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Subscribe to RSSFirst comes the splash, then comes the gasp, then comes the grueling decision as to whether you want to dip your hand into the forbidden waters of the toilet bowl and fish out what you've dropped.
And we've all dropped something -- usually a toothbrush or a cell phone, according to a recent survey conducted by Quilted Northern. (Yes, the toilet paper company. We know.)
Twenty-four percent of the 1,000 women queried, in fact, confessed to "frequently" dropping their cell phones in the toilet, while 22 percent said they had a penchant for accidentally tossing their toothbrush.
What else has a tendency to topple into the latrine?
According to the survey, 19 percent of women confessed to dropping a piece of jewelry while 17 percent said they had accidentally knocked lipstick, mascara or some other kind of makeup into the loo.
But it gets worse. An unlucky 13 percent admitted to dropping their medicine into the commode (hopefully while still in the bottle), while 11 percent said their eyeglasses had made a splash (unfortunately, not the right kind).
Wallets and money have also taken the plunge but only for seven percent of the women surveyed.
As for reaching in, retrieval appears to depend on the cost of the item. To go in, most women said the submerged object had to cost at least $75. A pristine 16 percent, however, said it didn't matter what they'd dropped into the bowl (their purse? their husband? the Hope Diamond?), no item was worth an encounter with toilet water.
So readers, confess. What have you accidentally dropped and fished out of your powder room "pond"?
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It would happen with regularity (excuse the pun) that whichever member of the media relations team was on call at the major academic medical center we work at would accidentally drop the on-call pager into the toilet. The worst part was having to call the operator to tell them the on-call pager was out of commission and needed to be switched out for a new one, and then have to explain why. For some reason, they never required us to turn the drowned pager in....
Nothing. Honestly, I've never dropped anything down the toilet bowl (except the regular sort of drops and the odd dead goldfish.) I'm not a klutz.
So these women who just leave their items in the toilet...do they expect others to fish them out? Personally, nothing I have ever been unfortunate enough to drop in a toilet has been flushable. It's gotta come out of there and, like it or not, it's the responsibility of the dropper to go in there after it.
No plops, no drops from me - either. I remember a young son of mine, during potty training time, pulling the urine shield off his seat that was perched on top of the pot. It was not noticed due to transparent hue - and was flushed. However, it perfectly plugged the toilet, and back in the days of clearly defined gender roles and jobs, this was MAN's work!!!!!!
I dropped a pair of Versace eyeglasses into a public Port-o-Potty. They were very expensive and brand new. They landed on a pile of, well... stuff.... within sight... tantalizingly close and within reach... just below the surface of the blue water.
For a moment I thought..."Just reach in there and grab them. No harm done! It's just... well, you know. The more you think about it... the more you will hesitate. So, grab them now! They were 350 bucks!" I couldn't do it.
A lost cause.
Too disgusting to ever wear again, I thought.
So I went home and called the phone number on the Port-o-Potty.
Left a message to call before they emptied it. Hoping that maybe, just maybe... I could clean them off some how.
But they said they wouldn't empty it for a week.
So I went back there with a homemade hook on a stick.
Of course, there was someone in there when I got there.
I waited.
An enormous man, not to reputable looking, soon left. Freshly evacuated.
I summoned all the courage and fortitude that I could muster... marched in there and hooked the damn things.
After three days of soaking, washing, scrubbing, disinfecting, de-odorizing... with every single conceivable cleanser I could find... they finally stopped smelling like, well... crappy Port-o-Potty blue water.
I am wearing them as I write this.
PS: Forgot to mention: I had waited three days before I went back there to retrieve the glasses with the stick.
Which made the "un-marinating" process... even more difficult.
Cell phones, pagers and jewelry I get.
But toothbrushes and makeup? I can only assume this is happening next to a toilet that has no lid cause I can't imagine putting on make up or, yeeechhh, brushing my teeth next to an open toilet if I don't have to.
Though, still, if you do launch an item into a clear toilet why is it so gross to grab it?
I did flush a watch once though on accident. My band must have broken and I saw it at the very last minute, a blur, disappearing down the toilet. But if I had noticed I'd have grabbed it.
While working as a Scuba Instructor in The Caribbean we were told never get seasick in the head (toilet) let it go over the side. A new Instructor, embarrassed at being seasick went to the head and threw up his bridge of 3 false teeth. He went to the captain and informed him and asked what to do. Michelle told him that the next day they would take the boat to open water and would empty the holding tank, the problem being that the instructor had to be underwater at the outlet pipe with a mesh bag to try and catch his teeth. We told the kid (22 years old) there was no way he would ever get the teeth clean enough to put back in his mouth.
Next morning they go out and perform the disgusting procedure...no teeth, the bridge got stuck in the piping and for all we know the teeth are still there. The Kid now had to inform his Dad about losing the bridgework, luckily Dad had a great laugh but the Kid didn't have to reach in he had to "dive in".
I knocked my keys, which were attached to a lanyard, off the purse hook on the stall door and into a public toilet. This happened because while I was swiveling around and flushing with my foot, my arm hit the keys. When I heard a splash and clink of metal hitting the bowl and the toilet flushing I didn't want to believe what had happened. Luckily I snapped out of it and was able to reach into the water and grab the lanyard just before all was lost. Instead of thinking about being stranded because of loosing my car key, the thought that promoted me to action was that my employer would charge me over 100 to replace their key. It took awhile, but now I'm glad I dived in. Not being stranded and having to replace the key from work was worth sticking my arm in toilet water. I also have a better understanding of just how cheap I am, and now I'am appreciative of the fortitude I developed from changing hundreds of diapers (also worth it).
These people obviously don't have small children. When they find a couple of hot wheels cars sitting at the bottom of the toilet what are they going to do? Just leave them? Call a plumber? Make the toddler get his own toys out the toilet?
When I was growing up (and the kids that came after me) were not allowed as toddlers to play in the bathroom. We were watched all the time. And if by some chance we did drop some toy in the toilet not only were we punished but we would lose the toy.
Today, they make clips for the toilet lid. If you use them you will not drop anything into the toilet.