Flushing a public toilet with your foot?

28 comments

1. Yes

2. Yes, have done it many times

3. Yep.

4. Yeah sometimes, this is not unique to the US.

5. Always

6. Always, you don’t???

7. Gurl I’d rather risk slipping and falling on my face, than touch a gas station public toilet with my hand. 🤢🤮

8. No. I’m going to wash my damn hands anyway.

9. I think I’ve done this once and it was a very dire gas station bathroom that I barely hovered over to do my business because I was in dire need myself.

   In general, some people take it this far, but personally I think that’s just silly. At least you can wash your hands – just being in proximity to things in a place you think is so filthy, I’m sure you’ve brushed up against something that won’t get washed. (shoes, obviously, back of your shirt that may rub against your car seat which then gets smeared on your hand when you lean back in to grab your sunglasses. etc. Women’s purses are just filthy and yet you see those being set down on kitchen tables, etc.

10. How else do you expect us to flush a public restroom toilet? We are not savages that leave turds behind for others to witness.

11. Always, considering that’s the first thing people touch after wiping their butts and before washing their hands (if they wash their hands).

12. I do not do this, I flush the toilet with my hand lol

13. I guarantee your cell phone has way more germs than a public toilet and you put it next tour face and hold it while you eat.

14. I am a toilet ninja. 🥷

15. Oh yes.

16. Absolutely. Every time. I always assumed that’s why they make the handle thing like a pedal.

17. Yes

18. Let us now praise auto-flushing.

    Thank you, Guy Who Invented Auto-Flushing.

19. YES THE FOOT I don’t want to lean over the open faced toilet and get poop flakes flying in my face.

    If it has a lid like a civilized toilet then I close the lid and use my hand to flush.

20. The types of toilets I usually flush with
    my foot aren’t the handle on the tank type that are common in homes. They almost seem made for flushing with your foot and the lever tends to be low enough that you need to lean down a lot to flush it by hand.

    Here’s what a flush mechanism that I’d flush with my foot looks like:

    https://www.dreamstime.com/metal-silver-restroom-flushing-handle-public-restroom-metal-handle-to-flush-toilet-bathroom-public-restroom-metal-silver-image199522012

21. Absolutely. That handle is gross.

22. Every time. Even if it’s one of those ‘automatic’ toilets, they never flush for me, it’s like my butt is a vampire. I have to find the little button, and when I do, it’s my foot that doing the work.

23. Nah, just use a paper towel to flush it and then wash your hands afterwards.

    There’s a fun study out there that shows public restroom toilets and your own household toilet have a lower bacterial and viral load than your standard household kitchen sink.

    There’s obvious confounding factors but it’s a bit funny.

    The real thing you should do is not touch the door handle on the way out. Either kick the door open or if it has a real handle then use a paper towel. People get all worked up about the toilet flush handle but then forget that *after* they washed their hands they still touch the same dirty handle that every non-washer touches with no ability to wash after touching it.

    Pro tip from a former microbiologist, double glove and change the exterior gloves every time you touch a potentially contaminated surface.

24. I use tp for manually flushing toilets and my elbows for those autoflushing toilets since the flush button tends to be below the sensor.

25. People do it. It has always seemed a little too paranoid for me. Unless you have open sores on your hands, nothing is getting in your body through your skin in the seconds between flushing and washing your hands.

26. What?! I use my elbow

27. Damn i never knew this was a thing.

    I guess I’m disgusting.

28. No?

    I wash my hands when I’m finished. What’s the point?