Okay, we admit this is sort of a gross topic. But when we first asked it years ago, we received a whole bunch of comments. Some readers, we recall, had some very funny responses.
I remember the time I saw a woman run frantically from a Forest Service outhouse, screaming something about her camera falling into the toilet and the messy, stinky sludge below. A bystander asked her if she wanted to get it out. She took about one second to answer, “No,” and that was that. Even if she had managed to retrieve it, it would have been damaged beyond repair.
Please excuse us for this somewhat off-color question.
And now, your response, please? And we would really appreciate it if you left a comment.
I’d probably see if there was a fisherman around with a net to retrieve it. Then hold it out in the river for a couple hours before attempting to touch anything, maybe use some cooking tongs or rubber gloves to hold it under the water pump. But I never take a wallet into those things, and preferably not my phone or anything else –I believe in Murphy’s Law. I’ve read about people falling in while trying to retrieve phones. A judge told me about a guy who climbed into one to hide from the police. I’d rather go to jail. I suppose it would cost a fortune to have it suctioned out. Boil it? The smell would never come out. Depends on how much money and if you need gas to get home.
Once retrieved, all I’d take out are the credit cards, driver’s license, and National park pass. The rest I’d throw away. I don’t carry too much cash in my wallet, so I’m willing to part with it.
Hard question to answer, depends how much money is in the wallet and if my $10.00 National Park Pass is in it! LOL
My uncle Ole was getting up from the outhouse and a half dollar fell out of his pocket and bounced into the hole. He immediately took off his watch and threw it into the hole, then took out his billfold and threw it into the hole. We said Ole vat are you doing? He said “I’m not going down there yust for 50 cents”
Wallet or cellphone? Auugh! Actually have spare cellphone, but no spare sim.
As long as it was still visible and did not sink into the abyss, I would retrieve the wallet. I keep a pair of rubber gauntlet gloves in my truck along with 3 foot long mechanical fingers.
I agree with Stinger45. But if it’s buried in the nastiness, nope.
Good call!
Carrying your cellphone in your back pocket, as so many do, can be a disaster waiting if you use a port-o-pot. A friend dropped hers in and her husband retrieved a fishing net to recover it. He took it apart and cleaned it, never to get it back together and working again.
I don’t know how I could possibly drop my wallet in an outhouse, a phone maybe but a wallet? In the case of public outhouses, they are usually very large pits and would be very dangerous to retrieve anything from them. I keep my wallet in a zippered pocket when traveling and can’t see a reason to have it out while using a toilet so I don’t see how it would end up in a poop filled pit. But it would have to be a very valuable object for me attempt retrieving it from the depths of a poop cavern. Since my iPhone is insured for loss it would be history.
FYI: https://www.mdlinx.com/article/woman-falls-into-eight-foot-pit-toilet-retrieving-phone-exposing-herself-to-health-risks/2633rERvQfVF10AK5R3bxs
As many people as I see in an RV park dumping their tanks with no gloves on, there shouldn’t be a issue reaching into the pit to retrieve anything!
Only with the smell.
Actually had this happen to a friend on a Ski Patrol training in the Swiss alps at a hut above Grindelwald. Outhouse was above a cliff of at least 40 ft. The team put together a rappel rope system and lowered one of guys to retrieve the wallet and haul him up. Actually it was great training and ended up with a celebration involving several beers.
Great story!
Hope you washed your hands first.
I would retrieve my wallet but I would leave my cell phone since I’m not attached to the d— thing anyway!!!
The issue for me would be just how deep that pit was (they are all deep!) and how full it was. Then, how to get something down there to retrieve the wallet would be the next hump to overcome. If it sank below sight level, well then, forget it. But if it’s floating I may try to somehow (emphasis on “somehow”) get it back. I wear 511 tactical pants almost exclusively when we RV and my wallet is in a velcroed side pocket so it’s not going to fall out. And, I use the loo that came with our trailer anyway.
Like many people I carry important documents, credit cards and cash. Short of jumping in I’d make an effort to retrieve my wallet. I do carry a grappling device and would try with that.
I probably would, but I’d use a fish net.
Since my wallet is my phone (I have a pouch attached to the back and my ID, CC, etc are in it), if it would be possible, yes, I would go after it.
Being married with children, my empty wallet would float and be easily retrievable…..
I’m more apt to lose my keys than my phone or wallet since those are most likely to be on me outside the coach.
Regardless of what drops, I might try to scoop up with a homemade pine branch ladle but if it sinks, I’ll put in a call to whomever maintains the place and see what a quick slurp will cost. Everything’s replaceable for a price, just got to ensure the cost of loss isn’t higher than the cost to retrieve.
Now that we’ve discussed this, I’m leaving the keys outside from now on. Thanks Chuck…. 🙂
First, most of us have heard the story of the “double stall outhouse and the old guy sitting there when a young man comes in and a $20 bill falls in the hole as he pulls down his pants. He asks the old man if he could loan him a $100 bill and proceeds to throw it in the hole. The old man is shocked and asks “why’d you do that “. “ You don’t think I’d climb in there for just $20 do you”.
I’d use a fishing net.
My first instinct is to find a dumb looking 15 year old kid in the area and offer a split, he gets half the cash in the wallet if he retrieves it for me and my second instinct is to offer that kid some actual cash if he retrieves it for me.
If those didn’t work, I would definitely deal with it myself.
No problem. We carry one of those ‘trash pick-up” sticks (what folks use when doing highway clean up) – just reach down and pick it up. If you don’t have one, the park ranger/manager will.
I said “yes” because we have a “grabber” in the MH. We use it to reach items lodged in the back (front?) of the overcab bed. We use that bed for storing the many items too big for the kitchen and bedroom cabinets–clothes basket, electric fan and heater, extra quilts, spare sheets and towels, etc. It’s plastic, so easily washed off with the outdoor shower. Disgusting use, but no worse than having the entire black tank valve come off at the dump when on your knees trying to open it. Fortunately, the dump was well-designed and I was in a swim suit and river sandals after kayak fishing!
I once dropped my jacket into a portapotty, I only retrieved it because my sandwich was in the pocket.
Yum!😲 Have a great day, Philip. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Well I can sure understand that. We need our priorities.
A different kind of “special sauce”.
The issue for me would not be the cash in it but everything else in it like driver’s license, credit cards and other things. I carry my Minister’s photo ID card, my conceal Carry permit, and emergency contact information in mine as well. These things can be replaced, but not easily while traveling.
On those occasions when I must use a porta-potty or an outhouse if I’m in my car or with my wife or a companion I will leave don’t take my phone or wallet in the car or with wife or buddy. If I’m hiking alone my single RV key is on a secure belt clip thru which my belt runs, I don’t take my wallet with me and my phone goes into my sock.
It’s just DOO DOO that soap and water will take care of!
I worry more about my glasses/sunglasses falling off my head into the toilet.
We never allow our valuable items come near the opening of a pit toilet. And we would never retrieve, or have them retrieved.
Hold my feet Ma. I’m a goin’ in.
My thought was holding a small child by the ankles and lowering them down.
Bwahaha 🤣
I don’t normally carry any of that with me when we are camping. When I need to go to the store I’ll grab it, otherwise it stays in the camper.
This story actually happened not long ago with a woman & a cellphone. Needed rescue ( Michigan?)
I said I probably would. We carry a tool that extends ones reach and has pincers at one end and a trigger to close them on the other end. Were my phone visible, that is if it landed mostly flat and were visible, then I would try to retrieve it with the tool. Were it not visible, then I would contact Verizon to report my phone lost and request the address of their nearest store so I could acquire a new phone. I think Verizon has the most of my important information backed-up on their “cloud storage system.”
I would put an out of order sign up, look for a large animal vet, or rancher and get one of those gloves that go to your shoulder and go back and fish it out. As long as you have someone hold your feet so you don’t fall in.