# Co-worker doesn't flush... why?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/co-worker-doesnt-flush-why/295205>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 18, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/co-worker-doesnt-flush-why/295205 "2005-03-18T20:55:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/co-worker-doesnt-flush-why/295205/21 "2005-03-19T18:29:38Z")

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There is a technical phrase for this in the UK - The Phantom Strikes Again. You hear it often in Goon Shows, written by the late Spike Milligan, so I suspect it may have originated in the British Army.

There was a spate of this in the gent’s bogs at the Patent Office in Newport in about 1991. It was the talk of our floor and suddenly stopped without anyone ever discovering the unhygienic bastard who was doing it.

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**Author:** ![MinniePurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@MinniePurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinniePurl)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/co-worker-doesnt-flush-why/295205/22 "2005-03-20T02:36:18Z")

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> [@pokey](#):
>
> Once, when someone discovered an abandoned poo, everyone was offering their theories and mine was “maybe it just didn’t go down” and “who stands there to make sure it went down?” and everyone said that they DO stand there and watch it go down.

I used to not watch it go down. Now I HAVE to, because we have dodgy plumbing in this house, and half the toilets are surrounded by carpeted floor. So if it starts to overflow, I need to be able to quickly turn off the water so that it doesn’t get in the carpet. What idiotic bastard decided it was a good idea to have carpet around a toilet? For og’s sake, toilets do not overflow when they are full of clean water. And sometimes the overflow no matter how quick you are with the water flow knob. Whenever we get any money, the FIRST damn thing I’m gonna do is put down some kind of waterproof, moppable floor around the toilets, and throw away the gross, nasty carpet.

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**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/co-worker-doesnt-flush-why/295205/23 "2005-03-20T15:01:18Z")

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I’m starting to wonder if the same type of person that leaves poo, is also the same person that leaves the disposable towels in the sink, and all over the floor too. And in the break room where the coffee is? They’re probably the ones who are leaving the little packs of sugar and tea packets all over the place and on the floor, instead of their respectable containers. Just who are these people, and why do they do it? If you’re one of these types and are reading this; please stop, grow up, and clean up after yourself. Your mother isn’t here to help you.

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