Well, let's see... if there's any moisture at all on the seat, it'll soak right through the seat cover -- rendering it useless. If you shift your ass even slightly, you'll move the seat cover and touch bare seat -- rendering it useless.

I think seat covers are placebo's -- they don't really do anything, except make the paranoid feel slightly better about using a public toilet. Unless you pile like eight of them on...

Yeah, I too think ass gaskets are placebos (no apostrophe, since this placebo is not POSSESSING anything, although Quayle might have inserted an 'e', but I digress). The only reason I would use one is if I needed to protect an open wound on the back of my leg, which theoretically if it were that bad, would be bandaged anyway. I don't know what the big deal is about sharing toilets anyway. I mean if somebody's ass is so nasty that it leaves pestilent residue on the smooth seat, a piece of waxy tissue won't help. Plus you'd know about it beforehand if you worked with the guy. True pestilence reeks. I've sometimes wiped dots of piss (more likely mostly water backsplash) off the seat with TP before planting my white hiney if my rectum was putting the urge in urgent. No biggie. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Besides, I thought seat slickers were self-disposing with that little turd catching flap that dangles down into the water. It's just another item that exists to feed paranoia. Like toothbrushes (j/k).

To the original poster...Stud up. Grab a bit of paper, push the butt bushing into the bowl, deposit your load on top, wash up and go home. And what's with the handicapped stall? Are you indeed handicapped? It's a crapper, not your private little restroom. I think people should wear stickers to use handicapped stalls or face fines, just like parking.

~D

Doniker... when are you gonna petition the forum to reinstate you...? I miss you for one, and I'm sure if it went to a vote you would get back on

I should actually add some more to this. First, I did not realize I was potentially berating the esteemed Doniker, and not some random posting punk. I apologize if I seemed flippant. Second, I'm not shameless sitting down, but for some reason I get stage fright at the urinal something fierce. I one time actually involuntarily pinched off the Euphrates in mid-stream when some stranger sought to occupy the adjacent urinal. Couldn't start again until he finished and left. Go figure. We all have our hang-ups, I guess.

No harm done Derwood, I am not as "esteemed" as you may think.

I have more enemies than allies on PoopReport.

I've not used one before. I rarely see them. I've seen them in probably 5 bathrooms in my life. Maybe it's not a Canadian thing. I'd imagine that a paper lining would slow the toilet seat-to-ass transmission of microorganisms.

Toilet seat covers are friggin' useless! I say, screw it. Sit down, take a shit and go home to wash your ass. I'm sick and tired of this paranoid, germ-free, sterile search for existence. Do you forget you have microscopic organisms living on our skin?

Stop all the worry and live freely.

Maybe it *is* a Canadian thing. Here across the border they're practically ubiquitous in public restrooms. I usually use them, just because I feel I'm somehow hygenically obligated to. I think I read somewhere that they don't really protect you that much from germs--not that germs on the toilet seat are likely to harm you anyway--and are indeed kind of a placebo. As Dave mentioned, any moisture on the seat and they're useless. Sometimes I'll wipe moisture off and then put the ass gasket down. Sometimes it slips, at which point I say "fuck it" and just sit down anyway.

oh yeah, my poop has corn in it

Toilet seat covers are completely useless. They are too thin and too slippery. When I've tried using them (my *Canadian* workplace has them)they waft off the toilet seat when I turn to sit down after fidgeting for a few seconds with the useless slippery thing and trying to position it securely on the seat. After one occasion when I turned to sit and, to my horror, made contact with the cold uncovered surface of the plastic seat (and leaped off it as if scorched) I have stopped trying to use them. A friend of mine uses several as one is too thin. I have become adept at building "nests" with toilet paper and can make one much more quickly than try to get the stupid seat cover to stay on the toilet. Besides, that middle piece that dangles down becomes waterlogged and then drags the seat cover off the seat before one can sit down. I just cover the seat with several layers of toilet paper, it stays on much better. I know we have bacteria on our skin but I don't wish to share ass germs with total strangers anymore than I like to touch the hands of strangers because I don't know what they've been doing with their hands prior to touching mine (nose mining for one example).

And for the record....I'm a Doniker fan. :o)

If you're that worried about ass hygeine the best thing to do is carry a bottle Purell alcohol gel handwash disinfectant, spritz some on your hand and rub your buns with it after using the toilet.

I dont worry about toilet seats as long as they are clean. I learned about the Purell trick because I am a bicyclist and a Zen student and found out I got ass zits from sitting too long in one place. the Purell is a perfect cure for Dalmatian Ass

What I hate are people who leave piss all over toilet seats. I dont know much about men's bathrooms, but am sorry to report that women can trash public restrooms like a pack of wild pigs--the state of the johns at my local city college is unbelievable. Our janitor really tries her best, but as soon as she whips the ladies' loo into shape its trashed again an hour or two later.

corn- really? It's a rare occasion that I find them public cans. Oh well, all the power to ya.

perhaps germs do

not living long enuf to infect..

--

i use the booty-guards

for that reason

and

i just don't like the idea

ov my bare arse

rubbing up against

a surface

where other bare arses

have so intimately come in contact

which conjures up

unsavory images in my head

about the various surfaces, textures, terrains..

and at that,

the crinkly piece ov translucent paper product

serves more as a mental aid..

.......

tho the real paranoia should stem

from the up-splash ov toilet

water in a public restroom...

onto bare skin

----no doubt

the cootie count may be enormous..

--in the event ov such misfortune

all i can say is... be prepared..

.....handywipes..

the name says it all..

.........if nothing more

it'll make you feel better...

and a little fresher.......

I think people use them because they are afraid of catching some sort of sexually transmitted disease. I

personally don't use them, I tried one once, but didnt

like it, they don't stay on the seat. I figure it this

way....If you put the seat cover on,you would be touching the seat to put it on, and the germs from their ass would be on your hands, so either way, there

is no way of getting away from germs.

You end up touching the container that the "ass gaskets" come from. There is usually a button that is most assuradley plastered with shit from the last person. Positioning the gasket over the center of the throne usually involves contact with the piss stained seat. You end up with more shit on you hands than on your ass using these things.

The motorized ones at the airport are unique. My guess is that the plastic just keeps going around in a circle anyway.

The best approach is to levitate over the ring, and never touch it in the first place.

Happy shitting friends.

do u put the flap in the front of the back? i put it in the back 'cuz i figure that's what it's there for... kinda like a slip 'n slide for your poop. but i know pps who swear by puttin it in the front. they're all guys, tho... so i suspect they're doin that to protect their pissers.

wonderin, tho... the toilet seat cover manufacturers had to have one or the other in mind. funny how they don't show any pictures. i mean, i wonder about shiny-side down or shiny-side up too!

i have used those damned things before and if you don't poke the center out before you poo, it causes problems. the poopie will stay untill you add more poo then the weight is too much and "bombs away!"

Well urin is stairle, so i piss on the seat, wipe w/tp, and sit.

wow...i think u ppl are all a little wierd...but it does make for good reading material..thanx for entertaining me for 20 min.!

i use toilet seat covers every time.i think they are very usefull.

Forget the toilet seat covers. I just hover over a public toilet when I dump. But there are these great wipes on the market for sterilizing a toilet seat. I think the Scrubbing Bubbles people make them. These are what I use for my dad's assmarks on the toilet seat at home.

My interesting paper toilet cover. I buying these goods and sold. are there these special goods.
per 100 pcs. paper
per 150 pcs paper
per 250 pcs paper
and dispenser.
All these, what price ?
I waiting replay from you.
Best Regards

Try wiping down the seat with a Final Wipe!

Paper ass-gaskets haha is your ass a car...no so stfu and do you buisness and be done, its just poo.

Recently I have developed some sort of arthritic condition in my hips that prevents me from hovering too much. I tried using an ass gasket the other day. The stupid toilet was an automatic and it kept flushing the thing before I could sit on it.

Fuck those automatic toilets!

Paper toilet seat covers are available in the UK and worldwide at www.cleanseatuk.com

I think toilet seat covers are dumb at work during my break time i go in the bathroom and rip them up
and i also rub my fingers on them when there inside the dispencer and tear them up a little

People seem to be missing the point with these toilet seat covers....what about the people with colitis, ulcerative colitis,crohns disease, irritable bowel etc all the above make going to the loo a nightmare when it is going through a flare up ....with ulcerative colitis the bleeding can be very bad and when going to the loo the bottom seems to explode and can cover the whole toilet area in blood (not nice)so seat covers in these instances are an absolute must. People with no bowel problems have a hard enough time trying to get it into the actual toilet so feel very sorry for the people with any of the above bowel problems where they have no control whatsoever over their bowel movements its instant....

toilet seat covers is such a great invention.I use them every time ,when I can.

Skip the provided wax paper ass gaskets and make your own. I use at least three plies of TP in a public restroom (like at the mall). But only one ply at work (I work with all women and they're pretty clean). As for the prevention of ass splashing, drop about 5 or 6 sheets of TP into the water before dropping off the kids and the TP will suppress the splashing.

Who needs paper covers in the UK anymore? Self-cleaning and disinfecting toilet seats have been in central Europe and the rest of the civilised world since 1993 but not in the hygiene lethargic UK. We've got them now. Bye bye to 99% of toilet seat bacteria in 15 seconds - automatically, leaving the seat clean, dry, disinfected and ready for the next user. Simple, isn't it.
Have a look at www.vipcleanseat.com and winge at your bosses until they get them.

Shit before you leave home. That renders all this moot.

Bit sexist Dumpster. Our ladies sit (or squat) for all toilet use. Your remedy may not assist them. Good job the Cleanseat will.

How is it sexist to suggest that you dump at home? Both sexes can dump in their own toilets! Of course, one cannot always shit at home, but that is another argument entirely.

And since you like to promote your product, Howard, maybe you should take out some ad space with Dave. PR does get a lot of UK visitors.

Hey, all that discussion has something true: there ARE bacteria sitting on the toilet cover seat (but also just below the cover!).

Whether they came from water splashed out after the contact with fecal dirt, or whether they are drops of urine, or even pubic hair… all that has germs and bacteria, some of which are quite dangerous as per my research.

Of course, you should always wash hands, especially after you touched the stall handle (which is really very dirty!! - I never saw cleaning ladies clean the handles… did you??)

So the best alternative I found is on this site:
http://www.cleansystem.pt/higiseat.htm
Click here

It is an automatic cover with a hygienic plastic sleeve all around it. Before sitting down, you activate the machine and it spins a completely new portion over the cover.

This way, you are sure that there is no single germ nor on the cover, nor under it…

Beware some similar seats do not destroy the used sleeve, which is a total none-sense! But this one destroys it, so the restaurant owner (for example) cannot re-use it a second time! Rather wise….

I already asked some restaurants to get that seat, as I was disgusted at the hygiene in their toilet stalls. They seem open to such suggestions… so try to convince them too!

Better hygiene for all of us is a necessity!

germs don't survive long on a toilet seat, not a good envirement for them.

urine is sterile.

the ass is relitivly cleaner tahn the hands, and face especially the mouth.

they are bs.... might be a market for disposible door handle covers though hmmmm

When I clicked on the site King posted, it came up all in Spanish. I was cracking up, for some reason. I clicked on English, but it JUST wasn't as amusing. The Spanish version was WAY funnier! :)

In response to GottaGoGirl, the site I mentionned (See the automatic toilet seat here if you haven't seen it yet) is in Portuguese, not Spanish, and yes, you are right, the English version is less fun.... maybe Americans or English people prefer it when the text is more serious??? I don't know, it's just a supposition. I might be completely wrong...

Anyway, I posted it to illustrate the automatic seat that company has, and I tried it several times, it's really good.

The hygienic plastic sleeve turns from one side to the other, and you've got a new fresh portion to sit on each time.

No bacteria, no urine drops, no pubic hair... a clean fresh hygienic new portion to sit on with confidence! I must say it is the best product mankind ever invented. Sitting on it makes you feel almost as at home (though at home, you don't need the plastic sleeve ;-)

It's simply fantastic how this works, I'd like to see it in every restaurant I go, or at any place I could work or be.

It's not even noisy, and definitely the best solution in my opinion against bacteria proliferation and cross-contamination risks....

The reason why they use Toilet seat covers is because if they didnt have any people who are afraid to sit on the seat would put strips of toilet paper around the seat instead and too much toilet paper is messy and can cause plumbing problems.

Whoa! I never thought of that! That's a good, plausible insight. You may be right.

I have an acquaintance who always hovers over the seat and pees all over everything because she's afraid to sit down. Everyone who knows her has learned to make her go LAST so they don't have to clean up her piss.

She also won't sit down on public transportation, but that's another topic.

_______
Santa Caca!

I just wipe it off with TP before I sit, do my business, and go. Ass gaskets are really useless to me.

_______
Practicing the ancient Chinese art of double flushing... because sometimes, a single flush just isn't enough.

GGG, she doesn't clean up her OWN piss?!? Gross! I hate it when I go into a bathroom after someone's seat hovered and discover that she's not only peed all over the seat but left her urine there for me to find. These are the same girls who usually fuss when a guy doesn't lift the seat to pee. She should do the same.

_______
Don't question authority. It doesn't know either.

Good to hear I'm not the only one from the UK! Don't seem to get many paper covers or auto cleaners over here. Seen them a lot in Europe but the paper is more trouble than it's worth and never liked the idea of the automatic cleaners cos I don't trust them. Seems like they're just smearing someone elses germs around the toilet seat. Anyone seen/used the plastic automatic covers? Are they any better than the paper?

Ive seen that little box tacked to the wall in one place only, and I think it was in Indiana somewhere. Some fast food place.

Has anyone seen Penn and Tellers Bullshit? Awesome show, where they debunk popular ways of doing things. They got a few people to a clinic, to have thier cheeks and thighs swabbed for germs. Also the hands, nuts, and mouth. The ass was the cleanest part. They swabbed toilet seats, also, and they came out clean. Even a wet piss-smelling one.

I've never used a gasket, and never will. The only time I saw anyone use one, was in the Breakfast Club and Gallagher's standup routine.

Omg, those paper seat covers are not practical at all. I remember when I was about 7 or so I tried to use one and as soon as I sat down it slipped and I fell!

_______
...and they all lived crappily ever after!

Whether they are called ass gaskets, paper seat covers or the same concept is met by putting toilet paper over the seat of a public toilet, my formulative years were centered around FEAR of using public restrooms. The main thing I was indoctrinated to do was to cover a public toilet seat before I sat on it.

I remember in my early elementary school years Mom would take me into the big bathrooms at downtown department stores and malls, and check out several stalls before finding one for me to use. She would always have me watch as she took a seat cover from the holder, put it down, made sure it was positioned ever so correctly, and sometimes even held it on the seat until I sat down. I remember a couple of times she was furious because I would sit too close to the front of the seat and slide myself back--in doing so I would get the front of my thighs off the paper.

At about eight or nine I remember us being at Six Flags and all the restrooms had was toilet paper that she insisted I carefully put down. Nomatter how hard I tried (with her standing in the stall doorway watching and bossing me) I roll only allowed me to get one of two peices of toilet paper before it would rip and I must have had a dozen pieces that I needed to put down and keep down before I could sit down. It pissed me off when my friends would be with me and they would just go into a stall and use the toilet just as they would if they were at home. I would point it out to mom that many of the women of all ages as well were not putting paper down (I don't think she knew my hearing and other senses were good enough to hear no use of a seat cover dispenser or revolutions of a toilet paper dispenser. She would always insist that NO girl or women would sit on a bare public toilet seat. NEVER!

When I had just started middle school I was at the circus with Tonya, my best friend, and I was embarrassed that my Mom was still taking me into the stall and reminding me to cover the seat. Also, there were times when I had to pee really bad and taking the time to cover the seat only added to my agony. That day at the circus, Tonya got done pretty fast but then found there was no toilet paper in her stall. My mom, who didn't go but was just waiting for us got some toilet paper from another stall and handed it to Tonya through the door that Tonya opened. I remember later that night at home I mentioned to mom that I was CERTAIN that Tonya was sitting (actually had to be sitting on the uncovered seat) but mom insisted she saw Tonya straddling the toilet.

Why my mother was so reluctant to admit that anybody would sit on a public toilet I will probably never know. I even remember once when we were at a public park for a summer concert put on by our local radio station and we walked past a couple of open stalls and even then she would insist that the occupants had toilet paper under them.

I was a freshman in high school when mom caught me readhandedly defying her. She had to go to work early one morning and dropped me off at the main entrance. Upon turning around in the parking lot, she noticed that I had left my art project (which was too big and fragile for my bookbag) on the backseat. She took it into school and a friend directed her to the restroom where I had just sat down to take a shit. Without thinking, I made the mistake of opening the door for her and she could see that I was not covering the seat.

When she questioned me about it that evening I lied and insisted that I had toilet paper under me. She had nothing else to say about it and never brought to subject up again!

" Shit Volcano (2973) -- 11.03.2004
Recently I have developed some sort of arthritic condition in my hips that prevents me from hovering too much. I tried using an ass gasket the other day. The stupid toilet was an automatic and it kept flushing the thing before I could sit on it."

I have a soultion TSV. At my job, we have automatic flushing toilets as well. To stop them from prematurely flushing, or flushing the ass gasket before I can sit down, I always stick something over the eye. I usually scotch tape a big piece of toilet paper over it, to prevent it from picking up motion and flushing prematurely.

I guess I could inspire a new poop band with this method, "Turd Eye Blinded".
_______
"If December be changeable and mild, the whole winter will remain a child."

I hate ass gaskets if you have to use one that toilet aint clean.

Scaredycat's story is interesting to me because it is just the opposite of the way I was brought up! I was like her friend, Tonya. Mom had me using a public bathroom on my own by the time I was 5. My dad was an advertising manager and we got lots of free tickets each summer to see the Cubs play. The rule was that each time he took us I could take one or two of my friends.

When I was about nine my best friend Victoria's mother took us to one of the games. Her mother would get so mean if Victoria was to defy her. At one game on a very humid summer day I had to poop real bad and Victoria had to pee. I don't knew why (except there's more privacy) I had always chosen the first stall. I was on the stool and going when I heard her mother "check out" the adjacent stall and finally OK it for Victoria to use.

Her Mom went into the next stall down and almost immediately I could hear some very heavy peeing hit the water. In about 30 or 40 seconds she was done, flushing and knocking on Victoria's door. They got into a fight because Victoria was having a hard time putting toilet paper over the seat because it was falling off before she could sit down. She was called "stupid" and told she couldn't go to public events unless she learned how to use the bathroom properly. While I had a complete bowel movement, her mom kept putting her down and finally pushed her out of the way, grabbed toilet paper from the roll, and with some cussing showed Victoria how to keep the paper on the seat by attaching it between the seat and bowl and how to sit without moving, and in doing so, touching the seat. She stood in their while Victoria cried out of embarrassment and slapped her when Victoria reached back to flush. Her mom made her get up off the seat and flush with her foot. I felt so sorry for Victoria to be belittled like that. Finally, when Victoria went to use the toilet paper to wipe, there was none left and her mom asked me to hand them some under the stall panel, which I did.

As Victoria left the stall her mother asked her why she couldn't be as independent as Ashleigh. When I got home I asked my mother about what Victoria had been taught and the way she was belittled. My mom said, and I will never forget it, that "you have to trust your own judgment and not overreact."

Even now, 20 years later, Victoria and I live in the same city and regularly shop and attend sporting events and concerts. She's still scared to sit on a public toilet but for me, it's still bottoms down. I used the ass gaskets only once when I was traveling in Mexico City and I still got Montezumas!

Yes, I was taught to put paper over public toilet seats before sitting down. Sorry, Mom, but in the high school I went to few of my friends did, and when I got to college, NONE of my friends did. And if you bathe or shower every day...or so I rationalized I guess. My question is that in recent days after I use the toilet (yesterday morning at McDonalds, then at a Shell station, and last evening when I was with my seven-year-old at the mall food court, when I stood up to wipe, the seat momentarily comes up an inch or so before letting go of my butt. I sure don't remember this happening before. What might be the cause? Last night, my daughter who was on the stool in the adjacent stall, heard the seat fall and thought I had dropped it. Ideas anyone?

Kimmi asks a good question. It has happened to me occasionally, but not on a regular basis. It seems to happen more when I sit down for a long time, such as to move my bowels. I too remember it happening once at a Kwik Shop-type gas station's unisex restroom. My daughter who is 12 noticed it because she had been waiting for me to finish so she could sit down and unrinate. A couple of minutes later when she flushed and then went to get up she had the same situation happen. It seemed to be a velcro-type of affect, but I don't know what it means. Has anyone who sits on the toilet tissues experienced this? I agree with Kimmi: it's wierd!

This sticky seat situation was one that I too occasionally encountered in public places. I found it was less of an issue when I would slide myself over the front of the seat to get up; when I would simply stand up to wipe, like Kimmi, I would bring the seat an inch or so up with me. I remember telling my friend about this once when we were at a concert and she said she thought it might be when the seats were sponged clean, they were never wiped dry. Since, I live in a state notorious for high humidity, I would at times encounter a small coating of moisture on the seat. This was especially true with my job one summer at an amusement park. However, after I graduated from college and started using public toilets more because my job involves lots of over-the-road trips, I've gotten into the habit of either using an ass gasket or putting paper over the seat before I sit down. Unless something moist comes through, I don't mind sitting down. If there's moisture that comes through the paper, I put another layer down. It seems so logical now. I wish I would have begun doing this 10 years ago.

What brought me to this strange and intersting site was my search for automatic, hands free toilet seat covers. My issue is not one that has been adressed here yet however. We run a business in which feild crews tromp thru poison oak. I am amazingly sensitive to poison oak. I can get it from using a seatbelt in a vehicle where someone else had been in contact with poison oak. It's crazy but I do not relish a poison oak outbreak across the backs on my thighs. My fear is that the guys lift the seat with hands that have been in poison oak and that's all it takes for me. We remodeling our office so I am trying to make all fixtures automatic because I can also get it from using the faucet handle and paper towel knobs that someone else with the oak oils on them has touched.

Wow. That's an aspect I hadn't thought of, for sure! It seems to me there was a seat you waved your hand over and it opened...

Just as is the case with Kimmi and Nadia, I too have sat on velcro-type seats in public toilets,and they start to pull up with me when I get up to wipe. On occasion, when I've tried to wipe when seated, I hear a little popping as my butt pulls over toward the front of the seat a little bit. Because I'm 24 and a full-time college student who also works 25 hours a week, rarely am I using the bathroom at home. On an average day I pee two or three times and shit once, usually a mid-morning in the student union between classes.

I don't usually take the time to cover the seats. First, it's time-consuming and often there's a line waiting. Second (and this has been a problem for me for several years) the paper slides right off the seat or the front part of it slides into the bowl and gets wet. Third, sometimes when I pee and often when I shit I do move around a little and it's not unusual for me to find one of my thighs off the toilet paper anyway. Fourth, since I'm a little overweight in the thigh area, I find that sometimes when I'm sitting down drops of urine left on the seat are seeping through the paper. Fifth, because I have a lot of pubic hair, wiping is more of a chore and sometimes there's not enough paper left on the roll for my complete wiping job.

I do cover the seats when I'm at a highly public place such as our sports arena and at highway rest stops. Occasionally, though, the lines and wait are so long that I have to go so bad I do sit down and hope for the best.

Paper seat covers would be nice but most of the bathrooms I use don't offer them. And I wonder how many people would misuse them. I'm surprised at the number of ladies on campus who leave a stall and don't even stop to wash their hands.

What is the use for the paper toilet seat covers? I see them but have never used them. My best friend at my middle school always uses one when we are out at places such as the movies, the mall or our civic center. However, my dad says they are just for old ladies. My mom, who is in her mid 30s, uses them only when we are traveling. Stacey, another of my friends, also feels as I do about them. With so many different opinions, how can I find out who is right. I've never worried about sitting on toilets away from home. My middle school home economics teacher says it's a matter of personal preference, but I don't fully understand what that means.

They're for making hats while you're waiting.

Back when I was in high school 10 years ago, I dated a girl who used the seat covers. There was a holder in each stall which was filled at the beginning of the day and by the end of the day many of the stalls would be out. Suzie became dependent on them. Sometimes we would walk after school to the other side of the building because she had to take a shit and they were all out in the main bathrooms. She would hold her shit instead of sitting down directly on the toilet.
I knew she smoked occasionally--especially when she was stressed over grades or at her part-time job at Burger King. One evening at school while she was waiting for me to finish track practice, she went in to pee, sat down, lit up, but somehow flicked her ashes between her legs, catching the front of the seat cover on fire. Although she jumped up immediately, pushed the paper and cigarette into the bowl, she couldn't stop her urine stream which got on her panties and jeans. And she also burned the tips of two of her fingers. What's more, the quick amount of smoke set off the fire alarm and custodians were waiting for her when she quickly exited. She got a Saturday morning school and her parents were notified. The latter was the worst punishment because they didn't know that she smoked.
We've been married four years and Suzie continues to be cautious about not sitting on toilets in public. However, she jokes that because of smoking bans in most buildings including where she works, the 1997 incident will not likely be repeated.

umm does anybody know who has the ass gasket patent? i think this is a brilliant invention that preys on peoples paranoia of germs.theres no overhead to produce it and the market is limitless.somewhere some guy is living large on this sweet invention

I used to be like Suzy, whom Jumpin' Jack described. I remember once when I was driving to a college visit, I felt a bm coming on and stopped at the first rest stop. Probably six stalls, and no seat covers available. DAMN! Two stalls were occupied and I thought about taking the stall with the largest amount of tp available and using that to cover the seat. Two of the stalls (my luck!) collectively didn't have enough tp on the roll to do the job and the other two I wouldn't be caught dead in because they had the doors off! The embarrassment! I decided to hold it in for the next stop about 20 or 25 miles away. I got back on the Interstate and probably got three miles farther toward Chicago when I said what the hell, turned around and went back to the rest stop. Now I had to wait--all the stalls in use with apparently one large traveling family that had several children, two of whom were sitting directly on the doorless stall stools and they didn't seem to be traumatized or imminent danger of death. I took the first doored stall that became available, sat down and became comfortable for my much-needed bm. That was two years ago and now as a junior in college I'm no longer as rigid as I formerly was. I don't worry about covering seats at school, but I do wipe them off first if there's urine (and this happens more than I would like!) on the seat. Sometimes I feel we probably overanalyze what would otherwise be pretty simplistic. That may be why children are so carefree in such situations!

This is a response to Less Anal Now: "Sometimes I feel we probably overanalyze what would be pretty simplistic. This may be why children are so carefree in such situations."

I completely agree. Being male, I've been in bathrooms especially along the Interstate since I'm just starting my career in sales and I need to travel two days a week to see clients. There are some really anal fathers out there. A couple of weeks ago I was taking my daily shit about 6 a.m. at a I-135 reststop in Kansas. Six stalls. I took the first. A father comes in, points to where the urinals are for his sons, and then takes the stall next to me. I hear the seat drop, but for more than a minute he's taking toilet paper off the roll, so I'm thinking he's lining the seat for himself. Then the door opens and he's yelling for "Matthew!" The boy, whom I suspect is about five or six, answers from one of the latter stalls. Dad slams the stall door so hard it shook my stall and goes bolting down to the otherside of the bathroom, where Matthew, apparently more independent than dad had wanted, was up on the stool and just finishing his shit. The dad was livid, telling his son to get down off the stool, and leading him by his hand into the stall next to me. I could hear the boy crying as he was lectured for not following instructions, sitting on an uncovered seat, etc. If I was that child, the message to me would be to not say anything when I needed to use the bathroom in public places and just hold it until I got home.

Less Anal Now's approach is much more refreshing and if a young child would be involved, it would be more nurturing. I've discussed this with my girlfriend and she's observed similar parental behavior in the womens rooms.

As a US Fellow, Im guess we are a bit paranoid. With high credit card rates, ARM loans that are killing our credit and the ever falling dollar, this seems to be the only area that we have a little control to protect, hence CYA.

In collage, we were protecting our first impression. Ever been at a Football game and hang a moon, OK, question answered.

Besides, I used to work next a very, VERY smelly guy and I couldn't stand the thought of coming into contact with that by accident.

A shout to all of those CIBER folks in Colorado.

Even funnier, I spelled college incorrectly. Oh well.

My experiences have largely mirrored those of Malinda. Especially this summer, and it might be due to the excessive heat and humidity, I've experienced the velcro-like situation that makes it feel like that I'm momentarily sticking to the seat. This has frequently been the case at the beach, but most recently, at the mall too. I've even tried not to sit back too far, just enough so my pee or poop gets into the bowl, but if I rear up too fast to wipe, the seat sticks to my butt for a second or two.I've put my hand on the seat and it doesn't stick. I also agree with Malinda about spreading toilet paper over the seat. I've done it a few times and had almost the same bad experiences that she has had. The last time, and this was a couple of summers ago at the beach, my boyfriend and several others were laughing after I peed because I came back with toilet paper hanging from my thighs. So now when there's pee on the seat, I just wipe it off rather than putting paper down. That was humiliating for me!

Being relatively new to the site, I especially enjoy reading some of the older postings. I'm 35, a career woman, and I find that I have experienced or know of some of the topics or incidents being described.

I travel extensively in my job as a sales representative for a nationally-based fund-raising company. It's not unusual for me to use a public bathroom four or five times a day. While my philosophy regarding using public toilets is largely like that of Tamara, I have been in restrooms where children, some dangerously as young as 4 or 5 are being browbeat and harassed by well-meaning but largely ignorant parents. I especially feel for Scaredycat and I have overheard such situations sometimes get really ugly. "You should have pooped before we left home an hour ago. These stools are too dirty to sit on. This is probably the last time we're coming to the circus anyway..." Of course, such a remark is going to draw tears and even further demean a child's self-confidence. Last week while I was peeing in an interstate rest area stall, a very perturbed mother brought a young boy into the stall next to me. He had to pee and started to pull the seat up but his mom slapped his hand so hard you could hear the thud of the seat hitting the bowl. She told him: "You don't touch the ******* seat with your hand. Use paper. It doesn't matter if you pee on the seat because everyone else does and no thinking woman is going to sit directly on it anyway."

Such ideas and treatment involving children saddens me and I can't help but think such toxic parents are contributing to future adults who, as parents, will continue to pass the misinformation, rigid ideas and flawed reasoning on down to another generation.

There is no bigger turn-off for me than to enter a stall, prepared to sit down to shit or pee, but to find a seat thoroughly dripping of urine. What Sara heard is the biggest contributor to such a messy situation: "You don't touch the ******* seat with your hand. Use paper. It doesn't matter if you pee on the seat because everyone else does and and no thinking woman is going to sit directly on it anyway." WRONG! I sit down to poop and pee and have never worried about the paper seat covers. First, I would have to put 20 down just to soak up the urine. Second, especially when I'm shitting, I frequently need to reposition myself and spread my legs wider to get a large crap out. Tearing the paper in two or three places will expose me to the evils of the seat. O my god! My butt's gonna be marked for life! In public places, I've rejected using toilets with pee on the seat but while completing my task in an adjacent stall, I've noted that others--especially unsupervised children--will sit right down and think nothing of it. Sara's report of the what the mother told the boy is illustrative of insane thinking and the biggest threat to real cleanliness in women's bathrooms.

I've used them from time to time but I've learned they're more of a pain in the ass than its worth. I'm lactose intolerant so its common for me to have loose bowls I don't have time to mess with them when I gotta rumbly in my tumbly. So as soon as I get to the bathroom gotta I sit and splash and hope the seat is clean to my liking. I usually wipe the seat if there is a presense of penis dribble which is quite common in a mens bathroom. I've never got anything from not using "protection." I would only use them in a real dirty restroom like at a gas station in the ghetto or a neglected porto-potty

Jarrod's post on 6-22-07 about the boy who was brow beaten by his father is very relevant. Growing up, the only daughter of a really anal mother, I went through a similar thing. "What's wrong with you, why didn't you go at Aunt Anne's?" "Nobody is going to use the bathroom at an airport like this unless it's a complete emergency or they are totally stupid." "Nobody in their right mind sits on a public toilet and you have to learn to move your bowels ahead of time before we go out." I had heard it all before I was 10 and when I was out with my mom, often I would just hold my pee rather than going through the hassle of watching her put paper over the seat before I would be allowed to sit down. She must have shown me how to do it a dozen times and with each demonstration, I became more defiant. At school I would sit right down on the seat and as I got into middle school and out with my friends, I adopted the ways if the majority at places like malls and theatres and that was to sit right down and not worry about catching the dreaded diseases I had been "warned" about. Now at 33, I look back with such amusement on how I allowed myself to be essentially terrorized by an overprotective mother. I've taught my children to wipe well and wash their hands and that's about it. Holding it or wasting seat tissues is something I don't want them to think about.

Kara, I am hugging you right now. As the survivor of childhood with a mother who was rather anal, I get you.

Here's another one.

Listen, at that age, we think it's normal and have no defenses. Welcome to Poopreport.

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.....hugging bunnies since 1969
www.daphneszoo.com

Right on, Daphne. My wife has run a day care business for several years and there is one trip a week to somewhere in the community. While most of the kids enjoy the zoo, water park, or the children's museum, because I go along on the trips to assist the boys, we've had a couple of them obviously hold their crap in rather than use a public bathroom. This past summer we were at an afternoon baseball game and one boy was very much in distress by the 3rd inning. I later took him in and insisted he go. He felt so much better after that. He was 6 and being raised by a single-parent who took him into the ladies room--a situation he hated. Another boy, I think he was 8, was very shy about asking me to take him downstairs because he said his father--who I feel is probably a discipline tyrant--never will. Apparently the father thinks the discipline of holding a crap is worthwhile teaching his son. Sounds like child abuse to the wife and I!

You could find some information on the net about kids whose bladders and colons are distended from being forced to hold it (the catholic schools of the sixties were notorious for this crap). It causes incontinence later on in life.

What do you think this dad's reaction would be if you sent some medical information home with the little guy one night with the excuse "he seems to be a pee and poop holder, and for his bodily safety, you have to break him of this"? Do you think after reading some well-researched internet pages, the mom might step in? At least ask her pediatrician?

Maybe if you put it out there like you don't know why the kid's doing it, the dad will stop being such an asshole? Or at least it could open dialogue? If anything, letting him know that it's considered abusive behavior by government CPS officials might make a difference. Who knows. There are alot of bullies out there who happened to procreate.

Good luck.

Why do some people have kids? There are pet rocks, Sea Monkeys, and cacti............all better choices for toe-jam like the described Poop Nazi dad here...........Rock on Paul!

_______
.....hugging bunnies since 1969
www.daphneszoo.com

I suppose a child could be really mixed up by what they see in their formative years when they're out in public bathrooms. Perhaps one of their parents is very cautious and emphasizes putting a seat cover down; the other parent doesn't. Some of their friends do; others don't. For me, after my parents divorced, I was 5, and my dad let me go into the ladies room alone. I would get up on the stool, be totally self-sufficient, and felt good about it. Then later that week I would be with my mom and she would micro-manage me by trying to talk me into holding it ("we're going to be home in 10 minutes, honey...don't you think you can wait!") or when there were the seat covers, she would select a stall for me, go in and pull off the cover, carefully place it down, and then watch me to make sure I didn't touch anything. If I had a friend along on a trip to the amusement park, it was so embarrassing to me to have mom in the stall with me watching my every move when they were allowed to select a stall, go in and be independent. I remember once at Busch Gardens I had to pee really bad and ran in ahead of mom. The seat was up. I dropped it and was just getting ready to pull my shorts down and mom slapped my hand ("You never want to directly touch a public toilet seat!") and I had to wait a couple of minutes while she took toilet paper off the roll to cover the seat with. It was so humiliating, especially in front of my friend who later asked why my mom was so mean when we had to use a public bathroom. I'm 27 now and I just wipe the seat off--if anything--before sitting down. I also give my 7-year-old a lot more independence and she's developing fine.

so i just went to my usual pooper, and there's a new red sign: "please properly dispose of toilet seat covers in the waste bin." really??? what the hell? so i'm thinking on the throne, someone requested and approved this sign, someone else had it made, someone else hung it, and it made it all the way through to being hung? i'm thinking i'll shit on the middle part (that dangles in the water so that you can FLUSH IT), and hang it on the coat hook.

I worked part time as a janitor while attending school. It was a four story building that included two restaurants. The absolute worst cleanups of the year were after New Years and St. Patrick's Day. Other bad nights included birthday bashes and bachelorette parties.

Two things I learned from that experience:

1) Women are complete pigs in public bathrooms. (The Mongol Horde of Genghis Kahn has nothing on the ability of 99 drunken women to destroy a bathroom.)

2) I will unto my death use an ass gasket.

Claims of placebo cannot dissuade me from using them. I have seen toilets abused in more ways then the designers at American Standard can imagine. Among the leavings I encountered were Vesuvius like mountains of overflow made by many hasty contributers, explosive diarrheal spray, sperm, browned nylons, vomit and of course blood.

Each time I prepare to squat on a public john the mere wisp of janitorial memory compels me to carefully wipe the seat and apply a protector. If one day butt sinks become as plentiful as hand sinks then maybe I might stop using ass gaskets, maybe.

We all have seen the excesses and heard the horror stories of extreme abuse in public restrooms. However, many of us with children--especially those with young, very impressionable children of the opposite gender
--know the questions and frustrations being asked by Confused (12.13.2007). Is it possible that overreaction and inconsistency between parents can cause a child to have trauma, questions and hang-ups some 20 years later in life? I just don't see the answers as being as clear as some of the posters suggest.

I started researching toilet horror stories on the internet after joining PR and found many kids and adults who still have trouble with elimination-related processes because of things their parents did to them years earlier.

One example I can give you is enema fascination and fetish. I've found that a gross percentage of the people on enema fetish websites had enemas done to them as a child on a routine basis. It caused them to continue this behavior later on in life for reasons other than medical, specifically S/M play and sexual fantasy play. Another is the gross amount of shamelful shitters we get commenting on PR who can't poop outside their own home because of how they were raised, ie told that everywhere else is a gross place and will make you sick.

If you're suggesting that the child who grows up to have fetishes or fears does so not because specifically of the toilet trauma endured as a child, but because the toilet trauma is just another indication of an unhealthy household (control issues, abuse, non-privacy obsession on the part of the parent), I can see that. However, because the act of pooping, peeing, or having anything shoved into an outy hole is so intimate, I think this type of trauma has much more of an effect than we, now as adults, might realize or remember. As much as Sigmund Freud set the woman's movement back, I felt he hit the nail on the head when relating the importance of certain stages to our emotional development.

_______
.....hugging bunnies since 1969
www.daphneszoo.com

This was a few years ago when I was in high school, but I found some girls have been raised by such super strict parents that they are not able to simply adapt to a situation. About 20 of us seniors went with our Government teacher to Washington, D.C. At the airport I went in and peed and left a section of USA Today on the floor because I had read it. After leaving the stall, this acquaintance of mine comes in, tears off a couple of the pages and places them over the seat before she sits on them. I just feel that that's really obsessive behavior.

Or a comment on the American media... Oh, wait. That's wiping. Sorry.

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Born right the first time.