Live Blogging the Bathroom

Women's bathrooms are often different from men's. This is a fact that has recently come to my attention. And we're talking more than just that one tends to have urinals and the other does not.

For example, the couch disparity. Though not frequently, I have been told it is not surprising to find couches in women's restrooms (usually upscale or department store restrooms). As a guy, I know I have seen couches in our bathrooms, but I cannot remember the last time. In fact, it stretches my memory back so far that the last time might have been when I was a child young enough to be brought into the women's restroom with my mom.

Here at work I've learned that the entrance way to the women's restroom is carpeted. And in that entranceway there is a ledge and on that ledge are various beauty care products — moisturizers, lotions, hair sheen. In the men's room we got nothing!

Until today.

The office recently obtained two extra bottles of hand lotion that were going to be disposed of. Because I had whined about the separate but not equalness of the men's and women's restrooms in our office before, my coworkers decided I should place these lotions in the men's room. So I have done just that.

And now we sit and wait to see what happens. Will they get used? Will non-moisturizing men see the lotion and realize this is the cure to their flaky and cracked skin? Or maybe I'm underestimating the men in my building; maybe several of them already frequently moisturize and will truly appreciate the convenience of having lotions readily available for consumption in the restroom after washing their hands. However, it's also possible that these bottles will go untouched and will be thrown out by the janitorial service at the end of the day.

No matter the results, voteprime will be here all day, live-blogging the bathroom lotion activity!

• 11:05am  Two bottles of lotion have been placed on the ledge in the entranceway to the bathroom. I asked the women in our office and they told me this is where the sundries are placed in their restroom.
  
  Hmm? They seem sort of small there, almost too hard to notice. Especially since guys are not used to having the lotion option available. I almost feel I should add a sign, or a post-it.


• 12:28pm  There has been absolutely no movement on the bottles. I'm tempted to throw a sign up there. However, I don't want to jump the gun. There will be more traffic a few hours after lunch. And maybe the idea of lotion in the men's room is so foreign to a lot of these guys that it needs some time to sink in. A few trips in and out and people start to notice the bottles. Maybe later in the week when it is obvious the bottles are here to stay, a few dudes muster up the courage to moisturize. Today, a sign might be overkill. But maybe that's just what we need! I'm torn.
  
  For now, we continue to sit and wait.


• 1:13pm  Enough waiting. A sign has been added. "Feel Free to Use." Simple and clear. Plus, I realized a whole diatribe on how the women's restroom has this and I'm just trying to give us all equal opportunities would have not only been distracting, but there is no way I could have fit it all on a Post-it.
  
  I placed the note and sat down inside a stall (I had actual business to take care of). Almost immediately I heard someone walk in. I'd like to believe they paused a bit before going to a urinal. However, on his way out his footsteps were clearly aimed at leaving the restroom. There was no lotion to be had on that trip.
  
  So now more waiting.


• 1:31pm  No bathroom updates, but Voter Steve brings up a good point in the comments:
  It's certainly possible that the lotion goes unused because the guys fear that it's used, and/or because they're worried that people haven't given their hands a good washing before using it.
  This is an excellent point. Maybe I should add a bottle of hand sanitizer to the mix just to reassure everybody that this lotion operation is on the up-and-up.
  
  I bet the women's restroom already has hand sanitizer.


• 2:35pm   The lotions in the men's room have still not moved. Before you get discouraged, Voter LoLo has some encouraging words:
  I think it might take a few days to get the men used to the lotion idea. You're sort of working against decades of culturally ingrained behavior that women are programmed with...men need time to learn to pamper themselves in the bathroom and to go in groups. Give it a day or two and I'm sure it will happen.
  To think this simple act of bringing lotions into the men's room could make such a huge change in our society.
  
  A female Voter wanted to know more information about the popularity of these women's amenities. Yes, they are there, but do they get used? Two female coworkers were very helpful with the information (while another laughed at me from a distance).
  
  First, my coworkers think that these lotions and other items are provided by other women in the building, not by the building management itself. Second, they definitely see the lotions moving around so it seems they are getting used. Bottles get finished and are disposed of but they have yet to see a repeat bottle; once it's gone, it's gone. And third, some are definitely more popular than others. I was so inquisitive that one coworker went and grabbed all the lotions in their bathroom. The Victoria's Secret lotion and the Mango Jojoba lotion were both full when they were first brought to the bathroom and as you can see, they are both nearing the bottom of the bottle. The other two bottles seem to not get used much at all.
  
  Also, most of the women don't notice the carpet in the entrance way to their bathroom. Oh, what I would give for a luxury like carpet in the newly designated lotioning area of my men's room!


• 3:26pm  Still no movement whatsoever on the lotions in the men's room. This trip to the bathroom I actually picked them up and moved them around a bit, hoping it might look to others as if someone had used them.


• 5:01pm  The bottles have been moved! In my previous trip I kind of scattered them a bit and when I returned this time they were very neatly put back next to each other, once again against the wall.
  
  Someone might have used them! Or maybe the cleaning crew just tidied things up (they do clean during the day too). Sadly, we just don't know. We will just have to watch the lotion in the bottles and see if any disappears. They still look pretty full.

And that just about does it for today. I think I've live-blogged the heck out of two bottles of lotion. But I think we can agree that this was a necessary public service for all the bathroom-going men in the world.

Did we accomplish anything? That's a tough question to answer today. Only time will tell, really. Someday maybe all bathrooms will be equal and historians will look back on this post as the watershed moment. "I have a dream..."

Look for new posts down the road as the tale of the bottles progresses.

Post-Its Should Not Be Allowed in Bathrooms

In my office building bathroom we have those automatic stop faucets. You know, the ones where you push the knob down and after about five seconds the water stops, leaving your hands still soapy and you have to repeat the process about five more times before you actually get your hands clean? Man, I love 'em!

But early on I discovered a bathroom miracle. The hot water knob on one of the sinks gets stuck when you push it and stays on until you actually pull up on the knob to turn it off. It's a blessing from the heavens.

Yes, technically the faucet is "broken." And the other building residents seem to be focused on this fact, rather than what this broken faucet can offer us. One day I walked in to the bathroom and saw a note scrawled on a paper towel and stuck over the "broken" faucet stating that the knob was out of order. I threw the paper towel away and took my time washing my hands. Another day I was...uh...sitting down in the bathroom, and I heard two people walk in and carry on a conversation about how maintenance really needed to be notified about this broken faucet.

Those fools! Ask not what you can do for the broken faucet, but what the broken faucet can do for you!

Well, Friday afternoon this reached the breaking point. I walked into the bathroom and found a post-it note stuck on the mirror just above the infamous sink (what is it with Post-its in bathrooms anyway?):

"Note: This hot water push button sticks. Please pull up to shut off (can someone notify maint?)"

Yes, everyone must know about this faucet. I'm with ya man! Let everyone enjoy the good fortunes the bathroom gods have brought us. But wait, did you say something about notifying maintenance? What's that all about? They'll take the faucet away from us all in the name of "fixing" it. No, I couldn't let that happen.

I almost threw the note away. And then I realized that this was my chance to have my voice heard! So I left a note of my own in response

"No! Don't fix it. Don't you see that this broken faucet is a blessing? Who wants to use the automatic stop ones anyway?!"

I walked away beaming with pride. I will be heard. People will read my note and minds will be changed. Who does want to use the automatic stop ones? What an excellent question.

And then the greatest thing in the history of the world happened: I got a response. A third note appeared on the mirror above the sink.

"Yeah, and why should we, who are disciplined enough to shut faucets after use, be inconvenienced by those who do not shut off faucets."

Yeah! Hit 'em below the belt. Those "undisciplined" idiots! It seems we have you outnumbered! Victory will be ours.

And that seems to remain the case now. As of today (Monday), the notes are all gone and the sink is still "broken." My people have won the first battle. But will we win the war? Only time will tell.

Hello Post-it

"What's that? Is that...a Post-it Note? In...in a bathroom?"

Yes. Yes it is. The fifth floor bathroom in my office building, to be more exact. I discovered it today when I was, well, you can imagine what I was doing. But I know what you're probaby thinking right now because I wondered the same thing when I snapped this picture. "What is a Post-it Note doing in a bathroom? Who would even bring a Post-it Note into a bathroom?"

There are many possible explanations, I suppose. Maybe it's a color sample for the new color the building manager will be painting the bathrooms. It could be a way to encourage graffiti without actually harming the stall wall. This could be 3M, makers of the Post-it Note, venturing into the toilet paper industry. I'm just not sure.

So I asked


As of 5pm on Friday 9:10am on Monday, I had not received an answer. I'll keep you (wait for it) posted.

UPDATE: As of noon on Tuesday, the post-it note has disappeared. I'm surprised it made it this long. However, I have received no answer my to question.