Inferior Imitator

ep·i·gone n. A second-rate imitator or follower, especially of an artist or a philosopher.

Friday, January 26, 2007

In a bathroom, when there are multiple stalls to choose from, have you ever stopped and thought about the process you go through to decide which one to choose? You avoid using the accessible one in case someone who needs it comes in after you. If there's one already occupied, it's courteous to choose one that's not right next to them. Obviously, if there's something still in the bowl, you have to do the sudden stop and back out. You don't want to pick the smelly one, because if someone comes in after you, you don't want them to think you're the one who stunk it up. If you do have to stink it up, you pick the one farthest away from the door to minimize spread.

If I'm a habitual user of that particular public bathroom, I tend to choose one stall and stick with it. When I was in preschool, it was held in the church basesment. The church bathroom had two stalls and for as long as I had remembered, I always used the one closest to the door. One day, during a bathroom break, I was next in line and the one farthest away from the door opened up before the one I always used. The teacher told me to use the open one, and I threw a fit because I wanted to wait for the other one. I don't think she knew why I was throwing a fit, though, because I was stood in the corner for that little fiasco.

7 Antiphon:

5:58 PM, January 26, 2007, Blogger Laurie

I follow the exact same rules when choosing a stall at my work.

 
9:46 PM, January 26, 2007, Blogger Chelsea

Same rules for me too. I always feel funny using a different stall. I can't say I threw a fit when I was young, but I have been obeying the rules for a long time.

 
6:27 AM, January 27, 2007, Blogger Dogeared

It's not just me! In the main office at work (rather than the depot where I am now), there are three stalls. I used to always use the left, then switched to the right hand one. If for some reason I have to use the middle, it's weird.

For one thing, the toilet roll holder's on the wrong side!

 
6:52 AM, January 27, 2007, Blogger Eileen

I always use the same stall at work too. I documented this often on my blurty at my old job (probably before you started reading it), because I was having a toilet roll war (which way it went on the holder) with some anonymous person who also used it all the time.

Probably only in my head though.

 
10:04 AM, January 28, 2007, Blogger CosmicAvatar

I too have specialized loo-picking habits!

 
4:42 PM, January 28, 2007, Blogger Ems

i will NEVER go in the accessible one. Even if there is a line and that is the only open one, i wont go in there. I have pissed off many people with that move. I just tell them if they want to use that one, fine, go ahead of me, but I wont be the person in there when someone who actually NEEDS it comes in. Cuz someday I will be that person who NEEDS that stall. Its karma. I always try to go in the closest one cuz no one ever uses that one for some reason, so its always the cleanest.

 
3:07 PM, January 30, 2007, Blogger Technomage

OK, I'll be an ass or maybe it's just a male thing. I pick my public potty on two criteria: Cleaniness and which stall has the best grafitti to read.

Now urinals are a completely differnet matter. If all of them are open at the time, I pick the cleanest one (or the one least likely to blow water all over me when the auto-flush kicks in.) If one urinal is being used I pick the urinal that is as far as possible from the other gentlemen. If it is crowded, us guys just stand there and stare at the wall pretended no one's private parts are less than a foot away form each other.

 

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