Tuesday, April 6, 2010

There are no boundaries!

Now, if I've learned anything from 2Birds1Blog (oh, and I have. I really have), it is that you should never bitch about your job on your blog. So, this will not be a blog post about how completely effed up it was that I had to clean the bathrooms at my place of business yesterday. It's not that it wasn't completely ridiculous and that I'm not completely livid (it was, I am), but I do know that the internet is not the place for these things. Big Brother and all that.

No, this is a post about what happened to me WHILE I was forced to clean the bathrooms yesterday, and how apparently men either have no idea how women's rooms work or have absolutely no boundaries.

There I was, in my business casual outfit and brand new shoes (but hey, that's how we women love to clean, amiright?), dragging a huge garbage can, broom and duster into the men's bathroom of a busy establishment. Holding to what I believe to be a normal sense of decency, every time I entered this room I placed a sign on the door that indicated the bathroom was closed for cleaning. I naively thought this would keep me safe.

To be fair, the gentleman in question DID ask if it was ok for him to come in. It is very possible that he didn't hear me say, "Sure, but GIVE ME A SECOND" so that I had the time to wash my hands (men's rooms, btw, are disgusting) and step out of the room. But even if he didn't hear me, it completely blows my mind that he would still walk over to the urinal and proceed to use it while I was two feet away. Maybe men are used to doing this next to (male) strangers, but rest assured that the women who are being forced to clean your disgusting mess are not! Now, I am not a prude, but being alone in a men's bathroom save for a strange man with unzipped pants is just not a comfortable situation! Not, not, not, not ok. I'm not blaming this dude for not knowing proper co-ed bathroom etiquette, but there just has to be a way to spread the word. Perhaps this begins with not forcing your office employees to clean the bathroom while they have their own g-d work to do, but I guess that is a discussion for another day.

In happier news, I made Michael Emerson laugh. My life is complete.

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