Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Next the company pension guidelines will be posted on the stall.

I seem to attract strange bathrooms in every company I work at. Maybe during the interview process, I should ask about the lavatories.

In my new office, we have communal bathrooms. This isn’t anything different than what I’ve experienced before. If you recall, my last communal bathroom setting had stalls and one particular stall had post-it arrow tabs on the door.

My new bathroom does not have stalls. It’s a single bathroom. It doesn’t have a sign to denote it’s a bathroom. For all I know, it may very well be a unisex bathroom. I don’t mind sharing a bathroom with a male. So long as he lowers the seat afterwards and refrains from graffiti artwork I’m ok. For a single bathroom in an office, it is rather spacious. There is a separate wash area from the toilet area.

In front and to the left of the toilet is a green faux leather chair. Its purpose eludes me. So far I’ve been able to knock my knees on this chair each time I use the bathroom. I’d try to move it but after watching an episode of Mythbusters where they determined fecal matter was prevalent on everything in a bathroom, I avoid touching anything in the bathroom.

Today, I was greeted to a stack of newspapers on the green chair. I can understand that said person was being thoughtful. Some may need some entertainment while doing their business but do you really need to do this at your workplace?

Call me a slacker but I don’t feel the need to multi-task in my workplace bathroom. I highly doubt my boss is going to think lesser of me if she catches me walk out of the bathroom without a copy of the latest meeting minutes tucked in my underarm. Personally, I will avoid my office bathroom as much as possible. If I do need to use it, I try to make my visit as brief as possible.

Are there people out there who hang out in the jon like they did in high school? What’s the purpose? Is work that stressful that the only place to find ‘me’ time is in the loo? If that’s true, you might consider changing careers.

I was never a herder either. I felt no need to have 8 girls run into a 3 stall toilet to do their business. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been caught in these situations. One of my old bosses had a knack of following me into the bathroom. To make matters worse, she’d hold lengthy conversations while on the pot. I wouldn’t say I have a shy bladder but holding conversations with the person who has the power to fire you can cause it to shrivel.

All in all, I’m ok with my bathroom. It has air fresheners, a working toilet, a running faucet and a working lock on the door. I just ask the person sharing the newspapers to refrain from doing so next to the toilet. That’s really unnecessary.