expressed this peeve to others at times, I’ve heard this response – “Well…it keeps people employed as restroom cleaners.” I think I’m pretty safe in saying that as people use the washroom, that thought doesn’t cross their mind. “Let’s see…how can my bathroom experience make sure someone has a job?” Even if someone is that ‘considerate’, it doesn’t offer much help to those having to take care of business in the meantime.

What about that poor individual who needs to use the washroom badly? It happens to all of us from time to time, where every precious second counts. What does one do if they don’t have time to clean things before sitting down? Sit on drops of an unknown stranger’s visit to the stall?

What about those with disabilities who need to use the specific stall set aside for them? Is it right to expect them to take the additional hardships to clean up a mess that was made to ‘keep someone employed’?

Those signs are a great reminder to all of us – be respectful…please clean up your mess. Or perhaps it can be put this way – if you stand, ‘flip up’ the seat so that you won’t ‘flip out’ the next person who has to sit.

I have two other peeves to write about…but not this time, as I don’t want you thinking that I’m an ornery, crotchety, old curmudgeon.

 

 

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