Columnist Susan Snyder: Bathroom issues have us drained

Thursday, Aug. 25, 2005 | 8:14 a.m.

A new survey shows that the average American company has too much money to spend on research. According to a poll conducted by Roto-Rooter plumbing service, the No. 1 bathroom-related pet peeve among newlyweds is a spouse leaving clothes on the floor.

Yay for capitalism.

The potty peeve study polled 253 newlyweds -- 125 women and 128 men. Being no whiz at math, I'm not going to try to figure out how that works, but it would seem there were some surprises on a few honeymoons. (In some parts of southern Utah and northern Arizona, the poll would have been among roughly five men and 137 women.)

Anyway, the survey shows 47 percent of married couples found clothing heaped on the bathroom floor most annoying. Leaving the sink a mess came in a close second (44 percent).

And, this scientific query for no particular reason adds, women find those two characteristics more aggravating than men do. But 48 percent of men are annoyed by their wives' hair shedding all over everything, and having too many shampoos and conditioners.

I have to agree with the men. We tend to keep our hair longer, and for some reason when it does fall out it doesn't leave bare spots.

Sorry.

But the guys may have a point with the bottles of stuff. The Other and I have our own sinks, but it is pretty obvious as to which one belongs to whom. Frankly, if given the choice between sharing a sink with a man or a woman, I'd pick the man.

A few whiskers here, perhaps a glob of toothpaste there, and that's it. We women use lotions, potions and unidentifiable goo that when smeared on the porcelain leaves a nearly impenetrable film.

On the Other's side of the bathroom counter sits a can of shaving cream, a razor, a bottle of aftershave, a toothbrush and toothpaste. On my side, there are bottles of stuff, the uses for which I can't even recall. And each one has an applicator brush, sponge or trowel.

That last utensil used to be for the plants on the back porch, but I found better uses for it after I turned 40.

Hoenstly, it's a wonder any of them stick around after the first couple of weeks of shared bathroom duty. It only took a week of sharing sinks with other girls in the college dorm before I was trying to sneak into the men's rooms on the third floor. Part of that was the fact that as a freshman, the upperclass women kept stealing my clothes when I was in the shower.

But the sinks. I sometimes wondered whether the biology department was expanding its lab space.

Still, the men aren't perfect. What they lack in personal grooming products and tools (metrosexuals not withstanding), it seems they make up for in annoying little habits. For example, 56 percent of women say beard stubble in the sink is most aggravating, and 42 percent say their men take too long doing their business.

Maybe they get caught up in reading the bottles on our side of the sink.

And if they figure out what any of them are for, I hope they let us know.