I appreciate and embrace consistency in all things. Find the fastest, most accurate, most efficient, least expensive way of doing something, and repeat as often as needed.
This is why men’s restrooms infuriate me.
Almost all men’s restrooms contain urinals. This is good. They actually allow for the fastest, most efficient use of the restroom. They are quick to use and take up less space than a standard toilet, allowing for more of them. Urinals are the reason why the line to the men’s restroom is always shorter than the line to the women’s restroom.
But here’s the thing:
In the last decade or so, privacy partitions have started appearing between urinals in some restrooms. These rectangular pieces of plastic or wood have been bolted onto the wall between urinals, apparently offering a modicum of privacy to the user.
“You can still see my head and my feet, but just try looking at my penis now, buster!”
I’m not specifically opposed to these privacy partitions. What I’m opposed to is the lack of consistency between restrooms. Some have partitions between urinals and some don’t, and this bothers me. Men either require this privacy partition or they don’t, and I’m annoyed that we haven’t come to a decision on this matter.
If it were up to me, I’d have no privacy partition. For a very long time, men used urinals without complaint or problem. Why we need to suddenly ensure the privacy of our genitals is beyond me. There was a time when men at Fenway Park and other baseball stadiums urinated into a communal trough without much complaint, and there are probably places where these troughs still exist. Men pee on trees all the time. Sometimes we pee side by side on the same tree. I can’t imagine that many men suddenly felt the need for privacy while using a urinal.
But perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps a significant number of men require a strategically placed sheet of plywood positioned at penis height to feel comfortable.
“You can look me in the eye or stare at my shoes while I pee, but don’t you dare look at my penis!”
Maybe men are more concerned with wandering eyes that I think. Perhaps exposure of the penis contributes to shy bladders. Maybe this is homophobia rearing its ugly head.
What I’ve also noticed is that the smaller the men’s room and the more professional or fancy the establishment, the more likely that there will be partitions.
Therefore a corporate headquarters or an expensive restaurant is more likely to have partitions than a concert hall, a fast food restaurant, or a sports stadium.
This annoys me, too.
Men who work in the corporate world or spend more on dinner are more likely to have penises that require privacy than men who attend football games or stop at a McDonald’s to use the restroom?
Also, aren’t these quite often the same men?
I don’t know.
But here is what I do know:
We either need these partitions or we don’t. Either equip all men’s rooms with these privacy partitions or stop adding them to restrooms altogether.
Consistency. That’s all I want. A universal agreement that this added expense is either needed or not. We either need to hide our penises in the restroom or we don’t.
I think not, but as long as we can come to some kind of agreement, I’ll be happy.
