who put round eyes on a butterfly's wing?
This is not particularly high-brow or edifying, but I have a question for you:
Pictured above is the view from the door as you walk into one of the toilets at work.
You'll notice that one of the urinals is bathed in the light from an overhead spotlight, and the other is not. These are the only two urinals in the toilet. Your other options are the three traps off to the left.
My question is this: if you have a free choice and there is no one else in the room.... which urinal do you choose? Are you the kind of person who seeks out the spotlight, or do you prefer the less illuminated option? Does your choice say anything about you as a person?
I ask because every time I pop in here, and it's a little bit off the beaten track but is usually a bit cleaner and quieter than some of my other options, I am faced with this dilemma: do I choose the light or do I choose darkness?
Actually, I think that this is a choice I must subconsciously make in every single toilet I visit regularly, and it's a choice that is simply highlighted here - literally - by the spotlight. Do I have an instinctive preference for one side or the other? Do I choose randomly? Am I always influenced by the local conditions? I genuinely don't know.... I don't think I always choose the same side, but now I think of it, I'm not sure.....so I'm throwing the question open to the floor.
So: are you a creature of habit? Do you always adopt the same position, or do you like to break the routine and mix things up a little? (as long as you had a free choice and there was no-one else present to force your hand - there are rules, after all). Would the spotlight here influence your decision? There's no need for you ladies to feel excluded from this conversation either: if you have a free choice of traps, do you have a preference? Do you go straight to a cubicle on the end or will you throw caution to the wind and go for the middle? You must have rules too, right? (and does anyone in a gents toilet really ever use the cubicle nearest the urinals?)
So many questions.
See, I told you it wasn't edifying.... but it's good to talk about these things, isn't it?
Isn't it?
Ah, just me then. Why is my head filled with this stuff?
(Perhaps the real question to ask is if you're the kind of person who gets your camera out in a toilet.... but let's not go there, eh?)
Pictured above is the view from the door as you walk into one of the toilets at work.
You'll notice that one of the urinals is bathed in the light from an overhead spotlight, and the other is not. These are the only two urinals in the toilet. Your other options are the three traps off to the left.
My question is this: if you have a free choice and there is no one else in the room.... which urinal do you choose? Are you the kind of person who seeks out the spotlight, or do you prefer the less illuminated option? Does your choice say anything about you as a person?
I ask because every time I pop in here, and it's a little bit off the beaten track but is usually a bit cleaner and quieter than some of my other options, I am faced with this dilemma: do I choose the light or do I choose darkness?
Actually, I think that this is a choice I must subconsciously make in every single toilet I visit regularly, and it's a choice that is simply highlighted here - literally - by the spotlight. Do I have an instinctive preference for one side or the other? Do I choose randomly? Am I always influenced by the local conditions? I genuinely don't know.... I don't think I always choose the same side, but now I think of it, I'm not sure.....so I'm throwing the question open to the floor.
So: are you a creature of habit? Do you always adopt the same position, or do you like to break the routine and mix things up a little? (as long as you had a free choice and there was no-one else present to force your hand - there are rules, after all). Would the spotlight here influence your decision? There's no need for you ladies to feel excluded from this conversation either: if you have a free choice of traps, do you have a preference? Do you go straight to a cubicle on the end or will you throw caution to the wind and go for the middle? You must have rules too, right? (and does anyone in a gents toilet really ever use the cubicle nearest the urinals?)
So many questions.
See, I told you it wasn't edifying.... but it's good to talk about these things, isn't it?
Isn't it?
Ah, just me then. Why is my head filled with this stuff?
(Perhaps the real question to ask is if you're the kind of person who gets your camera out in a toilet.... but let's not go there, eh?)
Labels: culture etc.
posted by swisslet @ 20:02
5 Comments:
At 9:37 pm,
Anonymous said…
ah... the age-old toilet dilemma. you caught me at an opportune moment for this comment. I hope my choice is not always the same - but guess I would probably end up a not-the-spotlight chap more often..... this may say more about me than you taking pictures in the gents says about you - but just be glad there aren't 3 which conjures a whole new level of complexity!
Rgds
cider buddy & hat-holder
At 10:33 pm,
Mr London Street said…
If you think there's a risk you'll miss, go for the one in the light. If not, opt for the one in the shade.
At 5:38 pm,
Michael said…
I would end up taking the one on the left (the lighted one) but not because of the light. I have a tendency to go to the leftmost of anything due to self defense. Being right handed, my right hand would be closer to a would be assailant if the need rose for me to defend myself.
Yes, I am paranoid, thanks for asking. LOL
At 6:15 pm,
Alecya G said…
I know up to this point its looking like a man's conversation... I feel similar pressures. For example, I work in a restaurant that has only two stalls in the ladies. One of them is a normal stall and the otehr handicapped. The first one, the normal one, the door doesn't quite lock prperly. The handicapped one there isn't a trash can for feminine product disposal. Statistics say the very first stall in a bathroom is the least used. I believe that. So, I get to choose between being walked in on in the cleaner stall or having to throw away my personal products in the big trash cans next to the sink after using the dorr I am sure locks. (that freaks me out) Then again, there's the delimna of using the handicapped stall when I'm not actually handicapped...
I don't know Swiss. I think I'd use the one in the darker side. But then again, you know me, I'm a lurker, so I'd opt for the dark most days....
At 9:41 pm,
Anonymous said…
I'm looking at the picture and wondering whether the way the light is falling would enable me to create a rainbow with my stream.
And you're wondering why your head is full of this stuff. Sheesh.
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