the “out-of-the-way” bathroom

Here in the office we all take note of the locations of the bathrooms. There’s one near the front we tell visitors to go to most of the time and then a couple of offices have their own bathrooms (must be nice). But, in the back hallway, there’s that bathroom. You know—the out-of-the-way bathroom.

At 10:30 a.m. every morning, one of my male co-workers passes by my office to go to the OOTW bathroom. He turned 40 this year. I guess he’s on a schedule now.

We’re talking about a great psychological study here. How does a group of people, without discussing with one another, pick the OOTW bathroom? It happens every time if there is a choice of bathrooms. Some bathrooms are for dainty business and others are plainly earmarked for gastrointestinal works of art. I suppose, for people who only have one bathroom with many stalls, you could do a study on stall choice.

To Share or Not to Share?
Then there’s the question of whether or not to share the fruits of our labor. At first I thought it was only the men leaving the door wide open after creating a work of art, but I think it’s really a mixture of men and women. My suspicion is that this behavior is taught by the family of origin. I don’t remember receiving said instruction, but common sense tells me to spray and leave the door cracked. To fill the entire hallway with flowery poop smell is not appealing to me. Yes, it dissipates quickly, but at what cost? Why not dissipate the aroma slowly and privately? The only victim would be the next user of the OOTW bathroom. If they are not there to create a work of art themselves, then let them go to one of the dainty bathrooms. Or the person could “pre-spray” the area for olfactory comfort.