The Charmin Flushability Survey (no, really!) conducted by Wakefield Research asked 1,000 U.S. adults online about their toilet flushing troubles. And oh wow -- are U.S. workers plugging up the works!
Slightly more than 10% of U.S. employees are clogging the toilets at work, according to the survey.
Granted, 10% isn't a huge number, but it's enough to make an impact when one in 10 employees are busy creating a "don't go in there!" office restroom situation on a regular basis. Just think about how often the toilet is plugged at work, and it all makes sense.
Male employees are two times more likely to clog a toilet at work than their female colleagues, too. Among the other survey findings:
* 70% of U.S. adults clog a toilet during the holiday season;
* Almost half of all U.S. adults (48%) have clogged a toilet at their parents' house;
* Nearly one-fifth have clogged a toilet on a date, or at their significant other’s house;
* Nearly one-quarter (24%) of Americans under age 40 have clogged a toilet and lied about it;
* Women are more likely to lie to the plumber about their role (roll?) in clogging a toilet.
So what have we learned? For starters, someone at work will clog an office toilet later today, and the cloggings could increase exponentially during the holiday season. The culprit will most likely be a man. If the culprit is a woman, however, then she'll most likely lie about it.
Perhaps, and for good reason, you no longer use the company restroom. Still, it unrolls an important question we never ask in polite business articles:
What should we do when we clog a toilet at work?
First, it depends (no pun intended) on whether or not the office restroom is single stall vs. multiple-stall.
If we've clogged the only unisex toilet in the office, then it's usually clear who is responsible, since someone most likely saw us walk in while someone else could soon be waiting patiently outside the door. With any luck, the company has placed a plunger in the lone, one-room restroom. No stalling.
(If you've never used a plunger, here's a woman who can teach you how to use one. As I pass the plunger to somebody else in my household, let me condescendingly remind you that this is Life Skills Basics 101):
If we've plugged the toilet in a company restroom with five or six separate stalls, however, then what? Do we go looking for a plunger that we won't find? Do we leave a note on the door saying it's broken? Do we call Maintenance to say "somebody seems to have plugged" the toilet?
Or, do we simply walk away like nothing happened and wash our hands clean of the situation?
(Shh, your secret is safe with me. And please remember to wash your hands!)The most important thing we can do is to do something, because there's nothing worse than using a toilet only to realize that it's clogged or broken. It can be even worse than gazing upon the aftermath of someone else's attempted, but failed, flush. Maybe we could leave a Post-It note on the stall door so the next person doesn't make the same mistake? Please? Or take a moment to notify Maintenance?
At the same time, it's getting more difficult to avoid personal responsibility for our individual workplace restroom use as companies incorporate bathroom apps and other inventive ways of keeping track. The boss wants to know what we're doing in there, which, of course, is exercising and relaxing, since the open office environment offers zero privacy.
There's also the issue of toilets that simply stop working very well. Unfortunately, we may learn this lesson too late. So regular plumbing maintenance is important, employers. Also, toilet paper holders that dispense toilet paper more than one square at a time.
By the way, somebody needs to survey workplace maintenance staff on this topic. I bet they have some very draining stories to tell about clogged office toilets.
The point is, we will all deal with this problem, in a work situation, if we haven't already. So let's create a plan of attack for what happens after we slip out of the restroom as if nothing has happened on our way to the next status update meeting.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
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