Wherein I get lightly steam-grilled in the shower

The BBQ Pit
1

Ok, so, I’m taking a shower earlier today. It was a nice shower, and the water temperature was perfect, not too hot, not too cold. I started soaping up, beginning with my legs, working my way up, building up a nice lather, scrubbing away all the dirt from the previous day. So far so good. Then I work up a good lather in my hands, close my eyes and start scrubbing my face too, and that’s when it happens…

Some asshat downstairs must’ve flushed, and sucked all the cold water RIGHT out of the pipes.

I yelped as I leapt to the far end of the tub/shower to escape the scalding stream of near-boiling water that had just, I’m sure, melted the skin off my back as steam begins to fill the shower. I can feel the air temperature starting to climb, and my feet are starting to catch fire as well, now.

So, there I am, covered with soapy lather from head to toe, eyes closed to keep the soap out of my eyes, and unable to reach the shower controls to adjust the temperature back down because of the curtain of EIGHT-THOUSAND-DEGREE WATER beteween me and them. I can’t rinse off, because to do so is to become soup at that point, and now some soap is leaking past my eyelids to sting and burn. All I can do is stand there and hope the cold water comes back…

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Do you fucking idiots have to flush while I’m in the shower? Can your pea brains not process the fact that doing this will burn the shit out of anyone unlucky enough to be taking a shower at that moment? Can you not hold it for FIVE FUCKING MINUTES?

At last the infernal downstairs toilet fills and the cold water makes its glorious return! I rinse off as quickly as possible and get the hell out of there.

I don’t know who you were, Mr. Flusher, but if I ever find out, you’d better be careful in the shower!

2

Interestingly, the exact same thing happened to me a few moments ago. Not a flushing toilet, just someone starting up the washing machine. Owwwww.

I have retreated into my room ro sulk. And drip.

3

My last apartment had only two drops of hot water a day, so I got the opposite. Cold water in December ain’t a fun way to start the day.

4

:frowning:

Sorry bout your experience, I hate it when that happens. The water temperature in my apartment complex will fluctuate like that regardless of whether a neighbor flushed or not. I started keeping a towel draped over the back of the curtain rod for just what you described. That way I can jump back and remove the soap from my eyes while waiting for the molten lava to stop spewing from the shower head.

5

Next time you hear the shower downstairs, return the favor.

Wait wouldn’t that deprive the person upstairs?

Wait do you have an upstairs?

It’s all so confusing.

6

I once did that, and got all het up before realizing that the brainiac who started up the washing machine was…me. (I had it on timer delay and forgot about it.)

7

It seems like whenever I take a shower, the the downstairs neighbor has to run the hot water, thus freezing me out. But I remembered that water more readily follows the path of least resistance. When the water turns cold, I step out and crank the hot water to full blast. This usually redirects the hot water flow back to my shower. I actually heard a scream once doing this. :smiley:

8

As fate is always against me, there is some law of nature that when I decide to take a shower, the washing machine, loaded to the brim with whites, will start running, of course using very hot water to boil away all the ickiness out of the underwear and socks.

Recently the hot/cold thingy on the knob of the shower broke off. Making it considerably more difficult to get the right temperature.

9

I would gladly trade your shower for mine today. The hot water is out in my apartment again. I don’t just have “shrinkage”, I have “vanishage”.

10

[Homer] mmmmmmmmmm … steam-grilled Q.E.D. [/Homer]

11

Hey, hey! Q.E.D. is not for eating, even if he is still nice and tender.

12

Tell me, are the people on the floors below you supposed to have some sort of ESP which would enable them to tell when you are taking a shower, so as not the flush the toilet?

Hmmmmm, didn’t think so.

Here’s a solution: Before you take a shower, go around to every other apartment and announce that you are going to take a shower, so would everyone please refrain from taking a piss or a taking a shit for the next 1/2 or so.:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I’m sure that will work just fine.

13

Well, yes. It’s called hearing the water running. :stuck_out_tongue:

And you do know what hyperbole is, no? :wink:

14

Is this a bad time to mention that I LOVE my shower? That the water pipes are barely connected, so if someone flushes, it only affects the temperature a tessnsy tiny bit? And IF someone flushes…well that someone is in MY apartment, so I know who to get mad at (not that the change in temperature even warrants it)? That we never run out of hot water…ever? Well, except for those two times that they had problems in the basement, but that was fixed ASAP? That the water pressure is fantastic?

Oh, it IS a bad time to mention this? Oops…sorry!

:smiley:
[sub]Actually, I had a really crappy no-water-pressure-no-hot-water-sensitive-to-every-tiny-running-of-water-elsewhere-in the-house-icky-horrible shower two years ago, so I am now totally happy with the one in this apartment[/sub]

15

I’m also curious, do you work in the coal mines? How dirty do you get? You really lather up , don’t ya?

Just kidding. My fucking water heater is completely out so i’ll be showering in COLD water tomorrow and spending 400 bucks for a new one.

16

We remodelled our master bathroom recently. For the shower, we got the Moen ExactTemp Pressure-balancing thermostatic valve. I highly recommend them.

Luxury. :slight_smile:

17

My child and I have a signal…he enters the loo while I’m in the shower and I screech “don’t you dare flush” It works well, well except for that time when I had confiscated the pokemon cards, that time my bum was very red!

I feel your pain.

18

Dear Diary,

So last night I took a bath, I have a plentiful supply of hotwater, and it is scalding, so I tend to run hot and cold at the same time.

Being impatient I will frequently step into the bath before it is filled.

I did that. It was too hot.

Plan A is to lift one foot out just long enough to cool it, and then swap feet, repeat, like some crazed flamingo.

It really was very hot.

So, Plan B is to jiggle the raised foot under the cold tap, thus dissipating the heat at a greater rate.

Did I mention I was, er, inebriated?

Do you know the way that parts of your body like to confuse sensations of hot/cold? Like your feet? Maybe it’s just my feet. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe it’s just me when I’m smashed.

Mmm. Cool water. Oooh. Strange burning sensation from cool water. Maybe jiggling my foot deeper into the stream of cool water will help. Strange intense burning sensation continues.

Leap about like an idiot for five minutes, tempted to see if flushing the toilet over my poor scarlet glowing foot might alleviate the agony.

Hot water should be a different colour for safety reasons, that’s my advice, and I’m writing to the PM about it.

And I feel your pain Q.E.D..

19

The technical term for that, t’ Great Unwashed, is “Doing a Princess Margaret”

20

Ok, i’ll hijcak my own thread just to ask where and how did that originate?