Toilet Talk

Fourty-five minutes before lunchtime today, the receptionist at my office got on the intercom system to announce that the water had been shut off. “The bathrooms are off-limits until further notice,” she advised.

Oh, sweet discomfort! It is only when you are told that you cannot use the bathroom that you suddenly have the terrible urge to use the bathroom.

“I just had a big mug of tea!” my co-worker confided nervously.

“Me, too!” I replied.

What do we do? Where do we go? We work in the industrial sector of town, so our choices are limited. Luckily, there is a restaurant in the office building across the street. Many ladies shuffled down the road to purchase an overpriced sandwich and to heed the call of nature while they were there.

I held it in. I credit my intense school-age training, when I was uneasy about using the school toilets. I normally held it in until I got home. I admit that I had my share of mad dashes from the bus stop to my house. But, meh, on the whole, it worked for me.

About one hour after the end of our lunch break, the receptionist got back on the intercom, declaring that the building was once again with water. I heard ladies’ cheers as I quickly lined up for the employee bathroom.

“I can go back to drinking water again!” the boss’s mother hooted giddily.

“Until now, I sure didn’t chance it,” I added, cotton-mouthed and shifting from foot to foot while waiting for a bathroom door to unlock.

Today’s inconvenience reminded me of a radio report I had heard last week. Did you know that last Friday was World Toilet Day? At face value, it does sound like a bit of a joke. However, the report did bring up some fascinating facts.

* Men’s and women’s public restrooms are usually the same size, square-footage-wise, however, you can fit double the number of restroom units inside the men’s room.

* In order for there to be “potty parity” between men and women, experts have determined that there should be double the number of restroom units for women than for men.

* Some men argue that if women want to attain the ultimate equality in a public restroom setting (one of the last remaining inequalities of the sexes, some might say), women should be prepared to give up some “toilet luxuries” and settle for such devices as the *gasp!* female urinal.

* On a more serious note, the report also brought up how female fieldworkers in developing countries choose not to hydrate themselves during work hours--even in extreme heat--because there are no toilet facilities provided to them.

* The introduction of proper sanitation has actually upped school enrollment in some developing countries. Who knew?

These last facts made me especially embarrassed of making a fuss over our temporary toilet inconvenience. We don’t know how good we have it until it is taken away from us, after all.


To learn more about World Toilet Day, have a look here: http://www.worldtoilet.org/wtd/