Most public urinals have directives encouraging people to avoid spitting their gum. Why do people still spit their gum in these public urinals? It is a difficult one to understand as it usually easy to spit these gums in the bin provided at the facilities. This toilet habit is quite common in public urinals and is a pain for most toilet cleaning staff and users. It is not a glamorous site, watching your urine rain down a cluster of gum.
Six reasons why some men spit their gum in public urinals
- The smell of urinal and fart: There is an array of fart released during urinating. Most men wait for the hand dryer to go off before having a fart. Some public toilets are not equipped with sufficient air freshener which could easily make the toilet experience quite discomforting. Not all men are able to bear the unpleasant smell and a few of these ends up spitting their gum in the nearby urinal.
- Accidental: Some men accidentally spit or drop their gum in the urinals. A few of these may be chewing fast and with their mouth slightly open. This raises the incidence of accidentally dropping the gum in the urinal. Some men allude to the fact that the state of urinals can easily cause disgusting saliva reflex which could easily lead to an accidental discharge of the gum.
- Too much alcohol or being drunk: A review of multiple forums revealed that some people tend to spit their gum in urinals whilst drunk. This is very common in toilets at pubs, bars and clubs. As these places tend to have a higher percentage of drunken people and some of these are not afraid to contribute to the amount of used gum deposited in the urinals.
- Sneezing: In sneezing, we make a sudden involuntary expulsion of air from our nose and mouth as a result of irritation of one’s nostrils. It is usually caused by the irritation of the mucous membranes of the throat or nose. In addition, it could be caused due to an allergy to mould, dander, dust and pollen. Men can easily lose their gum when they sneeze. This gum usually finds its way into the urinals. It happens to be a reason why you find gum in the urinal.
- Convenient sanitary place: Our interpretation and standard of sanitation defer. To some, the urinal is a safe and convenient location to dispose of one’s gum. These toilet users justify spitting gum in the urinals due to their understanding of the main purpose of urinals. Whilst one will not necessarily support their justification for spitting in the urinals, it is important to understand people have the tendency of having rationales behind their actions.
- The discreet standing position: Men urinals are positioned in a way to enhance the privacy of users. It almost feels like being in your own world where you could make and run with the rules you deem fit. The discreet nature of the standing position in urinals automatically triggers certain men to opt for spitting their gum in the urinal as no one is supposedly watching. As it is usually not a case of ‘Big brother is watching.’
It is important gums are placed in a toilet roll or hand towel and disposed of in the bins provided in a given public toilet. Spitting gum in urinals is not a hygienic and acceptable way of getting rid of your gum.
Image credit: The Good men project
