Bathroom Etiquette by Kirk Richardson (Edison State, Intro to S)

Regrettably, I know too little about female bathroom dynamics to comment, so the entire focus will be on the male restroom.  As deceptively expansive as the topic is, I will further limit the discussion to issues dealing primarily with urinals.  Handwashing, sound-suppressing, use of the handicap stall, replying to a knock etc. will all be omitted for the sake of brevity.

Consider the following situation:  At the urging of his bladder, James strolls into a large, public restroom.  Lining the wall are four urinals: three of normal height and one on the far right for midgets and children, appropriately dubbed “The Splasher” for people of normal stature.  In front of the urinal to the far left, there is a man getting things done.  Should James use the urinal directly adjacent to the man, the urinal adjacent to The Splasher, or The Splasher?  Almost unanimously the choice would be the urinal adjacent to The Splasher.  Leaving stalls, the choice of the timid, out of the equation, a few may choose The Splasher, and risk the consequences.  However, per social norm, none would choose the stall directly adjacent to the man.

 Does this suggest homophobia?  In a word, no.  It simply provides a courtesy stall between the men to enlarge their proximity.  Put succinctly, this is how it works.

So what do you do when a stranger chooses a urinal directly adjacent to you when plenty others are available?  First, do not panic.  You must breathe deeply and assess the situation with a cool head.  Do you pinch off the stream and feign fruition? NO.  Truthfully, there is little to be done when caught in such an impasse.  You must simply finish the task and be alert for the stranger trying to tap your foot.

This entry was posted on 25. January 2010 at 04:09 and is filed under Mr. Andoscia, Introduction to Sociology, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.