not flushing urinal when someone is behind you-rude or green?

[sonak]

So I was standing behind a man at a urinal.(one of those small public bathrooms where there's only a urinal and a stall, and the stall was occupied.) The man finished urinating, walked away without flushing, washed his hands, and left. At first I thought this was pretty rude and disgusting, because who wants to walk up to a urinal filled with someone's freshly deposited urine? Then I thought that perhaps this man was being environmentally conscious, and the thought process was "hey, there's a guy behind me about to use this, why have the urinal be flushed twice within a minute?"


What say you? Rude behavior or environmentally-motivated?

 

[Trekker4747]

Absent-minded, maybe he thought it was one of those auto-flush jobs? But I doubt he was motivated either by selfishness or being green.

 

[B.J.]

Could be that he's used to using a urinal that flushes itself.

 

[Melakon]

I'd be worried about a guy standing directly behind me while I'm urinating too. I usually stand far away near the wall to wait.

Maybe he was used to those self-flushing urinals. (too slow on the typing again)

You should have just used the sink.

 

[DimesDan]

I've never been anywhere where you flush the urinal yourself, they've all been an auto-flush one that does it every so often.

 

[SmoothieX]

The lever should have been a clue it wasn't auto...

Now if you poop in a urinal, should you flush?

 

[BillJ]

Maybe he didn't want to touch the handle?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Flush a urinal? Urinal full of urine? The only time I've seen a urinal full of urine is when there was something wrong with it, they generally drain without flushing anyway. Are American urinals really that different?

 

[Scout101]

no, they generally self-drain. The flush send a bit of fresh water through it, though, and rinses the sides and dilutes the bit still in the bottom. Keeps the smell down, at least.

And yeah, should flush...

 

[137th Gebirg]

I had a roommate my senior year (5, actually), but one in particular who refused to flush the toilet. Not a urinal, and similar "green" bullshit. I didn't mind so much if it was just urine, but he also frequently left large logs in the bowl and I got pretty fed up with that after the first couple of months and had it out with him.

He, of course, tried to take the moral high ground and indignantly pronounced himself a green champion of the Earth, while at the same time righteously vilifying me for wanting to see the fragile ecosystem destroyed. These were the early 90's and everyone was starting to experiment with this trendy new form of victim mentality and the "green evangelical religion", long before Al Gore figured out how to make an ass-ton of money by becoming its self-appointed Pope. Simultaneously irked and amused by this bit of hyperbolic puffery, and the rest of my roommates not entirely sure how to resolve this, I pointed out that he took the longest showers of anyone in the apartment, wasting far more water than almost all the rest of us combined, and that if his shits were that detrimental to the environment and be rarely flushed, he probably should go see a doctor.

Never saw a captain's log in there again.

He started finally washing his dishes, too, that were piled a foot-high and unclean for weeks at a time.

 

[Starkers]

Flush a urinal? Urinal full of urine? The only time I've seen a urinal full of urine is when there was something wrong with it, they generally drain without flushing anyway. Are American urinals really that different?

You do get flushable ones in the UK (and most of them will flush automatically at some point during the day) but on the whole mostly I just pee and go because the option isn't there. And even if it is, as you say the urine's gonna drain away anyway.

Are there really helath concerns given urine is sterile?

I always recall the Austrailian (I believe) ad advising people what to do at home in order to save water.

"If it's brown flush it down, if its yellow keep it mellow"

 

[Bob The Skutter]

no, they generally self-drain. The flush send a bit of fresh water through it, though, and rinses the sides and dilutes the bit still in the bottom. Keeps the smell down, at least.

And yeah, should flush...

Most new urinals over here now have no flush at all but the others just occasionally flush themselves, never seen a urinal you have to flush.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Flush a urinal? Urinal full of urine? The only time I've seen a urinal full of urine is when there was something wrong with it, they generally drain without flushing anyway. Are American urinals really that different?

You do get flushable ones in the UK (and most of them will flush automatically at some point during the day) but on the whole mostly I just pee and go because the option isn't there. And even if it is, as you say the urine's gonna drain away anyway.

Are there really helath concerns given urine is sterile?

I always recall the Austrailian (I believe) ad advising people what to do at home in order to save water.

"If it's brown flush it down, if its yellow keep it mellow"

Never seen a flush urinal here. Oh, thinking about it there was flushable urinals in Tunisia.

 

[Melakon]

I had a roommate my senior year (5, actually), but one in particular who refused to flush the toilet.

If he was that anal about it (sorry, couldn't resist), he should have been living at some place that had an outhouse.

 

[JarodRussell]

Is normal pee not yellow-ish?

 

[SmoothieX]

How have half of you never seen a flush urinal? What are we all 5 years old here? Plus they are still all over the place. I used one the other day at the supermarket when I had to take a leak.

Also, as a licensed environmental engineer in 6 states, the whole greenwashing hippie shit drives me nuts. Flush the thing, that's why we have treatment plants.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Not all of us are in the US or countries where they are common?

 

[137th Gebirg]

I had a roommate my senior year (5, actually), but one in particular who refused to flush the toilet.

If he was that anal about it (sorry, couldn't resist), he should have been living at some place that had an outhouse.

I agree whole-heartedly. He didn't quite have his message nailed down entirely, at the time.

How have half of you never seen a flush urinal? What are we all 5 years old here? Plus they are still all over the place. I used one the other day at the supermarket when I had to take a leak.

Also, as a licensed environmental engineer in 6 states, the whole greenwashing hippie shit drives me nuts. Flush the thing, that's why we have treatment plants.

That's also why they've all been re-engineered decades ago to possess 1GPF governors on them. Enough water to take care of business without being wasteful.

Not all of us are in the US or countries where they are common?

Very true, but the green zealots I've met who were most righteously indignant about it all had a treatment facility within 10 miles of their immediate location. Not so much the courage of convictions, but rather of convenience.

 

[RoJoHen]

Is normal pee not yellow-ish?

If you're healthy and sufficiently hydrated, your pee will actually be clear.

The only time my pee is yellow is when I'm sick.

 

[JarodRussell]

I've been sick all my life then.