Shite talk. Literally.
A survey of over 500 adults in Ireland has revealed that just under one in two Irish people deliberately avoid going for a number two at work.
The survey, which was carried out to mark the launch of a new Air Wick ‘pre-poo toilet spray’ called V.I.Poo in Ireland this month, revealed that 47% of Irish people avoid ‘dropping the kids off at the pool’ during work, while more than half of Irish people (58%) are too embarrassed to do so in a public toilet.
While the survey suggests that most adults poo anywhere from three (!) to 21 (!) times per week, going to the toilet at work is a source of huge anxiety for Irish adults.
Of those who said they avoided going for a number two at work, 67% said they would hold it in until the end of day, while 20% said they would escape to a nearby restaurant to do their business.
The smell that lingered afterwards was the reason put forward for avoiding taking a shite at work by the majority of those polled, while colleagues knowing that you had just come from doing a number two came in a close second.
A blast of air freshener emerged as the most popular method to mask the smell coming from the toilet cubicle, followed by deodorant (22%) and bleach (14%).
The survey also revealed a huge disparity between the embarrassment felt by women when it comes to using the toilet at work in comparison to their male counterparts.
67% of women, for example, feel embarrassed when doing their business in public toilets compared to 34% of men.
Two in three women admitted to attempting to drown out the noise made when answering nature’s call, with 75% of women saying that their favourite trick is to place some toilet roll in the toilet beforehand.
Elsewhere, the survey revealed that outside of work, a friend’s house, a partner’s house, the gym and at a festival were the most embarrassing places to go for a number two.
Shockingly, meanwhile, just under half of those surveyed (48%) were so concerned about embarrassment that they freely admitted to blaming someone else for the unpleasant odour left behind.
The survey suggests the people have spoken, but we want to find out what the JOE readers think…
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
