# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/101 "2013-10-14T13:54:27Z")
I’ve traveled to countries where you throw your toilet paper in the trash. The can was rarely empty when I arrived. Nor do I remember it smelling particularly bad. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/102 "2013-10-14T15:11:34Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I… don’t think I’ve ever seen a residential home with a bathroom floor drain. Are you serious? When I was living in India, my apartment bathrooms had floor drains (and to respond to another poster downthread, I lived on the 4th floor). Of course it is worth considering that I had a cleaner to come hose down the bathroom everyday, so the place was always clean and dry. I can imagine that if we didn’t have servants we might have used a different system. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/103 "2013-10-14T18:53:33Z")
> [@Incubus](#): > > This is interesting; my wife and I know very few people who smoke (my brother is probably the only one) and even he is considerate enough to politely excuse himself “I need to get some air” to partake without disturbing the hosts/other guests. > > I guess I come from a different generation, but if I saw someone light up as a guest in my own house, I wouldn’t feel rude if I were to hustle them outside like the filthy animal they were (I’m from California, where smokers are second class citizens). Face it, smokers are the lepers of 21-century America. When I was single and living in an apartment, I noticed that the smokers would usually come out to the (common) courtyard to smoke. Most of them kept ashtrays on their windowsill, and a few had little tins containing matches. It was probably to avoid losing their security deposit, but I was quite amused that even the smokers didn’t allow smoking in their apartments. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/104 "2013-10-14T19:01:46Z")
> [@Gullible\_s\_Travels](#): > > Low flow toilets must be different in Australia. We don’t have a toilet plunger and there’s never been a time when we’ve needed one. We’re getting older too though - perhaps I should invest in one?? 😃 You must have better toilets in Australia. Or at least, you were lucky enough to miss the first generation of low-flow toilets that just plain didn’t work, and typically required multiple flushes to dispatch a sizeable turd. Better toilets that actually do the job expected of them are now available, but a not-insignificant number of houses and apartments are still cursed with the dreaded first-generation low-flow toilet. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/105 "2013-10-15T02:11:36Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > I am always a bit surprised when someone doesn’t have sugar, too. It seems like a basic staple to me. On the other hand, I didn’t keep milk in my house for years. I didn’t drink it often and even small cartons went bad before I used it. Interestingly enough, I go through at least a half gallon a week now. I like artificial sweeteners, and I try to keep a bunch of them in a little tin on the kitchen table. Because I would drink milk by the glassful if I kept it in the house, I use powdered creamer. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/106 "2013-10-15T02:17:04Z")
> [@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. Now I’m assuming this arose from growing up in places with iffy plumbling where one errant wad of shitpaper can turn the whole thing into one big poogeyser. > > I don’t know how it came up, but I was pretty grossed out when I first found out. She was kind of offended at my reaction, since to them, its as ‘normal’ as us gringos flushing paper down the toilet. Plus, she pointed out there’s plenty of other stuff we’re not supposed to flush down the toilet (condoms, tampons, q-tips, etc). She had me there. > > When we moved in together, we got one of those little garbage cans with a lid for the bathroom. I try to pretend not to have any idea what gets deposited in there at parties. 😛 While staying in a foreign country where flushing TP was verboten, our group used ziplock bags to keep odor down and pests at a minimum. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/107 "2013-10-15T03:37:11Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > bolding mine > > I guarantee you, no matter how much of a mess you made, they have absolutely seen worse. Probably. I cleaned up the water but I did wonder what they thought about the number of towels we’d used. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/108 "2013-10-15T06:11:08Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > You must have better toilets in Australia. I think our toilets have a lower water level in the bowl… what, if any, difference that makes, I know not. There must be an SD discussion somewhere about the relative merits of toilet designs. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/109 "2013-10-15T06:54:32Z")
> [@11811](#): > > Because I would drink milk by the glassful if I kept it in the house… What’s wrong with that? (Asks the liter-a-day person) ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/110 "2013-10-16T04:15:18Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Many public ladies’ bathrooms have lidded trashcans for personal hygiene products. I’ve seen those bins say for sanitary napkins only. Why? Are they… recycling them? What common trash could one throw that would contaminate them? ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/111 "2013-10-16T04:17:40Z")
No, you could put anything in them; they’re simply there in the stall for convenience for sanitary products. Other wise your choices would be to try to flush them or to have to carry them out to the main washroom trash bin. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/112 "2013-10-16T07:57:33Z")
You still find some old buildings here in Israel - mainly government offices - where they ask you to place your used toilet paper in a bin. I always flush it anyway, because I’m not a goddamn savage. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/113 "2013-10-18T04:33:52Z")
> [@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. Now I’m assuming this arose from growing up in places with iffy plumbling where one errant wad of shitpaper can turn the whole thing into one big poogeyser. > > I don’t know how it came up, but I was pretty grossed out when I first found out. She was kind of offended at my reaction, since to them, its as ‘normal’ as us gringos flushing paper down the toilet. Plus, she pointed out there’s plenty of other stuff we’re not supposed to flush down the toilet (condoms, tampons, q-tips, etc). She had me there. > > When we moved in together, we got one of those little garbage cans with a lid for the bathroom. I try to pretend not to have any idea what gets deposited in there at parties. 😛 Same with my wife. I’m just surprised that it doesn’t smell up the bathroom. It really doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/114 "2013-10-18T14:56:07Z")
> [@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… Reminds me of [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvfUyWl9ZQs)from Extras ---
**Author:** ![OurLordPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/115 "2013-10-18T16:43:27Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > What’s wrong with that? (Asks the liter-a-day person) Have you ever seen the movie “The Corporation”? ---
**Author:** ![OurLordPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/116 "2013-10-18T16:45:51Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > 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. The water table is too high in some places for basements to even be possible. Some buildings are on higher elevation than the rest of the area, and basements can sometimes be found there. ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/117 "2013-10-18T17:23:19Z")
> [@Cugel](#): > > I think our toilets have a lower water level in the bowl… what, if any, difference that makes, I know not. There must be an SD discussion somewhere about the relative merits of toilet designs. That sounds as if Australia, like Europe, generally uses non-siphoning toilets. Indeed those clog less easily because there is no particular reason to make the waterways narrow. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/118 "2013-10-18T19:11:49Z")
> [@agnesnitt](#): > > People who have no spices in their kitchens. This is just bizarre. I can understand not having cardamon, but not even italian spice mix or red pepper for pizza? How do you live? Some people just seem to like bland, tasteless food. Like my sister-in-law, for example. I think she has pepper around somewhere, but if you eat her cooking it’s obvious that “spice” isn’t in her vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/119 "2013-10-18T19:47:54Z")
> [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](#): > > That custom of returning containers filled with something is still in full use around here. 🙂 Tell me about it. We tried to get rid of a hideous serving dish we got as a gift that way for years. We kept getting it back with food in it. The lid finally broke, and I think it was almost unintentional, and we finally felt justified in throwing it away. ---
**Author:** ![BrickaBracka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BrickaBracka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickaBracka)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874/120 "2013-10-18T20:37:36Z")
> [@Orville\_mogul](#): > > 1. Keeping a bowl of sugar. Everyone I know (other than teenagers in their first place) has one handy, as do I. > [@Orville\_mogul](#): > > 1. Closing toilet lids after you have finished. I want to murder my wife for this…I told her I’m going to blacklight the bathroom with her in there one day to show her how high the shitwater sprays… > [@Orville\_mogul](#): > > 1. Having a microwave. Who DOESN’T have a microwave??? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/universal-practices-that-apparently-aren-t-that-universal/670874.md?page=7)