Reader Survey
February 05, 2007
For all of you stay-at-home or work-at-home types.
(The rest of you may return to your precious dignity now, thank you.)
Question 1: When you are at home alone during the day, do you close the bathroom door?
A) If yes, skip to Question 2.
B) If no, do you ever forget and leave the door open when
your significant other is home?
1) If no, skip to Question 2.
2) If yes, do you ever leave the door open when your
significant other is standing like, right there?
a) If no, skip to Question 2.
b) If yes, do you at least apologize?
i) If yes, skip to Question 2.
ii) If no, hi. You are officially gross and sad. Like
me! Let's make out.
Question 2: WELL LA DEE FREAKING DA, ISN'T YOU ALL KINDS OF FANCY?
Oh how weird. I was just thinking about this today. I'm so paranoid, that not only do I close the bathroom door (while at home alone) I also lock it. Never know when the cat is going to learn how to work the doorknob. Hee!
Ok. Yes I do leave the door open when I am in the bathroom. I am totally trying to break myself of this habit because the dogs always choose this moment to watch me like a hawk. It's just awkward.
I have acquired the habit of leaving the door open when I pee, although the drawback to that is that I sometimes forget to close the door when I have to poo until I have almost "dropped the kids off at the pool", so to speak. It is inevitable, though, that when I am mid poo, my husband sneaks up to the bathroom door and says "Blooooop!" repeatedly until I am finished. Charming.
Undoubtedly one of the most funny comment threads I've read. Y'all are a bunch o' freaks! Ok, ok, I'll fess up: We've been married 6.5 years. I think the last time the bathroom door was closed was early 2001 for pee. We share one teeny-tiny bathroom and sometimes one person is showering and the other has to go poop. I break out the super-scented body wash and tell him to NOT talk to me while he's doing it. A shower curtain is sadly, all that keeps the 'mystery' between us. Not to mention the cats who claw/howl/roll in front of the door like they are DYING if you actually shut it.
You don't need to be a stay-at-home-work-at-home parent to complete ablutions with the door open while continuing a conversation you had already started. Yup, classy all the way.
Only when pee'n. The other one we have to sneak around the house and pretend like it doesn't exsist. You would think after chcnging diapers for 7 months now he would get a little less squeemish about bodily functions.
As another poster mentioned I try to close the door and then mid-wipe the baby ALWAYS makes a mad dash for the door. Its like he has a built in sensor. We are soooo GROSS :)
Hahaha. I at least close the door for #2. PLEASE tell me you were only pissing...
Just can’t do it.
I get stage fright.
Ok, so the only time the bathroom door is closed in my house is when it is not occupied. And that is only because my dog likes to eat toilet paper off the roll.
Yea for being gross!
Ok, no kiddies or SO, but just moved in with my first roommate in years, and yeah....
totally for got to shut the door this a.m. and she FUH-REAKED OUT.
Like, what, I have something she hasn't seen before?
I am sad and gross- but well-ventilated. :)
Ok, no kiddies or SO, but just moved in with my first roommate in years, and yeah....
totally for got to shut the door this a.m. and she FUH-REAKED OUT.
Like, what, I have something she hasn't seen before?
I am sad and gross- but well-ventilated. :)
Oddly, I only keep the door open in the half bath because otherwise I feel all clausterphobic. My husband does NOT appreciate it. Asshole.
You mean, he's never had to "rescue" you by bringing a roll of tp because he used up all but the last couple squares and didn't replace it (and the roll he used up was the extra roll, which he also had not replaced)? If my DH does that to me, he deserves whatever he sees or smells...
Other than that he wouldn't be surprised to come home and find me on the john with one or more cats and the dog keeping me company.
If you had any doubts about whether you were missed? You now have over 100 comments by people who are willing to disclose their bathroom habits to you if only you would ask! Hah.
I'm not a mom of any kind, but due to a bathroom remodel my husband and I do not actually HAVE a bathroom door at the moment. Make of that what you will.
For what it's worth, this question applies even to those of us who work outside the home (we still share bathrooms with our family members, don't work 24 hours a day) -- i only work part time, though so maybe i'm crazy. all that to say, it totally depends, but i hardly ever shut the door to pee, but my husband ALWAYS does, and he'd appreciate it if i did too, but with two kids around who'll just come in anyway, it's not worth it. Also, in relation to your prior post, you could go get the book "Nobody Cares What You Had For Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog" by the mighty Maggie Mason. No, I'm not her.
Bwahahahahaha! LOVE IT!
I never close the door unless we have guests over. Neither does DH.
Hmmm. What does that mean for those of us who leave the bathroom door open ALL THE TIME, knowing full and well that our spouses are at home? And we've been married only seven months?
Except in cases of #2, unless you're my husband, oh my gross.
Even if I close the door, one kid comes in, usually followed by the other one and then the hubby and then the cat.
When they complain that it stinks, it's like, Well, I DID have the door closed before you all came in!!!
DH used to be all modest and not want to pee in front of me. That died around 5 years into the marriage (we're going on 10 years now)
Christ, we have family conferences in there (our bathroom is kinda big) and if I really want to get back at my wife for anything, I wait until she's in the bath....
In Elizabeth 1's time it was customary / fashionable for Royals to receive visitors whilst 'on the throne'...
120 comments on potty manners. wow.
wow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uksP6VHWFZQ
I shut now because my son is a teen, but way back, when he was a pre-schooler and earlier, there were times I'd shut the door (company was over??) and think, "hmmm, how long has that spot been on the back of the door?" like I had never seen it before. Started in college, sharing one small bathroom with 3 apt. roomies - there was no such thing as modesty. My kids used to pee at other people's homes and leave the doors open! THAT was embarrassing, because you know that mom is thinking, "doesn't she teach her kids to close the bathroom door??" Nope, she doesn't.
My bathroom door is always open. Not really by choice. My 2.5 year old won't have it any other way. My advice? Blame it on Noah. Because really, he's right around the corner from having to go to the bathroom with you...all the time. It becomes like a big party. There are cheers and YAY MOMMY PEE-PEE and sometimes, if you're lucky, balloons.
Awesome!! I was just complaining to the hubby how I haven't gotten to use the bathroom ALONE in over 5 months. BTW, have you noticed the large amount of comments you receive anytime you have a "bathroom" related post? What does that say about us dear readers :)
Doors are for guests and "curry the night before" mornings only.
yes - I am officially gross and sad. And so is my husband. But the dog loves it.
I never leave the door closed. Even before kids and marriage. He doesn't either... we are both gross and sad I guess. I have never fallen into the "it takes the magic out of marriage" thing with that. I love my husband 400% more than the day I met him or married him and him taking a poop in front of me isn't going to stop that.
Growing up, it was just me and my mother. We never closed the doors. With my husband, I'm pretty sure we started out shutting doors, but now, 5 years into it, one toddler and another on the way, um, later tonight or tomorrow, we don't bother shutting the doors. Hell. Guests are lucky if our daughter doesn't bust in on them when they close the doors.
I close the bathroom door for NO ONE.
hey! from one of those "retaining her dignity" I wish to let it be known that i can do the business with the door open at home just as well as a SAHM or WAHM i believe i have managed to not even pause for breath as i am yakking to my husband and yanking down the pants for a nice wee. (i do draw the line at poos. it interferes with my concentration).
i do tend to shut the door at work, though.
I used to not bother with the bathroom door if a) I was home alone with the kid or b) if I was getting up in the middle of the night. Then my DH started insisting that I close the door at ALL TIMES, because apparently he could tell by the difference in sound when I left the door open at night and when I didn't, and it skeeved him out when I left it open (even though he was safely in bed and out of sight range). Since then I've made a practice of always closing the door, because otherwise I know I'd forget at some important time, such as 3 a.m. The things we do for our spouses...
Okay, no... I mean, yes... I mean -- I always close the bathroom door when I go. Because even tho I'll do all sorts of odd and fascinating sexual things with my hubby, I won't pee (or poop) anywhere near him (or where he might overhead said activity). Oh, and I can't go in public if anyone is listening.
But, last night when I was at mom elderly mom's house, she tottered into the bathroom (trailing her oxygen cord) and when she didn't come right back out, I got worried (she didn't shut the door, by the way). So I walked back to the bathroom and there she was on the toitey, peein' away. *Shiver* Not my favorite memory of recent times. She just looked at me like "What?" I shouldn't have been surprised... she pees while she's talking to me on the phone too. Sheesh...
Let's have an Altoid before we make out, k???
Oh-kay, I meant where he might "overHEAR said activity." He provides no overhead for my peeing.
I don't even know why we have doors attached to our bathrooms, actually....
Stay-at-home-mom-to-be (April), Work-at-home already (gradstudent). Definitely pee in front of the husband. Only do #2 in front of husband in the most extreme of emergencies (we only have one bathroom). Still, on the occasion that I do close the door for some me-time-pee-time, it would be great if the cat didn't push the door open and waltz right in...
Not only do I do all of those things but I have now begun to undo my pants as I walk to the bathroom....IN PUBLIC. Have now caught myself several time undoing my pants in the hallway in my office builidng.
Yep...I'm a catch.
I shudder to think what will happen when I actually have kids isntead of just my menagerie. We have a strict door closed if you will be straining policy, but hell, we live in a shoebox. I get claustrophobic in there. Plus the dog cries if he can't come in. So yes, I am officially gross and sad. I can't wait until the work from home policy goes into effect and I see what new lows I can sink to.
Oh, and if anyone slams us for it love, when I was working at camp I knew four male counselors who made it their mission to have a "quad dump" in the woods. Synchronized pooping, new and improved with shoveling tunes! They did make it happen, but unfortunately only three were in perfect synchronicity. I have some sad stories over here.
I don't work at home, but this is pertinent to me anyway because I have a spouse and I use the bathroom (and I want to participate in the survey with all the cool kids). I grew up in a house with three women (my mom, twin sis, and me) and shutting the door was never a big deal, so most of the time, I don't. I guess I will close it part way if my husband is standing right in sight of the toilet and me on it, but generally I don't shut the door when it's just us. I've worried before that I would forget to shut it in front of a guest at some point, but that hasn't happened yet...
I used to be WAH, but now I'm in the office full-time. However, since it's pretty much just been me and the cats for, like, a decade, closing the door always seemed kinda silly. And now that I have a boyfriend who spends loads of time here on a regular basis? I still don't close the door. I went into the bathroom to pee while he was in there taking out his contacts. Yeah, I'm classy. Of course, he doesn't mind, and has come in to pee whilst I have been taking off makeup/brushing teeth/etc. My dad had come up to visit a few weeks ago, and it wasn't until I was in mid-pee that I realized that he was right in the next room, so maybe I should close the door. So I do try to behave for guests. And I do make one concession for the boyfriend - when left to my own devices, I'm a water conserving "if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down" kind of gal, but he doesn't appreciate going to use the bathroom and finding yellow water with t.p. already there. So I do flush when he's over. See? I have some manners.
I have to say, now I totally feel like a prude-- but without exception I shut the door, and it's just me and my husband at our place. Although we live in a small condo, we each have our own bathroom and never really have entered that world of one another's. I do feel like we're super close and open, for some reason we just haven't gone there! Is that lame?
P.S. I guess I make a little more of an attempt to put some door between us for #2, though it's usually still a half-hearted effort unless he's right in front of the door.
Oh, also, I will talk on the phone to my sis or mom whilst on the pot for #1, but to no one else, unless I absolutely can't get off the phone but also can't wait to pee -- so then I just hold one hand over the talkee part of the phone and pee fast while the other person is talking, then when it's my turn to talk, speak quickly and try not to pee... and I also use little words then, so it's the other person's turn to talk sooner and I can go back to peeing.
And yeah, I thought that Mike guy's comment was funny at first, because I thought it was a joke and he was going to put something about peeing in the middle of it, but then he didn't, and did he read your post at all? I can't believe he did and yet not mention it...
I do if no one's home.. there's me and my (not-romantic) roommate. He doesn't want to see me on the throne any more than I want to see him on the throne, so if we're both home, the door gets shut, but it's not something I worry about if I'm home alone.
So funny!! The life of a work-at-home mom.
It also never fails that if I head to the bathroom, that is the exact time the mailman, UPS guy, Fedex guy, kid raising funds for school, guy selling meat out of his truck (yes, really), or someone else will decide they need to ring the doorbell.
Um... you mean you're supposed to shut the bathroom door? When the only people in the house are those who live there? So having a discussion with someone standing next to you while you're in the actual act of pooping is simply "not done"? I guess we never got the memo. Apparently we all suffer from a deplorable lack of respect for personal boundaries. Oh well, another social failure :-)
I close the door, because the bathroom is one of the few places of self-retreat for me. It is not a fancy pants situation, for me -- it is a sanity issue.
So when we're making out, will the door be open or closed?