Same as you, except I’m not 55 (closer than I’d like). And I often do wipe the seat first with a wad of TP, as there are often little droplets of ?? (pee, toilet spray) on the seat and that just feels NASTY.
I’d never even heard of foot-flushing until I was 30 or so. As a confirmed klutz, that has far too high a chance of leading to major embarassment. Not gonna risk it.
So far, the girly bits seem to have survived this shocking level of abuse.
Such as falling down? The way I see it, I’d rather put a couple of fingers on the ick than roll around in it.
This is the first time I have heard of people flushing toilets with their feet.
Just to be clear, we’re only foot-flushing those industrial toilets where the handle is sticking out to the left of the exposed piping, correct? I always assumed that based on the size of the handle and its location, they were meant to be foot-flushed. On a regular residential-style toilet, I flush by hand.
corkboard, I’m fairly certain that some of the foot-flushers in this thread do it to regular style toilets too. I’ve never actually seen a toilet where the handle wasn’t in roughly the same place as the one in my home.
I use my hand, I only rarely use ass-gaskets/toilet paper barriers if the toilet seems extremely dirty or there’s pee on the seat. And I wash my hands of course.
Outside the restrooms at my office they have a disinfectant dispenser for those germs you got from opening the bathroom door.
Sheesh.
Hell now – I only do it with the ones corkboard describes! Not so much out of germaphobia but just out of habit, being that’s how my mom taught me to do when I was little.
Hand-sanitizer: I only use it when I can’t wash my hands, and I’m doing something (like rolling coins – my hands always get all gunky, ugh.) I see it like soap, only you don’t need water with it. Besides, ever use that sanitizer they have at hospitals? It’s like foam, and it moisterizes your hands.
If I can reach the handle without bending over the toilet, I hand flush. Otherwise I foot flush. I tend to stick things in shirt pockets and forget about them, only to have them tumble out when I tie my shoes. That’s not a huge problem, but I’d rather not have my glasses fall in the toilet. I’ve just gotten in the habit of not bending over often.
corkboard, Guin, where exactly are these handles that you’re talking about? Are they the ones that are placed behind the toilet essentially in the center of where the tank would be on a regular toilet? Because I don’t see how those would be easier to flush with your feet- you’d still have to raise your leg to almost waist height to do it.
Is this what you’re foot flushing?
The way I see it, I’m going to wash my hands anyway. Therefore, I flush with my hands, regardless of whether it’s a lever on exposed plumbing, or the Bog-standard handle.
Think of it this way… even if other people are foot flushing, my use of the handle with my hand does double duty: 1) Not transferring more dirt onto it, and 2) Wiping off the dirt that’s already there. I’m a big boy, I’ll wash my hands and send it all down the drain.
The Mythbusters did a nice pseudo-scientific study on something like this, and essentially found out that their toilet seats were cleaner than their countertops. Enough said.
After watching that, I don’t bother with toilet seat covers (or their TP-handmade counterparts ;))
Me too. I hope to hell it doesn’t catch on here. But then, the major style of toilet round here is push buttons on top. You’d have to be pretty athletic to consider it.
Why use your foot? If you’re leery of touching the toilet handle with your bare hand, just take some toilet paper and keep it between your hand and the handle. The TP’s right there, after all.
No ass gaskets. If the seat is so foul I don’t want to put my ass on it I don’t put my ass on it. Actually, my preference would be to find a clear toilet to use. Otherwise I sit down. If everyone else is using ass gaskets it’s clean, right?
I use my hand to flush, just like momma taught me. Then I wash my hands. I only heard about foot flushing a couple years ago and it just boggled my mind.
If I could have been bothered to be eloquent, I could have written this post. . .
I sit down on the toilet. If it’s wet, I’ll wipe it with some TP first. When I’m done, I flush with my hand, then wash my hands (and I wash my hands even if it’s a self-flushing, for obvious reasons).
A related side-note: last week, I was in McDonald’s. I used the bathroom before going to get my food. While I was in the stall, I heard someone else come in and enter the other stall (there are only two). While I was washing my hands, a woman came out, gathered up the stuff she had left on the counter and left without washing her hands. The surprising (even shocking) thing was, given the shirt she was wearing, she was an employee! :eek: Now, one would assume that, since she was gathering stuff up off the counter, she was done her shift. Still, one would hope that fast food (any public service) employees are so ingrained to wash their hands after using the bathroom that it would have been automatic!
I used to wonder why a trash can was placed near the door of the restroom until I witnessed the lack of hygiene of a few co-workers at my last job. I don’t use gaskets and I flush with my hand, then wash my hands well with soap and water. If the counter is wet I’ll even take a few seconds to wipe it up and make it more presentable to whoever comes in next. I hate not being able to set something down because there’s no dry spot. Anyways, that was the first place I noticed that some of the ladies would open the door with a piece of paper towel and then drop the towel in the trash once the door was open. I thought it was a bit of overkill until I noticed several people who were not in the habit of washing their hands after using the toilet and then grabbing the door handle to leave. Blech. Now I do the same thing whenever necessary.
