I told a story at a Moth StorySLAM in Boston last week.
After telling my story, I made my way to the restroom.
The restroom is gender-neutral. I’ve performed at this theater many times and have used this gender-neutral restroom many times, and I have no issues or complaints about men and women sharing the same restroom facilities. I’ve entered the same restroom with female friends at this location and others on countless occasions and thought nothing of it.
Except for last week.
As I entered the restroom, I was followed by a young woman who wanted to tell me how much she enjoyed my story. But because she was trailing behind me, I had already made it to the urinal by the time she entered the restroom and began speaking to me.
“I loved your story!” she began and proceeded to tell me that she’d read my books, watched my stories online, and really connected with me through my stories.
It probably shouldn’t have bothered me, but standing at a urinal, taking care of business, and then suddenly hearing a woman somewhere behind me, attempting to engage me in conversation, was a little startling, to say the least.
I probably would’ve been startled if the person had been a man since this isn’t something that men typically do in a restroom, but the fact that she was a woman made it especially disconcerting.
Either I need to get over this particular hang-up, or she needs to learn the nuances of restroom politics when urinals are involved.
Maybe both.
