primitives discuss Germanic commodes

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018304022

Oh my.

It's a really dull day on Skins's island.

Recursion (23,029 posts)    Thu Feb 14, 2013, 03:40 AM

Can anyone explain German toilets to me?

Seriously, these things are uncool. They're like a flat shelf instead of a bowl. Who thinks that up?

For those who don't know, a Teutonic W.C. has the hole in front of the bowl, not near the back.

MrScorpio (53,766 posts)   Thu Feb 14, 2013, 09:23 AM

2. Don't remind me

It was a good thing that we had American toilets on base.

MicaelS (4,306 posts)    Thu Feb 14, 2013, 05:10 PM

23. So what happened when you went off base..

And encountered one of these toilets? Details, please.

MrScorpio (53,766 posts)    Thu Feb 14, 2013, 05:40 PM

24. Disgust, mostly…

And lots of courtesy flushes.

MicaelS (4,306 posts)    Thu Feb 14, 2013, 05:43 PM

25. I can believe lots of both.

Where were you stationed in Germany? I know you have said before you were in service a long time and have been to a number of countries.

MrScorpio (53,766 posts)    Thu Feb 14, 2013, 06:31 PM

29. I was at Spangdahlem AB from '94-'98.

And while I was there went to quite a few place in Europe.

It was a great time

Moondog (3,826 posts)    Thu Feb 14, 2013, 09:38 AM

3. Ah, the dreaded inspection platform.

Remarkable, aren't they?

Ron Obvious (1,084 posts)    Thu Feb 14, 2013, 01:54 PM

13. I don't know what's so awful about them.

I believe they came into vogue when people had to inspect their bodily waste for worms. They also allow you to spot many other potential medical issues, such as blood and off-colour urine.
 
Americans seem to be so sensitive to natural functions of the body.

applegrove (57,086 posts)    Thu Feb 14, 2013, 05:55 PM

26. I did a bus tour of Europe and found their bathroom technology much less robust than what we have in North America.

<<<thinks the oblate spheroid would insist bathroom technology in Mexico much more advanced than bathroom technology in the United States.

HeiressofBickworth (1,057 posts)    Thu Feb 14, 2013, 05:55 PM

27. I lived in Germany for 2 years and we had one of those "inspection" style toilets. Disgusting to say the least. It's been over 40 years ago and I still remember the damned toilet.

mrmpa (1,689 posts)    Thu Feb 14, 2013, 06:37 PM

31. Try taking a crap in Greece.................

you're not allowed to put the used toilet paper in the toilet. It has to be put in a can. The sewers in Greece can't handle the paper.

Major Nikon (8,601 posts)    Fri Feb 15, 2013, 10:20 PM

33. That's not the worst thing about them

It seems that every one has a different way to actuate the flusher. So you've just dropped a log on the "shelf" in a public toilet, and you realize what a great idea the "pool" was to keep the smell down. Meanwhile you are trying to figure out what you need to push, pull, yank or kick to get the damn thing to flush, and the guy next door is banging on the wall and shouting something in German which you can only imagine is a plea for a courtesy flush.

Munificence (15 posts)    Sat Feb 16, 2013, 02:40 AM

34. Those Toilets

Those toilets were not that prominent in Germany, however I did see a few "here and there". What I found odd that in every public "men's room" there were no urinals for the most part.....you simply had a tiled wall with a trough. So you stood shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the guys in there and pee'd on the wall....it then ran down the wall into a trough that was maybe 6" below the floor level.
 
Ran into the bidet some in Spain and France and could never get used to it.

DFW (12,663 posts)    Sat Feb 16, 2013, 06:46 AM

36. That was the old style.

The intent, believe it or not, was so that you could examine what you left behind for any abnormalities that indicated a medical condition that needed attention.

darkangel218 (3,015 posts)    Sat Feb 16, 2013, 10:07 AM

37. I grew up in Europe, im used to them.

The key is flush before you look.

They're all over Europe, not just Germany.

Well, like I said, it's a slow day on Skins's island.

[BattleHymn]

This is impossible. 

Everything European is better.  I learned this surfing the DUmp. 

Somebody is lying.

[BattleHymn]

I've posted these before, but the DUmp Heloise in me thought it might be a good idea to give a refresher course to the primitives:

[txradioguy]

99% of the buildings here are made of poured concrete.  The pipes aren't set in the walls like they are in the states. So everything is behind panels that set out from the wall.

The DUmmies should be happy with the European toilets...they are the "efficient" ones that require you to flush multiple times to make sure everything is gone.

[JohnnyReb]

I haz duh solution.....blow up all toilets and require DUmmies to use an outhouse.....then require putting the shit in the garden.....go green DUmmies.

[miskie]

I believe the German 'shelf' toilet explains Hitler's rise to power. Dropping 'something' into one that slaps the back of your 'sack' as it pinches off is enough to make anyone ornery. And since Adolph suffered from Irritable Bowel Syndrome, He spent far more time using them than the average person. And it drove him insane.   

[DumbAss Tanker]

I spent a fair amount of time in Germany, four years on tours and maybe 6 or 7 other trips of 2-3 weeks, beginning in 1976 and (IIRC) ending in around 2005.  I really don't remember anything that notable about the toilets except that the toilet paper on the troop trains was remarkably similar to the stuff that comes out of the top of a wood plane only wider and darker, and generally the flush actuator tended to be something you had to press instead of turn.  All the things they are so flustered about are things I just didn't care about, so if I encountered them they didn't make any impression at all.

They should be glad they haven't encountered the kind of flush toilet that is used in civilian establishments in the Persian Gulf. 

[txradioguy]

They should be glad they haven't encountered the kind of flush toilet that is used in civilian establishments in the Persian Gulf. 

QFT

[LC EFA]

I haz duh solution.....blow up all toilets and require DUmmies to use an outhouse.....then require putting the shit in the garden.....go green DUmmies.

They could just tip their chamber pot out the window like they did back in the good old days.

[vesta111]

They could just tip their chamber pot out the window like they did back in the good old days.

 

Took one of those fun ? bare foot vacations on a big schooner one year. Around 30 of us for a sailing trip down the coast.

Besides the Crew I think I was one of the few to ever see or used a marine toilet.   Most passengers were from the mid west and the poor Captain had to every day remind them how to work the darn things.

Just 2 heads for a crew of 6 and 30 passengers.   

My complaint is those seldom seen Bidets, how they work and what for.   Then there are the OMG Porto potties that fill up in a couple hours and one takes their lives into their hands entering one.

Best kept out side toilets was in Canada at a Government controlled camp ground.   These suckers were made of wood and clean enough to chance walking barefoot into.   No smell except for the wood and these were not flush toilets, real one holers.  Hand washing station was outside and the sink was sparkling clean.

New Orleans, took a tour of the French Quarter at night and one stop was a real Jazz club with huge sliding glass doors that opened to the street. I was getting a head ache as all half dozen band members seemed to be playing a different song.  I had one of those  I have to Pee Right Now and sent to a back door that had the toilets in some kind of building in the middle of the Court.   Very low lighting I was scared so I went behind the building and peed on the grass. 

For up here I would guess the best and interesting toilets are at the Mohegan Casino in Conn.  All in the Lady's room have this high tec thing. There is a device that feeds fresh and clean paper around the seat.

One can sit down do whatever stand up and when you flush the seat cover rolls away to bring in new clean paper.

  The world has changed so much in just a few short years, wasn't that long ago I judged a restaurant or store on their products, today first thing I do is check out the bath rooms. If the bathrooms are a mess I wonder what their kitchen is like.   No way the servers can ignore a dirty toilet area, I for one do not want any of them touching my plate of food.     

[franksolich]

I dunno what the problem with bidets is.

<<<thinks bidets are great.

[LC EFA]

Took one of those fun ? bare foot vacations on a big schooner one year. Around 30 of us for a sailing trip down the coast.

Besides the Crew I think I was one of the few to ever see or used a marine toilet.   Most passengers were from the mid west and the poor Captain had to every day remind them how to work the darn things.

Just 2 heads for a crew of 6 and 30 passengers.   

My complaint is those seldom seen Bidets, how they work and what for.   Then there are the OMG Porto potties that fill up in a couple hours and one takes their lives into their hands entering one.

Best kept out side toilets was in Canada at a Government controlled camp ground.   These suckers were made of wood and clean enough to chance walking barefoot into.   No smell except for the wood and these were not flush toilets, real one holers.  Hand washing station was outside and the sink was sparkling clean.

New Orleans, took a tour of the French Quarter at night and one stop was a real Jazz club with huge sliding glass doors that opened to the street. I was getting a head ache as all half dozen band members seemed to be playing a different song.  I had one of those  I have to Pee Right Now and sent to a back door that had the toilets in some kind of building in the middle of the Court.   Very low lighting I was scared so I went behind the building and peed on the grass. 

For up here I would guess the best and interesting toilets are at the Mohegan Casino in Conn.  All in the Lady's room have this high tec thing. There is a device that feeds fresh and clean paper around the seat.

One can sit down do whatever stand up and when you flush the seat cover rolls away to bring in new clean paper.

  The world has changed so much in just a few short years, wasn't that long ago I judged a restaurant or store on their products, today first thing I do is check out the bath rooms. If the bathrooms are a mess I wonder what their kitchen is like.   No way the servers can ignore a dirty toilet area, I for one do not want any of them touching my plate of food.     

I spent rather a lot of time on boats and in the great outdoors as a youth. The boat I spent most time on was a 45' plywood/fibreglass racing catamaran. Very few luxuries on that boat. The "toilet" was a piece of rope strung between the hulls at the "stern".  One jumped over and hung onto the rope for grim death. Integrated bidet.

On the land it was in large part "Take the dunny roll for a walk" and find a suitable spot some distance from camp.

Ahh. Nostalgia.

[NHSparky]

Pfft...doesn't sound any worse than the toilets I encountered in Japan and Korea.

Personally, I'd love to see these DUmmies using a shitter on a submarine.  Particularly when they "forget" that sanitaries are being blown and the operate the ball valve to "flush" the shitter.