# Are urinals harder to flush or something? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 14, 2011, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569 "2011-01-14T04:35:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/21 "2011-01-14T20:26:00Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > “Who…does…number…two…work…for?” Nothing finer than getting paid to take a dump. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/22 "2011-01-14T20:46:19Z")
> [@Paranoid\_Randroid](#): > > 1. People who leave a stall, particularly after clearly doing more than peeing, and bypassing the sinks entirely. It bothers me enough when people fail to wash their hands after urination, but whatever, I won’t get my undies in a wad about it. But wiping your ass simply demands cleansing afterward, I don’t care who the fuck you are. Curious why you feel that your hands “demand” washing after wiping your ass. Are you getting shit on your hand through the paper? Is your finger poking through? I would almost say that hands should be washed after pissing more than shitting because, men anyway, are touching their dicks with bare hands where as when we crap we aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/23 "2011-01-14T20:55:13Z")
Porta-Potties and Outhouses = death!!! Oh wait, I use them all the time, piles of shit and piss, get over yourself ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/24 "2011-01-14T21:07:03Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Curious why you feel that your hands “demand” washing after wiping your ass. Are you getting shit on your hand through the paper? Is your finger poking through? I would almost say that hands should be washed after pissing more than shitting because, men anyway, are touching their dicks with bare hands where as when we crap we aren’t. The situation demands I wash my hands after wiping my ass for the same reason I have to wash my hands after leaving a Big Lots store, even if I don’t touch anything. I just do, that’s all. But then again, I wash my hands after pissing, too. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/25 "2011-01-14T21:18:59Z")
If the guy in the next stall is talking on the cell phone, he is revealing that it was him making all the grunts and farts. It’s when you hear people tapping on their cell phone that bothers me. Either they are writing a novel or playing Farmville while sitting on the toilet. If you’re going to multitaks at least read the newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/26 "2011-01-14T21:25:14Z")
This is why I piss in the sink. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/27 "2011-01-14T22:24:45Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Curious why you feel that your hands “demand” washing after wiping your ass. Are you getting shit on your hand through the paper? Is your finger poking through? Even if you manage not to get excrement on your fingers, in the very act of wiping – presumably reaching down below your genitals, into the bowl of the toilet, and wiping off feces with thin paper – your hands will become COVERED in particulate fecal matter. Sorry, that’s just the way things are. And then there’s handling the toilet paper, which has been sitting beside (and handled by) guys shitting all day, and similarly for the flush handle if there is one … yeah. Heck, give your wiping hand a good, deep sniff after cleaning up a bowel movement sometime. You ain’t gettin’ away clean. ---
**Author:** ![JXJohns](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jxjohns/32/469_2.png) [@JXJohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JXJohns)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/28 "2011-01-14T23:36:02Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > “Who…does…number…two…work…for?” Tell that turd who’s the boss! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/29 "2011-01-14T23:48:58Z")
> [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](#): > > I don’t get the urinal outrage. Unless the urinal’s broken and about to overflow or something, it doesn’t bother me if the previous guy hasn’t flushed. See Kant’s Categorical Imperative. If nobody ever flushes the urinal, eventually things will get nasty. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/30 "2011-01-15T00:27:13Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > See Kant’s Categorical Imperative. If nobody ever flushes the urinal, eventually things will get nasty. Funny 🙂 But thats kinda my personal beef. Every guy doesnt need to flush everytime. However, sometimes things get a bit on the strong side and somebody flushing once in awhile when things are getting a bit rank would be nice. IMO, if you pissing and things are bit ripe, give it a flush please. What I want to know is why the OP aint ranting about the morons that put shit other than piss in the damn urinals. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/31 "2011-01-15T00:41:46Z")
> [@Paranoid\_Randroid](#): > > Even if you manage not to get excrement on your fingers, in the very act of wiping – presumably reaching down below your genitals, into the bowl of the toilet, and wiping off feces with thin paper – your hands will become COVERED in particulate fecal matter. Sorry, that’s just the way things are. Sorry, what? I’m not going to argue that handwashing is unnecesary, or even that wiping your ass leaves your hands clean, but it sounds like you’re saying that your ass emits a billowing cloud of vaporous shit. Mine is generally fairly solid. What are you describing here? ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/32 "2011-01-15T02:24:22Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Sorry, what? I’m not going to argue that handwashing is unnecesary, or even that wiping your ass leaves your hands clean, but it sounds like you’re saying that your ass emits a billowing cloud of vaporous shit. Mine is generally fairly solid. What are you describing here? ? I’m simply describing that the act of cleaning after a bowel movement place’s ones hand, whether one feels it or not, in a _very_ good position to collect microscopic fecal matter. (For that matter, you don’t even have to wipe – the flushing process will spray fecal matter all over the stall, if you’re there when it happens.) Have you gone to the bathroom? Your hand. Fecal matter. They are on a team. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/33 "2011-01-15T04:35:10Z")
I love y’all. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/34 "2011-01-15T12:12:53Z")
> [@Paranoid\_Randroid](#): > > Even if you manage not to get excrement on your fingers, in the very act of wiping – presumably reaching down below your genitals, into the bowl of the toilet. I only discovered a few years ago that I appear to be in the vast minority in that I always stand when I wipe, so there’s no reaching into the bowl going on. I’m not even entirely sure I could wipe well sitting down, I’m just so not used to it. This makes it a bit amusing for when I get one of those toilets with the automatic flushing system but no manual override. When I stand up to wipe, the toilet flushes. I fishing cleaning my backside, and then the toilet won’t flush again. I’ve tried simply covering what appears to be a light sensor with my hand for a few seconds, and then taking it away, but that never works. I have not been able to figure out a way to trigger the flush without sitting back down again, waiting a good ten seconds or so, and then getting back up again. Drives me nuts. As to the OP: meh. An unflushed urinal doesn’t bug me in the least. And certainly not the sound of pissing. And I’m not sure where you guys get all the talkers and the moaners. I’ve used my fair share of public bathrooms, and nobody has ever attempted to talk to me, and certainly nobody sounds like they’re trying to give birth to a child in there. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/35 "2011-01-15T13:33:05Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I only discovered a few years ago that I appear to be in the vast minority in that I always stand when I wipe, so there’s no reaching into the bowl going on. I’m not even entirely sure I could wipe well sitting down, I’m just so not used to it. This makes it a bit amusing for when I get one of those toilets with the automatic flushing system but no manual override. When I stand up to wipe, the toilet flushes. I fishing cleaning my backside, and then the toilet won’t flush again. I’ve tried simply covering what appears to be a light sensor with my hand for a few seconds, and then taking it away, but that never works. I have not been able to figure out a way to trigger the flush without sitting back down again, waiting a good ten seconds or so, and then getting back up again. Drives me nuts. > > As to the OP: meh. An unflushed urinal doesn’t bug me in the least. And certainly not the sound of pissing. And I’m not sure where you guys get all the talkers and the moaners. I’ve used my fair share of public bathrooms, and nobody has ever attempted to talk to me, and certainly nobody sounds like they’re trying to give birth to a child in there. I’m another stand-to-wiper, so I know what you mean about the automatic flushers. I’m had some flush if I lean forward too far while I’m still sitting. On the subject of getting them to flush after you’ve stood up, you might want to look for a manual flush button somewhere near the sensor (sometimes they’re off to the side). Not all of them have it, but most of them do. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/36 "2011-01-15T14:06:18Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > I’m another stand-to-wiper, so I know what you mean about the automatic flushers. I’m had some flush if I lean forward too far while I’m still sitting. On the subject of getting them to flush after you’ve stood up, you might want to look for a manual flush button somewhere near the sensor (sometimes they’re off to the side). Not all of them have it, but most of them do. Yeah, I’ve seen those manual flush buttons on some models of automatic flushers but, as you note, they’re hardly universal. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/37 "2011-01-15T16:16:21Z")
> [@Paranoid\_Randroid](#): > > ? I’m simply describing that the act of cleaning after a bowel movement place’s ones hand, whether one feels it or not, in a _very_ good position to collect microscopic fecal matter. (For that matter, you don’t even have to wipe – the flushing process will spray fecal matter all over the stall, if you’re there when it happens.) Have you gone to the bathroom? Your hand. Fecal matter. They are on a team. That’s why we have Purell. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/38 "2011-01-15T16:39:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Also do you really need to piss directly down the drain? Do you get off by seeing how much noise and pissfoam you can generate before walking away leaving it unflushed? Is it exciting to piss and have it sound like a hose spraying into a bucket of water at full force? Many guys seem to have an overwhelming urge to aim at a specific target, and the drain or the urinal mint is the obvious choice. The behavior can actually be changed by painting something like a fly on the urinal surface. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/39 "2011-01-15T16:44:53Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > That’s why we have Purell. I know people that use a gel sanitizer every time they use the restroom. I’m tempted. Except that washing as often as I do already wreaks havoc on my hands, and I can’t imagine that rubbing alcohol on them all day long will improve matters. Then there’s the cold weather … my hands have been sad little saharas lately. (Bonus: I have a TERRIBLE nail/finger-biting habit. Who knows how much fecal matter &c. I ingest all day long! Perhaps I should give that purell a try.) ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/40 "2011-01-15T17:18:42Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > People who pant and moan the whole time they’re taking a shit are ridiculous too. When you look at it before flushing, is it still OK to say, “WOW! That was a good one!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569.md?page=3)