This can be answered by both men and women, although I’m willing to bet that the answers will be different, or at least for different reasons.
Background: I have noticed, while standing at a urinal in a public men’s room, and when the only other occupant is someone in a stall, that these events happen in the following order:
toilet paper being drawn and (presumably) used, two or more times.
noises of clothing being re-assembled
toilet flush
I always do the last two in the opposite order. I want to get rid of that stuff as soon as possible, and then put my clothes together without the need to hold my breath.
So what order do you do these things in? And, especially, why?
Roddy
Female here. I dress first, get my bag and whatnot together, then flush. Reason being that I don’t want to touch my bag/clothing/whatnot in between touching the toilet handle and stall handle and the sink. Sometimes I’ll use a piece of toilet paper as a barrier, anyway, but often I’ll take that piece before closing the stall in the beginning (a way to also make sure there’s TP in the first place), close the door with it, then drop it in the toilet. If I assemble myself prior to flushing, then I just go out and wash my hands without bothering with another piece of TP that may be awkward to dispose before getting to a sink.
Be it at home or in public I get all zipped up and my belt buckled if I’m wearing one before flushing. Otherwise I have to try to flush and keep my pants from falling down.
Almost always after zipping up, not sure why, it’s just the way I’ve always done it. However, if in a public restroom or a guest’s house, I might do a “courtesy flush” before even wiping, just to… uh… clear the air. Wipe up, zip up, then flush the paper out to sea.
I also use my foot to kick the flush handle in a public restroom when I can so I don’t have to touch it, regardless of washing my hands after.
This has never, ever happened to me. I guess that just shows how lucky or spoiled I am. I’ve worked in the same building for most of the past 31 years, and the bathrooms are not fancy but are pretty well maintained.
The other public bathrooms where I might use a stall include the gym (also well-maintained) and occasionally, and only when absolutely necessary, at a shopping mall.
I never thought of getting germs on my clothes by flushing before I button up. It’s just not something that worries me. I guess that puts me in the minority.
Roddy
In many public bathrooms now the commodes have auto flush. Which means it fires as soon as you stand up. Whether you like it then or not. Which I do not.
I’ve always been a get-dressed-then-flush type. As best I can recall at some young age (6? 8?) I did it the other way & the toilet backed up & overflowed, leaving me with soaked nasty pants. So ever since I’ve been dressed & ready to escape before flushing. Nowadays I justify it as being ready to step back if it’s a big sprayer.
The last 20 years & low-flush toilets have really improved the non-splashiness of industrial commodes. The 1960s models would ruffle your hair when they fired. I’m betting the folks who’ve never been splashed by a flushing toilet are fairly young and rarely used toilets in airports, gas stations, train stations, downtown department stores, etc.
I’m also confused about the people in an all-fired hurry to escape the stink. Sometimes public bathrooms smell bad when I enter. But since my **** don’t stink [sub](at least to me)[/sub], I never see the rush to escape my own handiwork.
Stand up, pull up pants, tuck in shirt, button pants, buckle belt as I turn around and stomp on the flusher with my foot, open door and zip up as I’m stepping out of stall.
Male here. Yep, I flush last, often while opening the door, or stand back while it’s flushing and open the door once it’s stopped. Same reason, I don’t particularly want to get splashed with toilet water or touch anything of mine after touching the same button the last thousand people have touched right after doing their business.
On a related note, I try to avoid using public toilets for number 2 as much as possible. Don’t particularly want to sit on that for the same reason, and also a lot of public toilets have water and random toilet paper and stuff all over the floor (what do these people do in there? :dubious:) that I’d rather not have come into contact with my pants.
Get re-dressed first, then flush, because it’s easier than the other way around.
I’m aware that this has been discussed a million times here and it never goes anywhere, but the thought of people using their feet and nasty shoes to flush a toilet is even grosser than most toilets themselves. Use your hands, and wash them after. :rolleyes:
I don’t think it matters so much for urinals (unless they splash), but for actual stalls, I think it’s harder to do what you do. I’m not going to flush while still sitting on the toilet due to splashing (and the water’s usually cold), and, once I stand up, I can’t reach the flusher without turning around. And it’s easier to turn around if I have my pants up.
I think my behavior from the urinal is just a holdover from that. However, now that I think about it, some urinal stalls are really small, so you can’t really back up from them any before flushing unless you want to give everyone else a peep show.
Flush first. Particularly when I was wearng an arm cast and it took me about two minutes to redress. No Way I’m going to smell my own waste that long if I can help it.
I don’t know why it matters. If you’re washing your hands afterwards anyway, you shouldn’t care that I flush with my foot. And I do it that way because that’s how it was intended.
To be clear, I’m talking about the public toilets with exposed plumbing above the bowl and the flush handle that sticks out to the left about knee-high, not toilets with a tank and a hand-flusher handle. I use my hand on those.