Sorry, I know I've stated time and again that I'd rather this blog not devolve into me ranting like a maniac, but this one has bugged me for years, and for some reason today is the day to write about it.
I can't stand guys who don't flush urinals. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you. When you urinate at home, do you not flush? If so, that's completely disgusting. And if you do, why do you? Because you don't want it to smell, right? Well, no one wants public bathrooms to smell either. When you leave your urine sitting there, it smells bad. That makes the air smell bad. That makes the bathroom gross. And it makes you a loser who is stuck in kindergarten and might as well be eating glue off your muddy fingers.
I hear the same crap all the time - you don't want to touch the handle - it could be gross. You touch a MILLION things that could be gross. The door handle when you leave. Other door handles. Taxicabs. YOUR FACE. YOUR FACE is probably gross. And here's the thing - in no other situation where you touch something are you about to WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP LITERALLY IN 2 SECONDS. Do you not wash your hands when you go to the bathroom? Because that's a LOT more disgusting. I don't care, use your elbow or something if you're that freaked out by the act of flushing.
I've always wondered if this happens in women's restrooms - I bet it doesn't. And just so you know, ladies, your dad, your boyfriend, your brother - at least one of them doesn't flush when he goes to the bathroom. Yeah. Chew on that.
I get that some bathrooms are so bad you don't really want to be touching anything, like at some dirty gas station off the highway where they don't even know what it means to clean the bathroom. Okay, that's one thing, I'm fine with that. But in a "clean" bathroom (i.e., a janitor cleans it on a daily basis, like a hotel, restaurant, office lobby)? It's particularly egregious in a public bathroom where you know the other people who use it on a recurring basis, like an office or dorm. Make a small sacrifice (which really isn't a sacrifice at all) and make my world a better place. People disgust me.
12 comments:
An Economic Justification for My Policy of Not Flushing:
Public bathrooms are public goods, and I will exercise my right as a utility-maximizing rational individual to free ride by not flushing and thus deriving maximum utility and externalizing the costs on others like Eric Ma.
The same costs are externalized by others onto you, though. And if you think there aren't any costs to inhaling stale urine, I would contend maybe you shouldn't be a part of society anymore. Because you are disgusting.
Maybe the costs of inhaling stale urine is lower to me than the cost of touching the germ-ridden handle on a public urinal.
So we're doing our part to achieve efficiency through comparative advantage and division of labor because you would rather expose yourself to germs than inhale stale urine.
It's not my fault I get to free ride on your utility curve.
Touching the handle actually isn't any more of a germ risk than any other handle you might touch, so I'd disagree with that for starters.
As for the argument itself, you could really say that about anything. Everything acts in a way to maximize utility for themselves, which is what you're really talking about here, not macro efficiency. The idea of comparative advantage isn't valid in this scenario - not flushing didn't meaningfully free up your labor time to provide some other goods or service.
Why should we denounce a guy who mugs a 101 year old for 30 bucks? Clearly the mental costs and/or risk of arrest of the mugging are less than 30 bucks in his mind - it maximizes his utility and imposes a cost on someone else. Strength of externalities matter - sometimes externalities are so strong we are forced to restrain certain individuals from their utility-maximizing decisions. As a society we have normative goals - we don't WANT 101-year old ladies beaten and mugged, so through the law, we raise the costs to the mugger.
That's really what I'm after here with this post. Hopefully the people who read this find you more disgusting, and if your identity is ever revealed, they will denounce you or think of you more negatively - raising your own costs and possibly inducing you to a different utility-maximizing decision. Anyways, short of any of that happening, you're right that the law doesn't constrain you, so you're free to not flush when you go to the bathroom, or eat your own vomit, or put binder clips on your face, or whatever else maximizes your own utility. And I will continue to maximize mine by denouncing you.
"That's really what I'm after here with this post. Hopefully the people who read this find you more disgusting, and if your identity is ever revealed, they will denounce you or think of you more negatively - raising your own costs and possibly inducing you to a different utility-maximizing decision. Anyways, short of any of that happening, you're right that the law doesn't constrain you, so you're free to not flush when you go to the bathroom, or eat your own vomit, or put binder clips on your face, or whatever else maximizes your own utility. And I will continue to maximize mine by denouncing you."
I agree with that. And I do flush (when I can). I was just playing Devil's Advocate because I was bored.
Hahaha "when I can" - awesome
I haven't really been bothered by stale urine that much. It's the crap in the toilet that is appaling. Especially when they're all nasty and you need to go #2.
It's not so bad at work, but every now and then there's a floater that's left behind. I request that everyone double-checks after they flush.
Agreed 100%
who gives a shit about men and boys not flushing the urinal or toilet when they MISS and PISS ON THE TOILET SEAT, AROUND THE TOILET, and ON THE FLOOR. that's right, every daddy, brother, boyfriend has MISSED. and dont' give me that crap that it just sucks for the ladies because last i checked, men also squat when taking a dump. you learn how to aim when you're 5 years old, don't get lazy and get your act together. it's fucking digusting.
whoa whoa whoa - let's not have ridiculously unrealistic demands now
when dave and i drove to new york last summer, we stopped at one gas station somewhere in arizona and there was a used condom on the handle of the urinal. the one and only time i didnt flush.
i'm so proud that you flush and wash your hands.
a lot of women don't wash their hands afterwards. fewer than men though.
i was told that once some med students hid in the men's bathroom of a conference for infectious disease specialists. most of them did not wash their hands after peeing.
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