Again, I think all of this is more the yuck factor. How many of the general population have become ill from sitting on a public toilet seat?

When we get a 24 hour bug, we never know exactly anyway. And, how often are most people horrendously sick on a weekly basis? If we were all running around really ill every other week maybe it would be time to investigate all these potential germ factories.

As this said, I still prefer to stand, thank you very much!

Well, if you prefer to stand, I sincerely hope you wipe up any drips so the rest of us don't have to sit on them.

Ladies don't have the option of standing -- quite -- a squat is the alternative and sometimes hard on the knees!

I think eld is referring to the "hover" method.

C Marlin said

I think eld is referring to the "hover" method.

..... ha ha -- I get it -- I was searching for that term but it didn't come to mind ... so eld is a "she" I guess

Well, I all ways seem to be the one who is next in line after the “hoverer” and my butt gets wet. No, you don’t know how to hover! I leave the bathroom disgusted and wanting a shower and clean clothes! If traveling, that is not an option!

Do me a favor. Carry post its and leave me a note! Save me from a wet butt!

Hovering often leaves residue on the toilet seat, which IMO is disrespectful to the next user. I haven't used the paper covers in years and have not picked up any diseases or infections.

We very short ladies are at a disadvantage in regards to "hovering" -- legs not long enough to clear the height of the toilet, Le sigh. I'll stick to the paper covers if available -- if not, then line the seat with toilet paper. =)

I just sit down - and this guy (used to) to pee, as well.

No papering over the seat.

Seldom had to cope with illness ... and, having lived longer than most of you, I can assure you that ...

... I ain't dead yet.

(Except from the neck up, maybe}.

ole joyful

Funny topic! My friends and I have had amusing conversations about this. One gal says she never heard of back-of-thigh disease so no worries. Another covers the seat with 4 of 5 layers of paper seat cover. I don't think your immune system just switches off the second you enter a rest room.

However, I have seen ladies come out of a stall that I would not want to share a seat with.

Just put the seat up, and hover... and put back down. :)

I just sit down. I haven't absorbed any "hiney germs" yet ! According to some beauty sites - you should grab a couple of those seat liners - they're great at absorbing oil on your skin.

Looks like the hovering (with the seat up) ...

... may be "craft"y.

But I don't think I'll try it - I think my knees would object.

Maybe I'll sit and think about this for a while.

For folks worried about this, using a catheter, of course, is helpful, as one doesn't need to sit nearly as often (and one drains the bag with one's rump safely in mid-air).

ole (mischievous) joyfuelled

I hate when I have to wipe up pee left from a "hover-er". I sit down. No paper liner. I am not worried about catching a disease.

Heck, the only thing those seat covers are good for is to use when the roll of TP is empty and for wicking the oil off your forehead and cheeks (face, not butt LOL)

marilyn_c said

I hate when I have to wipe up pee left from a "hover-er". I sit down. No paper liner. I am not worried about catching a disease.

.......

... But Marilyn -- you are sitting down on a seat that may have been wiped off from other hoverers a dozen times. I don't have to contract "thigh disease" to make me stop papering the seat. You are sitting on dried pee and that wouldn't be OK in your own home. So even it's only the yuk factor -- why are we told to use a paper towel to use the flush, turn the taps on and off and even warned against the door knob when we leave and it's OK to sit directly on the toilet seat?

Hey -- I'm just asking, I hope I'm not being too cantankerous!

There is a simple solution to pee on the seat after hovering or squatting...wipe it off.

I always wipe off the seat after I’m finished no matter what-not everyone has the core strength to squat over a seat and the next person is entitled to a clean seat.

I carry a small sprayer with some Method in it. I spray it on TP, wipe, sit and go. I know there's no real disease but also know about plume and want to not walk around with a gross butt from someone else.

I am another who dislikes the ick factor, no matter what ‘they’ say about the germs. I cannot stand a wet toilet seat, whether it is from some previous user or from a previous flush that sprayed whatever on the seat, which might be even worse imo. So I use either the paper covers or a couple of strips of TP and I wipe the seat before I put either down to ensure it is dry. Call me crazy but I don’t care. I guess this is my quirk.

Do I do this in someone else’s home? No, I just make sure the seat isn’t wet and then proceed from there.

In a booth in a restroom at the office they had this sign posted:

If you sprinkle

When you tinkle

Be a sweetie

Wipe the seatie.

They must've had a hoverer in that area...

I read that there are more germs on a cell phone than toilet seat!..,and heaven forbid, a tv remote in a motel.

phoggie

I read that there are more germs on a cell phone than toilet seat!..,and heaven forbid, a tv remote in a motel.

.....

Phoggie -- I'm pretty sure they were checking the toilets in peoples' homes, not the toilets that had hosted 50 bottoms! Don't you think so?

If it helps, pee is sterile. Some people drink it. Weird people.

I sit, unless the whole bathroom looks skanky, or there is obvious residue. If I feel the need to hover, I check the seat before I leave.

A former coworker told me she would put her hands on the toilet seat, then sit on her hands. Her logic was that she could wash easily her hands, but not her hiney. You couldn't pay me to do that in a public restroom. I hope none of the slobs who don't bother to wash their hands are using that method.

Maybe I should have added, that I use public restrooms in Kroger, Walmart and HEB. Sometimes in restaurants. It isn't like I am in a big city where homeless people use them for all of their toiletry needs. I read where people say how dirty their Walmart is. Not here. The stores are clean....even the thrift stores are very clean. I have seen a difference in parts of Houston, and Galveston attracts a whole lot different vibe of people. I don't have much occasion to venture far any more, so I don't see public restrooms where they are unattended and dirty. Of course, that is not to say you shouldn't take all precautions, if that is your thing. It just isn't mine.

I hover carefully so as not to “splash”. But, just in case I did, I wipe the seat off before I leave the stall. But I can’t imagine that anyone would actually sit on the public toilet seat! It has nothing to do with my fear of catching anything or any germs. But sit in someone else’s urine? Who in the world would do that, and why? It’s the gross factor for me. I don’t want someone else’s pee on my behind! Yuck!

I think people who hover are selfish. They pee all over the seat and floor and even if they wipe it up, it's still urine that's been unnecessarily splattered all over. It's gross - it gets tracked all over the floor and on everyone's shoes. Just sit down or put a seat cover or toilet paper first if necessary. Keep your pee to yourself and in the toilet where it belongs. There wouldn't be pee on the toilet if women would stop hovering!

Well, if you're going to hover, you could lift the seat so you sprinkle the bowl instead, leaving the seat dry for the next person.

Well, I carry sanitizing wipes. Use them on the seat and myself. Even if it does nothing to help it makes me feel cleaner.

I've traveled a good deal of the world and have experienced some pretty 'interesting' toilet conditions. Tijuana, Mexico was by far the worst. In Cuba, not only do you pay the equivalent of 25¢ for 3-5 squares of TP (heaven forbid if your food disagreed with you), not a single public toilet had a seat on it. You sat directly on the bowl. Never once saw a seat protector. I'm still breathing. :-) Here's one of the Cuban bathroom attendants ... read his hat LOL

So, I was waiting for the toilet in a nice restaurant one time . The woman left, I went in. I said very loudly "YOU LEFT THE SEAT WET WITH PEE, COME BACK AND CLEAN IT". The woman was in her 40s/50s, not handicapped.

I was so angry. WHy should I have to clean her pee?

- so those who hover be careful. I travel. A lot. -

I wish I had the guts to say that !!!!

I was just so angry - I almost never lose my temper, but peeing on the seat and walking out so the next person had to deal with it?

I have to say , I like the "pick up the seat and hover over the bowl"

I think a lot of people are too afraid of toilet cooties to touch the seat enough to pick it up. :)

I've heard public toilet seats have less germs than the average kitchen food prep area or the average cell phone, as most are cleaned every day with strong disinfectants.

The hand dryers are the nastiest. When tested 80% have faces on them.

Hi AAA,

These "hand dryers", are they the "blow-hard" kind?

Whatever kind ... how does one get one's face on there? A picture? Why would one leave a picture?

Perhaps your finger slipped and you meant a tad of the solid waste, the brown kind, from our behind, that we want to leave behind?

A slightly different spelling - to "f e c e s" if so.

But ... after washing our hands we hold them in the stream of air blasting out, don't we? I don't think I've ever seen someone touch the machine - just hold one's hand under and the roar starts.

Right - on the older models, one had to hit a button.

But by then the hands had been well washed, hadn't they?

That said - I don't think I ever saw a user hit the button with an elbow. And often no paper towel available (for the door) either, but in any recently built "rest" rooms, there's no entry door, just two or three corners to navigate.

Sorry if, in my confusion, I went off on a wild goose chase, AAA.

ole joyful

This might give a better explanation of what Aunt was trying to say.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/04/12/hand-dryers-suck-bathroom-bacteria-and-blow-them-all-over-your-hands-study-finds/511723002/

Oh, Raye - you/they're telling me that I'm probably/almost certainly walking out of there with a hand(s) so polluted with bacteria and Lord knows how much crap ,,, that I shouldn't get within a quarter mile (3/16 km.) of the polluted thing??

So - what to do?

Wash hands thoroughly.

Stick into pockets.

While walking out quickly - wiggle to dry?

Sounds like a reasonable alternative: can ya come up with a better?

ole joyful