Forcing guests to close toilet lid before flushing

[MerryBlimminXmas]

In our house, we close the toilet lid before flushing. Reason being is that the poo/wee water spray will go absolutely everywhere if the lid is left open (lots of videos available online if anyone is interested).

The issue we have is that pretty much ALL guests don’t do this. Now, I don’t mind what people choose to do in their own homes and appreciate that the majority of the population are happy for everything in the vicinity of their loo to be covered in urine and faeces don’t bother to close the lid. However, I would much prefer it if they closed the lid before flushing in our house.

How can we make it happen? In a previous home, the flush button was literally behind the toilet lid, so it should have been easy to close the lid just to get to the button and people STILL left the lid up every time.

Don’t really want to put a sign up (would be annoying the majority of the time when we don’t have guests), nor to speak to people about it (cringe). Any ingenious ideas that could work? Surely we’re not the only people who prefer the lid closed - how have others made it work with guests?

I don’t have a dishcloth!

Ah well - Great minds eh?

Glad I wasn't the only one to spot the connection. 😁

I've never closed a toilet in my house. What do you think will happen if the lid is left up??

Indeed! 😂

I think there are some on MN who would see the sketches as a series of handy hints rather than comedy!

Agree OP, it's vile not closing the lid but there's nothing you can do unless you want to be seen as a controlling hygiene freak. If I have someone coming round I make sure to move all personal stuff out of the way, and put out guest towels for their exclusive use. Me and DH both use the small ensuite while guests are here.

Reading your messages, it sounds like your in laws repel you.

you’ve got a stick up your arse!

I would say just get over yourself OP

While I'm lid closer myself, you can't force anyone to do this.

By the way, do you think your guests wash their hands after using the lavatory?
Does that one keep you up at night or is it only the stuff you can see?

I have never put the lid down before flushing in my life, and can't recall using the loo at anyone else's home where the lid has been down when I've entered. And yet we all manage to remain healthy.

I would never police guests in my home. YABU, and it's ridiculous to be so .concerned about something which is actually a non event.

Who has dishcloths? Germ ridden , fullbof allsorts....

Lid is there for a reason. It's just a indicator of laziness.

Have you bought some weird toilet from Etsy/Ebay that inadvertently squirts all over your bathroom??

I don’t understand…

The purpose of a toilet lid is so I can sit on the loo like a seat while hiding in the bathroom to eat a bar of chocolate out of sight of my child whom I have told can’t have any chocolate before dinner.

Or as a handy side table to hold my phone and glass of wine whilst having a bath.

I’m going to make a point of leaving every toilet seat up forever more, just to really annoy the germaphobes that clearly walk amongst us.

Those that worry about the flush not getting rid of anything - if I do a poo I close lid, flush, then lift up for a quick check and back down again. I don't want to watch my poo swirl around the loo and disappear, the only time the lid has been open during flushing in my house was when my children were toilet training and they liked to flush with the lid while shouting down the toilet "Enjoy your dinner Toilet Tonttu!!"

Also, if the lid is “soft closing” and has to be closed slowly, people might to wait for it to be fully closed before they press the big red germ-spreading button.

Woman after my own heart.

We’re always being told that more germs are good for our immune systems. Too much cleanliness has led to more allergies. So embrace it! It’s probably doing you the world of good.

Dear me - the things some people waste life worrying about!

Idiot-proof? So your guests are classed in this way? That's not kind at all is it? I hope I don't know you in real life. Also, it must be like Piccadilly Circus at yours - do you run a community centre in your home?

I wonder if you have antibac at the front door for fear of non-handwashing-idiots who enter and touch your things while visiting? I wonder if that's unlocked a new unhinged fear...

In our house the toilet lid is always left up, and the seat down.
When the kids were small this meant they could run to the loo with fewer accidents. Now we are all older it works the same for us oldies.
Male visitors sometimes leave the downstairs seat up, and I have sat on cold unclean china a few times for emergency emptying.

Adult son has had a few influences from online (I suspect across the pond) and started closing the upstairs toilet lid when he gets up in his own foreign timezone.
This has been disastrous a few times when the lights are off and eyes are closed for emergency night time toileting.
We have had a word, but it still sometimes happens.
I am tempted to simply remove the lid.

I saw something on this on a TV programme once and it shows that particles escape as easily and as widely with the lid closed as open so neither option is more hygienic.

Interestingly I've never done this and I'm still alive, and very rarely get ill, either.

Me too….60 next year and it never occurs to me!!!

Now we need a dual solution to "force" men to sit as well as everyone closing the lid before flushing! 🤔

OP it is going to be much easier to put locks/do not enter signs on all the toilet doors, have a loo break time slot and drive them to the local supermarket. Then hose them down with dettol upon return.

Buy a very expensive bottle of something fizzy and pour a glass and toast that this is the worst thing affecting your life right now OP.