Don't Mess with the Doody Stick

Not long after Husband and I moved into our prior apartment in June 2000, I noticed a small puddle of water forming on the back of the toilet under the flusher. Wanting to be a good tenant and head off the problem before the leak became Old Faithful and flooded our apartment and possibly the one below us, I called the super immediately. Dario arrived the next day with his tool belt, and decided to replace some sort of valve. After he “repaired” the crapper, plump drips stopped dangling from the flusher, but the toilet also began clogging a few times a month.

To deal with the stoppage, Husband bought a snake (a.k.a. “doody stick”) at the hardware store. Basically, it worked by jamming it into the toilet, and then further twisting the metal corkscrew that resembled a pig tail. This would break up the nasty clog of doody and toilet paper that prevented a proper flush and happy bathroom experience. The doody stick served us well, if disgustingly for the year and a half that we lived there. (Cleaning it off after it was used… ewwwww.)

When we were ready to move into our current apartment, we still had six months left on our lease. In order to move out without a hefty penalty, we needed to find a new tenant to take the place over. I placed an ad on Craig’s List, and waited for the takers.

One afternoon, as I waited for a couple to come over, I made the mistake of having a “digestive incident” not long before the potential new leasees were to show up. I whipped out the doody stick and urgently jammed it up the toilet. Little pieces began surfacing. “Whew,” I thought and began to withdraw the doody stick. Except that I pulled it out way too fast. As it flew out of the toilet, flecks of poop flew on the wall, ceiling, and on little old me.

There is a moral to this tale. No matter how panicked you are, always respect the doody stick process. Otherwise, you end up with more than egg on your face.