# Men, at what age did you discover there is furniture in the Women's room? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209 "2012-11-16T16:43:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/41 "2012-11-17T02:44:07Z")
I haven’t seen a ladies room with funiture since the mid-80s. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/42 "2012-11-17T03:18:14Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > I’m in my late 40s and just learned of this from this thread. Early 40s, otherwise same. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/43 "2012-11-17T03:55:08Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > There’s furniture in the ladies’ room!?!? > > So, uh, 37. Don’t feel bad. I’m female, and thanks to this thread just discovered that there isn’t furniture in Men’s Rooms. (I’ve been in several Men’s Rooms, and while they didn’t have furniture, neither to most Women’s Rooms, so I figured that only fancy-schmancy Men’s Rooms had furniture like fancy-schmancy Women’s Rooms do.) > [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > Hijack: I’ve seen the opinion about women’s bathrooms/toilets being as filthy as men’s before but it’s not true over in my experience – unless British men’s loos are a lot cleaner than I think. The worst thing I generally see is paper towels and loo roll on the floor. Oh and you have to check in case a hoverer has been in but this seems to be getting rarer. Sticky floors and poo are rarities that I’d associate with loos in parks or really nasty pubs. And even park loos are getting better. Women’s bathrooms tend to be worse in terms of mess, toilet paper ribbons and sprinkled seats. Men’s bathrooms tend to \*smell \*worse. Why on earth anyone thought urinals are a good idea is beyond me. Urine smells if it isn’t diluted and flushed. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/44 "2012-11-17T04:21:10Z")
Women’s rooms have furniture? Why in the name of all that is holy would you want furniture in a public restroom. So…uh 28. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/45 "2012-11-17T04:34:05Z")
I was in my 30’s. My wife was pregnant with our first and we were out to dinner. A waitress came up to me and said my wife would like to see me and escorted me back to the restrooms. She stood watch while I went in to see about my wife. As she was explaining to me that she thought it could be time to go to the hospital I stood flabbergasted at the luxury of the ladies room where right next door us men basically had a drain in the floor and a bucket. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/46 "2012-11-17T04:43:15Z")
The only place I’ve seen it is at a JC Penney in the 80s, because occasionally the women’s door would be slightly open and so I’d see the anteroom. I had plenty of opportunities to see it slightly open, too, because every time we went to that mall we headed straight up to the 2nd floor of JC Penney because that was the only place with bathrooms in the mall back then. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/47 "2012-11-17T05:36:13Z")
7 or 8. My mom had taken me to a fancy nearby hotel for some reason (we weren’t staying there) and when she had to go to the bathroom rather than leave me alone in the hall she took me into the women’s room and parked me on the couch. I was stunned at how fancy it was - carpeting and a fancy couch and mirrors and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![simple\_homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@simple\_homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simple_homer)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/48 "2012-11-17T05:43:24Z")
“0-5, I’ve known this from birth.” What I chose, but this option is poorly worded. I remember being 4 or 5, and my mother taking me into the ladies room with her. Of course she did it when I was younger, but I was not aware of where I was. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/49 "2012-11-17T23:18:49Z")
being a woman isn’t for sissys. cramps, nausea, preggers, feedings, high heels, brides and bridemaids, a place to wait for your buddy to “finish up”; these all call for furniture in a private place. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/50 "2012-11-17T23:55:11Z")
I am female, and didn’t know women’s bathrooms (in the States, at least) were furnished till I started going to department stores with my mom about age 10 or so. The university I attended was built mostly in the 50s and 60s, so the women’s bathrooms often had a small anteroom or side room with a vinyl-upholstered couch. I often hid out there to study or nap between classes, and nobody bothered me. The last furnished bathroom I saw was a couple of weeks ago. Our polling place is a meeting room in a local church, and the ladies’ room of the church has a little room with a comfy chair and a small vanity with tissues. I think this room is meant for nursing mothers and the occasional bride. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/51 "2012-11-17T23:57:41Z")
Two of the women’s rooms at work have couches, and they are both in older parts of the building built in the 60’s and 70’s. I work in the newer part of the building built in the 80’s and there is no furniture in the bathroom there (or any room for it). The couches are kind of nasty. One in particular looks like some second-hand donation from the 50’s with cracking black vinyl. (We joke that the owner brought it in from his mother’s basement). I do know one lady, since retired, who used to lie on that one during breaks, though. No one breastfeeds actual babies at work, and there is a small “lactation room” set up for mothers who need to pump, but perhaps the couches were meant for that purpose in the past before people requested more privacy. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/52 "2012-11-18T01:12:41Z")
Another woman posting to say that it’s really pretty rare to find a women’s bathroom with a couch or chairs in it. It’s something you see occasionally in hotels, department stores, and restaurants, but I couldn’t tell you the last time I saw one. When I have been in bathrooms with couches or chairs, I always assumed they were there so we’d have a place to sit if we had to wait for a stall to free up. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/53 "2012-11-18T02:23:00Z")
Furniture?? Ahh, ok then, to answer your question, I was 43 years old the day I read your post. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/54 "2012-11-18T02:41:41Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > For those who were unaware of it, the couches/chairs in the women’s room aren’t generally in the same room as the stalls themselves, but in a sort of antechamber between the door marked “Women” and the bathroom proper. So I’m going to the washroom in this classy bar. You enter the washroom, and there 's the little antechamber with the couches and stuff and then it forks into two open entryways without doors. Imagine a Y-shape. Anyway, there’s a person in a wheelchair maneuvering their way out of the wheelchair stall and blocking the other stalls, so I move over to the other branch. I do a double-take as I see urinals on the wall! So this place took the approach of having the furniture accessible to both genders. I’m sure those couches get some action as the night goes on…:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/55 "2012-11-18T02:44:51Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > being a woman isn’t for sissys. cramps, nausea, preggers, feedings, high heels, brides and bridemaids, a place to wait for your buddy to “finish up”; these all call for furniture in a private place. None of which even remotely compares with a swift kick in the balls. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/56 "2012-11-18T02:48:39Z")
Late teens, maybe, or early 20s. Walking past a women’s room one day and the outer door was open so I could see into the anteroom. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/57 "2012-11-18T19:04:59Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > None of which even remotely compares with a swift kick in the balls. perhaps a petition should be circulated for men to have recovery furniture. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/58 "2012-11-19T03:25:35Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > None of which even remotely compares with a swift kick in the balls. Every description I’ve read about what it feels like to be kicked in the balls sounds very like bad menstrual cramps, right down to wanting to curl in a ball and hoping you don’t throw up. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/59 "2012-11-19T03:39:39Z")
I would not liken a swift kick in the balls to a cramp myself. ---
**Author:** ![listedmia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@listedmia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/listedmia)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209/60 "2012-11-19T08:46:09Z")
I’m female and 22. The church I attended when I was a kid had a ladies’ room with a sizable antechamber, with a couch, a makeup table and mirrors. I was told that it was specifically for wedding parties to get all dolled up. I’ve encountered restrooms like this about 2 other times. Once was a movie theatre built in the 1920’s, and once was a banquet hall I worked at that hosted a lot of weddings and always had a gaggle of bridesmaids hanging out in there. When I was at Catholic school, one of the restrooms looked like an average American school restroom, but one of the stalls had a bathtub in it. Supposedly this was because the nuns used to live in the building. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-at-what-age-did-you-discover-there-is-furniture-in-the-womens-room/641209.md?page=4)