The automatic flush toilet, once confined to the larger city airport restroom, seems to have become all the rage lately. It seems like they are in every gas station and even MMC has replaced all the flushing mechanisms in the bathrooms in my work neighborhood. When they were a novelty, you would go about your business and when you'd move away they would flush harmlessly, but, often very loudly. Sometimes they startled you, but you'd just chuckle to yourself and be on your way.
Now, I'm not saying they don't serve their intended purpose, but today there seems to be a new breed of automatic flush toilets and they're very angry. Approach the area: FLUSH! Situate yourself properly: FLUSH! Bend over to examine your shoes: FLUSH! Reach for the toilet paper: FLUSH! Turn your head: FLUSH! Try to sit very still so your ass doesn't get frosted again: FLUSH! Finish your business and leave the immediate area: nothing. Yes, they flush 57 times until you are actually done and then nothing happens and you have to search for the little button.
Maybe they're just sensitive and not actually angry, but all I know is that one nearly ate the Preschooler Formerly Known as Busy Baby ther other day.
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My favorites are the one's that splash so much water up you feel like you've had a heinie shower.
Hey.. I just won a movie ticket on Blingo.. and so did you! =D
The best part is explaining to your four year old what just happened.
As if taking them to a public restroom wasn't enough fun already :)
"Why'd it flush, Daddy?"
"It's automatic."
"Why'd it do it again?"
"And again?"
Repeat ad nauseum.
I sit there and panic. Wait. Wait. I'm not ready yet. Then when you stand - woosh, a toilet and bidet all in one.
Talk about toilet mechanics all you want. You're still a babe.
I have this strange problem where I can't seem to activiate those automatic toilets, NO MATTER WHAT I DO. I thought at first it was just the crappy (heh, no pun intended) ones at Barnes and NOble... then it happened at the airport and everywhere else I went!!! It's really and truely BIZARRE. I always have to push the manual flush button! Maybe my butt is invisible? ::shrug:: No, I just caught a glimpse of it in the mirror, it's definitely not.
My daughter used to be scared to death of those things. She got over it. I haven't.
I HATE those things! The twins are deathly afraid of them! A would rather pee in her shoes than use one...
Either they flush too many times or don't flush when you need them to! LOL
Take three boys to the movies and get them started trying to see just how many times they can get the WHOLE ROW of urinals flushing at the same time.
Yeah. Really.
;)
My work has those darn toilets and I can't stand it. I used to think they were so cool. Now, I mostly wish they would go away. I have all the say problems you have with them. What happened to a good old handle?
And you know everyone's staring at you when you come out of the stall. "What WAS she doing in there"
Cas
A waste of water for sure. I wait in the stall until it flushes because I am superstitious that way.(and private)
How funny. I have one at work that LOUDLY flushes for about 2 minutes once the auto-mechanism kick in - that the one I use to offload the crap my boss dumps on me.
We took our sons to Florida last winter, for ten days of sun and fun, and the ONLY thing my preschooler remembered from the WHOLE DAMN TRIP was the automatic flush toilets in the airports. He talks about them to this day.
My god you are so funny, Busy Mom.
They are great for germophobes (I don't know how to spell that word since it is not actually a word...yet). I also love the automatic taps and toilet paper dispensers. Now if the door was automatic I could go into public toilets without the big production of not touching anything with my bare hands!
I HATE when they won't flush when you stand up. It makes no freakin sense!!
Okay...I was laughing my ass off...I understand completely...my daughter is scared to death of them, one of them went off while she was sitting on it and now she has to ask me if every toilet is the "matic" kind...oh well...progress is sometimes a weird thing...
I HATE those.. my poor dd is 3, and is not heavy enough or tall enough or whatever to keep it from flushing uncontrollably. Unless I stand behind her w/ my hand over the little red light, she is sitting on top of a whirlpool. eeeeek.
Toilets not angry, Busy Mom, just hungry.
(P.S. Erin is pretty funny, too.)
These are the reason my almost 6 year old will NOT use the potty outside the home...he is terrified of them!
Your post made me giggle....and remember when my daughter was attacked by one of those, years ago, in an airport. I think she was about 3. She's 11 now and still wants nothing to do with automatic toilets. She'll hold it rather than use one!
Thankfully, I have not encountered this new breed of sinister toilet in my small rural town. The joys of rural living and the old fashioned handle flush. :-)
Garrison made me think of something else (but I doubt y'all have them in the ladies' room): the trough so that ten guys can pee at once, to save time and water.
LOTS of fun with a four year old, lemme tell you.
I hate these damn things! We just moved into new office space and have these in our bathrooms now. I'm sure they figured the automatic toilets were a step up in the world for us, but it's an annoyance more than anything. They flush at the move of a hair on my head.
Helpful tip for those whos kids are scared! I carry a sheet of stickers in my purse and put it over the motion sensor. Daughter does her business, leaves stall, I pull of sticker, toilet flushes... No more panic attacks!
This may seem weird to you but i have never heard of an automatic flushing toilet! Wow Australia must really be behind the times. We still have to flush the toilets ourselves. What a rip off!