Whoooosh!

Some modern conveniences are wonderful. I can remember the days when dishwashers were also usually called wives, when houses did not have air conditioning, when drink bottles had caps that had to be pulled off with a bottle opener, and even when few homes had automatic clothes dryers or televisions. Surely, public places did not have automatic toilets or faucets.

These days, we can go into public restrooms and stick our hands under the faucet and get a nice stream or spray of water that is probably cold or hot. Possibly tepid, on a good day. We can go into a private stall and the toilet will flush itself.

I am fine with the sinks. I personally am slightly grossed out by public sinks, so not havng to touch anything there is good by me. I don't like using hair dryers on my hands. I get a bit confused now and then by sticking my hands under a faucet hoping for water and after a minute or so realizing it's an old fashioned one that I have to turn on myself. OK, I can handle that. Then I am looking for paper towels so I can wipe all the water and soap other people have dribbled all over so I can set my purse down and get out my hand cream and some lipstick. Is it that hard to wipe up after yourself?

I am not fine with the self-flushing toilets. I know I am not the only one who has had issues with these. It was bad enough in the past to have to lift my feet up high enough to flush the old toilets. Hey, I mght be short, but I am pretty limber. I don't care how high they stick those handles, my feet can reach. Would a button on the floor made for our feet be unreasonable?

But, what do you do when you walk in a stall and the person before you left a gross mess? Normally, back out slowly, saying, "EWWW!!" because you know the woman who walked out on that crap is still at the sink. Move along, find another. "EWWW!" again. Eventually, a stall has to be usable, or you have to tiptoe into one and quickly flush it before you can use it. Yuck.

How to flush the one that needs to be flushed? They are all different. There might be a little button. There might not. Waving your hand in front of a little box might work. Standing in the front right corner might set it off. A handle or a "self flush here" button would be helpful.

Bythis time, the sink is starting to look good for other uses. So is the drain in the middle of the floor.

Eventually, we grab a stall. It looks OK. We use it, we get ready to go, and it won't flush. We try the above tricks, and hope for the best.

Those are the easy problems.

Today I went to the gym. I haven't been able to go for almost a year due to the shoulder pain and then the surgery. You can tell me I could have gone and stuck to lower body work, but I know myself better. The first machine I went to was the one for pull down lats.

I used the bathroom today. My mind was a bit elsewhere. Do we really need to concentrate that much to pee? Not usually. I dropped my pants (TMI, but there is a reason for this detail) and started to sit (yes, I used a seat cover) and the toilet flushed itself immediately, before I even finished my move to sit.

It also sprayed the back of my legs. I admit it, I laughed. It even tickled a little. What could I do at that point? I peed. I started to stand up.

It flushed again. Before I got my pants back on.

It sprayed my legs again.

Do you think I will remember to avoid that stall in the future? Probably not. I have a habit of using the first stall, since most people don't. I do it automatically.

Maybe I can remember to take a towel in with me next time.