When the Cheshire emerges...

Conduct in public bathrooms can be a mystery to some and a fascination to others. The context depends on the situation but more often than not revolves around female toilets; whether it's males trying to debunk myths or the ladies discovering something out of the ordinary.

Work toilets are among this. I made an interesting observation last week when I made a visit to my employer's bathroom.


I go in and see one toilet is occupied. Fine. I go in my cubicle, and notice the whole time I'm in there I can't hear boo from next door. And I was in there a decent amount of time.

On coming out to wash my hands, she emerges. It was a visitor to our office and saying hello to be polite were the only words I ended up speaking to her during her stay. But I couldn't help but think about why you would go to such effort to be quiet when you're not even a regular worker.

I don't get this phenomenon in general. No one is deathly silent in the toilet without trying. Surely it's not healthy. To be honest, I don't know how it's done. And I don't get why - no one cares, we do what we have to do and that's it. It's like sneezing - who gives a rat's bum if you're loud, as long as you have a tissue. Geez. Rant over.