I’ve noticed something “odd” a few times at work while dropping into the restroom to “download” some heavier materials.
At first I thought it was a rare exception, but since then it’s happened a few times.
While poppin’ a squat, some unknown person on more than one occasion has entered the bathroom and gone to the urinal. While in the process of discharging liquid waste this person has a tendency to flush the toilet multiple times. And by multiple times I mean easily ten or more times. Since I’m not next to this individual, the flush obsession is possibly done throughout the duration of the elimination process.
It’s weird and bizarre. For the life of me I can’t figure out why the person behaves in this manner. I have thought of (and ultimately eliminated) the following reasons:
Odd smells
When someone is dropping a deuce, it’s not uncommon for the person to do a “courtesy flush” to eliminate the nasty odors emanating from the poop chute. That is not only understandable, but welcome by anyone in the bathroom who might be subjected to the odor.
But during urination, I can’t think of any odors that might escape that would cause one the need to flush. On second thought I once ate some asparagus that caused my urine to have a smell, but it wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity of a nasty dump. I have to rule this out.
Race the flush
I’m not sure if women play this game, but men/boys do. It’s called “Race the flush” and the goal is to flush the toilet when one commences urinating in the hope of finishing urinating by the time the flush has completed.
However, in this case, since the person is at the urinal, I think it’s impossible to race the flush and walk away the victor. The flush is way too fast and the water isn’t enough to beat emptying your bladder. So, it can’t be that.
Noise reduction
I’ve heard of women that turn on the sink water when going to the bathroom so that no one else can hear them tinkle. However, in a public multi-person bathroom I think that’s impossible. Either someone will shut it off or you’ll get weird looks and any possible fallout (i.e. gossip) would be much worse than having someone hear you tinkle.
I don’t think men have that same fear/worry about people hearing them urinate. The person flushing makes far more noise flushing than the sound of urine landing against the back of the urinal.
Maybe the noise reduction isn’t about eliminating the sounds of peeing, but the sounds of farting. If so, he succeeds as I have never heard Mr. Flush fart. I’ve heard plenty of other people break wind, it’s kind of a rite of passage among males. I’m ruling this out too.
OCD
The only other thing I can think of is this person has some OCD and a need to constantly flush the toilet during urination. However, this also seems unlikely in that I can’t think of anyone’s house I’ve ever been to (inside or outside the U.S.) that has a toilet that has the ability to flush immediately after being flushed. Urinals: yes. Toilets: no. So, unless the person has a urinal at home, it seems odd that suddenly when at work the desire to constantly flush manifests itself, but when at home it’s dormant.
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In all instances this person has entered the bathroom after I’m in the stall and has finished and left before I’ve exited the stall. As such, I’ve never seen this person. I’m not about to stand around all day waiting for the person who is trigger-happy with the urinal just to find out.
I wonder if anyone else has experienced this, either from the one doing it or the one who has heard it but not seen it.