what would you do?
so... i have a question. it's a tough one... and you're welcome to make your comments anonymous, because... well... you'll see. but i really want to know what you would do. i'm not going to tell you what i would do (or did)... or at least not yet... but this happened to me TWICE on my drive home to utah (and it's happened to me numerous times throughout my life). so... here's the scenario:
you walk in to the public bathroom. it's a fairly typical gas station / fast food bathroom with two or three stalls, a sink strewn with paper towels, slightly dirty floors, large toilet paper dispensers... the usual. you have your purse slung over your shoulder, and you enter the first stall. you take a seat, take a tinkle, grab for the toilet paper, and... there's no toilet paper. sudden panic hits you as you realize your options are slim to none. you have paper in your purse, on which a map has been printed -- you don't need the map anymore, though PAPER and toilet paper are far from the same thing. you see a few "clean looking" sections of toilet paper hanging out of the "unmentionables trash bin". you see a few "clean looking" sections of toilet paper lying on the floor next to the toilet -- they appear to have come from someone's over-zealous attempt to pull toilet paper off the roll, but ended up with too much in their hand (not sure i will ever understand the logic that encourages someone to just drop it on the floor). you have two other stalls next to you and no one is currently in the bathroom with you, though someone could walk through the door any second and catch you shuffling to the next stall with your pants around your knees. and then there's obviously the option to wait out the "drips"... which all women know, takes a very long time and is almost impossible. AND you still have about 12 hours left to go on a very long roadtrip.
so... think about it... don't tell me "i wouldn't use a public bathroom" or "this is why i always carry toilet paper in my purse"... let's say, you've reached the brink and succumbed to the public bathroom, and there are no other alternatives other than those mentioned above.
what would you do? what have you done? i know you've had this experience!
posted by janaya at 12:49 PM
8 Comments:
i don't mind a drip-dry. maybe it's because i've experienced a bit of incontinence while pregnant. (mostly when laughing.) or maybe it's because i find the undergarments i wear to be so absorbent.
next best - the stray strands on the ground. i'd definitely consider those. trash can with leftover TP would be considered at home, but not so much the gas station.
August 13, 2007 1:21 PM
I guess I'm the first...Well, I have to say that I'll wait out the "drips" as you call it. I refuse to touch any leftover paper from who knows who...I rather feel a bit wet for a while than rubbing some gross tp against my parts... sorry....that's not happening...I'm not embarrassed of what I'll do, so I don't have any problem putting a name to my answer if you want to know.
August 13, 2007 1:21 PM
I definitely would drip dry.. or look in my purse for a diaper or something (from one of my kids, ofcourse!)I am ultra paranoid- so I would never use tp from the floor or put in the garbage...If I caught a disease two years from doing it- I would blame it "on the tp I used- that was already used."
August 13, 2007 4:34 PM
my choice would definitely be to chance hauling it to the closest stall. hopefully, i would be lucky enough to find tp in the second stall, because it would have to be the fastest move in my life and i wouldn't have time to check if there was actually any tp in there before i slammed the door behind myself. i guess, if there wasn't any tp in the second stall, i'd chance moving to the third... if there was a third. i can't say i would ever chance picking up tp off the ground or in the garbage. too much of an unknown for me. i would consider the drip-dry, but i would much rather be nice and clean AND dry. :)
August 13, 2007 5:31 PM
Um, I have to agree with Whitney. I would pull my pants up enough that if someone DID just happen to walk in they wouldn't be mooned and then I would shuffle over to the next stall as quickly as possible!! Also have to say I love your blog!
August 14, 2007 8:36 AM
Dripping dry never did bother me. Now if it wasnt a drip dry bathroom situation that is when this scenario would really be put to the test. If it was a do something or get crusty bum situation I would wait in hopes someone would come in that could hand me some tp, maybe use a toilet seat cover, or cover up just enough to shuffle to the next stall. The tp on the floor or in the trash is never an option!
August 20, 2007 5:47 PM
Okay, I know I'm weird, but I always put TP or a toilet seat cover down before I go in a public restroom. I can't handle knowing I'm touching butts with other people. And the squatting thing just doesn't work for me. I need to be comfortable. So, I usually don't have this sort of thing happen to me.
BUT IF IT DID, I would wait--and hope--for someone to come in and give me TP from the other stall. That way, I'd be drip-drying as I waited. If no one came to my rescue, I'd have to truck it to the next stall. "Clean looking" or not, I won't touch TP unless it's on the roll.
Also, I have used the toilet seat cover and then realized that no TP was left, so I used another toilet seat cover in place of TP. Not the best, but it works.
August 21, 2007 6:54 PM
Just another reason I am so glad I am a man...
September 11, 2007 1:40 AM
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