# If You Saw Someone With Pants Unzipped.... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 22, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136 "2009-09-22T20:44:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/21 "2009-09-23T00:41:04Z")
You have… multiple cows in there? ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/22 "2009-09-23T00:57:16Z")
Oh, man! :smack: I just remembered I’d noticed one of the other engineers at work with an unzip situation going on… and had immediately gotten distracted by another in an endless series of emergencies. Thereafter forgetting to tell the poor guy, leaving him roaming around with improved ventilation all day. D’oh. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/23 "2009-09-23T01:35:22Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > “Your flies are undone” is a wonderful ice-breaker. > > I can’t even begin to calculate how many times I’ve used that line. 😉 Have you tried “Would you like me to zip up your fly?” ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/24 "2009-09-23T03:01:54Z")
I would never tell anyone. . .again. Years ago at work I am sitting at my desk, male co-worker walks in the office. I see immediately that his fly is open; especially since the height of my vision, seated, is on level with his crotch. He stops at my desk to say hello and I very very very quietly tell him his fly is down. He says at the top of his lungs: “Well what the Hell were you doing look’n there?”:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/25 "2009-09-23T03:37:12Z")
I once had a very young female coworker in this situation. She already wore fairly revealing clothes, so I was really surprised to see her turn \*\*scarlet \*\*when I told her her fly was down. Maybe she thought I was looking, I don’t know. I definitely wasn’t interested! ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/26 "2009-09-23T04:20:00Z")
I once had to knock on my neighbor’s door for some reason. He came to the door wearing only a pair of jeans, with the tip of his penis peeking out of the top. I did my best not to peek back. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/27 "2009-09-23T05:43:00Z")
I’m a profiler myself. If the person is well groomed/well dressed (approachable) Then sure, I’ll give him/her a heads up. Or is it heads down? Ironically, if it’s a friend, I can easily see myself NOT telling them for the comedic value. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/28 "2009-09-23T06:56:06Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Have you tried “Would you like me to zip up your fly?” **Muffin**? I want a YouTube Vid if you ever do that!:D:D:D Q ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/29 "2009-09-23T08:31:16Z")
Ya know, sometimes I think I am TOO Gay. You didn’t specify if it was intentional or not…that would, of course, determine my answer. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/30 "2009-09-23T09:00:18Z")
Male: “Do you need help undressing?” Female: not my problem. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Am_The_Lorax)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/31 "2009-09-23T14:13:25Z")
If it’s a female, I’ll try to let her know discretely, so far all have been appreciative. I know I am when it happens to me. If it’s a guy, I just say “Dude. Fly.” They don’t seem to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Never\_Say\_Dice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee59a6/32.png) [@Never\_Say\_Dice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Never_Say_Dice)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/32 "2009-09-23T14:26:41Z")
The only polite thing to do is slap a sign on their back that says “Goose me” ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/33 "2009-09-23T14:47:07Z")
I once sat through an entire Philosophy lecture in college wherein the professor not only had his fly down, but his shirt sticking through it. Nobody told him (how would you do that in front of the whole class?) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/34 "2009-09-23T15:10:21Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > You didn’t specify if it was intentional or not…that would, of course, determine my answer. That would be my only fear if it was a guy I didn’t know. That it was just step one in a three-step flashing process. I guess I’d have my answer depending on his reaction (blushing and a quick zip versus a nice slow lick lip). I normally tell people about their zippers, tags attached to their clothes, TP on the heel and all that, but sometimes I just can’t get to them before they walk past or I chicken out out of shyness. I feel awful when I see but don’t tell them. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Captain\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/35 "2009-09-23T15:14:54Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > In my younger days, we used to say _“xyz”_, meaning “check your zipper”, although I don’t know how “x” came to mean a check-mark? Wouldn’t YKK make more sense? > [@Quasimodem](#): > > “Flies”, plural, in the UK? Yes. ‘Flying low’ is perhaps the most widely heard euphemism I’ve encountered in the UK. Whether I use it depends entirely on the situation. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/36 "2009-09-23T15:44:11Z")
I had a Physics teacher in high school who would regularly “forget” to pull up his fly. I use quotes because many of us thought it might have been intentional, although he was absent-minded in other ways as well. Being high school kids, we had no qualms about letting him know immediately. One time, he had the nerve to scold us for being so direct about it, instead of being dicreet. He gave us an example of how one woman informed him in an indirect way: “It must be getting cold down south.” Of course he admitted that he didn’t get the hint by responding with: “Yeah, it gets chilly down there sometimes.” ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/37 "2009-09-23T15:48:52Z")
Shit, what would you want someone to do? If you noticed it, it’s likely others have too. I’d want to be told. So I tell people. That goes for spinach in teeth, boogers in nose, etc. The person telling you has found a way to connect with you on a personal level and likely is empathetic. Others may not be. We all have these things happen, and it takes a little empathy to make sure that we’re looking our best. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/38 "2009-09-23T16:58:07Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I once sat through an entire Philosophy lecture in college wherein the professor not only had his fly down, but his shirt sticking through it. Nobody told him (how would you do that in front of the whole class?) Yeah, but we’re talking about normal humans, not Philosophy profs. ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/39 "2009-09-23T18:38:39Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I once sat through an entire Philosophy lecture in college wherein the professor not only had his fly down, but his shirt sticking through it. Nobody told him (how would you do that in front of the whole class?) Do you remember the lecture? Was it about the reluctance of people getting involved in situations? Could it have been an experiment, or perhaps an object lesson? ---
**Author:** ![Kalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/df705f/32.png) [@Kalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalypso)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/40 "2009-09-23T18:50:08Z")
I’ll tell strangers of either sex about anything like that. Dragging TP, unzipped fly, tag still attached to new clothes, shirt inside out, pretty much anything. I hope people would do the same for me. They have done the same. Once I was just about to step into an interview and a kind person told me I had a big rip in the back of my black dress. I had white undies on too. It didn’t help my nerves any, and I couldn’t do anything to fix it, but I did back out of the room upon leaving! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136.md?page=3)