Current Events > What if we built a toilet that was less comfortable?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Finally, someone had the courage to tackle the issue
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/battle-toilet-workplace

We all appreciate the little things in life, and that includes spending five minutes on the toilet scrawling through Twitter on company time. But those days may be at risk with the StandardToilet, a seat that claims to drastically reduce toilet time.

Approved by the British Toilet Association (BTA), a members organisation that campaigns for better toilet facilities, the StandardToilet sits at a downward angle of 13 degrees. After around five minutes of sitting, this will cause strain on the legs, similar to a low level squat thrust, but not enough to cause health issues, reassures Mahabir Gill, founder of StandardToilet. Anything higher than that would cause wider problems. Thirteen degrees is not too inconvenient, but youd soon want to get off the seat quite quickly.

The StandardToilet was given public backing by BTA in November and retails between 150 and 500, and Gill is already in talks with several local councils and major motorway service stations to distribute his product, and believes their market extends to train stations, pubs, shopping malls and offices.

The StandardToilet comes with health benefits, claims Gill, like improved posture, but their primary aim is to reduce the time employees use phones on the job, shaving minutes off your sitting to reduce monetary losses. Its main benefit is to the employers, not the employees, says Gill. It saves the employer money.

There is some reasoning to the StandardToilet. A July survey conducted by software company Protecting.co.uk found that British workers are spending much longer in the toilet during their 9 to 5 working day. On average, Brummies are the promptest poopers and spend 4:45 minutes in the toilet, while Londoners are the longest at a whopping 28 mins 35 seconds, the survey claimed.

Still, the StandardToilet isnt the only product finding value in your bowel movements. In the UK, over 1,500 smart public toilets that collect visitor data and footfall numbers have been installed by Healthmatic, a company that provides the computer systems used in public restrooms. This data is fed back to clients, 95 per cent of which are public authorities, to advise on everything from tourist visitor numbers to anti-social behaviour. In the US, Enlighted makes room-monitoring cameras, heat identifiers and sensors that fit to office furniture to collect motion data. This can provide insight into how often employees are away from their desk, or on the toilet.

These products are the autonomous next step in what employers have been doing for years; tracking toilet breaks. In January, staff at a call centre in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, were asked to sign a contract forcing workers to register toilet breaks online, which were limited to a maximum of one-percent of their working day - over a four hour shift that would amount to two minutes, as reported by the Daily Record.

In an office, the one space you have where you can find privacy is often the toilet, says Jennifer Kaufmann-Buhler, assistant professor of design history at Purdue University in Indiana. So, god forbid that we want to make the one place where workers should have at least some autonomy the toilet another place where people impose the very capitalist idea that people should always be working.

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jokes on them, im still going to take hour long shits and develop incredible core strength

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Antifar posted...

Approved by the British Toilet Association (BTA)

the what
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fuck capitalism

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just jam some tp under the seat to make up that 13 degrees...

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16-BITTER posted...

a.k.a. the United Kingdom

Zing

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I like how the article mentions that the BTA campaigns for better toilet facilities, yet the rest of the article exists.

BuckVanHammer posted...

just jam some tp under the seat to make up that 13 degrees...

I like the cut of your jib
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I'm planning a shit-in to protest.

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I will take a dump in the CEOs lunch

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Romulox28 posted...

jokes on them, im still going to take hour long shits and develop incredible core strength

powerful

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shaving minutes off your sitting

Clever moving that H around.

Antifar posted...

On average, Brummies are the promptest poopers and spend 4:45 minutes in the toilet, while Londoners are the longest at a whopping 28 mins 35 seconds, the survey claimed.

How the hell do you spend almost a half an hour on the toilet?

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What about the handicapped or the elderly?

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Were_Wyrm posted...

How the hell do you spend almost a half an hour on the toilet?

You go when you feel like maybe you need to poop but it could just be gas, then you play on your phone a bit and then suddenly it's 20 minutes later and you still haven't pooped, so you try to force one out anyway and then spend two minutes washing your hands

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Were_Wyrm posted...

How the hell do you spend almost a half an hour on the toilet?

I think that's over the course of a workday?
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Were_Wyrm posted...

How the hell do you spend almost a half an hour on the toilet?

One of them dumps

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DuranOfForcena posted...

sounds like it would aggravate my lower back pain

we know your pain. i had the worse back pain after the seizure incident that lasted 2 weeks then another 2 weeks before i could return to normal.
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