Bathroom Etiquette

"C'Mon... how about a courtesy flush?" is a phrase that I have heard used often in movies yet I have never heard it used seriously in real life. I am not even sure I know what one is but I have a basic understanding.

It seems a bit off the mark, but I have been experiencing a lot of new bathroom behavior by people as they are renovating all the bathrooms in our building. People from other floors are making their way to our humble bathroom causing back ups and intiating me to different habits.

I do not claim to understand them all and here are a few.

1. I was recently standing at a urinal next to a guy. I finished up, put everything back inside and did all my zipping and buttoning AT THE URINAL. This pretty young guy (I would say he was 28 or so.) finished up, flushed the toilet with his elbow and then walked over to the mirror to complete the buttoning up process. I truly don't understand that behavior. It just seems more polite to finish up at the urinal and the liklihood of penile exposure is severely reduced as well.

2. At one point, there were no more urinals available, so I went into a stall. In the stall, I found a pile of newspapers hanging from the handicapped handle bar. I suppose they left the papers there for anyone else that may want to read them on the potty. HOWEVER, one of the more universally accepted truths in the world is that poop is one of the most disgusting materials on earth. Why would I pick up something that probably has some sort of other person's poop related material on it? Thank you for being kind... now cut it out.

3. There has also been an increase in those people that wash their hands and leave the entire sink area incredibly wet. This includes the part of the sink that you might lean against with your crotch when washing your hands. This happened to me recently. I spent the next 3 minutes trying to discreetly dry my crotch area after getting it soaked by errant water. It was just rude and takes a 5 second mop up by a paper towel. 5 seconds now may save YOUR 3 minutes later.

4. Something that I never understand in bathrooms is the need to have lots of paper towels falling to the ground when the pile gets to the point of overflow. Cmon people. How much effort is it to get another paper towel, place it on the top of the pile and then push? Not hard at all.. because.. guess what?... it is PAPER.

5. Finally.... please wash your hands... I see you shaking other people's hands later.... I see it.