2020: The Year of Dropping Things in the Toilet

Toilets are gross right? They are full of germs, and we learn at a young age that we don’t want to be sticking our hands in them for any old reason, so we do everything in our power to avoid having to do it.

Let me tell you my story of 2020. This was a year where I dropped not one, not two, but three important items in the toilet. These were items that were so critical that I had no choice but to fish them out.

Early in the year, before Covid got really bad and all the restrictions were put into place, I was at a sporting event with some friends. Towards the end of the game, I needed to go to the washroom. Once I was in the stall I started to take off my jacket and purse. While doing this the button on my purse caught on my ring, which flew into the toilet! The public toilet!

Now the ring had a great deal of sentimental value, so I wasn’t just going to leave it in there. I grabbed my purse and started rooting around for a pen or something to fish the ring out. I planned on then carrying it to the sink where I could wash it. However, I must have moved far enough away from the sensor, because the toilet started to automatically flush! In pure panic, I plunged my hand into the water and grabbed my ring.

I stared at the ring in my hand in horror. I had just stuck my hand into a public washroom toilet. A public washroom toilet. So gross! Of course, I scrubbed the ring and my hands, but honestly, over a year later I still can’t believe I did that.

The second toilet incident was a few months later. At least this time I was in the comfort of my own home. I have a really special bracelet from a family member that had passed away a few years ago. I wear that bracelet every day. Well one day, I went into the washroom to use the toilet. I was about to sit down, when I heard a splash. I looked down in horror to see my bracelet had fallen off my wrist into the toilet!

Without even thinking, I stuck my hand in right away and grabbed the bracelet. That bracelet was scrubbed probably five times before I put it back on my wrist.

The third toilet incident, was probably about five months after that. I am an essential worker, and need to wear a personal gas detector for my job. During a break, I went into the washroom. As I was pulling down my coveralls, my gas detector flew into the toilet! To make matters worse, it got wedged right in the hole at the bottom of the toilet. I didn’t have anything to use to fish it out, so again I shoved my hand in. It was really wedged in there, so I had to pull on it pretty hard to finally get it to come out. Toilet water splashed all over me!

I knew that I would not be able to use the gas detector anymore. It isn’t supposed to be submerged in water, so I intended on going to get a new one before resuming work. I walked out of the bathroom to find a group of coworkers waiting for me so we could all go back to work together. I knew I needed a new gas detector, and didn’t know what to tell them, so I just told them the truth: “I dropped my gas detector in the toilet guys…” The look of shock and amusement on their faces in response will forever my implanted in my memory.

At the start of 2020, I could never have predicted that it would be the year I would gain the unlikely skill of fishing items out of the toilet. A skill I never thought I needed, and hope I don’t have to repeat again.

Anyway, here’s to hoping I don’t drop anything in the toilet in 2021! So far, so good…