This was a stay-in-the-car-until-the-last-line-was-finished type story. I was listening to "All Things Considered" on the radio on my way home. The theme was cell phones dropping down toilets and what people will do to get them back.

Several phones that made the big splash were dropped in a toilet while the owner was in transit. Airplane toilets, train toilets, bathroom stalls, port-a-pots. . .name a toilet-type and it's a guarantee that a cell phone has landed in one.

One story involved a train in France. The owner went after the phone when it dropped down the train's toilet. Instead of retrieving the phone, his arm became stuck. To get him out, the whole toilet had to be removed from the train at a later stop.

Another guy dropped his phone in an airplane toilet and was able to get it back. Unfortunately, even though he cleaned it, dried it off and then washed, and washed and washed his hands, there was a slight problem when he showed up at his business meeting. You see, after the plane landed, he made a phone call and unwittingly deposited a blue streak across his face. He found out about the streak when someone at the meeting asked about it.

One story that brings to mind Mike's post about the Babykeeper Basic that hangs a baby from a wall of a door stall is the one about the woman who lost her phone while she was changing her baby in a port-o-pot. She could see the phone, but there wasn't any way she was going to go after it.

Here's the link to text of the NPR story. Along with being entertaining, it's informative. Cell phones down toilets are considered to be acts of negligence by insurance companies. I call it bum luck. I've never had a cell phone land in a toilet, but I still have a vivid image of my car keys catapulting out of my hands on their own volition.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, Gear, Stories