When the Lavatory Becomes a Laboratory

When studying any human behaviour habits, apparently the best place to do so is the bathroom. Some interesting facts in this chapter that I would like to share are that men are really awkward in bathrooms, people don’t wash their hands when they are alone in a public bathroom, and the toilet seat is the cleanest part of a public bathroom. It has always been a mystery to me what a man does when someone he knows is peeing beside him. Do you talk to them? Say “what’s up?” Hold a conversation? Act like they’re not there? It has been proven that this stress of peeing beside someone creates a delay in your pee. A normal urination lasts 4.9 seconds. When someone is one urinal away, the urination lasts 6.2 seconds, and when a man is shoulder to shoulder, 8.4 seconds! That accounts for almost doubles the amount of time it should take to urinate. Secondly, washing your hands has been recorded to be just a performance! When an observer was sitting in the lounge of a public washroom in view of each person, they recorded that 18 out of 20 people washed their hands. Now when the observer hides in a stall with their feet up and an out of order sign on the door, only 3 of 19 people washed their hands. Who knew social status was more important than hygiene. Thirdly, are you that person who lays out toilet paper before sitting on the seat? Well, the only possible disease you can get is a rash, which is highly unlikely. After many tests, the walls and surfaces have the most bacteria. In fact, the toilet seat was the cleanest between the devices in the kitchen and bathroom. Some may say this information is useless, but we experience these situations everyday and they are pretty vital situations.