I’ve noticed from time to time an interesting behavior in bathrooms: flushing the toilet several times in succession seems to be a common practice amongst more than a few people. I suppose I can understand the idea of flushing to avoid a problem after doing a large amount of business, or to avoid leaving a “skid mark” at the bottom of the bowl, but I really don’t see how this is the case in the practice I’m referring to. It’s really more like some folks are flushing each of their wipings down the toilet individually because I’ve heard some cases of people flushing the toilet a good half dozen times within the span of a minute or two. Being a guy, I’ve no idea whether this is as common amongst women as it is amongst men, but I can attest that a lot of men do it. I only bring it up because I’ve noticed it more and more often in office and public bathrooms and the behavior has me stumped … I’ve never seen a toilet that got stopped up after flushing more than a single wiping, so I have a hard time believing that’s how anyone might justify wasting all that water. If it’s the idea that they want to avoid leaving a mark at the bottom of the bowl, why would they really be concerned about such a thing if it’s in a public bathroom?
I’ve never had a problem with a single flush, so what’s going on with the obsessive-compulsive flushing?
Are these automatic flush toilets? Our bathroom has them, and sometimes, as I lean to wipe, they go off. So it sounds like I’m flushing 3 or 4 times, but it’s just the sensor assuming I’ve gotten off the pot.
I suppose that’s a common occurrence, yeah, but I’ve observed it in bathrooms with non-automated toilets as well, so there’s still something else going on here …
When I’m sitting on the toilet, my gut puts pressure on my bladder, and I sometimes don’t realize that I have to pee as well as poo until after I’ve pooped and flushed and stood up. Then I pee and flush again. But this only results in 2 flushes.
Some people are really uptight about bodily functions. That may be the simplest answer…
The toilets where I work make a huge amount of sound and fury, but they still take at least two flushings to get everything to go down. And, yes, I do care if I leave stuff in a public toilet and I wish everyone else cared as well. It shouldn’t be my job to attend to your unfinished business before I can use the toilet.
I hate those! If I don’t carefully place a strip of doubled toilet paper over the sensor, it’s “fwoosh! fwoosh!” any time you make any sort of movement.
I understand the concept of the courtesy flush and all (well, maybe I don’t since I don’t think there’s an association between flushing the toilet and eliminating a lingering smell in the air), but I still don’t know if that’s what’s going on here unless the people in question have courtesy OCD because as I said in my OP, this is happening several times in succession and I don’t know why more than a single “courtesy flush” would be necessary to avoid unpleasant marks in the toilet or lingering smells in the surrounding area.
If it’s really just people being paranoid about being courteous, then there really are more obsessive-compulsive types out there than I thought … but if that’s really the case then I must wonder why they aren’t more people who are equally paranoid about common courtesy in places like movie theatres and traffic intersections as well.
Maybe they’re those people who get ‘performance anxiety’ about peeing/pooping in public or the ones who can’t do it in total silence? They do multiple flushes to make a sound to cover their bodily noises?
Well, at my office, the toilets have highly inadequate flushes. So if I poo, I flush. Then I wipe once or twice, then I flush. If I’m still not clean enough, I’ll wipe some more, then flush again. Anything less in the way of flushes, and you’re risking major cloggage. I don’t know if that’s what you’re encountering, though.
I find that in moments of extreme intestinal distress I pre flush. This is done to protect innocent ears from the sound of my tormented bowels. Otherwise the effect would be something like showing a five year old “The Exorcist”. Wide eyes and stark terror.
It also allows me to make eye contact with people when I leave the stall.
Courtesy flush is bullshit. No odor comes from shit actually underwater. Try leaving a toilet full of feces for a while, then come back to it. No smell. The concept of a courtesy flush is for uptight assholes who can’t face the fact that THEY MAKE SHIT, and it comes RIGHT OUT OF THEIR BODIES! Ewwwwwwwww!
Never used a cheap low-flow toilet, huh? One of the toilets at my last apartment was a cheap low-flow toilet, and it needed to be flushed at least twice any time there was paper involved. The first flush just made the contents of the bowl swirl around a bit. The toilets you’re dealing with might be like this, or the people who do it might be used to using toilets like this at home, so they automatically flush multiple times.
But not all shit stays underwater- there are floaters, too.
I do this. In my case, it’s related to my irritable bowel syndrome (constipation-predominant). I go a little, wipe up, flush. Oh, a little more is coming. Ok, wipe up, flush. Oh, a little more. Ok…
I do, also, sometimes flush before I’m entirely finished wiping, as I’ve noticed I have a tendency to clog the bowl with paper otherwise. I seem to use an excessive number of wipes to get done.
Back when I was normal, though, it was always one or two flushes and then you leave. Perhaps you just work in a building full of IBSers?