... if you wanna know what makes my heart pound,
I really like a man who puts the seat back down.
Now all you guys, hey, what’s the fuss?
It’s a little thing to you, but it’s everything to us.
And when you hear that cold wet splashing sound,
You'll know that you forgot to put the seat back down.
excerpt from "Put the Seat Back Down" by Kacey Jones, country western singer/humorist.
Just hot off the wires is a story about a man who is doing all he can to put a lid on the never-ending seat up/seat down domestic conumdrum.
Bill Bradford II and his partners in RBJ Manufacturing, Inc. are the makers of Johnny-Light, an easily installed, battery-powered gadget that lights the toilet bowl at night and goes off when the seat is down.
To alert the better half of the household, a greenish glow in the bowl serves as a reminder to put the seat down, eliminating those late night dips in the commode that annoy so many women.
In case you aren't impressed with just how serious an issue this is, potty politics have raged as one of the biggest domestic seats of contention between couples that there is. Bradford believed in the power of the product as a marital peacemaker enough to quit his 15-year $90,000 a year job as an electrical engineer at Bechtel Power Corp. in Maryland, returning to Texas two years ago to devote more time and energy to make the Johnny-Light a success.
Although sales have yet to equal the kind of salary Bradford was making, the product has made a splash with some supporters, including Kathy Lee Gifford of the "Regis & Kathie Lee" TV show. The Johnny-Light can be ordered via mail or Internet and can also be found in Lowe's Improvement Warehouses, Ace Hardware and Allied Building Stores, among other retail outlets. Priced between $9.95 and $12.95 plus tax and shipping, the Johnny-Light comes complete with batteries, and is promised to fit 94% of the toilet seats in U.S. households.
Not only does the device serve as a handy night light for men and women, but RBJ has received testimonial letters from mothers who contend the gadget is an aid to children's toilet training. One mother wrote: "Thanks for a product that makes sense and helps make good habits."
If we could only start them all that early.
Published: May 22, 1998
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