Which Is Grosser?

Updated on June 14, 2012
L.D. asks from Dallas, TX
19 answers

Which is grosser? Sitting on the seat of a public toilet or NOT sitting (hmm.. squatting?) and leaving pee on the seat?

My pet peeve is this: In my office, there are paper seat covers for the toilet so if you dont want to actually have your bottom touch the seat, you can sit on the paper. However, most people dont use them and just end up leaving pee on the seat.

Isnt that worse than just sitting on it to begin with?

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E.R.

answers from Columbus on

Lol, I saw this sign on the door when I was a teenager at a public restroom, "if you sprinkle when you tinkle, please be a sweetie and wipe the seaty!" Maybe you should write this as an anonymous note and post it in all the stalls! Nothing is worse than having to wipe up pee from someone else. If you know that you got some on the seat, wipe it up!

6 moms found this helpful
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D.K.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Hovering is DISGUSTING. At the very least if you have to hover, wipe down the seat with a wipe afterwards and then DRY it. Wait - if you could just do that FIRST - you wouldn't have to hover and make it gross for the rest of us.

5 moms found this helpful

More Answers

C.P.

answers from Columbia on

I HATE when women hover!

Just SIT DOWN, for goodness sake! If you're that worried, carry a little container of Purell. Use TP and Purell to wipe off the seat first.

Those nasty women who hover and pee all over are the WORST!!!

9 moms found this helpful

S.T.

answers from Washington DC on

oh oh oh, you have touched on one of my HUGE peeves. i've vented about it here before.
of course no one wants their hiney to land in someone else's pee, and we don't want our kids to either. but the response most fancy nancies feel is appropriate is to hover over the commode, spray it down with THEIR nasty bodily fluids, and leave it for the next person, all the while self-righteously mealy-mouthing about how hygienic and pristine they are.
most civilized restrooms now provide toilet seat covers, USE them!
yes. people who hold up their dainty hands in horror at bathroom germs so whizz all over the seats are sweathogs. pigs. disgust-Os. i hope karma trips them all so they fall face-first in someone else's seething puddle.
hmph.
khairete
S.

8 moms found this helpful
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F.M.

answers from Lincoln on

Eww nasty! Just sit on the dang toilet! It not like your private parts are touching the seat! Your thighs and back of your legs are! I never understand why ppl do that? You wash your hands after you potty then touch the door to leave the bathroom which probably has more germs on it than the dang toilet seat! If ppl are that freaked out by germs, then STAY HOME! Sheesh!

7 moms found this helpful

J.M.

answers from Philadelphia on

ugh i have hoverers!! Sit and then wash your butt in the sink if you're that germaphobic (ha i made myself giggle envisioning peoples butts in the sink) and then turn the sink off with your clean hand and touch the dirty door and go back into the real world with germs=)

sit on the stinkin seat, your hands are dirtier than the previous persons butt germs=)
also unless you're eating with your butt why does it matter that its coveed in germs=)

6 moms found this helpful
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C.T.

answers from Dallas on

I don't care how anyone chooses to use the bathroom, just leave everything clean and neat before you exit.

4 moms found this helpful

C.O.

answers from Washington DC on

it's TOTALLY DISGUSTING and TOTALLY RUDE to hover and NOT clean up after yourself.

If you don't want to use the seat covers, then use toilet paper...either way - CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF!!! Even in a porta-potty.

and people wonder why I still carry diaper wipes and the handi-wipes in my purse.

4 moms found this helpful
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J.G.

answers from New York on

I am so happy to see this question and all these responses!! This is one of my pet peeves too. If we all just sit our butts down, it's much more hygienic.

3 moms found this helpful

T.K.

answers from Dallas on

I think it is selfish, rude, gross, prissy, and not at all effective to hover and not clean up after yourself. SELFISH!!!

To all you lovely hoverers.... You spray the damn seat because you don't want other peoples germs. That's frickin ironic.

What about my 4 yr old that goes into the bathroom behind you. Should she have to wipe your pee up? NO? Ok, so mom has to go into every stall ahead of her and clean the seat off before she can go to the bathroom. I wish you could have overhead me trying to explain to her why grown women are afraid of the toilet seat, so they pee all over it.

3 moms found this helpful

T.M.

answers from Redding on

This post is not going well with my morning coffee.

3 moms found this helpful

☼.S.

answers from Los Angeles on

bah! peeing on the seat is grosser for sure! I share a public bathroom with university students. There is this *person* that appears to be STANDING on the seat (I see shoe marks on the seat) and then unloading, with *stuff* spraying and landing everywhere! I've never seen anything so disgusting and if I ever catch this little cherub all hell's going to break out.

3 moms found this helpful
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B.C.

answers from Los Angeles on

The funny thing (ironic) is that both the squatters and setters lock the toilet door. Then they unlock the toilet door when they leave. Everyone then trades germs with all the people that touched the lock mechanism before them.

Then if you don't wash your hands with soap and water, when you leave the restroom, you leave your germs and all those that you've traded germs with on the toilet lock with everyone that leaves the restroom on the restroom door handle.

I always wash my hands with soap and water and use the towel I dry my hands with to pull or push open the restroom door. Then I throw away the paper towel after I leave the restroom.

Something to think about, huh? Good luck to you and yours.

3 moms found this helpful
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C.C.

answers from Dallas on

I saw something awhile back on oprah where a guy was on there testing the worst germs you could get in a public bathroom. The toilet actually had the least germs on it out of everything he tested. The bottom of a purse that you sit on the floor of the bathroom had the most. So just sit on the toilet already and DON'T hover! :)

3 moms found this helpful
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☆.A.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Far grosser to hover, then leave pee splashes.
Why do people hover and then NOT clean up the seat?

With the exception of overtly DISGUSTING bathrooms (Think Texaco, Route 66) where the facilities are in dire straights when you arrive, there's no reason for not wiping if you hover--use TP--you won't touch a thing! Or sitting.
Did you know that your kitchen sink has more germs than a public toilet seat?

So--hover if you must--but WIPE it up!

To "get" anything from a public toilet seat:
You've gotta try really. Really. REALLY hard!

It's OK for your butt to touch the seat!

3 moms found this helpful
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M.R.

answers from Chicago on

I always sit. If there's paper cover, excellent. If not, I use some tp to wipe the seat a bit before sitting. If its too disgusting, I find another stall.
I can think of only very few things more gross than leaving pee on the toilet seat!! :-)

2 moms found this helpful

C.S.

answers from Kansas City on

It is gross to leave pee or feces or menstrual blood or semen or whatever on any toilet anywhere. I don't know why several of you have the impression that someone who hovers is "prissy", but whatever.
Call me Prissy.
I dislike public restrooms. I detest their smell and the feel of their air makes my skin crawl. I have no idea why they have that effect on me, but I don't see this as a problem so I'm not trying to solve that mystery.

In the instances that I must use a public toilet I hover AND hold my panties together so that they don't touch the bowl. If you ever look at the flecks of feces and what-have-you that are there perhaps you'd hold your panties too.
Say what you want, but I have no shame about it. I am a hoverer with good aim and the ability to hover low enough so that I don't urinate all over the seat or splash pee onto myself nor my clothing.

Not all public restrooms have paper seat covers or sometimes they are out of stock. When there are paper seat covers or plenteous toilet paper I cover the seat and I STILL hover. I always inspect to be sure that I have not left even a drop of urine on the seat and I always flush. I do not touch the door handle or the lock with my bare hands. I always use a piece of a paper towel, a square of toilet paper to open, close, lock or unlock the door and I always wash my hands. I would never sit my purse on the floor. If there is a hook I'd use that. Otherwise I keep my purse on my shoulder or under my arm.
There are disgusting things that people do even if they sit on the seat, such as, leaving feces or tampons floating. Dropping bloody sani-pads on the floor, wiping boogers or the stall. YUCK! The disgusting list just goes on. If I went into a prr and saw the cleaning person washing blood and feces off a toilet so that it was now clean, that would not make me feel better. Just knowing that is too much and sometimes it's about what you know or have seen. So, I will continue to hover, thanks. :)

2 moms found this helpful

B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

I've wiped down seats with toilet paper before using them.
Depending on the height of the toilet, squatting can be a hard thing to do neatly.
I've heard of toilets that are designed to use while squatting but they are not common in the USA.
You can Google 'squat toilet' images and many designs can be seen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_toilet

Toilets (regular or squat) are less gross than out houses, port-a-potties or chamber pots.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.M.

answers from Dallas on

I've hovered many times in public restrooms, but I ALWAYS wipe the seat down when I'm done.

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