The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
We all know that when it comes to dreaded household chores, few rate worse than cleaning the toilet. But the folks at LYSOL, makers of the new LYSOL Ready Brush, Toilet Cleaning System the first all-in-one toilet cleaning system, just turned up some new facts that might surprise you about Peoples time spent "on the throne." Forget the welcome mat at the door, what affects your image as a great host is the condition of your toilet. The majority of survey respondents said that they check to see if your toilet is clean before using it, and the younger they are, the more likely they are to look. A full 76 percent of respondents 18-24 admitted to inspecting their friends' toilets for cleanliness. This interest in hygiene seemed to wane with age: just 55 percent of respondents age 65 and older said that when using a friend's bathroom they check to see if the toilet is clean. If what these undercover domestic inspectors find is not considered up to par, you can bet they'll be quick to pass judgment. Of the people interviewed, 40 percent, assume that a dirty toilet means you are a bad housekeeper. Moreover, a sorry looking bowl is likely to induce your guests to think that the rest of the house is in poor hygienic conditions too: 28 percent of respondents told us that they would worry about the sanitary conditions of the whole house, while 24 percent would worry about the cleanliness of your dishes, and a nearly half (47%) are likely to think that they would never let that happen in their home. Divisions along the Mars/Venus axis were noticeable on the subject of toilet reading. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of men admitted to reading on the toilet versus 56 percent of women. Magazines were the reading material of choice for both men and women; second place went to newspapers for the gents and to books for the ladies. Surprisingly, the least-preferred reading material across the nation was the mail. On to a different type of paper, the survey showed that when using a toilet that is not their own, nearly half of those surveyed (47%) covered the seat with toilet paper, while a less squeamish 23 percent said they had no problem sitting on an unlined seat. Also, 30 percent of college graduates reported that they would sit on bare seats that were not their own.
