On the Matter of Papering the Seat

Public toilet seats are pretty gross. Even if they are clean and dry, they’re still the place where that hairy guy (or girl) just planted their naked butt, and now you’re expected to follow suit. If you’re anything like me, you probably want to place at least a small barrier between yourself and the seat, either in the form of one of those seat covers or a few well-placed pieces of toilet paper.

I’ll confess: I am 100% a toilet paper covering guy. Even when those seat covers are available, I never use them. I don’t have a good reason, so I’m simply going to blame force of habit. Anyways, the dedicated seat covers have one distinct advantage, and that is that they have a little tab which dangles in the water and whisks the seat cover away when you flush. Random strands of toilet paper on the other hand need to be herded into the toilet pre-flush.

So I was a little disappointed the other day when I entered a stall only to find the seat covered in TP. Now while it’s theoretically possible that some good samaritan had merely pre-papered the seat for the next user, I’d bet anything this was just some selfish lazy cretin who didn’t bother removing the paper they had just sat on.

Not cool. Once you’re done with that paper, get it in the bowl and flush it down.