Don't flush tampons you moron!

[gaffa]

There is a thread in IMHO (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12862598) about so-called "flushable" tampons.

On one side, we have plumbers and a city sewage Civil Engineer saying "do not flush tampons". Tampons are specifically designed to do one thing and do it well - to swell up and adsorb liquid, and they will continue to do so in a sewer.

On the other side, we have a selfish idiot. (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?u=46543)

Said idiot claims to live in Milwaukee but somehow magically live in a part of Milwaukee that doesn't have hundred year old sewage pipes between her and the waste treatment plant. And, because she lives in "...a relatively new building in a big city..." that there is no problem. But those of us who have actually spent hours cutting apart waste stacks and digging out buried pipes disagree with her learned position.

I have provided her with an image of what cast iron pipe looks like inside (http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/9793/p1010340.jpg), and unless she has run a sewer camera through every inch of pipe between her home and the waste treatment plant she has no fucking idea of the condition of the pipes.

Those of us who do have some fucking idea have suggested that she carry some ziplock bags to dispose of her used tampons. No muss, no fuss, nicely sealed and you throw that in the trash. And this idiot says "If you're going to take a really big shit, do you do it in the trash can?" and is apparently stupid enough to think that there is some sort of equivalency between something that dissolves in water and something that does not.

[Maeglin]

Here we go again (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=519131).

[Sateryn76]

TMI!

Here's a question...on heavy days, your hands can get messy just changing and flushing the tampon. At home, I can lean over to the sink and rinse my fingers. In a public stall...???

I have wrapped my tampons, but thankfully it was at my sister's house (septic system) and I could lean into the sink to rinse. I have no idea what I would do in a stall.

I can wipe my fingers with the .5 micron-ply toilet paper, but blood stinks under the nails. How do I pull up my pants and go to the sink with a bunch of blood on my hands? Do you want that touching your stall doors?

I always flush. Sorry guys, but my periods are too heavy to dick around with that kind of stress.

[Shot From Guns]

gaffa, you're a fucking retard, but I give you credit for actually being the first person to Pit me where others have threatened but backed down.

On the other hand, it's a weak-ass Pitting. I notice you couldn't even dig up a cite that says that tampons in the system are a problem in Milwaukee. Yawn.

Overall, I'd say it averages out to a tepid 4.2. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine the scale.

[AClockworkMelon]

He needs a cite to prove that flushing tampons are bad? Are you kidding me? C'mon, Guns, even if you put on a show here, please stop flushing them. For the sake of people like my friends who have to unclog the toilets afterwards. :(

[asterion]

Wouldn't it just be easier to switch to pads if your periods are that heavy? Or did I get a wrong impression from a childhood watching The Price is Right complete with commercials showing the amazing absorption of a strange blue liquid?

[Ferret Herder]

I always flush. Sorry guys, but my periods are too heavy to dick around with that kind of stress.
Bring a prepackaged moist towelette if your periods are that bad. You'd be touching the stall door with bloodied hands regardless of whether you flushed the tampon or not, it sounds like.

I live in a fairly high-end suburb of Chicago and we have those nastily corroded pipes as shown in previous posts. I suspect those are far more common than most people want to believe.

[johnpost]

On the other hand, it's a weak-ass Pitting. I notice you couldn't even dig up a cite that says that tampons in the system are a problem in Milwaukee. Yawn.

it seems like your sewerage district is too busy with street flooding and raw sewerage discharges that they didn't get around to writing about tampons.

[DiosaBellissima]

Wouldn't it just be easier to switch to pads if your periods are that heavy? Or did I get a wrong impression from a childhood watching The Price is Right complete with commercials showing the amazing absorption of a strange blue liquid?

Ew. You clearly are not aware of what pads smell like, my friend. Oh, and you will look like you're wearing a diaper or have a really fat crotch. Whichever.

[gaffa]

it seems like your sewerage district is too busy with street flooding and raw sewerage discharges that they didn't get around to writing about tampons.
Exactly. Actually, I called the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District but only got a voicemail and have not heard back from anyone yet. As soon as I do, I'll have location specific proof that Shot From Guns is a cretin. If their system is so fucked up that they have accidentally discharged 80 million gallons of raw sewage into the source of my Chicago drinking water used tampons may be the least of their problems - but it is only because their other problems are so colossal.

[Angel of the Lord]

Wouldn't it just be easier to switch to pads if your periods are that heavy? Or did I get a wrong impression from a childhood watching The Price is Right complete with commercials showing the amazing absorption of a strange blue liquid?


Tangent: no, they're not the same. Sometimes, if you have a heavy period, you might want to wear a tampon *and* a bad, but a lot of women--myself included--don't like wearing a pad alone. They can slip, they can leak, and they don't keep the area very clean. There's nothing like marinading in your own juices for a couple of hours on a hot day to make you appreciate the wonder of Tampax.

[DiosaBellissima]

it seems like your sewerage district is too busy with street flooding and raw sewerage discharges that they didn't get around to writing about tampons.
Exactly. Actually, I called the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District but only got a voicemail and have not heard back from anyone yet. As soon as I do, I'll have location specific proof that Shot From Guns is a cretin. If their system is so fucked up that they have accidentally discharged 80 million gallons of raw sewage into the source of my Chicago drinking water used tampons may be the least of their problems - but it is only because their other problems are so colossal.

Isn't it 6 pm in Milwaukee? Of course you got a voicemail, government offices aren't open all night. And she's a cretin? What's that thing people around here like to say? Oh yeah: lighten up, Francis. Unless it's your time of the month, too, and that's what's up your ass right now, in which case, rage on, sister.

[gaffa]

TMI!

Here's a question...on heavy days, your hands can get messy just changing and flushing the tampon. At home, I can lean over to the sink and rinse my fingers. In a public stall...???

I have wrapped my tampons, but thankfully it was at my sister's house (septic system) and I could lean into the sink to rinse. I have no idea what I would do in a stall.

I can wipe my fingers with the .5 micron-ply toilet paper, but blood stinks under the nails. How do I pull up my pants and go to the sink with a bunch of blood on my hands? Do you want that touching your stall doors?

I always flush. Sorry guys, but my periods are too heavy to dick around with that kind of stress.
Have you considered the zip-lock bag mentioned previously? Treat it like dog shit

open the bag
grasp the bottom of the bag with one hand
fold the rest back over your fingers
pull tampon out with your nicely plastic-covered fingers
pull bag closed
zip bag shut
throw bag in trash


Seems easy enough.

[gaffa]

Isn't it 6 pm in Milwaukee? Of course you got a voicemail, government offices aren't open all night. And she's a cretin? What's that thing people around here like to say? Oh yeah: lighten up, Francis. Unless it's your time of the month, too, and that's what's up your ass right now, in which case, rage on, sister.
I called them when it was only 3 PM in Milwaukee, before I posted this pitting.

[Morbo]

I always flush. Sorry guys, but my periods are too heavy to dick around with that kind of stress.

Just curious, how's the plumbing in your office coming along 13 months later (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11188668&postcount=57) after you were told not to flush tampons but ignored it and continued to flush them anyway?

[johnpost]

it seems like your sewerage district is too busy with street flooding and raw sewerage discharges that they didn't get around to writing about tampons.


Exactly. Actually, I called the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District but only got a voicemail and have not heard back from anyone yet. As soon as I do, I'll have location specific proof that Shot From Guns is a cretin. If their system is so fucked up that they have accidentally discharged 80 million gallons of raw sewage into the source of my Chicago drinking water used tampons may be the least of their problems - but it is only because their other problems are so colossal.


Chicago seems to like to gripe about other people's sewerage because after they got tired of drinking their own, they started giving their sewerage to the Mississippi River.

Probably no large old growth metro area on large water bodies does a good deal because it was so easy for them to just dilute it in the past.

[Sateryn76]

I always flush. Sorry guys, but my periods are too heavy to dick around with that kind of stress.

Just curious, how's the plumbing in your office coming along 13 months later (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11188668&postcount=57) after you were told not to flush tampons but ignored it and continued to flush them anyway?

I knew I'd posted about this before!

I left there in June, but since my aunt if the office manager, and I'd worked there for so damn long, I get all the stories since then.

And since 13 months ago, no plumbing problems to speak of. :cool:

[seanchai]

It does seem odd that intelligent women are fighting tooth and nail to render themselves unable to plan ahead to look after their monthly flow.

Fact: tampons are not biodegradable immediately upon entering the sewage system.

Fact: tampons damage the sewer system they are flushed into.

Solution: Women should be a tad more responsible with their disposals of tampons.

You can whine and whinge and moan and shudder, but you cannot escape responsibility
for your own actions / lack of planning. You don't want to think about your responsibility, we get that. However, that's a preschooler's solution, not an adult's.

Think it through. And yes, before you look at me with jaundiced eyes, I spent roughly
40 years dealing with the disposal problem myself. Most ladies' public restrooms still have that brown paper bag in a white plastic container, available for disposal of messy items.

an seanchai

[Sateryn76]

Wouldn't it just be easier to switch to pads if your periods are that heavy? Or did I get a wrong impression from a childhood watching The Price is Right complete with commercials showing the amazing absorption of a strange blue liquid?

For the first four days of my period, I wear both a Super Plus tampon and a "night-time" style pad.

I change them every four hours.

[Broomstick]

I can wipe my fingers with the .5 micron-ply toilet paper, but blood stinks under the nails. How do I pull up my pants and go to the sink with a bunch of blood on my hands? Do you want that touching your stall doors?
Can you spit? Seriously - wipe your hands as much as possible with the toilet paper, drop it in the bowl, take another few squares of paper, spit to moisten it, wipe fingers again. This should eliminate anything like to go from fingers to anything else long enough for you to zip/drop skirt and get to the sink to do a thorough wash.

Or, if you're too dainty to use spit, use a few squares of toilet paper to shield the world from your icky fingers - just like squeamish germaphobes use a papertowel to handle the door handle to the rest room.

I always flush. Sorry guys, but my periods are too heavy to dick around with that kind of stress.
Do that at my house and I'll introduce you to Mr. Septic Tank and hand your a plumbing snake. At which point you'll learn there are worse things to get under your fingernails than a teeny bit of your own blood.

[Broomstick]

Wouldn't it just be easier to switch to pads if your periods are that heavy? Or did I get a wrong impression from a childhood watching The Price is Right complete with commercials showing the amazing absorption of a strange blue liquid?
Ew. You clearly are not aware of what pads smell like, my friend. Oh, and you will look like you're wearing a diaper or have a really fat crotch. Whichever.
Clothes that fit - as opposed to being too small and fitting too tight - will not show a bulge when you're wearing a pad. Especially not the pads that have been coming out in the past few years.

Even 30 years ago, when our pads could double as a twin mattress, I didn't have a problem with "fat crotch". Get over yourself. And get some pants that are actually your size so you don't have to worry about your underthings showing through the fabric.

[Freudian Slit]

Wouldn't it just be easier to switch to pads if your periods are that heavy? Or did I get a wrong impression from a childhood watching The Price is Right complete with commercials showing the amazing absorption of a strange blue liquid?

Ew. You clearly are not aware of what pads smell like, my friend. Oh, and you will look like you're wearing a diaper or have a really fat crotch. Whichever.

I've never had that problem with pads. I usually use tampons but on my first day I wear a pad with a tampon and I've never had it look noticeable.

Anyway, I'm female and I'm not one of those fighting tooth and nail to flush. I used to exclusively wear pads and wrapping them up and tossing them out wasn't particularly traumatic. Tampons are even teenier so I have no idea what the women who are wedded to flushing are on about.

[DiosaBellissima]

Ew. You clearly are not aware of what pads smell like, my friend. Oh, and you will look like you're wearing a diaper or have a really fat crotch. Whichever.
Clothes that fit - as opposed to being too small and fitting too tight - will not show a bulge when you're wearing a pad. Especially not the pads that have been coming out in the past few years.

Even 30 years ago, when our pads could double as a twin mattress, I didn't have a problem with "fat crotch". Get over yourself. And get some pants that are actually your size so you don't have to worry about your underthings showing through the fabric.

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you've seen my pants. Next time you see me in person, say hi!

[DiosaBellissima]

Clothes that fit - as opposed to being too small and fitting too tight - will not show a bulge when you're wearing a pad. Especially not the pads that have been coming out in the past few years.

Even 30 years ago, when our pads could double as a twin mattress, I didn't have a problem with "fat crotch". Get over yourself. And get some pants that are actually your size so you don't have to worry about your underthings showing through the fabric.

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you've seen my pants. Next time you see me in person, say hi!

Also, since we're beyond the edit time: I fail to see how my opinion that pads can be smelly or unflattering warrants you attacking my body (the implication of clothes "fitting too tight" is pretty clear). If it makes you feel better to attack another woman and her body because I don't like to use pads, knock yourself out, but it makes you look like a total, self righteous bitch. Your problem with me clearly goes beyond what I do and don't stick in, on, or around my vagina. I'm not sure what it is, but there ya go.

[zweisamkeit]

Also, since we're beyond the edit time: I fail to see how my opinion that pads can be smelly or unflattering warrants you attacking my body (the implication of clothes "fitting too tight" is pretty clear). If it makes you feel better to attack another woman and her body because I don't like to use pads, knock yourself out, but it makes you look like a total, self righteous bitch. Your problem with me clearly goes beyond what I do and don't stick in, on, or around my vagina. I'm not sure what it is, but there ya go.

Look, if your jeans don't fit like this (http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/NationalWholesale/9854_main?$Product$), you are clearly a skank-ass ho who paints her jeans on, ok?

[DiosaBellissima]

Also, since we're beyond the edit time: I fail to see how my opinion that pads can be smelly or unflattering warrants you attacking my body (the implication of clothes "fitting too tight" is pretty clear). If it makes you feel better to attack another woman and her body because I don't like to use pads, knock yourself out, but it makes you look like a total, self righteous bitch. Your problem with me clearly goes beyond what I do and don't stick in, on, or around my vagina. I'm not sure what it is, but there ya go.

Look, if your jeans don't fit like this (http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/NationalWholesale/9854_main?$Product$), you are clearly a skank-ass ho who paints her jeans on, ok?

But. . . I just bought those yesterday. How did you know? Did I meet you, too? :confused::confused::confused::confused:

You guys never say hi! You just snark on me on the Dope, but I want to be friends IRL. :(

[Really Not All That Bright]

It says you can flush them on the box. Pit the manufacturers.

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Tampax are sold saying they are flushable.

You know what else is sold saying it's flushable? These little toilet cleaner things. There is a plastic holder, you attach the allegedly flushable cleaning thing--which, in fairness, looks like a bunch of toilet paper glued together, with blue cleaning stuff on it--then you swish it around the bowl, then you release it and flush!

And then, 10 days later, your plumbing clogs up. And when the plumber comes and snakes it out, you get accused of throwing feminine products in the toilet.

[Broomstick]

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you've seen my pants. Next time you see me in person, say hi!
Also, since we're beyond the edit time: I fail to see how my opinion that pads can be smelly or unflattering warrants you attacking my body (the implication of clothes "fitting too tight" is pretty clear). If it makes you feel better to attack another woman and her body because I don't like to use pads, knock yourself out, but it makes you look like a total, self righteous bitch. Your problem with me clearly goes beyond what I do and don't stick in, on, or around my vagina. I'm not sure what it is, but there ya go.
Honey, if someone can see you're wearing a pad though your pants or it gives you a "fat crotch" :rolleyes: I don't have to see your pants to know they're too damn tight.

Possible odors are another issue. I was addressing the visual issues.

[kaylasdad99]

I've always thought of myself as a fairly sophisticated adult, able to deal with the fact that human animals have bodily functions, and that the casual discussion of those functions is not a big deal.

And now, after reading this thread, I find myself wanting to crouch in a corner, like Barbra Streisand in Nuts. I'd like to thank you all for the reality check.

Admins, can we have a Pit forum for girly-bits related subjects, please? Pretty please?

[needscoffee]

Broomstick, I have a couple of times noticed pads showing on women under pants that were only slightly form-fitting, not overly tight. And if someone were to bend over in loose pants, it'd probably show, too, if the fabric isn't denim. Not that I go around looking or anything.

[needscoffee]

I've always thought of myself as a fairly sophisticated adult, able to deal with the fact that human animals have bodily functions, and that the casual discussion of those functions is not a big deal.

And now, after reading this thread, I find myself wanting to crouch in a corner, like Barbra Streisand in Nuts. I'd like to thank you all for the reality check...Obviously you haven't been over to the douching thread yet.

[DianaG]

Clothes that fit - as opposed to being too small and fitting too tight - will not show a bulge when you're wearing a pad. Especially not the pads that have been coming out in the past few years.

Even 30 years ago, when our pads could double as a twin mattress, I didn't have a problem with "fat crotch". Get over yourself. And get some pants that are actually your size so you don't have to worry about your underthings showing through the fabric.
Wow. That's a whole lot of vitriol over a simple preference for tampons. I suppose sitting around in a pool of one's own blood must make a person really cranky.

[Broomstick]

Look, if someone doesn't like pads because they feel like you have a bale of cotton wedged in your crotch, or they smells, or they chafe, or they can't get one that doesn't leak, or there's some other issue that's cool. But use that as the reason. Don't make up some bullshit excuse that involves too-tight clothing that leaves the pad visible or a "fat crotch". Seriously, you might have to wear something not skin-tight for a couple days. Or use tampons. Or a diva cup. Or, if you really have a gushing waterfall, all three at once.

[DianaG]

Why. The. Fuck? do you care what anyone else wears, or chooses as a reason to not use pads? Which, by the way, DO make me feel like everyone MUST be able to see the friggin' diaper I'm wearing, regardless of what I'm wearing over it. I realize that it's not actually the case, but who wants to spend the day feeling like that?

Look, you clearly have some problem with Diosa that requires you to insinuate that she can't bring herself to leave the house without a little cameltoe. Someone's cunt is showing, but I'm not sure it's hers.

[Sateryn76]

We women are such delicate flowers of grace and beauty.... :rolleyes:

Between this and the douche thread - that is why 90% of my friends are men.

[DianaG]

Yeah, I hate when women aren't all ladylike and shit.

[Anaamika]

The hostility towards Diosa is way over the top. I, too, refuse to wear pads - I find them absolutely disgusting and gross. And you don't have to be wearing super tight clothes for them to show. I dress modestly and never wear super tight clothes and yet they still can show a bulge in jeans, and they stink and I hate sitting in my own blood.

As for the other part I will only say this. If you want me not to flush my tampons, put a garbage bin or something inside the stall. You can say whatever you want, but I will not put it in a plastic bag and put it in my purse and you can take that to your grave. I'm not spitting on my hands, either. WTF was that all about? But as long as there is a bin in the stall, or in your bathroom, I can deal. I have been in men's houses that didn't have a bin in their bathrooms, though, and I just don't have that much self-confidence to go marching out with bloody tampon in hand, wrapped in tp or whatever, demanding where the garbage is - all for him to find, next time he goes to throw it out. :eek: I try not to change my tampon at people's houses anyway.

[Broomstick]

So, what you're saying is that to protect your delicate sensibilities, or avoid getting blood on your hands, or whatever the issue is, you refuse to dispose of your tampons in a manner that won't involve some other human being having to unclog the plumbing. You'd force another human being to deal with raw sewage and your bloody tampon stuck down a pipe rather than wrap it up and ask where the garbage can is?

I am completely baffled by that attitude. It strikes me as completely and totally self-centered and selfish.

Won't someone think of the plumbers?

[DianaG]

It strikes me that anyone who's concerned for their plumbing should have a waste receptacle next to the toilet.

[Electric Warrior]

I just skimmed the thread, so I apologize if I overlooked someone's post, but in fact the person who suggested that pads were better for women with heavy periods than tampons is wrong - before I started using tampons, leaking through pads was a regular occurrence. Well, not leaking through them so much as leaking in the front or back - yes, even with the extra long size. Since I discovered tampons and started wearing them in combination with pads I've never had that issue.

I don't flush them though. Used to, too, because as mentioned earlier it said they were flush-able on the package. But after our plumber cited tampons in the pipes as the reason for the fact that our toilets kept stopping up and flooding the house, I stopped. If the folks who posted in this thread don't want to have to replace their flooring or get their ceilings repaired, I suggest they follow my lead.

I've always thought of myself as a fairly sophisticated adult, able to deal with the fact that human animals have bodily functions, and that the casual discussion of those functions is not a big deal.

And now, after reading this thread, I find myself wanting to crouch in a corner, like Barbra Streisand in Nuts. I'd like to thank you all for the reality check.

Admins, can we have a Pit forum for girly-bits related subjects, please? Pretty please?

Also, WOW, thanks for making me feel like my completely normal bodily functions are disgusting. You win a gold star today.

[Anaamika]

So, what you're saying is that to protect your delicate sensibilities, or avoid getting blood on your hands, or whatever the issue is, you refuse to dispose of your tampons in a manner that won't involve some other human being having to unclog the plumbing. You'd force another human being to deal with raw sewage and your bloody tampon stuck down a pipe rather than wrap it up and ask where the garbage can is?



Yes. And I make no excuses for not being totally 100% comfortable with period blood. It is the way of things.

It's simple. Put a garbage bin in the bathroom, if you are worried.

[Sateryn76]

So, what you're saying is that to protect your delicate sensibilities, or avoid getting blood on your hands, or whatever the issue is, you refuse to dispose of your tampons in a manner that won't involve some other human being having to unclog the plumbing. You'd force another human being to deal with raw sewage and your bloody tampon stuck down a pipe rather than wrap it up and ask where the garbage can is?

I am completely baffled by that attitude. It strikes me as completely and totally self-centered and selfish.

Won't someone think of the plumbers?

If we all stopped flushing tampons and condoms and kittens, wouldn't that take away a big chunk of their business? Why do you hate plumbers? ;)

As someone said above, as long as I can help it, I try not to change my tampon in a strange place. And, some people may have issues with it, but in my whole tampon-wearing life, in every house and apartment I've lived in, we've never had to call a plumber for tampon clogs. The only plumber we ever had to call was to find out there was an old weeping willow root system that took out the toilet in my childhood house, and the only plunging we've had to do was for the kids, when they've used too much TP.

I'm not some delicate flower - I've installed toilets myself. But, based on years and years of tampon flushing, I've not had a problem. Among my friends and loved ones, I don't know of any raging plumbing clog problems.

Maybe you're used to shitty (ha!) plumbing, but I've been lucky enough not to have to deal with it. That makes it very hard to see the value in carrying plastic bags and moist towelettes, in addition to several extra tampons and pads, and going through some complicated process when I can flush them. I am always aware of the possibility of septic homes, and when I don't feel comfortable enough to ask, I just don't change anything.

[Shot From Guns]

He needs a cite to prove that flushing tampons are bad? Are you kidding me? C'mon, Guns, even if you put on a show here, please stop flushing them. For the sake of people like my friends who have to unclog the toilets afterwards. :(

If their system has a problem with tampons being flushed, they need to make that clear. I've said repeatedly that I don't mind throwing them away when it's explicitly stated that the system can't handle them. Otherwise, if they're too lazy to make a sign, I have no problem also taking the easy route and flushing my tampons instead of pitching them.

If you've gotten the impression that I refuse to do anything but flush mine, that's because gaffa is a fucking tard.

Wouldn't it just be easier to switch to pads if your periods are that heavy?

No.

it seems like your sewerage district is too busy with street flooding and raw sewerage discharges that they didn't get around to writing about tampons.

The major problem right now is that the same big-ass tubes (technical term) handle raw sewage and runoff water, so when we get a big storm, everything overflows. Redesigning the system would be very expensive, so they're dragging their heels over it.

Have you considered the zip-lock bag mentioned previously? Treat it like dog shit [snip] Seems easy enough.

You still haven't answered whether you drop your epic shits in the garbage.

Clothes that fit - as opposed to being too small and fitting too tight - will not show a bulge when you're wearing a pad.

Translation: I wear ugly grandma pants, and so should you, you filthy harlot.

It says you can flush them on the box. Pit the manufacturers.

QFT.

You know what else is sold saying it's flushable? These little toilet cleaner things. There is a plastic holder, you attach the allegedly flushable cleaning thing--which, in fairness, looks like a bunch of toilet paper glued together, with blue cleaning stuff on it--then you swish it around the bowl, then you release it and flush!

And then, 10 days later, your plumbing clogs up. And when the plumber comes and snakes it out, you get accused of throwing feminine products in the toilet.

Mine doesn't say it's flushable. Mine explicitly says that I should deposit it in the garbage. And the first time I used it and made the mistake of thinking I could flush it, my backing-up toilet quickly demonstrated that I was wrong (and caused me to look at the box and verify that yes, I just hadn't actually bothered to read the instructions). You know what's never caused my toilet to back up? Tampons.

[Unauthorized Cinnamon]

As others have noted, I have always flushed tampons, because that's what the box says you can do. One of the advantages of Tampax over Playtex was that the Playtex applicator wasn't flushable.

Now, if a particular bathroom has a sign saying not to flush feminine hygiene products, I always figured that they had noted an inability of that specific building's plumbing to cope, and would wrap and trash. But it honestly hadn't occurred to me until reading this thread that you shouldn't flush in general.

I also use the flushable toilet cleaning brushes. The whole point is that they're flushable - it says so on the package! I've never had a problem with them.

From now on, I'll wrap & toss in any situation I suppose. But don't blame everyone who flushes - it's just following the instructions!

[Nzinga, Seated]

My best friend often worries that her pad is showing through. I can never see any such thing, but she is certain so she switched to tampons. Made her feel better.

I can't imagine my pad is showing at all, and my pants are definitely always too tight. But, then again, I have 'fat crotch', so the pad doesn't really matter.

The people I know with heavier periods swear by a tampon, but for me, whose periods are light, a pad is fine. Change it often and there isn't any odor (that I have noticed...yikes!)

I agree with the poster that says that if the packaging says they are flushable, then you really should be pitting the company, gaffa.

But this post is really to congratulate Guns on her first pitting! I haven't had an official one yet, but, oh, I've got lots of threads and posts that I consider just as good, including being called a cunt on this board which is famous for banning that word. So yeah. Enjoy.

[Anaamika]

I can't believe this is Guns' first posting. Hell, I got pitted for a throwaway comment in an IMHO thread, and Guns is way snarkier than I am. ;)

If a woman sits right or you are sitting close to her, it is possible to tell if she is wearing a pad. Cross-legged on the floor? Absolutely, and it doesn't have to be tight pants.

[Freudian Slit]

It just seems weird that Shot is so insistent on flushing unless told otherwise when it seems most logical that NOT flushing should be default. It takes so little effort not to flush them that I'm really not getting why anyone would.

[DianaG]

Because there isn't always a waste receptacle nearby (by which I mean within reach of the toilet). If there is, I use it. If there isn't, I'm flushing.

[Freudian Slit]

If there's one in the bathroom but not in the stall, you wouldn't just take it out and throw it out? I mean, you have to throw the applicator out anyway.

[Anaamika]

It IS different to wrap an applicator and bring it out of the stall then it is to wrap a tampon and bring it out of the stall.

Seriously. Put a garbage can in the stall/bathroom. That's all I ask.

[Nzinga, Seated]

I can't believe this is Guns' first posting. Hell, I got pitted for a throwaway comment in an IMHO thread, and Guns is way snarkier than I am. ;)



Guns serves up more snark before breakfast than you have in your entire life. I can't imagine why you would be pitted, but congrats!

[Freudian Slit]

How is it different? I use tampons and I don't really see a difference. Usually I just put the applicator in the wrapper of the new tampon and toss it out if there's no bin in the stall. I've heard women go on about how it's so messy and hard to wrap up a tampon but I've wrapped up saturated tampons, and it's really not rocket science.

[Shot From Guns]

One of the advantages of Tampax over Playtex was that the Playtex applicator wasn't flushable.

Tampax applicators are flushable? :dubious: Now those I'll pitch--even the cardboard ones. 'Cause to me, there's a huge difference between "blob of cotton" and "solid tube."

But this post is really to congratulate Guns on her first pitting!

Thank you, thank you! Bows all around.

I can't believe this is Guns' first posting.

Right?!

It just seems weird that Shot is so insistent on flushing unless told otherwise when it seems most logical that NOT flushing should be default. It takes so little effort not to flush them that I'm really not getting why anyone would.

Flushing is the most clean, hygenic, and efficient option. Throwing away the tampon means (a) wasting a bunch of toilet paper to wrap it up and (b) disposing of bodily waste fluids in a receptacle where they're probably going to sit for at least a few hours, if not days. And that's if there's a can--which usually there is, but not always. When I think of someone throwing away a tampon, I think of Phil Hartman's anal-retentive chef sketch from SNL. It's a waste of time when it's not necessary. Which, as far as I'm concerned, it's not, unless you take five fucking seconds (or less than that, if you average out the time it takes to make a sign across the total number of women who will read it) to tell me that your system can't handle tampons.

Guns serves up more snark before breakfast than you have in your entire life.

Man, if I were the signature-having type... :D

[Anaamika]

I can't believe this is Guns' first posting. Hell, I got pitted for a throwaway comment in an IMHO thread, and Guns is way snarkier than I am. ;)



Guns serves up more snark before breakfast than you have in your entire life. I can't imagine why you would be pitted, but congrats!

I try not to be snarky on this website. :) Really, I try to limit my snarkiness in general - it just isn't my way.

I was pitted for saying "organized religion is worse than organized crime", in an IMO thread. And I didn't see it for like three days - so by then the Pitting was just about over.

As for the flushing, whatever. I am simply not going to carry my bloody tampon out of the stall/bathroom. You can rant and rave and complain all you want. I am just not going to do it. I try and be a good human being and work with the Earth and all that but I certainly do have my limits, and you've come upon one of them...you want me not to flush? Make sure I have a garbage right there. Also, make sure it's not overflowing.

Luckily most of the time there are those metal bins stuck to the walls right inside the stall.

[MeanOldLady]

Look, if your jeans don't fit like this (http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/NationalWholesale/9854_main?$Product$), you are clearly a skank-ass ho who paints her jeans on, ok?You, ma'am, are hilarious.

I can't believe this is Guns' first posting. Hell, I got pitted for a throwaway comment in an IMHO thread, and Guns is way snarkier than I am. ;)That's 'cause bitches was scared! And they should have been.

[Shot From Guns]

Yay, MOL is here!

If I ever win a Pulitzer, I'm hoping this is what the award ceremony will be like.

[Bosstone]

Man, I was all excited when I heard Guns had her first pitting. Then I discovered it was the thread whose title I'd been studiously avoiding the past several days.

You suck, gaffa.

[Sateryn76]

How is it different? I use tampons and I don't really see a difference. Usually I just put the applicator in the wrapper of the new tampon and toss it out if there's no bin in the stall. I've heard women go on about how it's so messy and hard to wrap up a tampon but I've wrapped up saturated tampons, and it's really not rocket science.

I use Tampax, with a cardboard applicator, which gets flushed along with the tampon. It's thin-ish cardboard, and starts getting mushy the minute you get it wet.

What about women who use OB? Nothing there to throw away at all.

[Freudian Slit]

OK, but for women who do have a plastic applicator, I don't see the big difference. When they're all wrapped up in tiny bundles, there's no difference. If anything, the tampon looks smaller when it's wrapped than the hard plastic applicator.

[needscoffee]

If we all stopped flushing tampons and condoms and kittens, wouldn't that take away a big chunk of their business? Why do you hate plumbers? ;)

As someone said above, as long as I can help it, I try not to change my tampon in a strange place. And, some people may have issues with it, but in my whole tampon-wearing life, in every house and apartment I've lived in, we've never had to call a plumber for tampon clogs. The only plumber we ever had to call was to find out there was an old weeping willow root system that took out the toilet in my childhood house, and the only plunging we've had to do was for the kids, when they've used too much TP.

I'm not some delicate flower - I've installed toilets myself. But, based on years and years of tampon flushing, I've not had a problem. Among my friends and loved ones, I don't know of any raging plumbing clog problems.

Maybe you're used to shitty (ha!) plumbing, but I've been lucky enough not to have to deal with it. That makes it very hard to see the value in carrying plastic bags and moist towelettes, in addition to several extra tampons and pads, and going through some complicated process when I can flush them. I am always aware of the possibility of septic homes, and when I don't feel comfortable enough to ask, I just don't change anything.Yet you said that office couldn't handle it and specifically posted a warning not to flush, (therefore DID have a problem with it) which you ignored???

[Shot From Guns]

Man, I was all excited when I heard Guns had her first pitting. Then I discovered it was the thread whose title I'd been studiously avoiding the past several days.

Bloooody taaampoooooons! Blooooooooody taaaaaaaaaaaampoooooooons! OoooOOOOOOOOoOOOOOO! :D

[Bosstone]

Man, I was all excited when I heard Guns had her first pitting. Then I discovered it was the thread whose title I'd been studiously avoiding the past several days.

Bloooody taaampoooooons! Blooooooooody taaaaaaaaaaaampoooooooons! OoooOOOOOOOOoOOOOOO! :DThere are some things a guy should know better than to stick his nose into.

[needscoffee]

How can people can claim that because their tampon package says go ahead and flush, it's fine, and they can ignore everyone else who says it's not so based on experience? I suppose they also believe that Frosted Flakes are part of a balanced diet and sugar gives you energy and BP is looking out for your best interests. Even if it doesn't clog the pipes in the home, it will end up clogging the municipal works, which has been confirmed by an engineer.

[Nzinga, Seated]

What about women who use OB? Nothing there to throw away at all.

Great. Now that OB jingle is stuck in my head for the whole day.

[Sateryn76]

If we all stopped flushing tampons and condoms and kittens, wouldn't that take away a big chunk of their business? Why do you hate plumbers? ;)

As someone said above, as long as I can help it, I try not to change my tampon in a strange place. And, some people may have issues with it, but in my whole tampon-wearing life, in every house and apartment I've lived in, we've never had to call a plumber for tampon clogs. The only plumber we ever had to call was to find out there was an old weeping willow root system that took out the toilet in my childhood house, and the only plunging we've had to do was for the kids, when they've used too much TP.

I'm not some delicate flower - I've installed toilets myself. But, based on years and years of tampon flushing, I've not had a problem. Among my friends and loved ones, I don't know of any raging plumbing clog problems.

Maybe you're used to shitty (ha!) plumbing, but I've been lucky enough not to have to deal with it. That makes it very hard to see the value in carrying plastic bags and moist towelettes, in addition to several extra tampons and pads, and going through some complicated process when I can flush them. I am always aware of the possibility of septic homes, and when I don't feel comfortable enough to ask, I just don't change anything.Yet you said that office couldn't handle it and specifically posted a warning not to flush, (therefore DID have a problem with it) which you ignored???

Good point - I forgot about that. Yes, my old office had to call the plumber about a clog, which were in part caused by tampons.

In a building with 8 women and only 4 toilets - which is a pretty high ratio. ( I have read that in city public places with 5 or more toilets, it can be safely assumed that the pipe diameter is sufficient to allow tampon flushing.)

[DiosaBellissima]

One of the advantages of Tampax over Playtex was that the Playtex applicator wasn't flushable.

Yeah, just yesterday, I was buying some tampons for the future and noticed that the box I picked up said in a big fancy looking thing on the front, "NOW WITH FLUSHABLE APPLICATOR!" Of course, when I looked closer, I saw it was just a stupid cardboard applicator (Dear sirs: I do not need anything going all limp and useless in my vagina. Thanks.). So, I got the plastic ones (which I do not flush, btw).

[Folly]

I'm reading this thread while eating Stouffers Lasagna.

(I knew I should have been a surgeon)

[Shot From Guns]

How can people can claim that because their tampon package says go ahead and flush, it's fine, and they can ignore everyone else who says it's not so based on experience?

Why is their experience of it not working more valid than my experience of it working? They haven't flushed tampons in my home or in my office skyscraper or apartment building or in my neighborhood.

Here's another anecdote for you (http://ask.metafilter.com/86818/To-flush-or-not-to-flush):

The bins in washrooms are for plastic applicators, used pads, and the god knows how many pieces of plastic wrapping that period products come housed in. Flushing pads is like flushing a diaper, but flushing tampons is fine if not on a septic system. Municipal water systems are designed to sift through all the shit that comes down the pipes - including all kinds of stuff that people flush that isn't waste - condoms, toilet paper, tissues, paper towels, baby wipes, and all kinds of other crazy stuff. I have done tours of water treatment centers and while the workers there noted all the debris that came with the wastewater, I've been told on more than one occasion that flushing tampons is fine. It's the rest of it - the applicators, the plastic wrappers, or even pads, which cause problems.

While reducing on an individual basis is admirable, tampons are not the worst thing getting introduced into the water system. People will blame tampons on problems that have more to do with outdated, poor plumbing and pipes than anything else. I think it's far more sensible to upgrade old plumbing in public buildings than to rely on what is frankly a not terribly hygenic solution - having women discard blood waste (what would in any other context require a red biohazard waste container for proper disposal) into an open, unclean, and usually overflowing container full of other people's blood waste products.

[Unauthorized Cinnamon]

Tampax applicators are flushable? :dubious: Now those I'll pitch--even the cardboard ones. 'Cause to me, there's a huge difference between "blob of cotton" and "solid tube."
Yup (http://www.tampax.com/en-US/products/tampaxflushablecardboard.aspx).

[DianaG]

Honestly, I'd think that the cardboard would break up faster than the cotton.

[DiosaBellissima]

Honestly, I'd think that the cardboard would break up faster than the cotton.

Especially considering it starts to break down the minute you insert it into your vagina to do its job. What? Me? Angry at bad experiences with cardboard applicators? NEVER! :p

[DianaG]

Heh. I've never used a cardboard applicator. Fuck the environment, this is my vagina we're talkin' about here. :D

[Broomstick]

So, what you're saying is that to protect your delicate sensibilities, or avoid getting blood on your hands, or whatever the issue is, you refuse to dispose of your tampons in a manner that won't involve some other human being having to unclog the plumbing. You'd force another human being to deal with raw sewage and your bloody tampon stuck down a pipe rather than wrap it up and ask where the garbage can is?

Yes. And I make no excuses for not being totally 100% comfortable with period blood. It is the way of things.

It's simple. Put a garbage bin in the bathroom, if you are worried.
Oh, rest assured - my home bathroom has, as I have a mentioned, a lined trash can with a self-closing lid. Should you ever be in my home feel free to make use of it.

Just don't flush anything other than bodily waste down my toilet.

[DiosaBellissima]

Heh. I've never used a cardboard applicator. Fuck the environment, this is my vagina we're talkin' about here. :D

My college used to have free tampons stocked in every bathroom on campus- which was great, especially for a poor college student who didn't want to squander money on tampons each month. That said, they of course stocked the el cheapo cardboard tampons, which I would always forget. Then I'd have no choice and be filled with rage at the free product that was so kindly given to me.

America: fuck yeah.

[Broomstick]

Translation: I wear ugly grandma pants, and so should you, you filthy harlot.
Actually, given my profession, it's more like ugly grandpa pants (I've yet to see Carhart in the women's department), but when I'm not being a butch contractor I do sometimes wear skirts or dresses which, believe it or not, don't show cameltoe or menstrual products through the fabric.

[torie]

I use pads most of the time (because I'm uh....small, and tampons large enough to handle my flow are uncomfortable.) and I've never had "fat crotch". I use a super thin overnight brand and I just put one on, put on my jeans, and inspected myself from all angles in the mirror. I couldn't see it. And I tried.

Seriously, modern pads are so thin and unobtrusive that I forget I'm wearing them most of the time? Where on earth are you guys buying pads?

[DiosaBellissima]

Translation: I wear ugly grandma pants, and so should you, you filthy harlot.
Actually, given my profession, it's more like ugly grandpa pants (I've yet to see Carhart in the women's department), but when I'm not being a butch contractor I do sometimes wear skirts or dresses which, believe it or not, don't show cameltoe or menstrual products through the fabric.

Well, of course a skirt doesn't show camel toe. Are you actually suggesting some do? Shit, I do wear tight mini skirts on occasion and you can't see much of my vulva at all, since the fabric doesn't bunch of there on a skirt like it does on pants. :confused:




Seriously, modern pads are so thin and unobtrusive that I forget I'm wearing them most of the time? Where on earth are you guys buying pads?

I don't buy pads period (see what I did there? ;)). But I think "fat crotch" comes from women who are wearing those big giant super mega pads for protection. Or maybe I'm wrong. It's just something I've noticed from time to time.

[Broomstick]

Flushing is the most clean, hygenic, and efficient option.
Uh, right - until a clog happens. There are a lot of words I'd used to describe a clogged or overflowing toilet. "Clean", "hygienic", and "efficient" are not among them. And a plumber charging hundreds of dollars to fix it isn't trivial. Neither is the repair bill for any "collateral" damage caused by flooding from overflows, which can run into the thousands of dollars.

And of course, delicate YOU will not be the one doing all the fixing, right? Because if you can't handle dealing with your own used tampon I sure as hell can't see you plunging a toilet, cleaning up raw sewage, snaking a piper, or replacing a pipe.

[Broomstick]

One of the advantages of Tampax over Playtex was that the Playtex applicator wasn't flushable.
Tampax applicators are flushable? :dubious: Now those I'll pitch--even the cardboard ones. 'Cause to me, there's a huge difference between "blob of cotton" and "solid tube."
Yes, Tampax cardboard applicators claim to be flushable. The instructions even say so. Put them in a bowl of water and they unwrap and dissolve over time, you can watch it happen.

Yeah, - difference between the "blob of cotton" and the "solid tube" is that the solid tube is the one that actually dissolves and the wad of cotton doesn't. I'm sorry if that seizes up any gears, but reality is a strange place at times.

[Nzinga, Seated]

I don't buy pads period (see what I did there? ;)). But I think "fat crotch" comes from women who are wearing those big giant super mega pads for protection. Or maybe I'm wrong. It's just something I've noticed from time to time.

One of the modern marvels of science is pads (and diapers). When I was 15, pads were fat, puffy montrosities that allowed your period to sit on top and look back at ya. Nowadays, pads are whispy slips that literally suck up your period through a space age 'dry weave' and when you go to change your pad, it is dry to the touch and appears 'clean' on top!! Very thin and absorbent. I don't know how they do it.

[DiosaBellissima]

I don't buy pads period (see what I did there? ;)). But I think "fat crotch" comes from women who are wearing those big giant super mega pads for protection. Or maybe I'm wrong. It's just something I've noticed from time to time.

One of the modern marvels of science is pads (and diapers). When I was 15, pads were fat, puffy montrosities that allowed your period to sit on top and look back at ya. Nowadays, pads are whispy slips that literally suck up your period through a space age 'dry weave' and when you go to change your pad, it is dry to the touch and appears 'clean' on top!! Very thin and absorbent. I don't know how they do it.

Witch craft.

Ok, maybe I'm just being judgmental and making assumptions about women who, in reality, really do just have fat crotches (ain't nothing wrong with that). I suppose I just assumed if there was a fat square on their hoot, it was a pad. I still think that, of course, but I'll be more open minded in the future :).

[Shot From Guns]

Especially considering it starts to break down the minute you insert it into your vagina to do its job. What? Me? Angry at bad experiences with cardboard applicators? NEVER! :p

Weird--I use cardboard applicators almost exclusively these days (though I used the plastic ones when I was younger), and I've never had them fall apart or buckle.

Actually, given my profession, it's more like ugly grandpa pants (I've yet to see Carhart in the women's department), but when I'm not being a butch contractor I do sometimes wear skirts or dresses which, believe it or not, don't show cameltoe or menstrual products through the fabric.

Are you fucking retarded? A miniskirt that barely makes it past your crotch wouldn't show a pad. We're talking about pants and your bizarre attitudes about what kinds are appropriate, attractive, and fasionable.

Seriously, modern pads are so thin and unobtrusive that I forget I'm wearing them most of the time? Where on earth are you guys buying pads?

1.) The kind they stock in ridiculously expensive dispensers--which is about the only time I'll wear them anymore--are usually the old thick kind, IME.

2.) Women whose flow is heavy enough that they have to back up a tampon with a pad usually can't get by with one of the ultrathin modern ones.

Uh, right - until a clog happens. There are a lot of words I'd used to describe a clogged or overflowing toilet. "Clean", "hygienic", and "efficient" are not among them. And a plumber charging hundreds of dollars to fix it isn't trivial. Neither is the repair bill for any "collateral" damage caused by flooding from overflows, which can run into the thousands of dollars.

And what's soooo haaaaaaaaaard about asking me not to flush a tampon (or posting a sign to that effect) at a location where that's likely to happen because you have shitty plumbing?

And of course, delicate YOU will not be the one doing all the fixing, right?

Nope, because my plumbing isn't so shit that it can't handle a fucking tampon.

Because if you can't handle dealing with your own used tampon I sure as hell can't see you plunging a toilet, cleaning up raw sewage, snaking a piper, or replacing a pipe.

Can and have plunged toilets and cleaned up raw sewage, though not frequently on the former 'cause I'm not a moron who flushes stupid things, and not since I moved out of my parents' houses on the latter, since I know how to stop a toilet that looks like it's about to overflow. I also, FWIW, have had a job that included cleaning a unisex bathroom (at a coffeeshop). Haven't snaked or replaced a pipe because I rent, and one of the privileges that comes with the exorbitant price I pay every month is that someone else does that for me. Short of the time they had to come help me remove the disposable-but-not-flushable cleaning thing I stupidly flushed without checking that it could be flushed, the only time my building's maintenance has had to come by was when I was having a problem that turned out to be something related to something being cracked and they replaced the whole damn thing. (I don't remember the details 'cause I was sick as a dog and spent most of the repair half-passed-out in my bed praying I didn't start puking again before they finished whatever they were doing.)

I can deal with my own bodily wastes. Because you're selectively illiterate, I'll remind you yet again that I can and do dispose of my tampons in garbage cans when specifically requested to do so because that location can't handle them. But, because I live in a civilized fucking country with modern fucking plumbing, I'm not going to wallow in them when I don't have to.

As far as I'm concerned, telling me that I should never flush tampons because some systems that are old, poorly designed, or in poor repair can't handle them is rather like insisting that all drivers should maintain 10 seconds of distance from other cars because if your brakes suck, it's going to take you longer to stop.

[Nzinga, Seated]

Witch craft.


Have I ever told you that you just kills me. You crack me up.

But, I don't doubt that there are women out there rocking some fatty pads. I was just hippin' you to the fact that there is some serious advances being made in the the slimmy pad area.

women who, in reality, really do just have fat crotches (ain't nothing wrong with that).

Now see, if I were the type to have a sig...

[DiosaBellissima]

Weird--I use cardboard applicators almost exclusively these days (though I used the plastic ones when I was younger), and I've never had them fall apart or buckle.

I have a very acidic vagina, it appears.


Witch craft.


Have I ever told you that you just kills me. You crack me up.

My acid vagina, too tight pants, and I are here to please, m'lady! :D

[Shot From Guns]

I have a very acidic vagina, it appears.

And the sig-quotable lines just keep coming.

[Zsofia]

Translation: I wear ugly grandma pants, and so should you, you filthy harlot.
Actually, given my profession, it's more like ugly grandpa pants (I've yet to see Carhart in the women's department), but when I'm not being a butch contractor I do sometimes wear skirts or dresses which, believe it or not, don't show cameltoe or menstrual products through the fabric.
Carhart does make women's clothes.

I have nothing to add to the tampon discussion, but I noticed that the last time I was in Sportsman's Warehouse. :)

[Anaamika]

How can people can claim that because their tampon package says go ahead and flush, it's fine, and they can ignore everyone else who says it's not so based on experience? I suppose they also believe that Frosted Flakes are part of a balanced diet and sugar gives you energy and BP is looking out for your best interests. Even if it doesn't clog the pipes in the home, it will end up clogging the municipal works, which has been confirmed by an engineer.

It's not that. It's more like, we should listen to the so-called experts, or a bunch of random people on the Internet? (Not that I am saying Tampax knows all, but you get my drift). I am still not fully convinced that flushing them is going to destroy non-septic systems but I am willing to error on the side of caution...but I don't know, I don't really listen to the Internet for advice on everything! I try and listen to every side and figure it out myself. In this case, it makes sense to err on the side of caution when I can.

And I haven't noticed that about pads, at all, Nzinga. Yes, I know they are supposed to do that, but the last time I used pads, which was about two years ago (it was on a whim) I found the exact same, disgusting thing - the blood just sits on top and stares at you and goes nowhere.

[Cat Whisperer]

I can't believe this is Guns' first posting. Hell, I got pitted for a throwaway comment in an IMHO thread, and Guns is way snarkier than I am. ;)



Guns serves up more snark before breakfast than you have in your entire life. I can't imagine why you would be pitted, but congrats!



Guns serves up more snark before breakfast than you have in your entire life. I can't imagine why you would be pitted, but congrats!

I try not to be snarky on this website. :) Really, I try to limit my snarkiness in general - it just isn't my way.

I was pitted for saying "organized religion is worse than organized crime", in an IMO thread. And I didn't see it for like three days - so by then the Pitting was just about over.<snip>

Man, I was all excited when I heard Guns had her first pitting. Then I discovered it was the thread whose title I'd been studiously avoiding the past several days.

You suck, gaffa.I got pitted for being a big, fat racist. Beat that, bitches.

[heatmiserfl]

TMI!

Here's a question...on heavy days, your hands can get messy just changing and flushing the tampon. At home, I can lean over to the sink and rinse my fingers. In a public stall...???

I have wrapped my tampons, but thankfully it was at my sister's house (septic system) and I could lean into the sink to rinse. I have no idea what I would do in a stall.

I can wipe my fingers with the .5 micron-ply toilet paper, but blood stinks under the nails. How do I pull up my pants and go to the sink with a bunch of blood on my hands? Do you want that touching your stall doors?

I always flush. Sorry guys, but my periods are too heavy to dick around with that kind of stress.
Have you considered the zip-lock bag mentioned previously? Treat it like dog shit

open the bag
grasp the bottom of the bag with one hand
fold the rest back over your fingers
pull tampon out with your nicely plastic-covered fingers
pull bag closed
zip bag shut
throw bag in trash


Seems easy enough.

Yeah, why is this considered difficult? Instead of a bag, I use a little toilet paper. We have signs not to flush tampons. I would definitely clog the pipes in my house. Even too much toilet paper clogs but it rips up much easier than a tampon. I've never flushed a tampon. I thought no one did for obvious reasons.

[Sateryn76]

Have you considered the zip-lock bag mentioned previously? Treat it like dog shit

open the bag
grasp the bottom of the bag with one hand
fold the rest back over your fingers
pull tampon out with your nicely plastic-covered fingers
pull bag closed
zip bag shut
throw bag in trash


Seems easy enough.

Yeah, why is this considered difficult? Instead of a bag, I use a little toilet paper. We have signs not to flush tampons. I would definitely clog the pipes in my house. Even too much toilet paper clogs but it rips up much easier than a tampon. I've never flushed a tampon. I thought no one did for obvious reasons.

It's not hard, its messy and sometimes smelly, and sometimes you get a stall/bathroom that doesn't have the needed materials, like a garbage can or toilet paper that is able to stand up to Day 2 of my period. It's like a slaughterhouse in there, sometimes.

[purplehorseshoe]

How can people can claim that because their tampon package says go ahead and flush, it's fine, and they can ignore everyone else who says it's not so based on experience? I suppose they also believe that Frosted Flakes are part of a balanced diet and sugar gives you energy and BP is looking out for your best interests. Even if it doesn't clog the pipes in the home, it will end up clogging the municipal works, which has been confirmed by an engineer.

It's not that. It's more like, we should listen to the so-called experts, or a bunch of random people on the Internet? (Not that I am saying Tampax knows all, but you get my drift). I am still not fully convinced that flushing them is going to destroy non-septic systems but I am willing to error on the side of caution...but I don't know, I don't really listen to the Internet for advice on everything! I try and listen to every side and figure it out myself. In this case, it makes sense to err on the side of caution when I can.

And I haven't noticed that about pads, at all, Nzinga. Yes, I know they are supposed to do that, but the last time I used pads, which was about two years ago (it was on a whim) I found the exact same, disgusting thing - the blood just sits on top and stares at you and goes nowhere.

If your blood is staring at you, you may have bigger problems than flushing vs. not flushing. Please see a doctor about your eyeballfull blood. That just can't be normal, and may be a symptom of something.

[MOIDALIZE]

Perhaps I can suggest a compromise. (http://www.phototravels.net/japan/sumo/japan-sumo-p-68.3.jpg)

[DiosaBellissima]

Perhaps I can suggest a compromise. (http://www.phototravels.net/japan/sumo/japan-sumo-p-68.3.jpg)

I am mortified. Where did you get that picture of me in my tight pants? Broomstick took it when she saw me, didn't she? :mad: :dubious: :(

[DianaG]

Oh great, now we're gonna have to have another waxing thread, aren't we? :(

[purplehorseshoe]

We do once your leg hair starts staring back at you.

[DiosaBellissima]

We do once your leg hair starts staring back at you.

Don't judge me!!!!!!

[torie]

1.) The kind they stock in ridiculously expensive dispensers--which is about the only time I'll wear them anymore--are usually the old thick kind, IME.

2.) Women whose flow is heavy enough that they have to back up a tampon with a pad usually can't get by with one of the ultrathin modern ones.

1. Oh no, those suck. They usually don't even have the wings. I go to Big Lots or another one of the discount stores near me and get the new modern fancy super ultra mega suck uppy weave ones on the cheap.

2. I have no frame of reference for how heavy my period is compared to others, but I think mine is pretty hardcore and I do ok with a pad. Granted, I'm changing it every 3 hours on the first couple of days, but they work ok for me. On the latter days, I can use the small tampons and I'm comfortable.

[torie]

And I haven't noticed that about pads, at all, Nzinga. Yes, I know they are supposed to do that, but the last time I used pads, which was about two years ago (it was on a whim) I found the exact same, disgusting thing - the blood just sits on top and stares at you and goes nowhere.

Some brands do it better than others. I'm using Stayfree Super Long Ultra Dry Weave somethingorother and it sucks everything up so fast. Keeps it away from my skin, which is nice. The Kotex ones in the fancy packages and fun colors SUCK for that, though.

[Nzinga, Seated]

Some brands do it better than others. I'm using Stayfree Super Long Ultra Dry Weave somethingorother and it sucks everything up so fast. Keeps it away from my skin, which is nice. The Kotex ones in the fancy packages and fun colors SUCK for that, though.

Right. You mentioned lack of wings, but Always ultra thin with wings has the patented dry weave technology (yes I did just say that) and they are awesome. They also have the superlong overnight ones.

[pepperlandgirl]

It strikes me that anyone who's concerned for their plumbing should have a waste receptacle next to the toilet.

What the fuck difference would that make? The person being pitted, and others like her, have explicitly said they would not use a trash can, they have to flush the tampon because they're periods are just too icky and menstrual blood might get on their fingers for a few seconds before they can wash it off. Having an alternative option for disposal isn't even an issue for them, they'd ignore it anyway.

[DiosaBellissima]

It strikes me that anyone who's concerned for their plumbing should have a waste receptacle next to the toilet.

What the fuck difference would that make? The person being pitted, and others like her, have explicitly said they would not use a trash can, they have to flush the tampon because they're periods are just too icky and menstrual blood might get on their fingers for a few seconds before they can wash it off. Having an alternative option for disposal isn't even an issue for them, they'd ignore it anyway.

No, like one or two people said that. Even the subject of the pitting said she'd throw it in the trash if the establishment indicated that request. The rest of us all agreed that as long as there are sufficient places for disposal, we'll be happy to do it. Shit, even though I was a flusher because the package said so (but admittedly rethinking that), I'd still chuck it in a can if it was there.

[Guinastasia]

One of the modern marvels of science is pads (and diapers). When I was 15, pads were fat, puffy montrosities that allowed your period to sit on top and look back at ya. Nowadays, pads are whispy slips that literally suck up your period through a space age 'dry weave' and when you go to change your pad, it is dry to the touch and appears 'clean' on top!! Very thin and absorbent. I don't know how they do it.

Witch craft.

Ok, maybe I'm just being judgmental and making assumptions about women who, in reality, really do just have fat crotches (ain't nothing wrong with that). I suppose I just assumed if there was a fat square on their hoot, it was a pad. I still think that, of course, but I'll be more open minded in the future :).


Nope, I use regular pads, and you cannot tell. Even the overnights (which only wear -- duh, overnight -- aren't any thicker -- they just cover more area)


Plastic applicators? Eeeep!!! I tried those once, and they pinched like HELL.

Just as an aside, I remember when I was in high school (I graduated in '96), our school nurse stocked the dispensors with the REALLY old-fashioned kind of pads. You know, the ones with the safety pins and needed a "belt" to use them? I found that out the hardway my first week there. Stupid nurse. :rolleyes:

[Freudian Slit]

Plastic applicators pinch you? What exactly are they pinching? I think I've only use cardboard applicators once and I don't remember how it was. But you'd think plastic would slide in much more easily than cardboard.

[Guinastasia]

Plastic applicators pinch you? What exactly are they pinching? I think I've only use cardboard applicators once and I don't remember how it was. But you'd think plastic would slide in much more easily than cardboard.

Well I haven't used tampons in years, so maybe I wasn't using them right. But obviously, they pinched my vaginal region. I was just a teenager when I tried to use those ones. Ever after if I used a tampon, it was a cardboard applicator.

[Sateryn76]

I prefer the cardboard because of the shape of the tampon itself - the ones that "flower open" usually make me feel like maybe they opened too much when I take them out.

I actually wear the ultra long, night time pads during the day. I get so paranoid about leaks that they rarely get more than a spot, but they make me feel safe.

Wow - we have 3 and 4 page threads about douching and tampons! Go Doper Girls!

[Zsofia]

Plastic applicators pinch you? What exactly are they pinching? I think I've only use cardboard applicators once and I don't remember how it was. But you'd think plastic would slide in much more easily than cardboard.

Well I haven't used tampons in years, so maybe I wasn't using them right. But obviously, they pinched my vaginal region. I was just a teenager when I tried to use those ones. Ever after if I used a tampon, it was a cardboard applicator.
No, I've had that too - it's the little slits at the top. I prefer cardboard for this reason.

[Little Plastic Ninja]

Man, your aim must suck. :p

I flushed 'em in high school because my best friend pointed out to me where it said you totally could, but Mom set me straight. For a while I just didn't flush them at home, but nowadays I mostly just pull, wrap, throw away.

It's just that you have to be aware. Dudes don't memorize their workplace bathrooms so that they know which stall's garbage can got knocked off and never replaced, which bathroom is ALWAYS ALWAYS out of toilet paper, which is closest to the sink for rapid embarrassed handwashing. Men don't understand waiting until the rest of the bathroom is empty so you can wash off the hands that look like you were gutting chickens.

To this day I believe that women who faint at the sight of blood are damn well faking it. You'd get concussions every month.

Pads: it kind of depends. On really heavy days, tampons make me cramp unbelievably, but blood gets EVERYWHERE. Even wearing the wonderful long pads with wings, if it's a really bad day. So: supplemented with a tampon changed every three hours, give or take, unless I want to be preoccupied with my coochie all day long.

[Shot From Guns]

I have no frame of reference for how heavy my period is compared to others, but I think mine is pretty hardcore and I do ok with a pad. Granted, I'm changing it every 3 hours on the first couple of days, but they work ok for me.

A pad that you change every three hours isn't that heavy, compared to some of the women here, who do shit like one to two of the heaviest tampons backed up with one of the heaviest/longest pads and still change that shit every hour. (It usually comes up in discussions about things like hysterectomies and endometrial ablation.)

The person being pitted, and others like her, have explicitly said they would not use a trash can

Are you retarded, or just illiterate? Here's a whole string of quotes for you:

If you have a septic tank and/or pipes that can't handle them, it's your job to warn me, at which point I'll politely dispose of them in whatever way you request (by default, wrapped in toilet paper and deposited in the trash).
In an emergency situation, I treat them like tampons--if I'm asked to dispose of those in a wastebin, I do the same with anything else that isn't toilet paper or bodily wastes.
Anybody who doesn't want me to flush my tampon menstrual waste had damn well better request it.
I said that because they don't break down like toilet paper, they should be treated like tampons--i.e., pitched in the garbage if there's a notice not to flush anything other than bodily wastes and TP, or flushed if there isn't one. [...] If a sewer system can't handle anything but bodily wastes and TP, they need to make that clear for that system. Otherwise, I'm flushing reasonable things like tampons, small amounts of tissue or paper towels in an emergency, etc.
And, like I've said repeatedly, I have no problem disposing of my tampons in the trash if you explicitly tell me it's a problem for that area.
Anyone who continues to flush tampons in a bathroom where (a) they've been told, either personally or through signage, that the toilet/plumbing/septic tank can't handle tampons and (b) there is a receptacle provided to dispose of them in is being very rude.

And here's another highly relevant one you probably missed:

You know what I just did? I called the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (http://v3.mmsd.com/ContactUs.aspx). I was connected to a very nice man there named Bill Graffin (414-225-2077 is his direct dial, he tells me) who was kind enough to speak with me for a few minutes and answer my questions. I told him that I was having a debate with someone as to whether or not "flushable" tampons are actually flushable, or whether they will cause clogs or damage the system in some way. His response--and I quote--was that they are "not an issue." Not. An. Issue. For the local systems, he said, maybe, and in the laterals, but our sewers are bigger and deeper and they cause no problems there.

So I'm going to go right on ahead gleefully flushing my tampons at any location that doesn't make the minimal amount of effort necessary to inform me if their toilets and/or connection to the main lines (laterals) can't handle tampons.

That's right, bitch. You just got fucking owned.

[Anaamika]

Oh. Little Plastic Ninja is a girl ninja. Right! Anyway:



To this day I believe that women who faint at the sight of blood are damn well faking it. You'd get concussions every month.



Not true. There is an incredibly vast difference in the type and flow of blood. Blood coming from my vagina - whatever. Last month I chopped a chunk off my thumb with the motherfucking food processor blade - I had just gotten the damn thing, and was washing the blade after my first use, and seriously, it just touched my thumb and a small chunk was lopped off.

It bled and bled and bled and I admit feeling a little light-headed seeing all of that blood pouring out of me. There wasn't even an opening to the wound, just a piece of skin, missing.

It's the essential difference between period=normal and blood gushing from open wound=not normal, something's wrong.

[kaylasdad99]

I've always thought of myself as a fairly sophisticated adult, able to deal with the fact that human animals have bodily functions, and that the casual discussion of those functions is not a big deal.

And now, after reading this thread, I find myself wanting to crouch in a corner, like Barbra Streisand in Nuts. I'd like to thank you all for the reality check.

Admins, can we have a Pit forum for girly-bits related subjects, please? Pretty please?

Also, WOW, thanks for making me feel like my completely normal bodily functions are disgusting. You win a gold star today.Hmm. Well, under the circumstances, I guess there's only one thing I can say to that.

I apologize, Electric Warrior. While I did have my tongue in my cheek when I wrote that post, I was also aware of the possibility that the post would come across as insensitive and loutish. And I went ahead and posted it anyway. It turns out that I did come across as insensitive and loutish, and I sincerely regret that.

Please let this be the end of the matter between you and me. I will endeavor to exercise more restraint in the future.

[Nzinga, Seated]

I apologize, Electric Warrior. While I did have my tongue in my cheek when I wrote that post, I was also aware of the possibility that the post would come across as insensitive and loutish. And I went ahead and posted it anyway. It turns out that I did come across as insensitive and loutish, and I sincerely regret that.

Please let this be the end of the matter between you and me. I will endeavor to exercise more restraint in the future.

Man, I've always been a sucker for a well-worded, classy-ass apology. I mean, you said nothing to offend me, but that apology was butter smooth.

[kaylasdad99]

I appreciate your kind words, Nzinga, Seated. :)

[Shot From Guns]

While I did have my tongue in my cheek when I wrote that post, I was also aware of the possibility that the post would come across as insensitive and loutish. And I went ahead and posted it anyway. It turns out that I did come across as insensitive and loutish, and I sincerely regret that.

Seriously? Get the hell out of my Pit.

Joking. ... Maybe. :D

[bathsheba]

And now, after reading this thread, I find myself wanting to crouch in a corner, like Barbra Streisand in Nuts.

I had the same reaction after I clicked on the ugly grandma pants link.

[Cat Whisperer]

And now, after reading this thread, I find myself wanting to crouch in a corner, like Barbra Streisand in Nuts.

I had the same reaction after I clicked on the ugly grandma pants link.
I *wear* ugly grandma pants, and I thought those were hideous.

[PookahMacPhellimey]

Maybe this belongs in the "which things are better in Europe" thread, but I just checked and the leaflet that came with my OB tampons (normal, without applicator) states:

"Please dispose used tampons with household waste and do not flush".

I cannot remember any public establishment in Europe being with a bin, unless perhaps the loo at a nightclub or festival at 3 a.m.

I can manage some kind of understanding for the flushers if there's no bin, though I personally still wouldn't flush. However, if there is a bin but you're so worried about your own bodily fluids that you can't even manage to get a tampon from your vagina into a nearby bin, honestly, that's a bit ridiculous.

[Hazle Weatherfield]

Maybe this belongs in the "which things are better in Europe" thread, but I just checked and the leaflet that came with my OB tampons (normal, without applicator) states:

"Please dispose used tampons with household waste and do not flush".

I cannot remember any public establishment in Europe being with a bin, unless perhaps the loo at a nightclub or festival at 3 a.m.

I can manage some kind of understanding for the flushers if there's no bin, though I personally still wouldn't flush. However, if there is a bin but you're so worried about your own bodily fluids that you can't even manage to get a tampon from your vagina into a nearby bin, honestly, that's a bit ridiculous.

Have you seen what comes out of me? THAT's ridiculous. There is no way for me to make it from A to B without creating a complete mess! Not even kidding. I can't be the only one, can I? Picture trying to carry a wet t-bag across the kitchen...and then multiply it by...well, a LOT! Oh, and don't wring it out, first. Then imagine the consistency/tenacity of blot and clots. I could try to make it to that little bin, but it would not be pretty; and toilet paper is not sufficient to clean up the mess I'd make. Seriously.

[PookahMacPhellimey]

But say, as it does in Europe, that it said Do Not Flush on the packaging. And suppose that, since it says that, it does clog up the pipes. Would you still refuse to put it in a bin which is inside the cubicle?* And pipes be damned?

*I've realised my post was slightly badly phrased. Ridiculousness only applies in the scenario where bin is inside the cubicle, no walking required.

[Broomstick]

Maybe this belongs in the "which things are better in Europe" thread, but I just checked and the leaflet that came with my OB tampons (normal, without applicator) states:

"Please dispose used tampons with household waste and do not flush".

I cannot remember any public establishment in Europe being with a bin, unless perhaps the loo at a nightclub or festival at 3 a.m.
The thing is, I've lived in the US for over 45 years now and I'm having trouble recalling being in a public toilet without a bin of some sort. Aside from remote rural airstrips and the few occasions I've been forced to use men's toilets I can't recall that happening. Sometimes the bin is placed so as to be out of direct view when one is seated, but searching around usually reveals the location.

The one occasion I can distinctly remember no bin was in a squat toilet in Europe. Fortunately, I was not riding the rag at the time.

I don't know where these places are that don't have bins in the stalls.

[multimediac17]

[(Dear sirs: I do not need anything going all limp and useless in my vagina. Thanks.)

I know this is the pit and everything but I just have to say that I love you.

[Cinnaminnamon]

Huh. Not so much contributing to the debate as giving an alternative view: in New Zealand, every women's public bathroom everywhere is outfitted with Feminine Hygiene Product Disposal Bins, carefully designed plastic bins specifically designed for tampons and pads. They have special lids that don't directly expose the content of the bin to air, even when you're throwing your tampon away, and are filled with some kind of special chemical that disintegrates and deoderises the contents. The bins are set out, emptied and maintained by a separate company that deals specifically with the bins. Everyone uses them and nobody flushes anything except bodily waste and toilet paper. I have never used a public bathroom anywhere in NZ that didn't have a tampon/pad disposal bin.

This has made me confused about this thread. Are these bins not used in America? Or did I miss the part of the thread where they were mentioned?

At home, I wrap them in lots of tissue and put them in a plastic-bag lined rubbish bin. Every house I've ever visited had at least a small bin in the bathroom/toilet room for this purpose.

[PookahMacPhellimey]

The one occasion I can distinctly remember no bin was in a squat toilet in Europe.

Okay, let's not get into an argument about which continent or country is sloppiest about providing bins. Just remember children:

If there's a bin, put the tampon in.

Easy, isn't it?

[Lynn Bodoni]

The thing is, I've lived in the US for over 45 years now and I'm having trouble recalling being in a public toilet without a bin of some sort. Aside from remote rural airstrips and the few occasions I've been forced to use men's toilets I can't recall that happening. Sometimes the bin is placed so as to be out of direct view when one is seated, but searching around usually reveals the location. In at least states of the US, health codes require a bin in the women's room, or in any unisex toilet.

[Zsofia]

Yeah, but they're not like these magical New Zealand things - those things sound awesome!

[sleeping]

I can wipe my fingers with the .5 micron-ply toilet paper, but blood stinks under the nails. How do I pull up my pants and go to the sink with a bunch of blood on my hands? Do you want that touching your stall doors?

I always flush. Sorry guys, but my periods are too heavy to dick around with that kind of stress.

Here's an idea: bring a ziploc bag with you. When the time comes to remove the old tampon, put your hand in the ziploc bag and then invert it once you grab hold of the old tampon. Toss the bag in the trash. Tada, no blood on your hands.

[Broomstick]

The one occasion I can distinctly remember no bin was in a squat toilet in Europe.

Okay, let's not get into an argument about which continent or country is sloppiest about providing bins.
Didn't mean it that way - heck, the toilet was attached to a bar in a neighborhood built around 960 AD - it's not like I was expecting modern conveniences. That's why I brought my own toilet paper with me.

I'm still wondering about these binless women's public toilets that are claimed to exist here in the US. As I said, I don't recall seeing them.

[DiosaBellissima]

I'm still wondering about these binless women's public toilets that are claimed to exist here in the US. As I said, I don't recall seeing them.

Yup- I and the others totally made those experiences up.

[Broomstick]

Hey, just because I personally didn't have those experiences doesn't mean they didn't happen.

I shared where I encountered binless toilets - I don't doubt they exist, it's just that I've very rarely encountered one.

SO... where did you encounter public women's toilets that lacked bins? I'm curious.

[DiosaBellissima]

Hey, just because I personally didn't have those experiences doesn't mean they didn't happen.

I shared where I encountered binless toilets - I don't doubt they exist, it's just that I've very rarely encountered one.

SO... where did you encounter public women's toilets that lacked bins? I'm curious.

I believe I said earlier (though, perhaps, it was in the other thread) that the most common place I encounter this problem is at various points along the drive from where I live and Las Vegas (a drive I make every two weeks). It's the 58 East to the 15, all the way into Nevada. While some of the official rest stops are actually very nice, many of the gas stations and fast food joints are less than equipped. Granted, I don't stop at every place every time :D, but when I think of this problem, that drive is definitely where I encounter it more frequently than not.

[fessie]

Tampons aren't flushable? Really? I never knew. I thought those signs in public bathrooms referred to pads and plastic applicators.

And I'm not aware of causing any plumbing incidents in the past 32 years. At least, not as a result of my Monthly Joyride (currently coming to a close - funny that I'm just now getting the memo on this issue).

OTOH, though, I've clogged my Mom's toilet several times. She has that extra fluffy, extra-puffy, love-your-tushy toilet paper with ridges and ruffles and goose-down feathers. Whoa nelly!

[Vision of Love]

Well I haven't used tampons in years, so maybe I wasn't using them right. But obviously, they pinched my vaginal region. I was just a teenager when I tried to use those ones. Ever after if I used a tampon, it was a cardboard applicator.
No, I've had that too - it's the little slits at the top. I prefer cardboard for this reason.

I thought I was alone in this!! I use the cardboard applicators for this reason.

[zweisamkeit]

Hey, just because I personally didn't have those experiences doesn't mean they didn't happen.

I shared where I encountered binless toilets - I don't doubt they exist, it's just that I've very rarely encountered one.

SO... where did you encounter public women's toilets that lacked bins? I'm curious.

Has anyone ever told you that you are really good at passive aggressive bitchiness?

[Peeta Mellark]

I am confused and want to ask questions...and yet I fear.

[DiosaBellissima]

Am I the only one who laughs every time this thread title pops up? Lack of comma and all that? No? Just me? Ok, I'll be over in my corner :(.

[Peeta Mellark]

You could add a comma and a semicolon.

"Don't flush; tampons, you moron!"

[Folly]

You could add a comma and a semicolon.

"Don't flush; tampons, you moron!"

needs a period...

[Shot From Guns]

Are these bins not used in America?

No. The majority of them are just a simple metal or plastic container with a hinged lid--either the hinged-at-one-side lift-up kind or the hinged-in-the-middle swinging kind. Or there's no lid at all.

Has anyone ever told you that you are really good at passive aggressive bitchiness?

Bwaaaaaaaaahahahahaha.

needs a period...

Don't. Flush tampons, you moron!

[Peeta Mellark]

Don't? Flush tampons! You moron...

[torie]

Don't! Flush tampons? You moron!

[MeanOldLady]

Don't flush? Tampons, you moron!

[Cat Whisperer]

Don't flush! Tampons you, moron!

[Hazle Weatherfield]

I really, really heart you, Folly!

[jali]

I can't think of one public restroom I've used in the last 10 years that did not have a bin inside the stall.

I'm not trying to be bitchy, but seriously, where are these stalls?

[DiosaBellissima]

I can't think of one public restroom I've used in the last 10 years that did not have a bin inside the stall.

I'm not trying to be bitchy, but seriously, where are these stalls?

For the third time (I'm not trying to be bitchy, but seriously), most recently in post 130:



I believe I said earlier (though, perhaps, it was in the other thread) that the most common place I encounter this problem is at various points along the drive from where I live and Las Vegas (a drive I make every two weeks). It's the 58 East to the 15, all the way into Nevada. While some of the official rest stops are actually very nice, many of the gas stations and fast food joints are less than equipped. Granted, I don't stop at every place every time :D, but when I think of this problem, that drive is definitely where I encounter it more frequently than not.

[Shot From Guns]

Can't think of specifics because it hasn't happened recently (say, the past year or two), but I know there have been times where I've had to wander around outside a stall to try to find somewhere to dump trash, and/or looked around and thought, "Man, I'm glad I'm not on the rag right now" because there's no trashcan in sight. Also a problem in private residences with no women.

[DiosaBellissima]

Can't think of specifics because it hasn't happened recently (say, the past year or two), but I know there have been times where I've had to wander around outside a stall to try to find somewhere to dump trash, and/or looked around and thought, "Man, I'm glad I'm not on the rag right now" because there's no trashcan in sight. Also a problem in private residences with no women.

You can stop lying now.

[Bam Boo Gut]

[QUOTE=torie;12867604]

Always ultra thin with wings has the patented dry weave technology (yes I did just say that) and they are awesome. They also have the superlong overnight ones.

They braid your pubes as you sleep?

[Shot From Guns]

You can stop lying now.

I'm not even really a woman. I just like to feel pretty. :(

[DiosaBellissima]

You can stop lying now.

I'm not even really a woman. I just like to feel pretty. :(

And there is nothing that makes us feel more like the goddesses we are than gas station bathrooms in the middle of the desert.

[Nzinga, Seated]

I can't think of one public restroom I've used in the last 10 years that did not have a bin inside the stall.

I'm not trying to be bitchy, but seriously, where are these stalls?

I'm not trying to be bitchy,( I don't have to try, it's built in!) but I think some of you folks have never been to a slum!

[DiosaBellissima]

I can't think of one public restroom I've used in the last 10 years that did not have a bin inside the stall.

I'm not trying to be bitchy, but seriously, where are these stalls?

I'm not trying to be bitchy,( I don't have to try, it's built in!) but I think some of you folks have never been to a slum!

No shit. Any older, less affluent part of town--- if they even have a bathroom, it's pretty likely it wont have a trash can. Forget it if you're in the middle of nowhere. Granted, Starbucks always has a clean bathroom with a big ol' trashcan, so do most other chains.

Pop's Corner Store and Gas on Bumfuck Highway? Not so much.

[Cinnaminnamon]

Just so we're clear, when I was talking about the bins in NZ, these are the ones I was referring to:

Ones with a foot pedal so you don't have to touch the lid (http://2.imimg.com/data2/XW/OC/IMVENDOR-2020625/feminine-hygiene-bin-250x250.jpg)

This one opens by itself when you wave your hand over the top (http://www.simpson-services.co.uk/images/feminine-bin.jpg)

There's also one at my work where it's a tube and the lid is like a little separate compartment that you pull up, and when you push it down it empties into the bin below, so you only ever see the empty compartment. It's a pretty cool design. The hinged-lid ones are a double-hinge so that there's a platform you can put your tampon on, and if you open and close it really fast, the entrance is always sealed. If by chance the smell does escape, it's the overpowering stench of... deoderising perfume chemicals from whatever the fuck they have in there, I have no idea what it is.

I'm having a pretty hard time believing your public bathrooms don't have these. I assumed it was a developed-country thing. All of our gas stations are national chains so they all have them as well. The most remote place I can think of - like, a public toilet out next to the beach in some remote area that 3 people visit a year - it at least has a trash can, seriously.

[DiosaBellissima]

I'm having a pretty hard time believing your public bathrooms don't have these. I assumed it was a developed-country thing. All of our gas stations are national chains so they all have them as well. The most remote place I can think of - like, a public toilet out next to the beach in some remote area that 3 people visit a year - it at least has a trash can, seriously.

Again, you are completely correct: I fully made up that there are sometimes places without trash cans by the toilets. I wanted to impress you guys by being different, but I've clearly failed. :(



:rolleyes:

[zweisamkeit]

Bwaaaaaaaaahahahahaha.


Assuming this is because I'm also talented at passive aggressive bitchiness: I agree! :D Broomstick always seems to think either that she's not being bitchy or there's this wide eyed faux innocence that anyone could possibly think she was being bitchy. She's just SPEAKING THE TRUTH.

[Cinnaminnamon]

A-HA! It's true! You were all making it up all along, to justify not throwing your tampons away! It was all a huge coverup! LIES AND DECEIT!





Seriously though, that sucks that you guys don't get bins. Obviously if there isn't a bin there's no other options. How common is it, exactly? If I came to the US on my period and went to the movies and then used the bathrooms afterwards, and I guaranteed a place to dispose of my large sticky red lump?

[Nzinga, Seated]

Cinnaminnamon, let me give a disclaimer so that you don't think I am pulling your leg.

Not only do I not use tampons in the first place, but if I did, I would be perfectly willing to wrap it up and take it to a trash can, even if that trash can wasn't in the stall I was in. I say that first so that you don't think I am giving you a hard time out of a secret desire to flush tampons.

But that said, you are kidding me if you think those space-age high tech human waste recepticals you have linked to are common place here.

We we have in the stalls are little metal bins that hang on the wall. They are often pretty gross, but usually they are fine. Works fine to dispose of my pads. Then, outside the stalls there are regular trash cans with the swing door that you push open with your paper towl...no waving your hand over it. (I know those exist, but that is not what you find in your average Walmart or Target or whatever).

There are all kinds of places in the hood that have NOTHING. Soul food restaurants, corner stores, barber shops...lots of places.

[zweisamkeit]

Just so we're clear, when I was talking about the bins in NZ, these are the ones I was referring to:

Ones with a foot pedal so you don't have to touch the lid (http://2.imimg.com/data2/XW/OC/IMVENDOR-2020625/feminine-hygiene-bin-250x250.jpg)

This one opens by itself when you wave your hand over the top (http://www.simpson-services.co.uk/images/feminine-bin.jpg)

There's also one at my work where it's a tube and the lid is like a little separate compartment that you pull up, and when you push it down it empties into the bin below, so you only ever see the empty compartment. It's a pretty cool design. The hinged-lid ones are a double-hinge so that there's a platform you can put your tampon on, and if you open and close it really fast, the entrance is always sealed. If by chance the smell does escape, it's the overpowering stench of... deoderising perfume chemicals from whatever the fuck they have in there, I have no idea what it is.

I'm having a pretty hard time believing your public bathrooms don't have these. I assumed it was a developed-country thing. All of our gas stations are national chains so they all have them as well. The most remote place I can think of - like, a public toilet out next to the beach in some remote area that 3 people visit a year - it at least has a trash can, seriously.

Seriously, while I am in the "don't flush tampons!" camp, why is it so friggin' hard to believe there are some bathrooms that either don't have any trash can, don't have one in the stall at least, or the can is already full because no one empties it?

I've encountered the above a good amount of the time. It's not every damn restroom, no, but I'd peg it at... between 10-20% (if we include the "we have a nice 'feminine hygeine receptacle'... that hasn't been emptied since the Ford administration so if you want to try to put your stuff in it, you'd basically be shoving up against others' hoot seepings... ew")

And I'm jealous of these fancy automated tampon trashcans. I should move to NZ!

[DiosaBellissima]

Seriously though, that sucks that you guys don't get bins. Obviously if there isn't a bin there's no other options. How common is it, exactly? If I came to the US on my period and went to the movies and then used the bathrooms afterwards, and I guaranteed a place to dispose of my large sticky red lump?

What Nzinga, Seated said. Though I will say that the most common public restroom "stall trashcans" are either the little metal things she described (metal bucket hanging on the stall wall with a brown paper bag in it that may or may not have been changed recently-- may or may not have a lid) or something like this little white guy on the floor (http://www.billhusler.com/Photos/Trips/19990814%20Yellowstone%20trip/Columbia%20River%20Gorge/CRG%20Crown%20Point%20Bathroom.JPG) (what? You don't want to stick your hand in there? Why not??). Newer facilities usually look more like this (http://johnnytubesteak.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/public-restrooms.jpg) and have trashcans just fine.

If you're in the middle of no where, though, there may very well not be any type of trash can at all in the bathroom.

[Southern Yankee]

I can't think of one public restroom I've used in the last 10 years that did not have a bin inside the stall.

I'm not trying to be bitchy, but seriously, where are these stalls?

I'm not trying to be bitchy,( I don't have to try, it's built in!) but I think some of you folks have never been to a slum!

As the snow flies
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin'
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto
And his mama cries
'cause if there's one thing that she don't need
it's another hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto


Why, yes, I DID just want to have a post in this thread thank you.

[Cinnaminnamon]

Wow, ignorance fought here. I honestly thought these things were standard in all bathrooms.

[Broomstick]

Hey, just because I personally didn't have those experiences doesn't mean they didn't happen.

I shared where I encountered binless toilets - I don't doubt they exist, it's just that I've very rarely encountered one.

SO... where did you encounter public women's toilets that lacked bins? I'm curious.

Has anyone ever told you that you are really good at passive aggressive bitchiness?
Is it "passive aggressive bitchiness" to sincerely want to know where there are binless women's restrooms? Look, I have perhaps another decade of dealing with menstruation, I take long road trips a couple times a year - hell yes if there's a problem spot (such as the route DiosaBellissima mentioned) I want to know about it! Annoying enough if you are aware of the problem and can plan around it, it would REALLY piss me off to be surprised by it.

You're looking for animosity where it doesn't exist in this case.

[zweisamkeit]

Has anyone ever told you that you are really good at passive aggressive bitchiness?
Is it "passive aggressive bitchiness" to sincerely want to know where there are binless women's restrooms? Look, I have perhaps another decade of dealing with menstruation, I take long road trips a couple times a year - hell yes if there's a problem spot (such as the route DiosaBellissima mentioned) I want to know about it! Annoying enough if you are aware of the problem and can plan around it, it would REALLY piss me off to be surprised by it.

You're looking for animosity where it doesn't exist in this case.

No, I'm looking at your posting history as a whole, where I've seen you do this shit a lot. Apparently you aren't even aware you're doing it, but you often come off as excessively dramatic and overly emotional when debating something and your phrasing is often passive aggressive.

[Cinnaminnamon]

She does have a point, though - if tampon-flushers are arguing that they flush because there are no bins available, but the only places that don't have bins are slums, ghettos, and the hood, maybe you should just wait until you're not in one of those places. Slums and ghettos probably don't have the plumbing facilities designed to handle your tampon anyway.

That said, if the bins are all like the ones DiosaBellissima posted... Eww.

You guys should get the cool plastic bins.

[Nzinga, Seated]

Well, to be fair, I think I was the only one to mention the hood. As usual.

ETA: And you have to admit, Broomstick, it does sound a bit disingenuous to pretend that you want to know the areas on the nations highways and byways so that you can be prepared to skip them if you are ever on a road trip. I mean...you were just joking with that, right?

[DiosaBellissima]

She does have a point, though - if tampon-flushers are arguing that they flush because there are no bins available, but the only places that don't have bins are slums, ghettos, and the hood, maybe you should just wait until you're not in one of those places.

Not all of us have that luxury, but it's nice of you to suggest it. Trust me, I too wish there was a luxury (or, ya know, equipped) bathroom along the 5 hour drive I have to take four times a month, but alas- there is not. And I'm sure the folks in the hood wish they could pop out to suburbs to change their hoot plug, but that is't always a option. We make due, of course- I'm simply saying the assertion that every public bathroom in the whole wide world has a trashcan or tampon robot or whatever isn't true.

[Broomstick]

Well, to be fair, I think I was the only one to mention the hood. As usual.

ETA: And you have to admit, Broomstick, it does sound a bit disingenuous to pretend that you want to know the areas on the nations highways and byways so that you can be prepared to skip them if you are ever on a road trip. I mean...you were just joking with that, right?
No, I wasn't. I don't know how to convince all of you that I really want to know if there's a problem area to watch out for. I really do take long road trips a couple times a year and if I have to pack ziplock baggies to deal with menstrual waste I'd kinda like to know ahead of time so I can bring it into the stall with me, ya know?

As I mentioned, my experience with binless toilets has largely been remote rural airstrips (back in the days when I used to take really long trips). Knowing that, I packed not only any needed menstrual supplies but also my own damn toilet paper because it was a lot like camping at times. Why would I want to be any less prepared on the highway? But I am NOT flushing tampons down a toilet, I'll pack them out in a ziplock first because I think that's the right way to handle it.

Honestly, I don't ever recall stopping at either a highway rest stop, a gas station, or truck stop where the restrooms that were explicitly for women didn't have a bin. Even the unisex ones at least had a trash can. Maybe I've just been lucky. Maybe it's because with the gas stations and truck stops I tend to stop at certain chains and they're civilized. I don't know. It blows my mind that toilets lacking bins is in any way a chronic problem but given how many people have stated it I am at least open to changing my position.

As for being "passive-aggressive" -hey, if I'm really feeling bitchy I don't have a problem stating it up front. What I'm inclined to bitch about here is:

1) Clogged toilets that could have been prevented.
2) People who leave a filthy mess in the toilet - which I doesn't apply to anyone in this thread, but could be extended to asshat businesses that don't provide proper means of disposal for such things as used tampons, and don't empty the fucking garbage on a regular and frequent basis.

[Cinnaminnamon]

Not all of us have that luxury, but it's nice of you to suggest it. Trust me, I too wish there was a luxury (or, ya know, equipped) bathroom along the 5 hour drive I have to take four times a month, but alas- there is not. And I'm sure the folks in the hood wish they could pop out to suburbs to change their hoot plug, but that is't always a option. We make due, of course- I'm simply saying the assertion that every public bathroom in the whole wide world has a trashcan or tampon robot or whatever isn't true.


I'm not so much asserting that every public bathroom has a trashcan so much as assuming it. And I assumed incorrectly, I understand. Having grown up in a country where no bathroom does not have a bin, I find it hard to imagine a country at an equal level of development to mine not having one. To me it is on the same level as a bathroom not having a sink, or hand dryers/towels.

I would also consider having to take a 5 hour drive every week to be outside of an average person's experiences. And I don't know what people living in the hood would do with their blood-receptacle. I don't have an awesome tampon robot in my bathroom but I do have a little plastic bin lined with a plastic bag that I change after period week.

[Nzinga, Seated]

Broomstick, stop. Just stop for a minute and listen to me closely. When you typed the following phrase, (bolding mine); you were deadly serious? Tell me that again with a straight face, and I will let it go.

Look, I have perhaps another decade of dealing with menstruation, I take long road trips a couple times a year - hell yes if there's a problem spot (such as the route DiosaBellissima mentioned) I want to know about it! Annoying enough if you are aware of the problem and can plan around it, it would REALLY piss me off to be surprised by it.

Tell me that you meant that in all seriousness. Tell me that again. That you are implying that you will take note of the spots that Diosa notes on the nation's back roads and lonely highways so that you will be prepared just in case you happen to stop by those exact same Gas n' Go's.

My apologies in advance for giving you a hard time if that really is the case and you weren't just bustin' my chops.

[Bam Boo Gut]

30 years ago a public toilet in Bristol did not have a bin. Goody two shoes here wrapped her tampon in some toilet paper and put it in her pocket while the guys waited outside. Hitting the streets once more - it must have been around 1am - we were accosted by the police who asked us to turn out our pockets. I implored PC Plod not to unwrap, but he did - probably thinking I had a good stash of weed. Poor old Plod.

Do I win?

[Broomstick]

Broomstick, stop. Just stop for a minute and listen to me closely. When you typed the following phrase, (bolding mine); you were deadly serious? Tell me that again with a straight face, and I will let it go.

Look, I have perhaps another decade of dealing with menstruation, I take long road trips a couple times a year - hell yes if there's a problem spot (such as the route DiosaBellissima mentioned) I want to know about it! Annoying enough if you are aware of the problem and can plan around it, it would REALLY piss me off to be surprised by it.

Tell me that you meant that in all seriousness. Tell me that again. That you are implying that you will take note of the spots that Diosa notes on the nation's back roads and lonely highways so that you will be prepared just in case you happen to stop by those exact same Gas n' Go's.

My apologies in advance for giving you a hard time if that really is the case and you weren't just bustin' my chops.
Yes, that really is the case. Why is that inconceivable?

No, I'm not going to minutely note the entire route, but I did want to know if it was somewhere I was likely to go. Like, for instance, if she had said the route was between Detroit and Toledo I would definitely have an interest because I anticipate driving along there once or twice a year for the foreseeable future. She did mention it was between where she lives and Las Vegas, which area I am unlikely to be in, but I have been sent to Phoenix twice in the past which isn't that far afield. And I almost wound up in New Orleans earlier this summer. Yes, I travel extensively at times. Just like I pack a cooler of snacks and drinks, and emergency bag for car repairs and/or being stranded overnight, and regular old road maps even if there's a GPS available YES I want to know of possible bathroom issues.

Maybe I just overprepare compared to others.

Hell, I've posted two genuinely bitchy threads in the past about about deplorable bathrooms I've encountered on my travels in the past. I've been on backroads in Kentucky where the "restroom" is an old fashioned outhouse pit toilet. I've used squat toilets. I work in a job where we're sometimes lucky just to have porta-potties. I'll even confess to shitting in the woods on one or two occasions where I've had no alternatives. I take that whole "be prepared" thing seriously when traveling.

[Nzinga, Seated]

Broomstick, I will stop fucking with you now. I was allllll ready to call bullshit, but like a witness under interrogation, you have stuck unwaveringly to your story. Thanks for indulging me.

[MeanOldLady]

Cinnaminnamon, I once saw a high tech, hands-free, techno-fancy feminine waste disposal unit --came complete with a sign stating it was specifically for lady things!-- at an airport, and I distinctly remember being wowed by it. And this wasn't in 1997, mind you. This was two months ago. As others have mentioned, bins, or trash cans as the rest of us call it, aren't some alien anomaly in women's restrooms, but to the extent that they do exist, they are typically some dinky little container screwed onto the wall, not changed nearly frequently enough. They don't come with hand-waving, odor-eating software.

Broomstick, stop. Just stop for a minute and listen to me closely. When you typed the following phrase, (bolding mine); you were deadly serious? Tell me that again with a straight face, and I will let it go.

Look, I have perhaps another decade of dealing with menstruation, I take long road trips a couple times a year - hell yes if there's a problem spot (such as the route DiosaBellissima mentioned) I want to know about it! Annoying enough if you are aware of the problem and can plan around it, it would REALLY piss me off to be surprised by it.

Tell me that you meant that in all seriousness.<Dies... Literally dies 1,000 times>

I don't know about you, missy, but whenever I go anywhere, I make sure AAA gives me a map of which roadside stops have proper feminine hygiene disposal units. I will not even think about driving on your highway until I am certain that every diner, every bar, every Walgreens has proper disposal bins. And if one doesn't, the UN will hear about this. This type of negligence will not stand.

[rhubarbarin]

I can't believe there are people in this thread trying to guilt us into feeling bad that plumbers are getting paid $400 to get tampons out of people's pipes. This is their bread and butter, I'd like to see you try to take it away from them. And they knew they were going to take a lifetime of shit in their faces when they signed up, doesn't seem to bother them much (I work with several plumbers FWIW - I've discussed this with one of them and not only does he flush non-flush-able babywipes in his house with no issues, but insists his wife flushes her tampons because otherwise the dog gets at them).

Like many in this thread, I'll wrap and dispose of tampons if it's convenient. Which it often is not. I work at 4 businesses with public restrooms and only one has an appropriate receptacle for my juicy juicy cotton-rods.

[needscoffee]

I can't believe there are people in this thread trying to guilt us into feeling bad that plumbers are getting paid $400 to get tampons out of people's pipes. This is their bread and butter, I'd like to see you try to take it away from them. And they knew they were going to take a lifetime of shit in their faces when they signed up, doesn't seem to bother them muchNo, that I or other owners have to pay plumbers to do it or do it myself. Total bill weekend before last: $6,500 including tax, still cleaning up shit from the basement. Five times before that, from females who ignored the sign in the bathroom: about $200 each time or do it ourselves, with shit in the basement that plumbers don't clean up.

Edited to add: the $6500 would have happened either way. It's the previous times that I'm happy to guilt people about.

[usedtobe]

TMI!
...ould lean into the sink to rinse. I have no idea what I would do in a stall.

...

Maybe wet a paper towel (or TP) in the lavy and take it into the stall with you?

You think, maybe?

People who cannot figure out how to wash their hands in a restroom. Please don't reproduce.

[Shot From Guns]

I'm having a pretty hard time believing your public bathrooms don't have these. I assumed it was a developed-country thing.

WHY DO YOU HATE OUR FREEDOM

Do I win?

Yes.

I work with several plumbers FWIW - I've discussed this with one of them and not only does he flush non-flush-able babywipes in his house with no issues, but insists his wife flushes her tampons because otherwise the dog gets at them

Did he make sure to warn his wife not to eat the tampons? Because apparently that's a concern.

[Malthus]

I can't believe there are people in this thread trying to guilt us into feeling bad that plumbers are getting paid $400 to get tampons out of people's pipes. This is their bread and butter, I'd like to see you try to take it away from them. And they knew they were going to take a lifetime of shit in their faces when they signed up, doesn't seem to bother them much (I work with several plumbers FWIW - I've discussed this with one of them and not only does he flush non-flush-able babywipes in his house with no issues, but insists his wife flushes her tampons because otherwise the dog gets at them).

Like many in this thread, I'll wrap and dispose of tampons if it's convenient. Which it often is not. I work at 4 businesses with public restrooms and only one has an appropriate receptacle for my juicy juicy cotton-rods.


Heh. Reminds me of the parable of the broken window:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window

Perhaps the parable of the flushed tampon? :D

[gaffa]

I can't believe there are people in this thread trying to guilt us into feeling bad that plumbers are getting paid $400 to get tampons out of people's pipes. This is their bread and butter, I'd like to see you try to take it away from them.
My brother is a plumber and several of his friends are plumbers and not one of them wants to pull shit-soaked bloody tampons out of your fucking pipes. It is a part of their job, true. But it is a part of the job that they really would prefer to avoid if at all possible. They like doing things like replacing your faucets, fixing your toilet, installing a new water heater - all things that (on a good day) do not involve picking bloody turd sausages out of the spring of their sewer snake.

And they knew they were going to take a lifetime of shit in their faces when they signed up, doesn't seem to bother them much...
Nobody, in any profession, likes dealing with things that are the result of human stupidity and selfishness.

(I work with several plumbers FWIW - I've discussed this with one of them and not only does he flush non-flush-able babywipes in his house with no issues, but insists his wife flushes her tampons because otherwise the dog gets at them).
I can only assume that he is a moron as well.

Like many in this thread, I'll wrap and dispose of tampons if it's convenient. Which it often is not. I work at 4 businesses with public restrooms and only one has an appropriate receptacle for my juicy juicy cotton-rods.
See the other thread. Maybe I can start a trend with my Zip-Lick bag suggestion. Or start a business selling special scented Zip-Lock bags with an anti-microbial coating as a "female hygiene product" (at ten times the price of a regular Zip-Lock bag).

[Anaamika]

She does have a point, though - if tampon-flushers are arguing that they flush because there are no bins available, but the only places that don't have bins are slums, ghettos, and the hood, maybe you should just wait until you're not in one of those places. Slums and ghettos probably don't have the plumbing facilities designed to handle your tampon anyway.



Uh....wow. What happens if you live there?

And it's not always an option. I don't bleed an exorbitant, but get me on the first two days of my period, and when it needs to be changed, it needs to be changed. Imagine girls with really heavy periods.

[Gestalt]

I've always thought of myself as a fairly sophisticated adult, able to deal with the fact that human animals have bodily functions, and that the casual discussion of those functions is not a big deal.

And now, after reading this thread, I find myself wanting to crouch in a corner, like Barbra Streisand in Nuts. I'd like to thank you all for the reality check.

Admins, can we have a Pit forum for girly-bits related subjects, please? Pretty please?

Yes please. I tire of constant vagina/pregnancy/breasteses subject lines. There is more to womenfolk than labia and associated orificies

[rhubarbarin]

I can only assume that he is a moron as well.

Carelessness, selfishness or a fuck-you attitude have nothing to do with intelligence...

[Cat Whisperer]

We've done a lot of road trips all over North America, and I have yet to run into a washroom that didn't have a bin somewhere in it (I am not saying they don't exist; just that they aren't very common). If the washroom you have chosen to use doesn't even have a bin to put used paper towels in, you can still wrap up your tampon all nicely in toilet paper and leave it on a counter or something - that seems like a fair exchange for an establishment not having a bin to put garbage in. Which I have never yet seen in all my travels.

[rivulus]

Here is my unofficial survey of trash cans in stalls on the front range of middle and northern Colorado.* The locations ranged from upscale urban Denver to hole-in-the-wall restaurants nestled in the Rockies. Port-a-potties and national park outhouses not included (since flushing is irrelevant).

6 days
Roughly 4 potty visits in public restrooms over the course of each day
= 24 potties

23 of the 24 potties had a trash can in the stall, either in the divider wall or a free-standing little bin in the corner. One did not.** That's about 96% of stalls containing the proper receptacles for bloody menstrual products.*** Further study with larger sample sizes in varied locations may be required for greater accuracy.

*No, I didn't set out to gather this data. I just happen to be the mom of a toddler who is being potty trained and who is rather obsessed with trash cans these days.
**To the consternation of my toddler.
***No, kiddo, mama is not sticking it up her butt. And, no, you can't look.

[Nzinga, Seated]

23 of the 24 potties had a trash can in the stall, either in the divider wall or a free-standing little bin in the corner. One did not.** [/SIZE]

So. In 6 days, you managed a glimpse of the elusive and mythical 'notrashstall' that some folks go their entire life never seeing just once?? Nope. Don't buy it. I want a picture and not a blurry sasquatch type pic, either. Crystal clear.

[Cinnaminnamon]

Uh....wow. What happens if you live there?


You.... you throw your tampons in a bin!

[Cat Fight]

I can't think of one public restroom I've used in the last 10 years that did not have a bin inside the stall.

I'm not trying to be bitchy, but seriously, where are these stalls?

I'm not trying to be bitchy,( I don't have to try, it's built in!) but I think some of you folks have never been to a slum!

Slum? I've been to really nice restaurants and office buildings without them! I think most places will make an effort to have them (if not empty them) after finding their toilets clogged for the umpteenth time, but some managers, and designers, are dim.

I might add that looking for a washroom in the stall is really something I only do for a week a month. I've probably been in the presence of the elusive trash-less stall more often than I imagine and simply never noticed, because I had nothing to throw out.

[Shot From Guns]

I might add that looking for a washroom in the stall is really something I only do for a week a month.

Looking for a washroom in a stall?

I haven't seen this level of recursion since I haven't seen this level of recursion!

[Elysian]

I think everyone should make an exhaustive list of toilets without bins, noting carefully the date and time of observance, just for Broomstick. Get on it, girls.

(Personally have been in tons of them. Also appreciate the new euphemisms for used tampons.)

[DiosaBellissima]

I think everyone should make an exhaustive list of toilets without bins, noting carefully the date and time of observance, just for Broomstick. Get on it, girls.


Um, why would we get on it when. . . they don't exist? God, you broads are dumb.

[rivulus]

23 of the 24 potties had a trash can in the stall, either in the divider wall or a free-standing little bin in the corner. One did not.** [/SIZE]

So. In 6 days, you managed a glimpse of the elusive and mythical 'notrashstall' that some folks go their entire life never seeing just once?? Nope. Don't buy it. I want a picture and not a blurry sasquatch type pic, either. Crystal clear.Anyone wanna give me some grant money to fly out to Colorado and repeat the experiment?

[Eyebrows 0f Doom]

if tampon-flushers are arguing that they flush because there are no bins available, but the only places that don't have bins are slums, ghettos, and the hood, maybe you should just wait until you're not in one of those places.


Uh....wow. What happens if you live there?



You.... you throw your tampons in a bin!

Buh? :confused:

[margin]

Apparently America does have royalty because I have never seen as many princesses as I have in this thread. Too delicate and special to toss their own tampons, but it's perfectly okay to subject others to.

[Shot From Guns]

You're a fucking retard. I'm so sorry for whomever in the past has attempted to teach you to read, because I'm sure it was quite the trial, and clearly did not end in success.

[margin]

You're a fucking retard. I'm so sorry for whomever in the past has attempted to teach you to read, because I'm sure it was quite the trial, and clearly did not end in success.


Oh,Christ, get the fuck over your pwecious widdle princess self. Wrap the goddamned thing in tissue and stop whining. I love people whining about privilege in the example of the bin but don't realize that whining about having to OMG deal with their own fucking tampons for a WHOLE FIVE FUCKING FEET is torture akin to waterboarding.

http://www.poopreport.com/Consumer/poop_plant.html


Scroll down and the picture clearly shows handfuls of tampon applicators flushed there by moronic twits who think their shit does stink---but don't care about other people.

[DiosaBellissima]

Scroll down and the picture clearly shows handfuls of tampon applicators flushed there by moronic twits who think their shit does stink---but don't care about other people.

Uh, just so we're clear: no one here has advocated flushing tampon applicators. I'm left to assume you don't have a vagina and don't know the difference.

[Shot From Guns]

Oh,Christ, get the fuck over your pwecious widdle princess self. Wrap the goddamned thing in tissue and stop whining. I love people whining about privilege in the example of the bin but don't realize that whining about having to OMG deal with their own fucking tampons for a WHOLE FIVE FUCKING FEET is torture akin to waterboarding.

1.) Thanks for the new title.

2.) Why should I have to deal with a bloody mess and create a lot of extra waste that can and will start stinking the place up when I can easily flush?

3.) Why is it okay for you to require me to do #2 but not for me to require you to simply ask, in speech or writing, that I dispose of my tampons in a bin instead of flushing them?

4.) None of this changes the fact that you're fucking illiterate, or you'd notice I've already made these same points in these two threads approximately 20,000 times.

5.) How's that hyperbole working for you, retard?

[DiosaBellissima]

Oh,Christ, get the fuck over your pwecious widdle princess self. Wrap the goddamned thing in tissue and stop whining. I love people whining about privilege in the example of the bin but don't realize that whining about having to OMG deal with their own fucking tampons for a WHOLE FIVE FUCKING FEET is torture akin to waterboarding.

1.) Thanks for the new title.

2.) Why should I have to deal with a bloody mess and create a lot of extra waste that can and will start stinking the place up when I can easily flush?

3.) Why is it okay for you to require me to do #2 but not for me to require you to simply ask, in speech or writing, that I dispose of my tampons in a bin instead of flushing them?

4.) None of this changes the fact that you're fucking illiterate, or you'd notice I've already made these same points in these two threads approximately 20,000 times.

5.) How's that hyperbole working for you, retard?

Not to mention they don't even know the difference between a tampon and a tampon applicator.

[Shot From Guns]

I figured I'd let that one slide, since while I have explicitly stated that I do not and have never flushed applicators, some people in these threads have said they do. And given what a terrible challenge reading seems to be for this person (seriously, who are you? have you really been here for seven years?), it seemed best to cut them (or, let's be honest: him) some slack.

[Broomstick]

2.) Why should I have to deal with a bloody mess and create a lot of extra waste that can and will start stinking the place up when I can easily flush?
Because your "easy flush" can easily result in a massive plumbing problem and costs down the line. Seriously, don't you get that? You think a pipe clogged with used tampons doesn't stink?

[Shot From Guns]

So, if your plumbing can't handle it, what's so hard about asking me not to flush it?

None of you can answer that simple fucking question. So, is it 'cause you're lazy, or 'cause you're stupid?

[Broomstick]

First, I have ALREADY stated that I inform people that my well-and-septic can't handle anything other than poo, pee, and TP. So STFU about "lazy" and "stupid" in regards to my household.

Second - it's not JUST about the plumbing of a particular toilet or building. A lot of city systems can't handle it. There is no way in hell the average homeowner is going to be able to determine whether their local municipality's system can deal with used tampons. So even if their home/office/whatever can deal with it, the problem may be (literally) downstream from there.

I'm sorry so many water systems don't meet your high standards but that is reality.

But, by all means, continue to conduct yourself as have been. You clearly don't care about whatever problems your flushing of tampons may be causing others. Your comfort and clean fingers are so much more important than anything else. At least that's how you come across. I like to think you actually do give a damn, and it's just news to you that most plumbing systems aren't as good as you thought they were.

[Shot From Guns]

If you already inform people not to flush tampons at your house, then why the fuck do you think that "lazy" or "stupid" would apply to you, seeing as I was specifically talking about people who can't be bothered to do that? Are you motivated and clever, yet illiterate?

[Freudian Slit]

How are you supposed to inform people in your home, though? Tell every woman of menstruation age not to flush them? It would never even occur to me to do so (not that I get SO much traffic).

[Shot From Guns]

You could laminate a little card and post it next to the toilet paper. I've known more than one person who's done that.