# Don't flush tampons you moron! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 31, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180 "2010-08-31T20:52:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/141 "2010-09-07T19:42:45Z")
Don’t flush? Tampons, you moron! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/142 "2010-09-07T20:23:55Z")
Don’t flush! Tampons you, moron! ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/143 "2010-09-07T20:26:26Z")
I really, really heart you, **Folly**! ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/144 "2010-09-07T20:47:19Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/145 "2010-09-07T20:52:45Z")
> [@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? For the third time (I’m not trying to be bitchy, but seriously), most recently in post 130: > [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/146 "2010-09-07T21:04:50Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/147 "2010-09-07T21:07:35Z")
> [@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. You can stop lying now. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/148 "2010-09-07T21:35:12Z")
[quote=“Nzinga\_Seated, post:100, topic:552180”] > [@torie](#): > > 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? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/149 "2010-09-07T21:53:38Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > You can stop lying now. I’m not even really a woman. I just like to feel pretty. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/150 "2010-09-07T21:58:03Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > > [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/151 "2010-09-07T22:07:10Z")
> [@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? 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! ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/152 "2010-09-07T22:09:00Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > > [@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? > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnaminnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Cinnaminnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnaminnamon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/153 "2010-09-07T23:03:55Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/154 "2010-09-07T23:13:27Z")
> [@Cinnaminnamon](#): > > 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: ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/155 "2010-09-07T23:18:46Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Bwaaaaaaaaahahahahaha. Assuming this is because I’m _also_ talented at passive aggressive bitchiness: I agree! 😃 **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. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnaminnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Cinnaminnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnaminnamon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/156 "2010-09-07T23:19:51Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/157 "2010-09-07T23:20:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/158 "2010-09-07T23:22:47Z")
> [@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. 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! ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/159 "2010-09-07T23:25:53Z")
> [@Cinnaminnamon](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180/160 "2010-09-07T23:45:56Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > > [@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? > > 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! [Elvis]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 [/Elvis] Why, yes, I DID just want to have a post in this thread thank you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-flush-tampons-you-moron/552180.md?page=9)