Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To break up over toilet hygiene (or lack thereof)?

313 replies

wobblychicken · 05/01/2025 17:44

Name changed for this one.

So I've been seeing a new chap for several months - my first relationship since divorcing over three years ago, and with a lot of dead-end online dates in the interim. I.e. quite a big deal for me to have entered into. Lovely chap, very like-minded, considerate high-achieving professional, seems into me, etc. - and the relationship is exclusive.

I need a sense of perspective on this issue - not the only emergent niggle in the relationship, but the most "in your face" (as it were) in recent weeks.

Most of our "sleepover" dates are at mine for various reasons. I've noticed bad toilet hygiene at mine in terms of weeing on the seat / leaving poo stains, which I wasn't overly impressed with, but didn't say anything at the time. Last week I was at his - not the first occasion, but this round time the toilet / bathroom was pretty grim. Not Trainspotter bad or anything - but think piss and pubes caked into the ceramic and bristles / toothpaste residue all over the sink. The rest of his place is cluttered but clean enough.

I was again due to visit him at his today, and - after some agonising on the subject - sent a message during the week that he'd need to give the bathroom a once over first, to which he replied already on the list. And he did clean up, and even made a point of asking me if it was acceptable when I arrived.

Later that afternoon, we were taking it to the bedroom and I made a quick pit stop - only to find massive poo stains down the pan and wee over the seat from a visit he'd made in the meantime. It's hard for me to address these things directly, but I basically came out, said it was a massive passion killer and that I didn't expect to find the toilet like this at his or at mine, and if he wanted bedroom activity he'd need to factor in bathroom activity. He did clean it, apologised (blaming not having his glasses on - he did have his glasses on) and said my views were fair enough. I left soon after without re-initiating any sexual activity.

It's not the mess in itself that bothers me - I'm not a clean freak, and have literally used some of the worst toilets known to man in my time. It's the lack of respect it indicates - especially coming from someone so otherwise clearly intelligent / senior, etc. and not otherwise seemingly unhygienic. And the fact that I'd already pointed this out once before coming round - which is already unattractive enough to have to do towards a grown man. In his shoes I'd personally be dying of embarrassment, not making a mess of things that very same afternoon. Unless he was doing it deliberately to make a point right back to me, but that doesn't seem like him at all.

Either way, whether deliberate or just obliviousness, it's not attractive. I made a vow at the end of my last relationship that I wouldn't tolerate man children / incompetence (whether strategic or otherwise), so maybe I'm overthinking this one - but yeah it's irked me a lot.

Please do tell me if I'm being unreasonable on this one! I wouldn't end things "only" cause of this, but genuinely not sure if I'm just being a massive priss on this. TIA!

OP posts:
BeLilacSloth · 05/01/2025 18:31

That’s literally how a young child would leave a toilet, not a grown man 🤢

Kingoftheroad · 05/01/2025 18:32

Apart from this he sounds like a lovely man. I would sit him down, have a serious conversation with him, lay it on the line that if it happens again then it’s a deal breaker. Sounds like he’s used to being on his own and leaves everything to his cleaner. Give him another chance to change

Neetra30 · 05/01/2025 18:32

That is just disgusting.
OP, get rid of him

Mischance · 05/01/2025 18:33

Oh God.... get rid.

Iwrotethelyricstoaxlf · 05/01/2025 18:33

I thought this was going to be a poo-crumb shituation 😂

Piss and shit over the loo is a big 🤢

Throw this one back OP

wobblychicken · 05/01/2025 18:34

AInightingale · 05/01/2025 18:25

Once went out briefly with this man who passed 'motions' that the toilet couldn't cope with. I daresay there is some Viz-type name for them, but they wouldn't flush, no matter what. So he left them there, in the bottom of the bowl, and seemed to think it more funny than anything else.

Then he would make the effort to break them up with a toilet brush, which he PUT BACK IN THE HOLDER THING in that state. No bleach, no steeping etc.

Some men are just foul and frankly you are better off with a cat.

Cat already in possession! 😁

It's annoying as now it's going to look like I'm breaking up with him just because of this, rather than this in the context of a few other emergent niggles. I haven't broken up with anyone I've dated in nearly twenty years - might need some help from you lot to effect!

OP posts:
MiddleagedBeachbum · 05/01/2025 18:34

My hygiene standards are pretty low compared to many but that would majorly put me off!
It's one thing to be a bit messy but that’s just gross, selfish, disgusting behaviour.

DinosaurMunch · 05/01/2025 18:36

Don't lower your standards. If it annoys you now when you're in the early exciting stages it will be a lot worse once the novelty wears off (and he stops bothering to pretend to care).

Almostneverunreasonable · 05/01/2025 18:36

This was a problem at the start of my relationship with DH. I remember the conversation going like this
Me: ‘would you leave a toilet at work like that for your colleagues to see?’
Him ‘no, of course not!’
Me: ‘Well, why are you showing your colleagues more respect than your girlfriend?’
Him ‘I didn’t see it like that - it’s because I’m more relaxed at home’
Me: ‘well I don’t appreciate the lack of respect, so be less relaxed please!’
There has been the occasional toilet blip but we’ve been married nearly 20 years now.

Snowmanscarf · 05/01/2025 18:37

If he knew you were coming around, you would expect him to have his house spotless! First impressions and all that.

i couldn’t tolerate that either.

lifebyfaith · 05/01/2025 18:38

I'm a pretty laid back person but I would get the ick over this very quickly.

I had a fwb once who left a 'log' in my toilet saying it wouldn't flush away and I was really cross that I had to explain he could have used the brush.

TheCrassInCrassula · 05/01/2025 18:38

cocoloco23 · 05/01/2025 18:10

Yeah, this.

I’m not a clean freak at all, but I had an unpleasant experience with someone I was seeing a few years ago, and it made me sensitive to this kind of thing. The guy I was seeing clearly wasn’t wiping properly because I found really nasty shit stains on my lovely sheets. It really put me off him. If you’re ill, that’s one thing - but don’t get into my clean bed and not even mention stomach issues!!

My current partner is extremely clean and always smells fabulous. That feels like consideration and respect.

Yupp, I ducked out of a fledgling relationship because he stepped out of his pants and trousers all in one, left them on the bedroom floor, gusset up and said gusset had more skidmarks than the runway at Heathrow. No chance he had only worn those kecks for one day only either.

I backed out slowly and never went back.

BestestBrownies · 05/01/2025 18:39

Surprised the thread has got 3 pages long without anyone floating (pun fully intended), the possibility that it's intentional?

OP mentioned it and he apparently cleaned the bathroom in honour of her visit, only to filth it up again immediately.

I mean, it could be a kink? If he likes being reprimanded and wants a dominatrix,at least get him to give you place a full deep clean before you dump the (ahem!) dumper

LisaD1 · 05/01/2025 18:40

I could not be intimate with someone like that! Grim

MumWifeOther · 05/01/2025 18:40

wobblychicken · 05/01/2025 17:44

Name changed for this one.

So I've been seeing a new chap for several months - my first relationship since divorcing over three years ago, and with a lot of dead-end online dates in the interim. I.e. quite a big deal for me to have entered into. Lovely chap, very like-minded, considerate high-achieving professional, seems into me, etc. - and the relationship is exclusive.

I need a sense of perspective on this issue - not the only emergent niggle in the relationship, but the most "in your face" (as it were) in recent weeks.

Most of our "sleepover" dates are at mine for various reasons. I've noticed bad toilet hygiene at mine in terms of weeing on the seat / leaving poo stains, which I wasn't overly impressed with, but didn't say anything at the time. Last week I was at his - not the first occasion, but this round time the toilet / bathroom was pretty grim. Not Trainspotter bad or anything - but think piss and pubes caked into the ceramic and bristles / toothpaste residue all over the sink. The rest of his place is cluttered but clean enough.

I was again due to visit him at his today, and - after some agonising on the subject - sent a message during the week that he'd need to give the bathroom a once over first, to which he replied already on the list. And he did clean up, and even made a point of asking me if it was acceptable when I arrived.

Later that afternoon, we were taking it to the bedroom and I made a quick pit stop - only to find massive poo stains down the pan and wee over the seat from a visit he'd made in the meantime. It's hard for me to address these things directly, but I basically came out, said it was a massive passion killer and that I didn't expect to find the toilet like this at his or at mine, and if he wanted bedroom activity he'd need to factor in bathroom activity. He did clean it, apologised (blaming not having his glasses on - he did have his glasses on) and said my views were fair enough. I left soon after without re-initiating any sexual activity.

It's not the mess in itself that bothers me - I'm not a clean freak, and have literally used some of the worst toilets known to man in my time. It's the lack of respect it indicates - especially coming from someone so otherwise clearly intelligent / senior, etc. and not otherwise seemingly unhygienic. And the fact that I'd already pointed this out once before coming round - which is already unattractive enough to have to do towards a grown man. In his shoes I'd personally be dying of embarrassment, not making a mess of things that very same afternoon. Unless he was doing it deliberately to make a point right back to me, but that doesn't seem like him at all.

Either way, whether deliberate or just obliviousness, it's not attractive. I made a vow at the end of my last relationship that I wouldn't tolerate man children / incompetence (whether strategic or otherwise), so maybe I'm overthinking this one - but yeah it's irked me a lot.

Please do tell me if I'm being unreasonable on this one! I wouldn't end things "only" cause of this, but genuinely not sure if I'm just being a massive priss on this. TIA!

I would find this gross but I’m ocd to the point that I will not let my husbands penis near me if he’s done a shit and not had a rinse afterwards. The way I see it, it dangles enough into the toilet to get particles of toilet water and god knows what on it. Certainly not going in my mouth or anywhere else if it’s not washed. Definitely set your standards from now.

Sux2buthen · 05/01/2025 18:41

Notrynajudge · 05/01/2025 18:05

Absolutely disgusting. Some men people are just so gross.

I used to clean an office building full of people, far more women.
Over several months it became very clear (soap replacement, paper towels etc)the only hand washers were men.
Also lots of lovely menstrual stains on the toilet as well as toenail clippings by one particular desk.
In a separate place I cleaned there was a used sanitary towel stuck on the toilet door.
Just saying it's definitely people not just men😂

MooFroo · 05/01/2025 18:42

Nope - it’s a passion and relationship killer!

MumWifeOther · 05/01/2025 18:42

cocoloco23 · 05/01/2025 18:10

Yeah, this.

I’m not a clean freak at all, but I had an unpleasant experience with someone I was seeing a few years ago, and it made me sensitive to this kind of thing. The guy I was seeing clearly wasn’t wiping properly because I found really nasty shit stains on my lovely sheets. It really put me off him. If you’re ill, that’s one thing - but don’t get into my clean bed and not even mention stomach issues!!

My current partner is extremely clean and always smells fabulous. That feels like consideration and respect.

Omg. I would honestly vomit.

SnoopysHoose · 05/01/2025 18:43

What is it with grown men pissing on seats and leaving shit stains? I live with DP and adult DS and never experienced this, both the men in my home always put the lid down.
It's disrespectful and rude.

LouisvilleSlugger · 05/01/2025 18:44

Do you really have to ask? I’d have dumped him at the very first sign of skankiness. Several months? What were you thinking?

PeggyMitchellsCameo · 05/01/2025 18:44

Abort the mission.
Would he do this at a female friend or relative’s house? Probably not.
He is showing you who he is, and who is can’t be bothered.
You have already flagged it, he’s made one attempt to rectify it, and then gone back to being filthy.
It is who is he. Can you imagine going on holiday with him? And this won’t be his only bad habit.
I am really lucky to have a cleaner/s who come via an agency and I am home when they visit. They tell me the professional men they clean for are as bad as the young students.
I am going an extra mile here and say he’s probably had other women cleaning this up after him. He’s not an idiot, he knows it’s unattractive, and he’s testing to see if you will get the Toilet Duck and marigolds out.
You deserve better. Time to flush this turd.

Washingupdone · 05/01/2025 18:45

AInightingale · 05/01/2025 18:25

Once went out briefly with this man who passed 'motions' that the toilet couldn't cope with. I daresay there is some Viz-type name for them, but they wouldn't flush, no matter what. So he left them there, in the bottom of the bowl, and seemed to think it more funny than anything else.

Then he would make the effort to break them up with a toilet brush, which he PUT BACK IN THE HOLDER THING in that state. No bleach, no steeping etc.

Some men are just foul and frankly you are better off with a cat.

This sometimes happens at the beginning of a grandchildren’s week visit. I give them lots of green vegetables and apples cut but with skin on as will as other fresh fruit. After a day things are good and I even overheard siblings saying it didn’t hurt in the toilet.
Worst are day visitors which after they have left ….

rosyvalentine · 05/01/2025 18:46

Hunglikeapolevaulter · 05/01/2025 18:24

I know that this is me being a bit precious but I wouldn't want to shag someone who had been for a massive dump and not had a wash afterwards.

I'm with you on this! 😬

Katemax82 · 05/01/2025 18:47

My best friend was married to a repulsive pig who often had gruffnuts and wouldn't wash his hands...needless to say the marriage is no more...

Eyerollexpert · 05/01/2025 18:48

Yuk

Swipe left for the next trending thread