Um, you didn’t go to UC Berkeley, did you?
For all the stall-calltakers, haven’t you ever heard of voicemail? Is there really some urgent need to accept every incoming call at the moment the phone rings? My wife and I have a deal- if I can’t take her call for whatever reason and she absolutely must speak with me immediately, she’ll let it go to voicemail then call right back- the 2nd call clues me in that it’s an emergency.
In non-emergency situations, is the lure of a ringing phone that irresistable?
As I asked above… what’s the big deal?
The only thing more ridiculous would be someone using their laptop on the can.
There are two factors at work here. The first is just plain etiquette - but if you don’t feel that it’s horribly rude and inappropriate to carry on a conversation while taking a dump, in the presence of other people who are taking a dump (and presumably want to do so in peace), there’s no way I could convince you by explaining.
The second is hygiene. I don’t know about you, but I wach my hands really thoroughly after using the toilet. To do so, then afterwards fish the phone out of my pocket that I was handling and possibly dialing while I shat, and which is not readily washable, would gross me out of existence.
I’m with McNew on this one. What the hell is so important that you have to take the call right then? It can’t wait like…5 or 10 minutes?
I’ve also worked with a bathroom eater…although I’m starting to feel better about him. He just sat at the table next to the door…(the one for you to put down your notebook or papers on) and ate his lunch…he didn’t actually eat in the stall.
And of course the “take the community magazines into the can with you” worker. We all agree that we’d hide the magazines until we’d read them before leaving them out for him to find.
'Cause when I’m talking to you on the phone, it’s way to much TMI to hear you grunt as you pinch a loaf, thanks. And I don’t particularly want to compete with your shit for your attention.
Would it bother you if I brought a video camera into the men’s room with me? See, I’m filming a day in my life to send to my gf across the pond. I’d guess this would bother most people. So, by using a cell phone you’ve cut out the video, but you are still broadcasting the audio portion.
Are you serious?
Loaf-pinching or lizard-draining isn’t exactly a time-intensive task. I mean, I’ve yet to see someone with the 10:30-11 am slot filled in with “Take Shit,” so I presume most of us spend a few minutes in there. Just call the person back, willya?
As several people have noted, you’re in a lavvy. The acoustics suck, and there are all kinds of interesting noises going on. I’m not impressed that anyone is so busy that they have to take calls in the crapper. I don’t take calls when I’m driving in the city, in a quiet setting, or in a restaurant for more or less the same reasons, but at least I’m not surrounded by shit particles and piss spray in the process.
We had a girl (software engineer) caught doing just this thing. We gave her no end of grief about it. 
Now I have this mental image of a bunch of big shots in four-figure tailored suits seated around a five-figure mahogany and granite conference table… on toilets.
Okay… fine. You don’t want to talk to me while I’m in the can, don’t call me… or hang up when I tell you I’m in the bathroom. If you’re in the men’s room with me while I’m on the phone, you’re out of luck…
(emphasis mine)
Actually, we both are. BBBBRRRRRRRAAAAAAPPP…PBBBBTTTTTT… 
May our paths never cross on the porcelain byways, because that is one place where I have no problem meeting rude with rude. 
Awesome. —making mental note—
Okay, this I want to know, and no better time than the present.
What is it about the male pooping process that requires reading materials??? I’ve never heard of nor known a woman that does this. My bowel movements never take long enough to read something.
You’re shitting (heh) me! Your office had to devise a policy for this???
You people have way too many issues with bathrooms.
I must assume you are equally mad at people who, in the bathroom, talk to each other while they’re washing their hands (after the fact). If not, then please explain the difference.
I don’t we can explain this, any more than you could explain why so many women’s trips to the bathroom involve three women, only one of whom really needs to pee. 
The closest I could come to explaining it is…I feel as though I’m wasting time, somehow, if I’m not reading on the can in my own house. Note: I only do it in my own house, and only with selected reading materials that are for the bathroom and stay there. Last month’s copy of Guitar Player is a popular one.
What the hell? That’s even worse. In some completely bizarre way, I can maybe see how you can justify eating while you’re taking a dump - if you’ve got exactly 5 minutes left in your lunch break and you have to move your bowels right now, and you won’t get to eat again for another 24 hours, it’s still disgusting and foul, but slightly justifiable. But you’re saying this guy brought his lunch into the bathroom just for the sake of eating in the bathroom? That’s just weird.
I am a woman and have a magazine / paper rack in my tiny bathroom at home. Sometimes it is the only quiet time one gets. My first two roommates were female and read in the bathroom also.
My wife usually grabs a book if she thinks she might be awhile.
Lucky you! AFAICT, you’re not normal in that respect.
And how would that be different from taking a book or magazine to the john?