# Universal practices that apparently aren’t that universal. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 10, 2013, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874 "2013-10-10T14:39:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/61 "2013-10-11T12:39:14Z")
> [@Orville\_mogul](#): > > My god **Yarster** , you had me in tears. 😃 > > Similar thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I had traveled to New York state for my brother’s wedding, and was staying at the house of his future grandmother-in-law, a very classy 80 year old lady. It was the morning of the wedding, and like you, I made a massive deposit. It wouldn’t go down. No plunger in sight and I was too embarrassed to ask for one. So I spent the next 20 minutes, in two minute intervals, flushing the toilet, seeing a bit of the log crumble off and go down the drain, and watching the bowl refill up to the rim but not quite overflow. After I managed to get about half of the behemoth down the drain, I looked at my watch and saw that the wedding was going to start in about half an hour. It was time for more direct action. I grabbed the white toilet brush that I found in the corner and used it to mash up the fecal sequoia into a lumpy stew. One more flush took care of it and I was relieved, until I noticed that the white toilet brush was now plastered with poo crumbs, like a giant vanilla chocolate chip ice cream cone. I tried to rince the brush off by flushing the toilet a few more times, but the crumbs were really stuck. So I stripped off my shoes, socks, and pants, started up the shower, and proceeded to scrape off the crumbs with my bare foot. Not my greatest moment, but it was effective. > > I figure I should become a mafia hitman. Compared to this, disposing of a body would be a piece of cake… I think they would have preferred you just dispose of the brush and buy a new one. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/62 "2013-10-11T13:11:00Z")
I’ve never had a toilet plunger, mine is just a plunger. Way back when the world was young, our kitchen sink would need plunging periodically. There is no such thing as toilet plungers, they’re just plungers. There was a thread where I mentioned having a toilet brush in the toilet at work. In Spain that’s pretty much universal; in my last job abroad (France) there was one as well. But judging by the reactions I got, they’re pretty much unheard of in work toilets in the US. None of the apartments or shared houses where I’d lived there had one until I bought one, but I’d never thought about it in “cultural” terms. Sugar is brown and comes in individual packets, kept in the same plastic box they came in. Love being able to buy individual packets from the supermarket. You will take my Tres Claveles scissors from my cold dead hands; I have four identical pairs. During the Dunkirk Job, when we had to fly up and down every week, I’d check my bag simply to be able to fly the Tres Claveles and the metal file. Pbbbbthththt on glass files, seriously! Those cardboard things? Barely worthy of their name. The item most commonly asked about at Mom’s? The Tres Claveles. There’s other scissors in the house (two in the kitchen, plus three in the kids’ room, plus any I’ve brought, plus nail scissors), but those are the ones which always seem to be in use. My sister in law does her nails at Mom’s: says it’s the only place where she can actually find both the time and the accoutrements, as her mother doesn’t see the point of having files. When she mentioned it, Mom invited her to leave some polish there; now there are two groups of nail polish in the big bathroom: Mom’s and SiL’s. My grandparents used to refuse to get a microwave until Mom showed Grandma that she could use “cup” once for her own coffee and twice for if-it’s-not-burning-it’s-cold Grandpa. They got one the next week. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/63 "2013-10-11T14:05:05Z")
I can understand not having sugar. Many people don’t sweeten, and don’t bake, so they have no need for it. My wife bakes, so we always have it around, but not in a readily accessible bowl. Toilet lids – I never ever close it. I probably should, to flush, but don’t. The only time the lid is ever closed is if I need to stand on the toilet to reach a lightbulb or something. Microwaves – now this one is puzzling. I can’t imagine living without a microwave. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/64 "2013-10-11T14:10:11Z")
> [@Yarster](#): > > One of the most horrifyingly embarassing things is when you go to someone’s house you don’t know very well, use their toilet for the first time, and have to take a massive dump. Water pressure and style of toilets vary, so you never know what you are going to get in terms of the ability of the toilet to handle your…uh…deposit. > > So imagine my horror when I went to visit one of my wife’s friends very early on, timed it poorly, had to take a dump, and then clogged their somewhat low flow toilet. Not so bad, you think, because you’ll just have to ask them for a toilet plunger. You’ll all laugh about it later, right? > > Right, unless these people announce that they don’t own a toilet plunger :eek:. But wait, aren’t they universally owned by EVERYONE? Apparently not. Yep, then you have to go fishing with your hand to unclog the toilet manually, making for an even more uncomfortable situation. I couldn’t believe there was such a thing as a home that didn’t have a toilet plunger. Well, needless to say, we are all friends now and as a joke/serious gift one year, I put a toilet plunger under their Christmas tree with a bow from ‘Santa’, though I have never had a repeat performance. > > Still, I couldn’t believe that someone who owned a low flow toilet didn’t own a toilet plunger. I’d feel like every time I dropped a deuce I’d be playing Russian Roulette. You’d probably enjoy [David Sedaris’ story “Big Boy”](http://www.esquire.com/features/this-way-out/sedaris-big-boy-1199) very much. And by You, I mean Everybody should read this. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/65 "2013-10-11T14:59:11Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > … Toilet lids – I never ever close it. I probably should, to flush, but don’t. The only time the lid is ever closed is if I need to stand on the toilet to reach a lightbulb or something… Having had ferrets trained me to always, ALWAYS close the toilet lid. Little fuzzbutts have been dead for years and I’m still well-trained! ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/66 "2013-10-11T14:59:56Z")
> [@Incubus](#): > > I assumed everyone flushed poop-encrusted toilet paper down the toilet. Apparently in my wife’s family/culture, they throw it in the garbage. They do this in some places in China too. Each cubicle has a little dustbin with paper in it. Fortunately all of the paper I could see was white. My contribution is floor traps/drains in toilets/bathrooms. I think I didn’t see a single home toilet in Australia with a floor trap. How do people wash the floor? With a mop? That’s so inefficient, and you can’t scrub. With a floor trap you only have to 1. Dump water 2. Scrub 3. Keep dumping water as needed. Also, what happens if your toilet overflows? Also, how about using sponges/scouring pads for washing dishes? I know some people use cloths, hence dishcloths. Tried them once. Too high friction and not abrasive enough. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/67 "2013-10-11T15:07:56Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > My contribution is floor traps/drains in toilets/bathrooms. I think I didn’t see a single home toilet in Australia with a floor trap. How do people wash the floor? With a mop? That’s so inefficient, and you can’t scrub. With a floor trap you only have to 1. Dump water 2. Scrub 3. Keep dumping water as needed. Also, what happens if your toilet overflows? I… don’t think I’ve ever seen a residential home with a bathroom floor drain. Are you serious? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/68 "2013-10-11T15:31:16Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > If you’re visiting someone’s house and you see a rat inside , do you keep quiet about it or do you start saying, “There’s a rat in your house, there’s a rat in your house”? I’d obviously only say that if I saw two rats in their house. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/69 "2013-10-11T16:30:41Z")
I keep flashlights in an easily accessable area in each room of the house. The power to our neighborhood was often affected during thunderstorms or heavy snowfall, so it became practical to keep a little flashlight always close by. I now live a thousand miles from that neighborhood but still keep a dozen flashlights in my house. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/70 "2013-10-11T18:06:38Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Surprisingly, it isn’t; in Alberta, at any rate.\ > > Alberta: Where you have fewer holidays than other Canadians. :mad: Whaaaaaa?!? It’s not a stat? Hmph. > [@Mangetout](#): > > Kettles. Scales. > > Nearly every kitchen in the UK has a kettle - usually electric - for boiling water for making tea or other hot drinks, etc. > > Most Brits who do any home baking have a set of kitchen scales. > > I understand these two things, although ubiquitous here, are not universal. I learned on these here boards that US Americans don’t all have an electric kettle in their homes. It’s one of the traditional marriage/housewarming gifts here! > [@AaronX](#): > > \ > Also, how about using sponges/scouring pads for washing dishes? I know some people use cloths, hence dishcloths. Tried them once. Too high friction and not abrasive enough. I found a perfect liquid detergent containing dish sponge with just the right scrubbiness. As for using a dishcloth, I also have a separate scrubber for the tough stuff. > [@Leaffan](#): > > I… don’t think I’ve ever seen a residential home with a bathroom floor drain. Are you serious? It’s a fantastic idea - just go in there and hose down your bathroom! > [@GrizzRich](#): > > I keep flashlights in an easily accessable area in each room of the house. The power to our neighborhood was often affected during thunderstorms or heavy snowfall, so it became practical to keep a little flashlight always close by. I now live a thousand miles from that neighborhood but still keep a dozen flashlights in my house. I found some cheap little [wind up flashlights](http://www.ccrane.com/images/medium/freeplay-sherpa-xray-wind-up-torch.jpg) and keep them around the house, too. I have one in a dark corner of the basement so I can see what the heck is in the dvd cupboard there. Hey, there’s another non-universal universal practice - basements! I have always taken basements in houses for granted - you have your upstairs one or two floors, then all your bonus space in the basement. They’re very useful for storage, keeping cool in summer, games rooms, send your kids there to play to get out of your hair, etc., but I’ve learned that there are many places that don’t have basements. Freak show. ---
**Author:** ![Gullible\_s\_Travels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@Gullible\_s\_Travels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gullible_s_Travels)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/71 "2013-10-11T20:54:20Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I… don’t think I’ve ever seen a residential home with a bathroom floor drain. Are you serious? Is this one of those times when bathroom doesn’t mean what I think it means?? Every bathroom I’ve ever seen in Australia has a floor drain, for when the bath or basin overflows or when your kid points the shower rose into the room. A toilet in its own little room generally not, but if it’s in the bathroom along with the bath/shower/basin there will be a floor drain. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/72 "2013-10-11T21:00:21Z")
Yeah, I don’t know about Canada but in my US experience, a residential bathroom (that is, a room with a toilet and/or shower) will not have a floor drain unless it’s a basement bathroom and even then it’s not a guarantee. I can understand the appeal and the logic but I think in general, people find it a bit industrial looking for their cozy home bathrooms. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/73 "2013-10-11T21:25:57Z")
I’ve seen bathrooms with floor drains, but they were always on the ground floor and not every ground-floor bathroom I’ve seen had floor drains. And yes, you wash the bathroom with a mop, same as the kitchen and every other room in the house. To me what sounds inefficient and dangerous is washing the floors by flooding… ---
**Author:** ![Gullible\_s\_Travels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@Gullible\_s\_Travels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gullible_s_Travels)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/74 "2013-10-11T22:34:09Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I’ve seen bathrooms with floor drains, but they were always on the ground floor and not every ground-floor bathroom I’ve seen had floor drains. And yes, you wash the bathroom with a mop, same as the kitchen and every other room in the house. > > To me what sounds inefficient and dangerous is washing the floors by flooding… Haha well yes, washing the floors by flooding is a bit over the top :D. But seriously, a floor drain in the bathroom is standard here. I’ve always thought it was a legal requirement. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/75 "2013-10-11T23:08:55Z")
> [@Orville\_mogul](#): > > My god **Yarster** , you had me in tears. 😃 > > Similar thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I had traveled to New York state for my brother’s wedding, and was staying at the house of his future grandmother-in-law, a very classy 80 year old lady. It was the morning of the wedding, and like you, I made a massive deposit. It wouldn’t go down. No plunger in sight and I was too embarrassed to ask for one. So I spent the next 20 minutes, in two minute intervals, flushing the toilet, seeing a bit of the log crumble off and go down the drain, and watching the bowl refill up to the rim but not quite overflow. After I managed to get about half of the behemoth down the drain, I looked at my watch and saw that the wedding was going to start in about half an hour. It was time for more direct action. I grabbed the white toilet brush that I found in the corner and used it to mash up the fecal sequoia into a lumpy stew. One more flush took care of it and I was relieved, until I noticed that the white toilet brush was now plastered with poo crumbs, like a giant vanilla chocolate chip ice cream cone. I tried to rince the brush off by flushing the toilet a few more times, but the crumbs were really stuck. So I stripped off my shoes, socks, and pants, started up the shower, and proceeded to scrape off the crumbs with my bare foot. Not my greatest moment, but it was effective. > > I figure I should become a mafia hitman. Compared to this, disposing of a body would be a piece of cake… How to improvise a toilet plunger: Take a plastic bag and an empty 2 litre plastic bottle. Leaving the cap in place cut the bottom of the bottle. Holding the bottle whilst using the plastic bag as a glove plunge away. Ease the bag over the bottle and tie it for disposal. In someone else’s house the hard part might be getting hold of the plastic bottle… but it’s gotta be easier than what Orville mogul did. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/76 "2013-10-11T23:26:20Z")
I’ve encountered the no plunger problem, but in that case it was someone had recently moved and the plunger was still at the old place (bought by family so there was no rush to get every last thing out) not simply not owning a plunger. Still hella embarrassing having to go ask “do you have a plunger”. Damn you low flow toilets… ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/77 "2013-10-11T23:37:18Z")
For me it was a decent tool kit. Not necessarily a full on rolling Craftsman tool drawer system, but at least a toolbox with pliers, screwdrivers, duct tape, etc. When I left for college, I took a good toolkit with them. All of sudden people are asking for help - I was shocked that I was the only in the dorm with tool box. OK - I quickly realized that THEY were the universal, but it was a shift in culture for me I admit. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/78 "2013-10-11T23:51:52Z")
One of the things that my husband and I bought for our daughter when she moved out was a basic tool kit. The tools weren’t top of the line, but they weren’t crap tools, either. She has found it very useful. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/79 "2013-10-12T00:43:51Z")
> [@Gullible\_s\_Travels](#): > > Is this one of those times when bathroom doesn’t mean what I think it means?? > > Every bathroom I’ve ever seen in Australia has a floor drain, for when the bath or basin overflows or when your kid points the shower rose into the room. A toilet in its own little room generally not, but if it’s in the bathroom along with the bath/shower/basin there will be a floor drain. No, sounds like we share the same idea of what a bathroom is. Are all your bathroom floors concrete or tile? And are they sloped toward the drain? Like **Inner Stickler** says, that sounds rather industrial. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/80 "2013-10-12T01:23:40Z")
> [@Gullible\_s\_Travels](#): > > Haha well yes, washing the floors by flooding is a bit over the top :D. But seriously, a floor drain in the bathroom is standard here. I’ve always thought it was a legal requirement. I think it is a legal requirement. I’ve never seen a bathroom without a floor drain, except for when we were in the US. My husband is in a wheelchair and the bathroom in the hotel where we stayed wasn’t very accessible, so he had to shower sitting in his chair (we’d done this at home for the same reason). I only noticed the lack of a floor drain when the flooding commenced. Fortunately, we had enough towels to mop up the excess. Not sure what the domestic staff made of it all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874.md?page=5)