When you’re young and only starting your adult life, you’re more likely to live with some roommates, and that’s actually a pretty good thing – because, in addition to sharing the financial burden, you also gain great socialization skills, and make new friends too.
However, these friends may have completely different preferences regarding cleaning and housekeeping. We’ve already told you about two roommates, one of whom even ruined the other’s brand new kitchen utensils, and today it’s time for a story from the user u/lizardsonline, who had to deal with a very sloppy (and poor-aimed) guy.
More info: Reddit
The author of the post is a young woman sharing a bathroom with two male roommates of her age
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
The author has a problem with one of the roommates who is actually a very unkempt guy
Image credits: lizardsonline
Image credits: Serene Vannoy (not the actual photo)
This man, ‘Ethan,’ never flushes, leaves hair and dirt in the bathroom, and always urinates with bad aim
Image credits: lizardsonline
Image credits: Keira Burton (not the actual photo)
After six months of fruitless attempts to discourage Ethan from these habits, the author decided to act herself
Image credits: lizardsonline
The woman decided to put some toddlers’ potty training stickers in the toilet for Ethan with no further comments
So, the Original Poster (OP) is a 23-year-old woman who lives with four male roommates around her age. According to the author herself, they all live well, peacefully and amicably, and the situation is overshadowed by only one problem. A problem named ‘Ethan.’
Ethan and ‘Brandon’ share a bathroom with the author, and if the OP never had any problems about cleanliness and cleaning with Brandon, then with Ethan things are much more complicated.
Our heroine sincerely notes that she was brought up in a family where considerable attention was paid to order, chores and cleaning, but Ethan, according to her, is capable of creating problems even for the most unassuming roommate.
The guy constantly leaves hair and dirt in the bathroom, regularly forgets to flush the toilet, and the most problematic thing is that he gives the impression that he, well, does a number one with a blindfold on. Both the OP and Brandon have been irritated by this more than once, and from time to time they have had ‘educational conversations’ with their friend.
However, to no avail – Ethan sincerely apologized, promised that this was the last time… and the next day everything started all over again. Moreover, one day, in addition to the urine stains on the walls, the author even found some poop on the floor… After six months of these empty promises, our heroine’s patience ran out, and she began to think about a plan on what to do about it.
In some store, the woman found stickers for toddlers potty training – well, you probably know, those ‘Aim Here’ ones. She decided to stick them on the toilet, especially for Ethan – without any slightest comment. However, when the OP shared her idea with Brandon, she didn’t find any understanding.
Brandon suggested that sticking such stickers around the bathroom looked a little ‘rude,’ and that the original poster was allegedly demanding that her roommates urinate while sitting. But our heroine didn’t mean anything like that at all. She just wanted the bathroom to be clean…
Image credits: Acid Midget (not the actual photo)
So, let’s immediately draw one important conclusion – it’s totally unacceptable to spread dirt in the bathroom, as well as not to flush it after yourself. Even though recently there have been periodic debates about whether we’re actually saving water by not draining it.
So, according to the U.S. Department of Energy data, the average cost per flush in the United States is just around 1.3 cents depending on the state or city. So, on the one hand, if, for example, you flush every third time, then you save approximately $18.98 a year.
On the other hand, a dirty toilet is a breeding ground for all sorts of microbes, including very pathogenic ones, so the twenty bucks that you save in a year won’t cover the costs of treating possible diseases, the risk of which you expose yourself to every time you sit on a dirty toilet.
By the way, regarding the word ‘sit…’ Different countries actually have different traditions regarding men urinating. For example, here is a survey from 2020, according to which 70% of Japanese men usually do a number one while sitting. But in Europe, the maximum number of such men is in Germany – 62%, according to EuroNews.
At the same time, the same survey shows that American men who prefer to urinate while sitting either ‘every time’ or ‘most times’ are only 23%. But how much does this affect health? “If you’re a healthy young man, it doesn’t matter if you sit or stand up,” Irish Examiner quotes Dr. Michel De Wildt, the consultant urologist at the Beacon Hospital in Dublin. “As men get older, they’re sometimes better at emptying the bladder when they sit.”
And now that we understand a little about statistics and urology, let’s see what people think about this in the comments to the original post. And you know, I have bad news for Ethan… “I’m sorry Ethan was raised by alley cats and now it’s on you to show him how to be a big boy,” one of the commenters wrote angrily.
So, the vast majority of responders are completely on the OP’s side. “Grown 24-year old dude can’t properly [urinate] in a bowl? Yeah, get some stickers,” someone responded. “That’s not going to help. Maybe try hitting him in the wallet? If he can’t aim or clean up, let him pay for a cleaner twice a week specifically for the bathroom,” another person added. So what do you, our dear readers, think about this story?
Another author’s male roommate found this ‘a bit rude,’ but all the commenters simply sided with the woman
