Toilet Seats

[NerdGirl]

http://theboard.byu.edu/index.php?area=viewall&id=58101

I'm with Laser Jock (and everyone else). If it has a lid, the lid should go down. I don't want to see toilet water if I don't have to.

[Yarjka]

If you're in an apartment with all guys, it makes no sense to lower the seat. But, once you're married, you should do as I did - learn to lower it. It's actually very simple to do, and it will win you lots of love from your wife. (I still for the life of me can't figure out how a woman can sit down on the toilet without looking first to see if the seat's down, but my experience has confirmed that it's a fact that it happens ... just one more of the many baffling things about life).

[ahem.]

In seventh grade we learned about the "aerosol effect" of flushing toilets--when flushed, toilets create a mist of germs that is sprayed up to ten feet. Even though this is fairly well documented, a part of me is still like "Um, whatever."

Still, I made the habit of always, always, always closing the lid of a toilet before flushing it. And I cringe at self-flushing toilets.

[Whistler]

I heartily agree with ahem about closing toilets all the way while they're spraying, er, flushing. I no longer know how to check to see if the toilet is overflowing though.

[TheAnswerIs42]

When we first got married, we had this problem a lot. I kept telling him that both lids had to be put down by both people because that is the clean way to do things, but somehow his mother hadn't taught him that. And then, a few months into our marriage, we were manuvering in our tight Wymount bathroom when I was taking out my retainer, which bumped my arm, which sent my expensive retainer into the toilet as it was flushing (since he had just finished, and left the seats up). After scrounging for the $200 to replace it, he learned.

Which was good, because now we have toddlers. Seats MUST both be down with toddlers. Somehow they all come thinking that toilets are their own personal plaything . . .

[Dragon Lady]

I had a teacher once that told me the best story ever. His wife wanted to keep the lid down. He didn't. Typical argument. She found a Reader's Digest article that talked about the spray of germs that ahem. mentioned. It convinced him, but out of years of habit, he kept forgetting. So he made a picture of Godzilla holding a frightened woman who was screaming, "Put me down! Put me down!" He laminated it and put it on the bottom of the toilet lid to always remind him to put it down.

I'm on the side of always keeping the lid down. A) Looks much nicer. B) I'm with 42. I have a toddler and it MUST BE DOWN for her. C) Everyone has to lift it up, everyone has to put it down. No favoritism or sexism here.

And am I the only one who has never even considered lifting the toilet seat with my foot? Not only does it just seem weird and awkward to me, but my mind immediately imagined myself being super pregnant and trying to lift a toilet seat with my foot.

[FauxRaiden]

I agree that the lid should come down, but the toilet seat? That's a different story.

I don't think women have the right to complain about the seat being up anymore than men have the right to complain about the seat being down.

Like Yarjka, I have to wonder how someone can "fall in". In my entire life I don't think I've ever sat(sit?) on a toilet without looking at the seat first. Apparently it does happen. I guess every girl has a story about it.

[Laser Jock]

And am I the only one who has never even considered lifting the toilet seat with my foot? Not only does it just seem weird and awkward to me, but my mind immediately imagined myself being super pregnant and trying to lift a toilet seat with my foot.

It's not so much an issue with a toilet in one's own home, but I have zero desire to touch a public toilet if I can help it.

(Since women have no reason to ever lift the seat, and I assume that your public toilets lack lids just like ours do, I can see why you might not have run into this.)

I agree that the lid should come down, but the toilet seat? That's a different story.

How do you put the lid down but keep the seat up?

[krebscout]

The seat isn't a huge issue, but I hate when Sauron closes the lid. Inconvenient. We keep our kid out by keeping the bathroom door closed.

If it is down, I use my foot to open it. And I am seven months pregnant. Totally doable.

[ahem.]

But then, Kreby has always been a bit of a germaphobe. Especially about bathrooms.

[Dead Cat]

After my parents got married, the rule became he puts down the toilet seat when he's done and she pulls back the driver's seat when she's done.

[Hypatia]

Down down down down down down down! Everything on a toilet goes down before the toilet is flushed. Otherwise you are germing up your whole bathroom. That being said, I'm the type of person who carries hand sanitizer wherever she goes.

But, still, who wants to walk into a bathroom with a wide open gaping toilet? Gross.

[C is for]

I'm working on that. Putting the lid all the way down, I mean. I have a tiny bathroom where everything is in close proximity and I got tired of the idea of what's getting on my toothbrush.

I should tell my family of my concerns as well. It's the guest bath, so everyone uses it.

My little brother I think has only left the seat up once. He's the youngest of several girls, though, so it probably doesn't occur to him to put it up in the first place.

[Imogen]

here's the thing: 3 out 4 times someone uses the toilet, the seat needs to be down. so, it makes sense for it to be down.

[ahem.]

I don't really care if it is up. I can just put it down again. But I think it's nicer to have everything down.

[thebigcheese]

I have a tiny bathroom where everything is in close proximity and I got tired of the idea of what's getting on my toothbrush.

Anybody ever see the Mythbusters where they tested this?

[Marduk]

here's the thing: 3 out 4 times someone uses the toilet, the seat needs to be down. so, it makes sense for it to be down.

Woah, not even close. My bathroom needs require a seat being up far more than half the time. I mean, I get the implication, but your figures are a little off. However, my personal opinion on the matter is that I don't really care. If the seat is in a different condition than I require for my uses, I MOVE IT. It takes less than two seconds. It is quite possibly one of the smallest things that someone could become annoyed at.

[Unit of Energy]

In my apartment I usually just leave it, however our toilets and showers are in separate rooms than our vanity so there are no toothbrushes in there. When using the toilet at someone else's home I leave the seat and lid how I found it.

[NerdGirl]

For me it's not so much about the germs as it is about not wanting to be reminded that we have these bowls of standing water in our houses in which we put our excrement. It weirds me out if I think about it for too long, so I just like to hide it when I'm not using it.

[FauxRaiden]

here's the thing: 3 out 4 times someone uses the toilet, the seat needs to be down. so, it makes sense for it to be down.

Woah, not even close. My bathroom needs require a seat being up far more than half the time. I mean, I get the implication, but your figures are a little off. However, my personal opinion on the matter is that I don't really care. If the seat is in a different condition than I require for my uses, I MOVE IT. It takes less than two seconds. It is quite possibly one of the smallest things that someone could become annoyed at.

This.

I don't particularly care where the position of the toilet seat is (unless it's in proximity to my toothbrush). If it's up, fine. If it's down, fine I'll lift it up. I just don't like being told that whatever I'm doing is wrong.