Ladies Restroom Etiquette

I was listening to XM Radio's comedy station this morning on the way in to work, and a female comic was talking about the unwritten etiquette rules of the ladies restroom. It's funny, I recently had this talk with hubby - asked him if the same rules apply for public men's restrooms. His answer was - well after first looking at me like I was insane, I believe he made some comment about women being nuts. Apparently, no - men's rooms don't have the unwritten etiquette rules. Two classic examples of this are 1) hubby's coworker, upon emerging from the men's room at the office made a comment along the lines of "that would have killed a normal man" - and 2) unfortunately my desk at the office is directly across the hall from the restrooms. My male coworkers will actually warn each other not to go into the men's room for a while until the haze clears.

There are just a few clear rules for the ladies restroom that are never spoken about, but for some reason everyone knows and follows them.

- If there are several open stalls, do not go into the stall immediately next to someone. Always leave an empty stall on either side when possible. Same with the sinks. If you're in a large restroom like a movie theater or airport with tons of sinks, do not pick the sink immediately next to someone. We have very large comfort zones in restrooms.

- Do not fart or poo if there is someone else in the restroom. I have on several occasions left the restroom when I REALLY had to go because there was someone else in there. I've waited until the person left, or at work before gone to a different floor to use the restroom.

- If you must pass gas or 'go potty', flush repeatedly so no one else can hear you. Now of course you obviously know what's going on if you hear the repeated flushes, but of course that's not spoken of. AND - if you're still in there when the flusher emerges from the stall, do not make eye contact. She's embarrassed enough as it is.

This last one isn't one of the "written in stone unspoken rules" but more of a common courtesy request. Please don't talk on your cell phones while in the stall. One, the person you're speaking to most likely doesn't like hearing the toilets flushing and all of the other bathroom noise. But also, it makes the other women in the bathroom very self conscious.

So anyway... just my contribution to the manners of society...