I don’t know if this is more prevalent among women than among men- being female, I only hear one side of the story. Too many folks can’t seem to part with their dang cell phone for 1 minute, and it’s like the whole world is their private phone booth. I think it’s just breathtakingly rude to conduct cell phone conversations whilst one is in a public bathroom (multi-toilet) with strangers in earshot. If it’s truly an emergency situation, of course I can understand. But merely chitchatting with one’s boyfriend or whoever, in the toilet stall next to mine, is totally invasive of others’ privacy. :mad: Am I the only person on earth who somehow finds this offensive? 
Their souls are dead, and they’re expecting a text message any minute that will tell them what to do about it.
Carry a boom box with you everywhere.
Please stop that.
No you stop that.
I can’t hear you.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
I’ve been appalled by bathroom stall chatters for a while, now. But you know what appalls me even more, and I can’t explain why? Bathroom stall texters. You can hear them click-clacking away, and I’m just stunned. Not too long ago I was in the bathroom at work and it was obvious the woman next to me was texting. The room was dead quiet except for the clickclick of her punching the keys. I was in there a little longer than usual, and I became curious because I had expected her to leave but she didn’t. There was no urgent need for me to get back to my desk, so I decided to just wait and see how long she stayed. People came and went, and still click-click-click. Pause. Click-click-click. I’m guessing from the time I entered the bathroom 'til the time she left was right at 15 minutes. No telling how long she’d been in there before that. Girl, there are TONS of pleasant places in this 7-story building where you can hang out and take a break and text, even if you want to hide out from co-workers. Why a bathroom stall?
But, I totally agree about the cell phone thing, anywhere and esp. the bathroom. YOU CAN LIVE FOR 10 MINUTES WITHOUT HAVING A PHONE CONVERSATION. Promise.
I try to flush at important moments in the stall-caller’s conversation. Maybe more than once - hey, maybe I’m doing a courtesy flush, right? If it doesn’t shame them into hanging up, at least it’ll disrupt the call and let the person on the other end know what a jerk they’re talking to.
Stall callers I can deal with–I worked with a fellow who took business calls on the crapper. Great guy. One of the true experts in the field of elevator safety, and if you wished to stop feeling safe in an elevator he’d let you see his photo album. The only thing grosser than it was listening to him grunt one out while talking to a customer. Good thing that business doesn’t attract the cream of industrial society or I’d be embarrassed for the company, if not for him.
I do not know if he reduced his billing charge because he was multitasking. I don’t think he did, especially since many of his calls were for his expert witness business and not for us, for whom he was a VP, and he didn’t split off his time for that, either.
Yeah, I flush ostentatiously. If I can manage a really loud fart, so much the better.
While talking to friends or customers? 'Cuz it’s hotter if it’s the latter. :eek:
My favorite personal anecdote: I was in the waiting area, before boarding a plane for Chicago. A guy was on his cell phone, talking to someone named Rachel, planning their Art Council Board meeting the next weekend. He wanted to push Karen off the board, but she’d been around for so long, they would have to do it subtly, offering her some sort of emeritus position that sounds very important but really gets her off the board. After he hung up on that conversation (which everyone in the area could hear his end of), he called someone else and left a message on the machine: “Hi, Fred, this is George, just reminding you about the board meeting this Sunday.”
I was dying to pick up my cellphone and pretend to make a call, and say, “Hi, Karen, I just thought I’d let you know that George is trying to push you off the board at Sunday’s meeting.”
But I was afraid he’d hit me.
Jackass.
I don’t talk on the phone in the john!
It would have been worth it.
Just start shouting at the top of your lungs… “OH MY GOD!!! IT’S COMING! THIS ONE’S GOING TO BE HUGE! I BET THIS IS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO GIVE BIRTH!”. Maybe toss in some nice loud grunts and groans.
I’m not sure that they actually can. I have to make an active effort to remember to take my phone with me. It’s turned off unless I’m actually using it or expecting a call, because my husband thinks that I can’t live without talking to him every 10 minutes or so. I’m one of those oddballs who PULLS OVER to answer her goddamned phone, and I’m tired of him calling just to chitchat. If I’m out, I’m out, you can live without talking to me. If it’s that important, write it down, because I’m not answering that damn phone. This drives him up the wall, which is only fair, because he drove me up the wall first.
I just hope he never really NEEDS to get information to me quickly.
Well, I worked in a call center and I could get away with hiding in the bathroom with ‘digestive issues’ for 20 minutes if it was not my break time, but if i tried to do anything else to dodge work for a few minutes i would get into trouble … she was just scarfing some illicit breaktime.
And if you can’t put down the frickin cell phone, can you at least go where there are people who don’t need to be able to use their ears near you?
(Someone called to order pizza for her son in the middle of choir rehearsal last night. I know the someone, and I like her, but I was struggling enough to learn my part without the people behind me discussing pizza toppings).
Personally, I could care less if they do, it’s not like the person on the phone can see anything. I do, however, think it’s incredibly rude to the person on the other end of the line if they hear a toilet flush or random other bathroom noises. Really, is your schedule SO packed that you can only make time for someone while you’re in the bathroom and potentially subject them to those sorts of sounds? Then again, I feel the similarly about cellphones in cars too, I’ll usually answer there and tell them I’m driving, especially if it may be 20-30 minutes before I get to where I’m going, but I won’t initiate a call unless it’s necessary (eg, I need directions, I’m running late, etc.). The bathroom never necessitates picking up a call since you ought to be able to call back, at most, 5 minutes later, unless you’re sick or something, and there’s nothing that you need to know WHILE you’re on the toilet that you can actually do something about.
As for texting, really, who cares. As others stated, it’s the sort of thing you can get away with to avoid work for those into that, and there’s no risk of the other person hearing a toilet flush or whatever. I have sent texts while in the bathroom, but that’s only when I’ve already been in the middle of some back and forth texting and I get one while I’m in there so, eh, might as well. I do think initiating is rather silly though.
And to address the unasked question in the OP, as a guy, I very seldom notice people talking on cell phones in the bathroom or texting either. Then again, guys have very different unspoken rules in the bathroom regarding conversation, so perhaps that added bit of taboo is the cause.
Do you think that people in the bathroom together talking to each other are also “invading your privacy”? :rolleyes:
Talking on the phone while in the bathroom is rude to the person on the other end, depending on how close your relationship is. That’s it.
Glad we cleared that up.
who does number two work for ?!!! 
It doesn’t matter what situation precedes that sentence – the answer is still “no”. People will go to unimaginable lengths to be offended.
To toss in my two cents, no, I would not be personally offended by someone talking in my presence.