Today I stopped at a gas station to use the restroom. I was one of several, as this was the first place with restroom after 1.5 hours of crawling traffic jam in the middle of nowhere (10 miles north of Redding, for anyone else in California).
The gas station had seperate men’s and women’s, but each one was a one-person-at-a-time design, where you lock the door after yourself.
Natrually, the women’s line was longer and slower moving than the men’s. Soon, there was only a line of women and no one in line for the men’s bathroom. Throwing decorum away for the sake of my breaking bladder, and as I was first in line, I ducked into the men’s toilet.
When I finished, a man was waiting patiently outside the door beside the remaining line of women. I says to him “your turn,” but the woman at the head of the line shot into the men’s restroom before the guy had a chance to shift his weight forward.
So here’s the etiquette question: Who should have been first to use the men’s restroom, the woman who had been waiting longer, or the man, whose restroom it was?
I would typically offer the room to the person who’d been waiting longest, unless I was desperate. Likewise, if I was desperate, I might ask if anyone minded if I used the men’s room.
I wouldn’t step ahead of anyone in line, and she probably should’ve at least made the effort to ask, but I’m not mad at her for using the men’s room instead of the women’s, since she’d been waiting longer, and a woman had just exited it.
Well, she might have said something to the man before the OP exited… but we have no way to know that.
I’ll use the men’s room if I’m desparate and there are no men around… but I’d have to be really desparate to jump ahead of a man, and I would ask first, or at least say something.
Agreed. First priority for use of a gender-specific restroom should go to any member of the specified gender who is present. If one isn’t present, then the restroom can be commandeered by anyone who needs it.
I see nothing wrong with Pullet’s use of the men’s room, but would strongly object to the woman who jumps in front of a man to get into the men’s room (unless she had OKed this with the man before the restroom became vacant.)
The man definitely has the first right of usage. Reverse it. If there was a long line for the men to use the restroom, and no women, and a man jumped in front a woman the same way…
I can not think of any woman that would not get pissed, scream, cause a scene, etc. if some man used the womans bathroom when women were in line.
Man has right-of-way (thanks, SHAKES) at men’s washroom. There are etiquette rules that can be stretched at times (your stretch was okay, Pullet), but the other woman’s was not. Funny how some people can’t seem to figure out social nuances, eh?
Hey, here’s a great idea - let’s make everyone line up for the washrooms, men and women together, so that men can also experience the glory that is waiting in line when you really have to pee! That would be swell!
This is why I’ve never understood why “single seater” bathrooms are gender delineated at all. What’s the point? If only one user is going to use it at a time, I’m not likely to inadvertantly see a schlong, am I?
But I do agree that she should have asked before cutting into “his” room. Like Handicapped Stalls, the first “dibs” go to the person who meets the criteria on the sign. Only if no one meeting that criteria is present should someone else go ahead and use the facilities.
I disagree. I know women who will spend over 10 minutes in the restroom, doing whatever it is they do in there. A guy will spend 2-3, max. Just piss, wash, and leave… There is no talking (rule #1 for mens rooms), no primping in the mirror, or any of that other crap, so why should a man have to wait for a woman to do her thing in order to take a leak? Maybe there should be a time limit for women in order to cut down on the line (hell, there are usually more female stalls than male stalls anyway). I even saw a women’s restroom with a couch in it. A fucking couch in the pisser… WTF!!! Don’t go taking your aggression towards other women out on men, we screw up enough shit on our own…
No, but there are a lot of guys who refuse to lift the lid in a public bathroom. I think that there is an underlying rationale is that, since it unmanly to squat, any man who might need the lid is beneath contempt.
Besides, if public bathrooms were all unisex, then guys would never find hand soap by sneaking into the women’s bathroom.
I have always wondered about the etiquette concerning handicapped restrooms, especially instances where it is a separate restroom, not just a separate stall. I used to work in a movie theatre where the regular restrooms were upstairs. Downstairs, in the middle of the cinemas were two of the single lock-the-door-behind-yourself kind of restrooms with handicapped signs on them. When a movie ended you often saw a long line of people outside these restrooms, and people always wanted to use them if it was the middle of their movie. If there was a line, the ushers always told people that their were more restrooms upstairs, but people rarely left the line! I always thought it was so rude, but then again, if there are no handicapped people around at the time, then why not use them, I guess.
Of course, now that I have a baby, the handicapped restrooms and dressing rooms are so much nicer for the stroller! (And btw my mom is handicapped if that has any bearing on this at all.)
Hey now. Women aren’t hanging out trading recipes in the bathroom at the highway gas station. We too know how to piss, wash, and leave when circumstances call for it. And when (a) there’s a line; or (b) you’re in an icky gas station bathroom; or (c) both, then circumstances call for it.
As to the OP – agreed that “mens” means “men first,” though I too have no qualms about using the mens if no men are using it. But I would also give the woman the benefit of the doubt and assume if she leaped in front of a guy to use the washroom, she probably had to go pretty bad.
