I agree with the consensus so far that the man had first dibs on the mens room but Pullet was okay.
My office bathroom has a “lounge” type room right off main bathroom with a couch, coffee table, and magazines. It’s seems odd if you’re not used to it, but it does make sense. It’s used for breast pumping.
And any woman who spends time primping in a one at a time type bathroom is rude beyond belief. With multiple stalls, sure, but you’re not holding anyone else up in that case (since they can come in, pee, wash up and leave regardless of whether you’re standing in front of the mirror or not).
When I was nursing my daughter, I knew just which stores had couches in the ladies’ rooms. While I was fairly adept at slinging a blanket over my shoulder and doing a concealed feed, I knew that it made some people, especially some men, uncomfortable, even if they couldn’t see anything unseemly. I was delighted to be able to nurse my daughter on a couch. Nursing in a stall is just gross.
I know at least one restaurant in town that has single stalls…and the sinks and paper towels are out in a common area, so that time spent in the stall is cut to a minimum. I think that this is a very practical and fair solution.
At least in Illinois, it’s part of the building code for construction. The company I worked for outside Chicago added onto their building, including a large addition to the warehouse. They decided to add bathrooms in the warehouse while they were at it (rather then have the warehouse guys walk all the way into the front offices). Now every single person working in the warehouse was male. Always had been. They tried to design in 2 single user bathrooms.The building code stated that if there was one bathroom, it could be unisex, but if there were 2, one had to be for women and one for men.
Yeah, there sometimes are women primping and preening in the ladies - right in front of the sink or paper towels that other people want to use, sometimes. I just stick my hands in front of them and wash them, anyway, and if they’ve got a problem, they can talk to the hands. (Ha! I kill me!)
This is one of those things that REALLy REALLY pisses me off. WHY is the ladies line so much longer? No mystery:
-They go like 3-4 times as often.
-They fuck around in there for freaking ever. I’m a really slow #2 guy and it still takes me about as long as the short-to-average female #1 and stand in front of the mirror and fuck with my hair for 10 minutes bathroom visit.
If you don’t like standing in line, rag on your sisters, lobby for 2:1 capacity laws, but stay the fuck out of the men’s room.
When I see women using the men’s room I really wish I could summon up a beer, eggs, and bad clams bowl movement on queue.
I once had to use a men’s bathroom because I was about to pee all over myself, and I couldn’t locate the woman’s bathroom. Believe me, I didn’t want to step over into the Forbidden Zone, but I felt like I had no choice.
Recently I accidently stepped into the men’s room on my floor at work. To my shock, I discovered that the room has two stalls PLUS two urinals. The women’s bathroom only has one stall. ONE stall for all the peeing, defecating, menstruating women on the floor! It often happens that I wait for the last minute to pee, and when I find that solitary stall occupied I nearly kill myself racing down to the other toliet on the opposite end of the big-ass building. I actively avoid the men’s bathroom, but I admit that I’ve used it a couple of times during emergencies.
If I found a guy in the girl’s room, I would just assume he really had to go, not that he was selfishly trying to invade my territory. And because I’ve been in the same situation, I would be 100% sympathetic.
To me, a bathroom is a bathroom. My husband and I use the same bathroom at home, and if I need to, I will use a men’s room anywhere else. Would I get upset at men in the lady’s room? Probably not, but men never go in there, and the only reason women go into the men’s room is that we can’t wait any longer for the lady’s room, a problem which men never seem to have. The reason women are waiting in line for the lady’s room isn’t because of them “fucking around with their hair for 10 minutes” - it’s because there aren’t enough stalls to accommodate the amount of women that have to use them - see, we don’t have the “pee against a wall” option. But thanks for your kind understanding of the requirements inherent in our physiology that are only half-assedly addressed in building codes. We appreciate it.
Wait, what? If I (non-handicapped) am in line ahead of a handicapped person, I have to step aside and let them go? I heard on these boards that the handicapped stall means it will accommodate someone handicapped, not that it’s only for handicapped or that they have priority in case of a line??
I’ve lived/traveled in Europe for the past several years and lots of places have unisex, multi-user restrooms. I have to admit I find it somewhat disconcerting to come out of a stall and run into a guy. I guess I’m not Battlestar Galactica-ready yet.
“Have to”? No, I don’t believe there’s a law about it.
We’ve had lots of these threads, but what I generally take away from it is that a handicapped person is, for a number of reasons, often in more of a hurry than I am (dealing with catheders, reduced urinary sensation causing an urgent need, it takes longer for them to undress and maneuver themselves, etc.), plus they’re waiting in a line of people for one single stall, while the rest of us are waiting for multiple stalls. That is, if they wait with us, their “turn” will take longer, as the handicapped stall is statistically unlikely to open up right as they get to the front of the line.
So my own personal choice is to cede the handicapped stall to any obviously handicapped person, no matter what their place in line. Ditto pregnant women, small children and anyone else whose eyes are beginning to water with urgency. If there are other people in line affected by the move, I’ll ascertain with eye contact and raised eyebrows how everyone feels about allowing a “cut”. Thus far, I’ve not been chided or rioted upon. It’s not about hierarchy, but about consideration.
