Toilet culture

MANILA, Philippines - Scan the globe and you will find bathroom quirks and customs all over. From toilet with shelves to musical tunes. Enjoy!       

Hear the swishing? In Japan, it is actually considered unethical to let others hear you peeing — in fact, public toilets are installed with music to cover it up! Singing in the bathroom can be handy out here.

But how about this: Toilets with shelves. But sorry, bookworms, you won’t find books in those shelves. To Germans, solid waste is the window to one’s health condition. The stool lands on the shelf for stool examination. So, next time you go, you might want to inspect it before you flush it.

Did you know that in Singapore, you could be fined as much as $150 for not flushing the toilet? Now, ain’t that stringent? Talk about literally flushing money down the drain. So, just trip that lever and let what’s really supposed to go down instead.

Now, here’s something really odd. In Korea, a closed cubicle door in the ladies’ room means the stall is vacant. We can only wonder how anyone would know if it’s occupied.

But some things are simply universal. Take, for example, singing in the bathroom. Behind its closed doors, we let our inner Beyonces and Justin Timberlakes belt out over the showerhead microphones. Then consider checking out medicine cabinets. Most may not admit to it, but really, curiosity always gets the best of us.

And here are a few more interesting facts: We always tend to choose the stall farthest from the door. Guys would rather wait for someone to finish than use the stall at the middle, and girls, of course, everybody knows all too well, go to the bathroom in packs.

Isn’t it interesting how individuality and eccentricities find their way to this small private room? Wouldn’t it be reassuring to have our bathrooms resemble our characteristics just as much? Log on to HCG Bathroom Fixtures at www.hcg.com.ph and you may just find the bathroom fixture of your quirks.