So the other day I am having lunch at a local joint, and I go to the men's room. It is a small place with a small restroom, but with a big problem for me. It has both a urinal and a stall, but no division between the two. The problem is, what is protocol in this situation:
Do I lock the door or not?
To clarify, there are separate men's and women's rooms. The men's room was square and big enough got two people but there would be no privacy between the two. I only had to use the urinal, so do I lock the door and hog the bathroom to myself? Why should I take all the spoils, just because I was first on the scene (or the guy with the smaller bladder)?
If there were dividers, it is a no brainer; you leave it unlocked. Call it courtesy among guys. You should not hoard and leave others with none. But, this was not the case. Granted, I only had to go #1, and there is the space and outlet if someone else needed to do the same, so I should leave it unlocked. But what if that wasn't the case? What if the person who joins me has more, um, serious work to do? I don't think I want then in here with me; if the roles were reversed, I know I wouldn't want to join them.
But do I preemptively lock the door, just to prevent others from taking this unlikely unsocial behavior? There is no joke to this post. Just looking for opinions and clarification.
And yes, I did lock the door.
1 comment:
You did the right thing. I feel the urinal and commode are there for options, not for multiple users. What would have happened if you were using the urinal and someone came in, would people in the hall have seen you? That's another good gauge of whether to lock or not.
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