This Men’s Room is Safe to Enter

This Men's Room is Safe to Enter

I have, on purpose, used men’s rooms when needed. I will cover my eyes and say, ‘not looking, not looking’ as I head directly to the stalls. Yes, they are as disgusting as men warn you. Not as disgusting as the women’s stalls at the Beijing Zoo though, so all-in-all, acceptable for use if you have strong quads and can hold your breath for more than two minutes and are not afraid of an audience.

I recently came off a flight from Thunder Bay to Toronto and had enjoyed a giant coffee on the plane. It was a jet and probably had a decent onboard facility, but still, I waited far too long to find an actual receptacle for my gift to the water treatment plant. I needed something PDQ once we landed. And since there is no texting shortcut for that one, I’ll spell it out. Pee Damn Quickly. 

I power walked past several with lines knowing there was one at the baggage carousel area to the left after the escalator (this was not my first PDQ). I continued my power walk with a single-minded focus: Do not uncross your legs until you are within the target range of the bowl. Because I was so focused on the stall, I did not notice the sign, nor the man washing his hands (to his credit, he didn’t notice me either), until I had my hand on the stall door and realized it was odd to find urinals in the ladies room. Compute, Kristine, compute.

My train of thought went something like this…

Urinals? Could it be that all washrooms at Pearson International are gender neutral? That’s progressive. But, doesn’t that make performance anxiety real if there are all genders in one facility without partitions around the urinals?… Oh, shit. There was a man at the sink when I came in. Could I be in the men’s room?

The hand washer was gone and I retreated without relieving myself to review the signage. I was definitely in the men’s room. I was still crossing my legs and now laughing uncontrollably, which is not a great combination. At this exact moment, the gentleman who had sat across from me on the flight who I’d struck up a conversation with about Persians in Thunder Bay (A Persian is a cinnamon swirl baked thingy with pink icing) happened to also need the facility. His response to seeing me exit the men’s room was, “How was the view in there?” To which I replied, “I was pleasantly surprised to see a man washing his hands. This facility officially passes. It is safe to enter.” No, I didn’t actually say that. That was the comeback that occurred to me at 4am the next morning. I said, “You might want to use another facility, I found women in this one?” I didn’t say that either. That one I just made up. What I actually said was, “Bwahaha blubber blubber.” I know. Inspiring.

Later beside the carousel, he approached me again. This time I’d had some time to think. “That Persian must have affected your eyesight,” he continued to laugh with me. “I identify as a Thunder Bayer and we are more progressive than most.” Maybe it was the pink icing talking, but I was happy to close with that.

End scene.

 

Can we just acknowledge how funny this image is? Really… the Men’s Room is your happy place? I came across this sign yesterday at a highway stop and it reminded me to tell you my story. As I was taking this picture, a man turned the corner into the ladies room and had to turn back. I almost peed myself.


Comments

  1. Well, my first thought was, where did you finally wind up going? I’m assuming you lasted throughout at least one ladies room line.

    My 2nd thought is, what happened last night? I got your 2nd of the day blog at about 7:00 PM and thought it was a bonus – instead it remained out of reach.

    “28 Thoughts I Had While Trying to be Mindful
    by Kristine Laco”

    I tried every which way to get to it but still wound up on “Page 404”. It sounded interesting and thought it would be today’s blog.

  2. BTW, while trying to find the missing blog, I stumbled onto one of your earlier Emergency blogs and saw I responded to it in 2015! Wow. I’ve been with you for quite a while now. It would be interesting to see when I first started following you….interesting to me, anyway.

  3. Pretty much every thought I had about men’s rooms went out the window when I got to the description of a Persian because those sound delicious. A Persian would be just the thing to go with my jumbo large coffee this morning. That’s it. I’m on the first flight to Thunder Bay, although I’ll need to make a quick stop and wash my hands first.
    Christopher recently posted…In The Details.My Profile

    • Glad to see you washing your hands. Important stuff. We eat Persians for breakfast, snack, and dessert. It is a Thunder Bay multi-purpose baked good. Some people grill them, fry them, or microwave them. I like them just like this. Fresh and calorie-free. 🙂

Leave a Reply to Christopher Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge
%d bloggers like this: