Recently a person close to me admitted they were a shy pooer. That is, when away from home, they prefer not to defecate, but will in fact go for several days without having a poop. A relative of mine confirmed they felt the same way. Both, however, said 3-4 days was as long as they’d go before admitting defeat and dropping a deuce in an unfamiliar toilet.
I personally have no problems dropping the kids off at any pool nearby. I am told, however, that some people are loathe to take a dump in unfamiliar places to the extent that it can cause medical distress.
Please indicate the type of pooer you are and explain, if applicable, your strategies for handling this.
I’m weird in that I want to be at home every time. But if I can’t, I want to be in a really really public place with lots of stalls/people around. The fact that people are traipsing in and out at all times makes it more comfortable.
At a restaurant? someone else’s house? work? I’ll do it if I have to. But ugh…
To paraphrase Forest Gump, when I gotta shit, I, ya know, shit. I mean if the public restroom in question is a hellscape of stains, pubes and mold, I’ll pinch it and try to find a better hole, but I figure toilets are designed to be shat in and I like to do my part.
What if you like new experiences of this kind so much that you’ll even pretend to have a need just to add that toilet to your bucket list? You know… a sham pooer?
One of my kids was so fascinated with bathrooms at about 3-4 that we COULD NOT pass one in public or private without his having to try it. If we said no, he’d insist he was about to have an accident… and often couldn’t mange even a toot. Therefore, he was a sham pooer occasionally.
3-4 days? :eek: Wow. At most I’ve gone two days without dropping a bomb, and those occasions have been because I was either constipated or had just gone through a bout of diarrhea that had prematurely emptied my GI tract.
If I’ve got to visit the toilet, I generally get very uncomfortable if I try to wait more than a half hour. A hotel room is comparable to home for these purposes, but if I have to use a more public restroom (e.g. a train station, airport, restaurant, or public park), then so be it.
Somewhere under Enthusiastic and above Reticent. I don’t mind a visit to a restroom in an office building or other relatively “clean” location. I’d have to be hard up to use the toilet in a fast food restaurant or gas station and suffering from some sort of bowel distress to brave a portable chemical toilet or the nastiness of a park outhouse.
Reticent. This sometimes leads to “travel constipation.” The cure is lots of raisins and a kind of obsession with getting business taken care of.
Having a really strong mental identification with good things can be helpful. I don’t exercise; I am an Exerciser! It isn’t just something I do; it’s what I AM. That extra mental association makes it a lot easier to keep up the regimen.
(So, I guess, I am a pooper, too. Also a comic book fan. There are some times when it’s hard to tell the two apart…)
I too would prefer a public (toilet) venue for crapping, if it can’t be at my own house. Relatively small office toilets can feel a touch awkward - they could use some muzak.
I once knew a bloke who was quite the inebriated social butterfly, out at all hours. But he had such a fear of defecation in public toilets he would literally leave a nightclub, taxi home, faecal drop-off, and back out to the club, than use the venue’s facilities. Crippled by crapping. Crappled.
If I have to poop I can't tell my body "no, sorry gonna have to keep that packaged for a few hours." It should come out within 15 minutes, so I don't have the luxury of waiting.
That said, I really prefer to use the stall only when someone isn’t in the adjacent stall, and may do the standard “pretend I need to wash my hands and come back in 10 minutes” routine if one is occupied.
Private bathrooms are almost worse because then I have to worry about someone needing to use the facilities and feeling rushed.
This describes me as well. That’s why I think there needs to be an option between Reticent and Enthusiastic. Maybe call it Picky. I will go quite a bit out of my way for a clean, less smelly, quiet, comfortable temperature, and pleasant restroom. I don’t want to be rushed. I spend a good amount of time reading while things “get moving” in the morning. Truly one of the few periods in the day when I can relax, so I want comfort.
Sometimes I am in the bathroom doing #1, and someone is able to go #2, wipe, and finish up in the same time period. I don’t get it. I mean, I’m not reading entire novels in there, but I’d rather make sure I’m actually done rather than rushing it.
I chose enthusiastic, because I really don’t care, and didn’t get that anyone else really thought much about this kind of thing before reading the Dope. I poop in the office restroom every morning between 8:15 and 8:30. If you want to be in the adjacent stall, it’s fine with me. I’m generally fast and efficient, and as I mentioned in a previous thread, I’m a clean pooper, so I don’t need much cleanup.
This. I can’t fathom having control over when and where I use the restroom.
i hate doing it in public restrooms, though. I don’t have a choice but it’s pretty uncomfortable. Not because of sanitation but because of other people being around.
The worst is when the person in the stall next to you is also uncomfortable and you both have to poop, and both of you are waiting for the other to finish so you can go in peace. Shy pooping standoffs are the worst.
But yeah, I tend to go twice a day anyway, trying to hold it is not an option as far as my colon is concerned. I mean, sure if I’m traveling and have an hour to destination I’ll wait, bu that’s the extent of it. Eat yer veggies, people!
I poop whenever and wherever. Sometimes I can hold off for a bit, but once the missile is in the loading bay, it’s bombs away.
One of the meds I was taking made things very active. Between hmmmm, I think I might feel a twinge of need, to OMG need toilet now could be a matter of minutes. Had a couple of near soilings with that one before my doctor switched it out.