The toilet handle stopped working last night. The tank lid wouldn’t budge. I let my landlord know and it didn’t faze me. Performed a little mental calculus, identified other toilets on this property, ascertained a 24/7 bathroom down the road, collected lidded bottles from the recycling bin in the rare case that I need to hold waste somewhere.

Then it hit me, why not simulate the flush with a bucket of water. The toilet flushes by rapid introduction of a couple gallons of water into the bowl, thereby creating a siphon effect. The handle is incidental.

I grabbed a 2.5gal bucket, filled it, and manually flushed the bowl. A bucket is just a tank without the porcelain.

Had I found myself in the same situation two years ago, I’d been livid. Now I couldn’t care less — there are many alternatives.

Also: I found out later that the toilet was a Menards floor display model, and part of that process entails sealing the lid to the tank with caulking.

Stuff breaks. Entropy exists. Failure is external. Reaction is internal.

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