the golden rule: doo onto others as you would have them doo onto you. In other words, clean up your mass. Wipe up your splatters, your skids, your errant logs. If you have horrible diarrhea and it misses the toilet, clean it up. Even though a janitor will get to it eventually, you should not inconvenience the other poopers that come between then and now. Every human being should be responsible for their mess. The world wouldn't be in the condition it's in if people took more responsibility. Start in the bathroom!

I am NOT a turd terrorist, but will certainly take advantage of any chance I have to destroy a public restroom with my urine or feces.

On my last trip to West Virginia I stopped at some dumpy little gas station. The bathroom was a room with a toilet and sink. I had to piss bad so I waited while some creature was grunting inside.
After 10 minutes a woman emerged, 5 foot tall and 5 feet wide, sweating like she just ran a marathon.
I then walked in to this filthy restroom and pissed all over the sink, handles and all, there was no way I was going near that toilet after that beast was on it.

I'm with Ty on the this one. I don't use filthy restrooms if I have any sort of alternative, and I would never contribute to making one less usable for others. I will carefully wipe piss off a toilet seat with TP that I am about to use and have been known to take paper towels and wipe a small 'wet area' in front of the bowl before I have to sit and plant my feet. Afraid I am not up to wiping someone's poop residue away from the seat, though. I just won't use that particular facility. That's the only instance in which I would not go when I had to go--a filthy facility.

Well...I wouldn't crap on the seat or on the floor, but if I made skidmarks in the toilet, I leave them as my calling card. Plus they'll wash away eventually anyways.

Wow! Doniker, you're a bit of a dink.
I tend to rely on the Kantian principle of universalizability. Though there are some inconsistencies with it, in many cases it points us in the right direction.
When faced with a situation in which one is uncertain as to whether one's chosen course of action is the optimal way to go, one should imagine what the world would be like if every single person did precisely the same thing.
So if we were all Donikers, we'd never escape mockery of obesity or the smell of urine.

It dempends on the toilet. If it's just a general public toilet I like to keep it clean so the next poor slob that comes in can use it. If it's already filthy I'm too afraid to touch it to clean it and it wouldn't matter anyway. If it is the only toilet in a place of business full of assholes... May God have mercy on their souls!

Outside of the toilet, absolutely clean it up(rim, "misses," etc.). But as far as cleaning skids in the toilet itself, no way in hell! With afew flushed, it'll go away. If it's filthy to begin with, I won't use it.

Hey, the women and men of the world are sitting on toilets defiled by shameless shitters like you.
Remember that when you're with you're "significant other"

This is a no-brainer. You clean it up. Period. Unless it was totally repulsive to begin with.

I suspect that there is an entire chapter of the Koran devoted to this very issue. Probably there have been schizms and wars among Islamic sects over responsibilities regarding such fouling and cleansing of the holy places.

I can't believe you people.
If I am in a public toilet and I am never going to be there again or if I don't have to face the owner of the toilet, why would I waste my time cleaning up a mess I might make?
If I need to use any public restroom I get in and out as quickly as possible and I try not to touch anything unless I have to. And always use a paper towel or your shoulder to open the door...never touch a doorknob.

I don't touch the doorknobs either. Not since I found one smeared with a giant yellow loogie.

Doniker -- for exactly the reason jack scat said earlier. If everyone had your view -- that you don't have to face up to your actions -- what would the world be like?

Yes, YOU can have that philosophy, because you know that you're a minority. But if everyone thought like you, the world would be fucked.

I think Jack the Dripper has a misconception about what a shameless shitter is and is not.
I see this debate coming down to utilitarianism vs hedonism. I think people are being kind of quick to jump Doniker's position on this issue, I think what he's saying has its validity, and I certainly don't believe his position is the minority. Who's to say that its our moral responsibility to clean up a public restroom after its use, or for that matter, clean up any mess made in public. If everyone cleaned up their messes, then there would be no need for custodians or anyone else who's job it is to keep facilities clean. But thats going out on a limb. I personally clean my own shit stains on the seat and piss on the seat, but its very very rare that I enter a stall in which the same has been done for me. I mean, we can clean off the world's toliet seat, but that doesn't mean that our good deed will be rewarded, repaid or remembered. I guess what I want to say is that we can tell ourselves that we are the better pooper because we clean up for others, but at the same time, how do we owe a clean seat when we are not given one ourselves? I clean the seat just because it bugs me to leave it behind, I don't care in the least about the next person who comes in and who will probably leave their piss all over the place.

I don't give a damn who uses it after me! But I also don't mess it up on purpose. However, if I leave a smear it's not my problem.

If I could call attention to my story Splash of the Titans I think this dispute can be resolved efficently.

I'll clean the outer parts of a toilet up after myself, if only to nurse the vain hope that someday when I need to sit down RIGHT away, I'll be able to. There's nothing worse than finally making it into a stall, and hopping around trying to wipe up someone elses pee.

One: Custodians are paid to maintain a general level of sanitation. So when we use a toilet in the manner for which it was designed, we are not responsible for touching it with anything other than our ass.
But when we go outside the normal bowl use, i.e. the waste material lands somewhere outside the intended area, this is something different.
Why? Because it is a public facility and therefore the social contract applies.
Two: Anyone who claims they don't buy into the social contract can lick the public restroom floor most recently used by Doniker (sorry to pick on you so). We all believe in it; we have to.
Why do we need the social contract? One need only look to game theory. Without some kind of bond and obligation (which are quite natural despite what many would say), we would be ever involved in a race to the bottom.
Here's how a race to the bottom works: person A pisses all over the seat. Person B comes in to find A's mess and employs the same line of detailed by Commode-O Dragon: "No one cleaned for me..." Now person B's experience enters him in the race to the bottom and we're all worse off.
We need to think of maintaining public restrooms the same way we think about driving on the correct side of the road.

The "after flushing" part of this question is confusing me...you mean that the less-than-pristine aftereffects of my excretory activities are confined to the bowl? If so, I suppose I wouldn't worry about it seeing that there'd be little I could do (unless there happened to be a toiletbowl brush handy, which seems unlikely in a public bathroom).

If you're referring to bowl's exterior, though... well, contrary to what my name suggests, I'd like to think I wouldn't be a poopshipdestroyer in the event of a public anal explosion. I'd like to think I'd do the right thing and clean up after myself.

But the ethical dimensions of this question are definitely complex, and though I agree somewhat with the utility of Kant's notion of universalizability here, I also think that responsibility for one's shit is less a question of individual moral duty than a question about the historical forces and structures that have constructed this responsibility as individual choice/duty in the first place.

I mean, we live in a society where it is technologically possible, if not technologically compulsory, to never have to think about where our shit goes or who it might affect. Given this profound disconnection between what goes on within the bathroom walls and what goes on without, is it any wonder that the question of fecal responsibility becomes a matter of individual moral responsibility--something we can altruistically choose to care about if we want, but that would be just as rational not to care about? As it stands, society is structured in such a way that responsibility for one's shit (and hence concern for those who follow in our wake) is just not in people's rational self interest. It's an analogous situation to when environmentalists try to get people to give up cars for the sake of the environment without addressing the fact that most cities are *built* for cars and not public transit, biking, or walking. It's not that people are bad or apathetic; it's that they have limited choices. But restructure the conditions for choice themselves--redesign cities so that biking and public transit are cost-effective and timesaving--and people will stop driving.

Same situation here. To ask whether we have a moral obligation to the stranger who comes into the bathroom after us is to ask people to give up cars. Ain't gonna happen. But transform ideological and technological apparatuses that privatize shit--that is, make shitting communal and/or continuous with public life--and you allow people to see that looking out for the well-being of others (i.e. not shitting downstream) is also in one's best interest (what you thoughtlessly put in someone else's drinking water usually ends up in your own).

Nice, Jack Scat. Applying game theory to public restroom maintence..if you wrote an article about that you could call it "A Beautiful Stall". I think I agree with your application of the game theory there, it makes a lot of sense hypothetically, but in reality I feel that those who clean the stall are doing a favor for people who don't deserve it. You find a messy stall, you have to clean it before you can use it yourself (I'm not talking about turds on the floor or anything like that, not in either post, btw, just normal cleanup), and then to be a responsible user, you have to clean it again. Now, this is what I do, I clean it before and after, but it still ticks me off that some jackass can come in and piss everywhere and walk out, and I have to clean up his wee before I can sit and then afterwards wipe it off myself, just so some other dick can come in and leave pubs all over the seat and walk out. Cleaning up the stall is a good deed that is unrewarded, unrecognized and other users are almost entirely ungrateful and I just feel like I'm gettin used everytime I do clean it up, and especially when the stall was in bad condition when I came in.

I don't even know why I even bothered writing the second half of the message above this one because I basically just said the same thing that I did in the first one. I'm a dumbass.

I think I side with the majority for the same reasons as Doniker and Jack Scat. If its a public bathroom, its fair game, period. That's why it's called "public," you never know what crackheads came in before you, but they make up the public just as much as you and I. And there's been times when I've stopped into Wal-Mart, strictly to use their shitter and found that some three-toothed hillbilly from the sticks obliterated the toilet before me.

Therefore, I have no quams about repeating the favor. I'll wipe off a public toilet before I use it, if needs be, but only as a last resort. If I'm in a public place that has more than one stall, I'll check them all (handicrapped included) for cleanliness, and if none of them meet my standards, I'll pick the least offensive one, clean it off and let the turds fall where they may. If I clog the toilet and my beasts won't descend to their watery grave, then I'll leave it up to the janitors to finish the job. Its a dirty job, but someone has to do it. And don't think for a second that janitors don't make good money. There's a reason for that.

Poopshipdestroyer:
I think we're all talking about anything from slight misses with the piss stream which happen to land on the seat (which should have been liften) right on up to turd terrorism.
In applying game theory and the Kant's principle, I was trying to leave morality out of it (though Kant likely wouldn't have were he to consider this question). Rather, it was intended to emphasize the fact that is in our biological best interest not to throw our urine and feces around. Around here (i.e. poopreport), we all know that there's stuff in therethat can mess you up big time. Morality is secondary. Survival is primary and self-preservation is primary (if you don't think so, read Hobbes).
And while technology does play a role here, I think you're putting too much emphasis on it. It isn't about decision to be altruistic; that's just our hairy-fairy modern day liberalism talking (don't make me do anything I don't want to do). Instead, it is about applying the lesson we had to learn in the middle ages not to throw our shit out the window on pedestrians. It makes lots of people sick, eventually even you.
Finally, what good could come from communal crapping? The Romans had a row of outhouse-style shitters each with a sea sponge on stick in a bucket in front of it which served as the wiping aparatus. After the rat was hung, you'd take the giant, used, soggy q-tip, swab yourself and then plunk it back in the bucket for the next guy to use.
We should use our fancy technology to direct sewage to where it can be treated because it prevents the spread of disease. Cleaning up after making a mess in a PUBLIC (which means lots and lots of people will be passing through there and therefore be exposed to whatever germs might be hanging around) is simply an extension of this.

Jack Scat, you keep coming up with an endless array of good reasons why a person should always clean the stall after use, and theoretically, I totally agree with you, but I think its an esoteric concept. All of us that visit Poop Report can make a vow to always clean public bathrooms, even form The Brotherhood of the Shining Bowl, whose fundamental idea is cleanliness in public bathrooms is the God given right of every man and woman and we swear to uphold the cleanliness of every bathroom we encounter, custodian or no custodian, but in the end, our small numbers will never be able to combat the billions of inconsiderate restroom users around the world. We could make a social movement out of it, but compared to other problems in the world, who would care? In that sense, I am not sure if there is a place for a universal ethical code among restroom users, because reinforcement of such an informal law would be impossible. Practically, I say that each person needs to decide how they will respect or disrespect the cleanliness of the stall and that both stances (clean vs don't clean) are viable and in a way, right. But this is practically, I would rather live in Utopooa, where everyone would clean their seats after using and turd terrorism would not exist.

First of all, Commode-O-Dragon, the word you're looking for is "Pootopia."

And I think you're wrong -- we can get the world to see it our way. PoopReporting is about recognizing that we're not Christians, Muslims or Jews -- we're all the same people, suffering equally the tyranny of the bowels. This is one of the very few experiences common to every single human being, G Ras excepted. With so much working to drive people and cultures apart, we need to find something universal through which to build bridges. Poop it is.

As such, one of our platforms must be the sanctity of the bathroom. Each human has the right to shit in peace (read the Shameless Shitting Manifesto), which means each human being has the responsibility to ensure the pooping environment is for others as they'd want it for themselves.

So when you wonder about the validity of this problem "compared to all the other problems in the world," you're missing the point: all the other problems in the world can be solved through the acknowledgement of shared struggle. We shouldn't fight each other -- we should fight alongside one another against the bowel.

Dave,
halfway through reading your comment I started to hear strings playing a most inspiring melody; I found myself standing, hand over heart; tears were welling up in my eyes.
Bono's got nothing on you.

What about Pootopeea, with the national motto, "From Poo To Pee, Together Strong and Free". Encompass all excretory functions?. But you guys are talking about idealistic scenarios, I'm talking about the down and dirty "Oh my gosh is that a turd on the seat and please don't tell me thats semen on the handle" reality of compromised stalls. Perhaps what we need is another set of guidelines on this issue, a definition of responsibilities to those using public restrooms, what should be doing and what they are not required to do.

First of all, I hate public toilets, but I do not hesitate one bit in using them and expect them to be clean for me to use. If they are or they aren't, they can count on the same abuse from my ass. How my shit is taken care of from them is not and shouldn't be my problem.

Secondly, a very few years ago when I was still in my teens my bud and I would go in to public toilets just to abuse them. We would dump and then leave it in the bowl (or the toilets mouth) without flushing.

I have grown up some now, I at least flush the dirty things. I usually use my foot or toilet paper on the handle to flush it. The toilet seat is covered with toilet paper before I will sit on it. When I am done, I will use my foot to shove the toilet paper in the bowl that lined the seat. I will definately NOT touch the tp on the seat. I know public toilets are used all day long, that is why they are so dirty. We even try to educate our kids in not touching the dirty things.

I remember at a field day once around my area there was a toilet smashing contest. You would take a sledge hammer and hit them as hard as you could to break them. Myself and a bunch of friends of mine lined up to destroy them (one at a time). I won $20 because the one I hit broke in many pieces with the first hit. I hit the fu@@@@ hard the first time.

The above comment is actually a really good example of the kind of attitude I'm talking about. A Young Friend "expects" a clean seat when he enters a public restroom, but does not feel the need to return the favor by any means. Maybe its just where I live, but that attitude seems to be the majority one that I've encountered, and thats what I'm pessimistic about any reasonable change in society's attitudes towards public restrooms. I think the scatology writer, M. Cortez who wrote the paper analyzing Poop Report from an ecological stand point would be able to put together a good analysis of the way Americans treat public restrooms in comparison to the way Americans abuse national resources and the environment. That would be awesome. Also, I apologize for posting so many comments, I don't want to be dominating the board or anything like that.

Well Commode-o dragon if I walked into a public restrooom and saw a bunch of teenagers abuse a toilet or two I certainly wouldn't bother say anything bad to them or try to stop them from doing it. They are only toilets. I would rather see them take their abuse out on toilets than people. Actually everyone of us abuse toilets in one form or another. In fact, the toilet at the mall got my dump a few minutes ago. And yes, their were plenty of skids left in the stupid toilet. The guy before me left his marks in it too. I am sure the guy after me more than likely did to. Who cares? I know I don't.

This is why I avoid public toilets. They're ALL gross!!!

Ok I've thought about everything that's been said on here, particularly Jack Scat and Dave's comments, and so I just wanted to say, I don't know exactly where the hell I stand on this subject, I thought I did, but now I don't. Jean Piaget might have called my situation "cognative dissonance". The only reason I'm writing this is because I've been sitting around watching TV and thinking in my head about restroom ethics. Maybe thats pathetic, or maybe something about this conversation has struck a chord with me, but I've decided that I don't know where I stand. Call me a Restroom Agnostic if you want, but I'm open to persuasion.

On a lighter note, Dragon, it's perfectly okay if you don't know where you stand on this issue, as long as you know where you sit. And I think that's the point ultimately--aim well in consideration of others--tuck your dick when you pee and drop your load square center. It's as simple as that for me. Always has been--always will be. I won't use a facility where someone else has been grossly inconsiderate and messy and wouldn't consider leaving a facility in that condition for someone else.

Laters.

I think I'm with Doinker on this, but ONLY when the public restroom is already in sad shape. At that point, all social contracts are null and void. If the place is in ok order, keep it that way, but if not, crap where you will!

I'm a seat hoverer for just that reason. Just hang your ass over the toilet and never touch the damn thing!

The worst condition a stall is ever left in is after a drunk has puked all over everything: walls, handles, toilet paper, and seat. Wiping up a little sh!t or pubic hair is nothing. If you touch it, so what? That's why your mothers taught you to wash your hands.

Hey Agent Lloyd, being a heavy drinker I resent your statement:

Agent Lloyd (anon@noway.org) -- 2.20.2004
The worst condition a stall is ever left in is after a drunk has puked all over everything
-----

I have never puked all over everything and most real drinkers don't.
That kind of puke mess is made by lightweight wimps who can't hold their liquor.

I hate pooping in public it sucks the worse is when you really have to go and don't have time to line the seat and you sit down and go and you start to get up and your wangster touches the front of the bowl thats nasty and no I don't clean em eather if I did there would be alot of people who would not have a job

They paint these wall's to stop my pen but the shit house poet has struck again!!!

I can agree with Doniker that you may not have to be a mini janitor after yourself if there is a drip or two or smears in the bowl, but that doesn't mean you go and piss all over the sink and it's handles! Christ!

I live in Arizona and make frequent trips to our southernly neighbor Mexico. After a few days of quality beer and seagull tacos, my bowel movements are usually something that the world ends up seeing. If I wreck a toilet, and I do often, the smell is usually enough to keep people away. However one trip resulted in the entire party of Americans to return to our great and solid homeland in a completely fluid state. (One member was vomiting into the shower while exploding out of his anus! ) My state was pale in comparison, but I did destroy the things I touched. I thought I could eat a burrito from America and all would be well and firm. I was wrong. The mud that sprayed that day was legendary. I tried to prevent the splash down by padding the drop zone with spools of toilet paper, but paper can only hold so much and I do not think it was 4 ply. The damage was so severe, it actually started to run down the outside of the bowl! I could not believe the noises coming from my ass as well as my stomach! After going through a few rolls, I was relatively clean, but the toilet was ruined. I wiped up most of the outside damage, and then lifted the seat only to discover another problem. The underside of the seat looked like it was painted camouflage! I tried to return the original color, but there was no way I was going to see my reflection. I flushed, and flushed again. Most of the soup was gone, but there was far to much paper in the pipes. It began to overflow and rush down to the floor tiles. I panicked. I left the restroom, went back to my table and told the people we had to leave or watch anyone coming out of the bathroom for reactions. They of course wanted to stay and watch when they saw my agitated state. There was nothing to do except feel bad for that poor guy who had to mop the mud, and then plunge the fec. I should have given him a tip.... what happens in Mexico doesn't always stay in Mexico.

I will shit on the fucking walls. I don't care.

I could care less if the stupid toilet that I am using gags and choke on my shit. I am 24 yrs old...5'9"...160lbs...don't let my size fool you, when I shit I shit a lot. I can not and will not be concern on how the toilet rids itself of my smelly, raunchy shit.

A few weeks ago I was in a situation that I had to use a toilet that was already plugged by the last few guys that used it. I had to take a shit so bad that I had to use it. Needless to say, I kept my legs closed while shitting. The smell was bad walking into the stall, I am sure my shit didn't help it any. The toilet paper was not friendly to my ass either. It was more like sand paper. It was one of those shits that requires a lot of paper to clean the ass. My used paper didn't even disolve in the bowl. While wiping, I could feel it hit against my ass.

I guess my point is: Why don't they have plungers in public rest rooms? If I was the first guy to plug that toilet, I would of plunged my own shit down. If there was shit already in the bowl, I would not of been able to take care of that without getting sick.

I do know one thing, when a plunger finally went after that particular toilet, the toilet had a lot of swallowing to do. Before I used it, it looked as though 3 or 4 guys already abused it. It shits to be a public toilet...lol.

I am Carlos from Puerto Penasco! I have shit in the worst toilets on this continent! I am affraid of no bowl, seat, or bucket. I wipe it until it bleeds, if I bother to wipe at all.

You're the man, Carlos. You have exactly the right attitude. Don't let any dirty, filthy toilet intimidate you. Be as abusive as you want to it. Make the toilet paper do what it is designed to look, lick butt. You rule!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Hmm...
If it is nasty, I hang my ass over the crapper. Then I flush it with my foot.
I wash quickly, then run like hell, as the stench is about to kill me.

Back to the subject of Public pooping. Is it wrong to poop in the opposite sex's restroom? even if you have to go really bad and there are alot of people in line for the Guys room but non for the gals room?

clean the seat and anything that escapes the confines of the bowl. Be proud of the skid marks - they are your signature!

My opinion on restroom responsibilities: It's simple -- just follow the Golden Rule (or maybe the Golden Brown Rule, to allow for pee and poop): Doo Unto Others as Thou Wouldst Have Them Doo Unto You. Conversely, don't do to others what you wouldn't want done to you.

You want a clean place to sit? Keep in mind that the next person likely does, too. Be considerate. Wipe up after yourself if you dribble or splat on the seat. Don't leave sticky pee puddles around the can.

When I was a kid, I saw a little ditty carved on the wood wall of a summercamp latrine:

"If you sprinkle
when you tinkle
Please be neat
and wipe the seat!"

It's that basic.

Anyone who takes their shitting seriously should know where he/she can dump in relative comfort when out and about. You can't beat the Ritz Hotel in Chicago or the Peabody in Memphis. Believe it or not, Home Depot and Loew's have clean accommodations. Bed Bath and Beyond is not to be overlooked either. Most mainline restaurants are clean. Try to avoid at all cost McDonald's, Burger King, etc. Way too many folks use those facilities. Some of the filthiest dumping grounds can be found in casinos. Have seen piss puddles in Mississippi casinos that look like ponds. To counteract the spreading of ebola or some other sort of rot after visiting these places I keep a can of Listerine Antiseptic spray in the car and spray the bottom of my shoes before getting into the car. Go ahead and laugh, but it makes me feel a little cleaner.

NASTY!

man dave, you really are a jerk deleting peoples comments. nice site. a site for people to converse about poop, but they arent welcome to TALK SHIT?

i think you all are full of shit!

I don't oppose using the ladies toilet if there is a problem in the mens. I just make sure to be ultra fast, so I am not cosidered a pervert/spy.

Be careful in the ladies loo, Slim Jim. One bathroom I went into had shit smeared all over the walls. And someone had come by and licked it. That was gross!

Public pooping is the best, and like a pimp who can boast of all the girls he has had sex with one can bragg of all the toliets they have shit in. School, Lowe's, Walmart, Shop N' Save, Rite Aid, Irvings, the list goes on and on. And as i see it there are to ways you can make public pooping sanitary. 1 take some Tp and add a little liquid soap and wipe the seat down. The other way that requires less work is to make a barricade between your ass and the seat with hundreds of 1 foot sections of TP that you simply flush when your down. Happy Pooping my fellow dookateers!

u r all ghettoblasters. You shame PoopMyster

No way, Brown Frown. Too many urinals in my High School were shut down because of urinal poop.

This is the best comment section I've ever seen. The amount of time, thought, and brains used here by Commode-O among others is inspiring.

I am impressed.

When hit with the urge to shite in a public place, I worry about the presents that may have been left from someone else. I also have 2 little boys that are as regular as me. So, we tend to do alot of public shitting. Now, the way I see it is that in a public place, it should always be checked and cleaned by empoyees. This is sadly not always the case. If it is a place of retail that sells cleaning supplies, help them out. Go to the cleaning aisle and grab a can / bottle of your choice. Look for an open one first, but if not available, use the new one that you have so graciously "stocked" for them. Clean it up for you, and if leaving a mess, clean up for them. The result...no mess, no germs and you've helped them out.

Just a thought.

This is pretty much a no-brainer. If you are self-respecting, then if a toilet is clean enough to use (i.e. not drenched in urine and a greenish mold covering) and the floor around it is clean enough to drop your pants on, then simply cover the rim of the toilet with a bunch of toilet paper (after all, we don't want to catch anything, do we?). That way, with one fell swoop, that paper and your shit-stained paper will be whisked away. As for skid marks inside, I have rarely seen a public rest room with a toilet brush coveniently lying about, and I'll be DAMNED if I'm going to stick my hands down into a public crapper. As for catching diseases, I knew one idiotic woman who went to Turkey and, seeing the little hole in the ground, actually sat down on the floor, legs stretched out, and shat down the hole. Hello nasty case of crabs!!!!!!!!!

There are two ways to approach the situation of cleaning up the mess you left at the public toilet.

1.) If the public toilet is clean, respect its cleanliness and clean up your mess - it's only right to leave it clean like the last person who used it has.

2.) If the public toilet is filthy, obviously the previous shitters didn't bother to clean up their mass poop war - why should you? I have found that instead of sending your fecal matter in all directions it can be fun to take cleaning supplies (if there are any in the bathroom) and use the cleaning solutions to make a masterpiece of toxic fumes and lovely art.

Simply leave the toilet in no worse state than it was when you came to it.

I would definetly clean up if I made a mess. I know how nasty a toilet mess is because one time at McDonald's somebody had diarrhea and didn't flush... EEWWW!! Shame on them!
Let this story be a lesson to all of you!

I just went into a bathroom at an indoor pool and found a shit waffle floating in the toilet. I swear, the thing was laid in one big flat mass. Not sure how it happen, but that's not the point.

For God's sake people, flush the fucking toilet! It's not that hard!

Your responsibility is to shit as quickly and quietly as you possibly can. Then get the hell out of there! If it stinks, get out quick. Your responsibility is to flush once, if it dosen't go down, then laugh about how the poor slob coming in after you will be all disgusted by your mess.

#1 RULE OF POOPING
DON'T POOP AT SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!
ESPECIALLY WHEN PEOPLE ARE IN THERE!!!!!
THAT IS THE #1 WAY PEOPLE BECOME NERDS.

Unless, of course, you dip their heads in the toilet before flushing. Then you're a class bully.

IF there's an appropriate person to tell on the way out, I'll pretend I found it that way. "Pardon me, Miss. You might want to have someone check the restroom!"

If there's no obvious person to tell, I just hightail it outta there. Gotta Go, Girl!

_______
I CAN'T go to work today. The voices said to stay home and clean the guns!

Last weekend I was at a concert at our large muncipal auditorium. There must have been 15,00 people there. Me and my friend Stac had to stand in line for 15 minutes before a toilet came open and we could pee. She went in first and became frustrated because their was urine on the seat and no toilet paper on the two rolls in the stall. She had no choice but to sit in the urine, but it grossed me out! When she got done, it was my turn and to make matters worse, I had to both shit and piss. I tried to sit on the same part of the front of the seat like she did so I would have minimal contact with the urine. My shit came pretty fast--so fast and hard that I got a lot of splash from the bowl. Something told me I didn't get the cleanest water on my pubic area, but I'd been carrying it for a couple of hours and finally felt relieved. Stac handed me some toilet paper she had retrieved from the handicapped stall just down the row. I used about half of it to wipe and put the rest in my purse for use later in the concert, if I had to go again. As I left the stall, there was a young girl next in line without an adult with her. She already had her shorts down and was pulling her underwear down to sit on the stool, when I tapped on the door and gave her the remaining toilet paper. Whether she used it to wipe the seat off, cover the seat, or wiping I don't know. It did give me a good feeling to help her out, because I know that if Stac hadn't been there I would have been stuck for four hours with really messy panties. I guess what I did was my "public pooping Good Deed of the Day."

What a nice story, Holly! Unfortunately, I haven't had a friend with me like your Stac when I've had to use public restrooms. They make me feel creepy as well as guilty. I'm in high school and always check to make sure there's toilet paper before I move my bowels. I put paper down before I sit down. However, I've had to cover up some pretty gross stuff including shit on the back of the seat, pubic hair over the front, and earlier today at our schools football stadium, a turd straddling over the front of the bowl! I wonder if that is from a girl who didn't know enough or was scared to sit back any further. While I put paper liner down, I feel guilty about wasting the TP because I've seen some girls as young as 4 and 5 go in on their own, and I feel bad when they get done, reach for the paper and there is none on the roll. For kids of that age, I'm surprised there's not closer parent supervision. I know that there was for me ten years ago.!

Although my pre-teen daughter sees it as "gross," I NEVER sit down to have my BM when I'm in a public place. I lift the seat with toilet paper, squat, and in most cases, can totally move my bowels in 30 to 45 seconds. I then flush with my foot, drop the seat with toilet paper around my hand, and leave. I have two problems. First, my BM arrives with more noise and splash, so much so that I occasionally get it on me. Secondly, my daughter just rolls her eyes when I tell her the truth--I haven't directly sat on a public toilet in more than 20 years. I'd like to break my daughter of the habit on sitting on uncovered public toilets, but she's not a taker...yet!

I always clean up after myself if make a mess. It is only fair to the next person who has to relieve his/herself. If the toilet is outrageously disgusting, I ain't touching that, wasn't me.
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It's not nice to fool mother nature.

Just like Denise, I have a "preen" daughter that I would like to break of the habit of sitting directly on uncovered public toilet seats. I did all the seat covering work for her until she turned about eight and I just gave up. Too many reminders went unheeded and I saw the situation as futile. In the past four years she has become even more comfortable using public bathrooms and it doesn't matter whether its a service station with one toilet or an arena with two dozen more stalls. My daughter will go into a stall and within seconds sit right down, often not even looking if she's sitting in someone else's pee or another type of mess. Unless I specifically remind her, she doesn't wash her hands and that is of special concern for me because sometimes the seats or up and she uses her hand to put the seat down and flush. I've told her at school if she sits down at 2 p.m. for her stool, 30 or 40 other girls may have sat on that toilet. I remember a friend telling me at an amusement park this summer that at least my daughter flushes after herself. I guess I should see that in a postive light.

Like Denise and AC, I too had a daughter that wouldn't stop to think about sitting on a public toilet seat. My preen is a soccer player on a club team that has up to four competitions a week. Some are as early as 9 a.m. on weekend mornings and others are as late as 8 p.m. since there is a shortage of fields available in our city.

Probably because of the high physical activity level, my 12-year-old developed a need to have her daily poop during warm ups. I found it to be rather unsettling to watch her leave the field and use a porta-potty or skank-tank toilet shack that was probably only cleaned once a year.

My solution, however, was to remain calm, and to try and get her to look at alternatives. For example, when she has a morning game, I wake her up and hour early and shortly after breakfast, require her to go in and sit for ten to 15 minutes. Often this does the trick! Today I picked her up at middle school at 3 p.m. and when she came to the van, I asked her to go back in, sit and try to go. Within 15 minutes she was back out in the park lot--it worked!

This is NOT using advanced psychology. I think it's common sense. My mom used it on me 15 years ago and it still works. Even now, 9 out of 10 days I have my morning shit immediately before I head out the office. As I think back over the past month, I can remember only twice when I've had to have my stool away from home. I was late to work and my preen had just begun her morning ritual and I wasn't about to interrupt it!

Parenting means being realistic and not overreacting. My parents, like Soccer Mom, were pretty rigid about using public bathrooms---you didn't use them because they are dirty and with a little discipline you could regulate yourself and your bodily functions accordingly.

My pre-teen daughter is just like that described by AC (11/16). I would wipe off the seat, put paper down for her to sit on and insist that she wash her hands BUT I quit hawking her when she was about nine and she told me it was embarrassing to have me hover over her so much when she had her friends out with us at events such as baseball games, the circus, concerts, etc.

There's been a lot less fighting the past two years when I've quit lecturing her, putting down a seat protector for her to use, and watching her as she fumbles with some semblance of washing her hands. Her friends don't do any better, so I just accept the fact that she and I can agree to disagree.

However, she is good about always flushing after she goes and, without complaint, she will flush for the previous person if they have "forgotten"--however, she says someone leaving their shit or pee behind without flushing is "gross".

It is my belief that while Soccer Mom has the right intentions, the message and restraints she is giving to her daughter can be quite damaging. Too much rigidity is wrong!

Be kind to others. Dont leave splatter use a seat cover like a toilet brush its big enuff you wont come in contact with toilet water. And if you pee and miss please clean it up. ITs bad enuff to have to give up the Home Toilet advantage why should we desecrate these thrones as well. You should treat it like your home shitter. Be kind.

As the mother of two young girls, I'm confronted with the question of what are public pooping responsibilities every day. My response is that people have to understand that public bathrooms which are used by dozens or more each day are not going to be as clean as you have at home. GET USE TO IT!

My four year old and her sister, 5, are learning independence by getting up on the stools themselves, relieving themselves, wiping, flushing, and washing their hands and within what I feel is a reasonable time frame of 10 minutes or less. Yes, if they don't sit far enough back some of their poop will slide over the inside front of the bowl. And that can happen with their pee, too. However, they are sometimes scared by the larger toilets and fearful if they sit back farther they will fall in! Yes, it would be nice if they checked the availability of toilet paper first, but they don't and sometimes will call for me to bring them some when they are ready to wipe. Also, sometimes they don't have enough elbow pressure to get the flush lever to work, but they do try. And sometimes when they wipe, they miss in getting their toilet paper into the bowl. But they try the best they can. And occasionally they may have difficulty with the water faucet lever--it can get stripped with such heavy use, but at least they try and wash their hands. An older lady last week at the Minneapolis airport was critical of me for letting them go in the stall alone. She walked in on my 5-year-old because the door was not properly latched. Sorry, but I didn't loosen the latch and Missy needed to poop. Try doing better and there will still be problems. They're just children. What do you expect?

Cass, you seem to have a great attitude toward your daughters and what they are capable of. Basically I was raised the same way and learned from my mistakes (once at the mall the seat was up and I forgot to look and put it down so I basically fell into the stool--and one that I might add was full of someone else's urine). But I learned from that mistake and always check and double check that the seat is down. For the past couple of years I have also jiggled the seat to make sure that it is not loose because once at the stadium I was taking a shit and because it was large (actually huge!) I had to move my body several times on the seat and in doing so, the attachment to the bowl broke, and the seat slide off to the side of the toilet. Luckily, I was able to jump up fast enough to save myself the embarassment, although I did get part of my dump into my panties as I quickly stood up.

Also two summers ago I got fired from a really nice babysitting job of taking two girls--ages 4 and 6--to attractions during the day while their mother was at work. The 4-year-old had no trouble getting up onto the stool on her own during intermission at the circus, but her sister ended up making a mess in her pants because after she got done with her bowel movement, she notice there wasn't any toilet paper in the stall and didn't tell me to get her any. Her mom blew a few days later when she went to wash the soiled underwear. She said I should have been in the actual stall with the girls (I was in an adjacent stall) so that I would have known about the toilet paper situation. She said I was "negligent" and allowing her daughters to practice "bad hygiene" in a public bathroom when I should have known better.

I had never though much about public pooping responsibilities before that.

I work as an on-site security monitor for a private contractor and my assignment is a 350-store suburban shopping mall. My beat includes actually walking the main portions of the mall, and with each passing, stopping in the women's restroom for a basic check of supplies (I swear this is a custodial contracting responsibility, but I have my community college tuition to pay for another four quarters so.....)and going over a 20-item check-list on my clipboard.

My shifts vary according to my class schedule but after just over a year on this assignment, I can come to several conclusions:
1) Right after school gets out and on weekends (especially Saturdays) when we have throngs on teenagers and pre-teens, very little flushing is done. Yesterday, 14 of 15 stalls in our largest facility needed flushing and my left foot got a good workout.
2) Of the stools needing flushing, poop is the most frequently found thing in the bowl AND there is often at least two or three strips of toilet paper left handing from the seat or on the floor nearby. One stool had nearly half a roll over the seat. Was the intent to create a cushion?
3) Occasionally female hygiene products are dumped in the stool and I have to radio custodial services. The same goes for soft drink containers and an occasional Taco Bell bag.
4) Although I'm only in the facility a few minutes for each check, I've noticed that the teenage and younger crowd are the most frequent to leave without washing their hands. When they do, however, I've seen some just throw their towels in the vacinity of the trash can and think nothing of it. This happens frequently when a large number of friends are together, in a hurry, and don't want to hold one another up.

A couple of weeks ago during spring break for several of our local school districts, three girls, probably about 14 or 15 exited individual stalls within a few seconds of each other, and all I heard was the heavy banging of the doors (no flushing obviously) and since they were walking toward me (and without stopping at the sinks) I remarked to the first that I would appreciate her using the flusher. Her response was "Chill out, bitch!" as she brushed right by me.

I shared the incident with a couple of my colleagues at lunch and they have had similar incidents with rude and outright disrespectful behavior, but they, too, believe that unless the infraction justifies calling local police in, it's probably not worth it jeopardizing our jobs.

However, we are all in agreement on one thing: parents are not teaching their children the importance of picking up and cleaning up after themselves when they use public toilets.

I fully agree with what was said by Connie. I have no trouble (really I'm learning to be more patient) standing in a line for a stall and based on noise and movement (yes sometimes I get my hope up too much!)and then the anticipation that I'm going to be on the toilet and pooping within a couple of minutes. The long awaited door opens, someone exits (I hope it's an older person because the toilet is most times in much better condition) and I go in to sit down. Instant turnoffs:
1) a bowl of unflushed shit--especially repugnant if it exceeds the water level because of the smell.
2) toilet paper strown over the seat and often laden with wiped shit on the floor in front--once at a stadium it was affixed to my right heal with something a year earlier had found me to get rid of my dog.
3) I'm a shameless shitter once I'm sitting down on the stool BUT the initial umkempt impression I get of a stall is a huge turn-off for me.
4) I can usually poop a complete load within one minute of sitting down, but occasionally I will forget to check the toilet paper roll first. Sometimes I get a "surprise" and have to make do with a very marginal tissue or two left on the roll. Once I eyed what seemed to be a lengthy piece partially under the stall and situated in the adjacent stall. I had high heels on was was manipulating it for sliding my way when the woman on the other toilet blocked it with her foot and tore the largest part of it off for herself.
5) I always completely flush--often twice or three times (I had a civics teacher blame it on President Carter's water-saving initiative about 30 years ago!)in order to completely clean the bowl.
I feel it's wrong that the incoming user has to cleanup from what's left behind by the previous user. However, I admit I could go to another stall, but I often have to poop with great immediacy or I'm just too depressed to open multiple stall doors and see really evil messes left behind.
At 26, I agree with Connie and wish something could be done. It gets grosser and grosser when one is as dependent on public toilets as I.

I used to work with a guy who would not use the urinal and did not lift the seat and always spattered all over it. I even wondered if he would lower the seat so that he could deliberately leave a mess. I consider the toilets at work slightly less public. However I still see all of the gross behavior described here. At home their wife would not tolerate an unflushed toilet so just why is it OK to not flush at work? I have seen guys plunge away others messy clogs (probably out of necessity) so all is not bad.

I'm 28 and married for five years. While I love my wife dearly, she is very prim, proper and pristine in her ways. About a month after we were married, she was on the stool at our apartment, I walked in to get something, and saw that she was peeing BUT WITH TOILET PAPER ON THE SEAT UNDER HER. I thought it was ridiculous, but she said she learned to do it from her mother who said you can never be sure who else sat on it after sitting directly on a public seat and thereby spreading germs. Of course, I don't think twice about sitting down on public toilets, and I probably shouldn't have told her that, but I just feel it's okey to have lower expectations for keeping public toilets clean. Our son is almost four and I intend to pass my "filthy" habits on to him. We'll have strength in numbers, but with an obviously larger toilet paper budget.

She puts toilet paper down IN HER OWN HOUSE?!?

Wouldn't she know that it was clean?!? (Assuming she cleans it herself)

I don't usually say words like this, but... that's fucked up, dude. Get her some help.

My HUSBAND has a similar concern. I've walked in on him and have found him taking his morning crap with paper under him. The first time I mentioned it to him I reminded him that I clean the toilet weekly on the weekend. I think it was on a Thursday. His response was that you don't know what our daughters (ages 8 & l1) have sat in at school and what our son (he's 10) is bringing home. I know he always lines the seat when we're out in public and requires our son (who is reluctant to go along with it because he doesn't see his friends doing it!)to do the same. Our daughters also think their father is somewhat unrealistic in his expectations and habits. My husband claims his actions go back 13 years to when he was in high school and almost daily had to sit on wet and dirty seats at school. On a couple of occasions he tried to "hold" it and made a mess in his pants. This led to some bullying and harassment. I try to be understanding but don't normally cover the seat unless we're traveling and there's some big-time urine spilled and there's no toilet paper available with which to wipe it off.

Well, now, y'know, I've been thinking.

If these folks who are afraid of their own toilet seats... well, if that's their ONLY quirk in life, then I guess we should just let them be and be thankful that's their only weird thing.

It could be worse, I guess.

Yes, Five Years Married and Anonymous Coward seem to be somewhat extreme in their actions by covering the toilet seats at home. However, I guess I haven't heard of a lot of middle ground. My daughters are 11 and 15 and my son is 12. Before each of them started middle school I showed them how to put paper down over the toilet seat at school (as they were also taught to do in other public places) but they immediately reported that they were embarrassed doing it because they stand out from all the others who they say don't worry about sitting directly on the toilet. I graduated from high school 20 years ago and NEVER sat down on an uncovered seat. The difference, however, was we had a dispenser in each stall of toilet seat covers that we put down. Even if they had them at South Middle School I'm told that the students wouldn't use them. The boys have open stalls and my son says some of the boys sit right down even on wet seats. He says anyone putting paper down first would be harassed. My daughters say the 4-minute passing period doesn't give them any extra time and that covering the seat would be just another hassle. What a difference between generations in what is taught and not taught by parents!

I'd add Melanie to the list of those who are strange and extreme. I don't think any child of middle school or high school age should have a second thought about sitting down on a toilet at school. I didn't and my son and daughter don't now. Parents who teach covering seats need to get a life! In a practical sense, nothing is gained from covering a seat anyway except toilet paper that could be used for a more important purpose is used up faster and at the expense of a user later in the day. Stools are clogged more easily and there's nothing more repugnant to me now or then than having to ply wet toilet paper off my shoes when I get done peeing because one of the earlier users of that stall found it necessary to contribute to a clog. This mentality follows students out of school and into adult life too. I've been on business trips, in high heels and slipped on toilet paper littering stalls. I say sit down, enjoy getting off your feet for a few minutes, and let the daily bath or shower take care of the rest!

I'm a seat coverer, and always have been since my mom would take me into a public bathroom. There was no compromising; you had to do it her way or she wouldn't take you in. At age 7 or 8 I didn't have a lot of other options. Therefore, I did it her way and, although some of my friends were/are critical of how "rigid" I am in my habits, well, so be it. My question is my "responsibility" to the next user. Sometimes I use up the last of the available toilet paper, and in large, really public places, other women brush by me for the stall as soon as I exit. When I'm washing my hands, or in some cases waiting for a sink, I know they sit right down, go and then have a surprise waiting when they go to wipe. I don't like to upset people, I guess, which is why I don't tell them that the stall is out of toilet paper. Sometimes I feel a little guilty but other times I've just rationalized that as adults, they should have checked first. Last week it was a young girl about seven or eight who was going in alone without supervision from a parent. There just seems to be so much confusion in the really crowded bathrooms. What should I do?

In response to AC's question about what you should tell a user entering the stall you are exiting: NOTHING! What do I have to gain by saying: 1) "I used the last of the toilet paper to cover the seat--sucks for you."; 2) "My bowel movement almost cleared the bowl so I think you have a clog on your hands"; 3) "Ignore the water on the door latch, I guess I missed when I was wiping;" 4) "Ignore the shit on the front of the bowl but it was ready to come before I could sit down"; 5) "Because you have high heels on, watch the urine you're stepping in in front of the bowl--I'm usually a much better squatter". It's better if nothing is said, especially if the next user is an easily scared child.

How can Carissa justify NOT pointing out problems to the incoming user? In public places, like many women, I'm a squatter and this past weekend at an I-29 rest area, I used a stall with quite a bit of urine on the seat from a previous user--perhaps a young boy with no aim or sense to put the seat up. A girl about five or six was next to use it and without a parent nearby to help her. I kept her out of the stall momentarily while I used two sheets of toilet paper to wipe down the seat. If that had been my daughter, I would have hoped someone would have done that for her.

Like Civic Minded Girl, my 7-year-old son and I were in the bathroom at an Interstate rest stop. This was on Memorial Day weekend when there was a lot of traffic. My son is small for his age and he isn't quite tall enough to get all his pee into a urinal without resting his penis up on the bowl, which when I saw him doing that once, I thought it would be much cleaner for him to go into a stall to pee. The problem is that he often doesn't remember to lift the seat so in taking him in this time, I lifted it for him. After he got done, I was on the toilet next door taking a shit when I saw the legs and heard what appeared to be a very young child close that stall door, I saw the boy's pants drop, followed almost immediately by a splash and crying. The boy, about 4 or 5, had forgotten to drop the seat before sitting down. A couple of other young boys at the urinals thought it was funny, but quickly finished up, used toilet paper and paper towels to help dry the boy off. Then my son and I took him outside to his mother who was rearranging items in back of their SUV. She briefly thanked me and started yelling at him when she took him toward the ladies room. I hope this teaches my son a valuable lesson and that is it's probably a good idea to put the seat back down because you don't know what age-level the next user is going to be.

I always do the seat check...before and after. I am NOT sitting in anyone elses piss, nor do I wish for anyone to sit in mine. Here is my issue....at work, I walk into a mess. What do I do? leave it, and get blamed for it later? Just so happens teh office gossip has her desk facing the bathroom across the hall...I refuse to be the nasty gossip of the day. So I ended cleaning someone elses skid marks up off the seat and flushing 6 times to get rid of the other in-bowl skid marks. Seriously, my co-workers are fricken nasty, but I get the grief of being a shameful shitter.

I say if you have the least bit of consideration, you will clean up whatever mess you make, unless there are some very odd circumstances, like being so sick you just are not able to muster the strength. Also, if you position your butt properly, you will have much less chance of making any mess, even if you have the squirts. I know from experience on this one.

This covering the seat nonsense is getting a bit boring. If there is obvious soiling of the seat, wipe it off or go in another stall. For heavens sake - there are germs everywhere!!!! You'd think in 2007 we wouldn't beleive silly old wives tales about toilet seats any more.

Feeling Guilty is not responsible for the accident of the young boy, who unsupervised, used the ladies restroom and ended up falling into the toilet stool. True, she was the one who hadlifted the seat for her son, BUT she was on the stool in the next stall, and was not available to immediately come out, go back to that stall, and put the seat back down. The boy, if he was indeed 4 or 5, should have been DIRECTLY supervised by his mom while in there and the mom should not have been working with stuff in the back of the SUV. The mom was lucky that he didn't severely hurt himself in the fall. Finally, if the mom wasn't going to assist him, why didn't he go into the boys room? Either way, his mom made a bad decision.

Not Guilty Gina, did you happen to catch the part of the story where Feeling Guilty said that there were other young boys at the urinals laughing at him? The last time I checked, womens' bathrooms didn't have urinals with young boys using them!

I'm a college student and this past weekend my boyfriend and I traveled about 500 miles to visit his family. At two of the Interstate rest areas there were young girls, although probably school age, left in the bathrooms to fend for themselves while parents were immediately outside the room reading the road map or smoking. One was on the stool, found there was not toilet paper in her stall when she got done, and she waddled out with her pants down, looking to get some from another stall. The only problem was that she was embarrassed greatly because several more cars had pulled up and there was a waiting line for the stalls, and of course, she really had no place to go. She started to cry and called out to her mother, of course to no avail, and since I was to have been the next occupant, I took her back into the stall, and gave her some Kleenex from my purse to clean herself with. There was a pretty soft looking poop in the bowl. I flushed for her, and showed her to the sink, while I carefully watched the stall with one eye to make sure that one of the other waitees wouldn't move in on me. Then I sat down and peed. After I washed my hands and went back out to meet up with my boyfriend, I saw the girl just waiting and waiting for her mother's attention. The woman was carrying on a rather extended and hostile cell phone conversation at a time when assisting her daughter should have been her first priority.

I tend to agree with Feeling Guilty. The seat should have been dropped after he had lifted for the little boy to pee in the public bathroom. Although it's something that I wouldn't think could/would happen too often, I agree that it would be easy for an unsupervised boy to come in and just throw himself onto the stool to crap, forgetting, of course, to check the seat. In the womens room this could easily happen because in my traveling, I've seen so many young girls unsupervised use rest stop bathrooms while the parent waits immediately outside the bathroom in the lobby reading maps, getting directions, etc. The situation I do remember was earlier this year just outside of Chicago. It was about 5 a.m. and in a two-stall bathroom, one stall was closed for repair. I was washing my hands when a girl, no older than 5, came in half asleep and without her shoes, and was pushing with all her force to open the door of the broken stall. She worked on it for about 30 to 45 seconds and then started to cry. The "Out of Order" sign had been placed too high up for her to see. I showed her to the stall I had just used and I dropped the seat for her (I try and avoid sitting down on a public toilet!). "Child proofing" precautions on taken in so many areas and with so many products. They also need to be thought about in public restrooms, because sadly, some parents just don't stop to think about how important it is to take the child in.