Inoperable Toilets

   So my crew and I were on Day II of a trip that seemed to be plagued with bad luck, and the horrors continued.
   The first day we saw one of our passengers suffer a stroke before our very eyes and had to be rushed off our plane. (More on that in another blog). Then the second day we went back to work hoping for no drama. But we were wrong.
    Sometime between boarding the plane, doing our safety checks -- when the toilets were operating fine -- and when we got in the sky, our airplane suffered a major setback. The two lavatories in the coach cabin began NOT flushing, and water was seen starting to back up into the toilet bowl. Not a good sign, considering we were not even an hour into our three-hour journey.
    So being the flight attendant in charge, I was forced to call the captain and inform him of the bad news. He had me check a few things a report my findings back to him. Based on his response, I knew it wasn't good.
    Between the two of us, and the toilets' symptoms, we came to the conclusion that the aft lavatories' connector pipe leading to the main tank in the aircraft was plugged. Probably some dumb ass flushed either a baby diaper or or female hygiene napkin down the toilet.
    So the only two restrooms in coach had to be locked off until we landed and mechanics could take a look at the problem. That left us with only one operating lavatory -- in first class.
    But there was another concern the captain had. He told me I would need to add toilet monitoring to my first class cabin duties. He explained that if that toilet started to back up, we could have serious problems that could ultimately change the dynamics of the Airbus 319 we were flying on. He said because that toilet was so close to the cockpit, if that commode starting backing up and dripping onto the floor, there was crucial wiring under there that could get wet and cause the plane serious problems. An unscheduled or emergency landing was not ruled out.
    "Great!" I thought. "Just what we need."
     Not to mention I wasn't too thrilled on taking a peek into the smelly lavatories after each visitor to make sure overflowing wasn't occurring! I actually cheated. Armed with my room air freshener spray -- "Midnight Pomegranate" -- and a nose and mouth covering, I would sneak in after every few other passengers to do toilet duty.  I also monitored the control panel by my flight attendant seat to make sure the panel didn't indicate that the first class toilet became filled. Which in that case, that toilet would Also have to be locked off, leaving the passengers to hold it until we landed.