Growing up, my family always replaced the toilet paper in the same way – with the tissues rolling from top to bottom on the outside of the roll. Rolling the tissues in from the opposite direction seemed like a preposterous idea. See Figure A, which clearly demonstrates the correct way a toilet paper roll should be replaced.
Figure A
It irks me if I am at someone else’s house and I notice the rolls have been replaced the wrong way. I might – might – go so far as to turn the roll over, to save them the trouble.
Instead of thanking me, people are often annoyed or offended, and don’t appreciate my gesture. Rude.
To avoid the risk of future confrontations I have devised the following simple rules for proper toilet paper replacement. It should satisfy those who roll from the outside in, and the inside out:
- If the distance to the toilet paper dispenser is greater than your arm’s length (either in front or beside you), then the roll should roll from the top to bottom on the outside of the roll. This saves the user precious inches when reaching for the tissue (see Figure A, left side)
- If the distance to the toilet paper dispenser is less than your arm’s length (either in front or beside you), then the roll should roll from the top to bottom on the inside of the roll (see Figure A, right side). This gives the user several inches of extra space to work with.
Follow these rules, and I won’t have to fix your toilet paper rolls for you.