Meeting in the Ladies Room - Part Trois

Okay, as we wind down our Bathroom Blogfest, I have to share one of my bathroom pet peeves – stall size!

Of all the rooms in the home, the bathroom is the one room that must go on the road! There are no public kitchens, unless someone somewhere suddenly got the urge to cook up a meal. So, the bathroom is a public concept. Department stores, malls, arenas, airports, bus stations, railway stations, zhanga halls, everywhere the people gather, there are public restrooms. Well, at least there should be.

Having said that, I personally have been in many a public restroom. Remember, I have the kidney bean-sized kidney, and I do drink lots of water (no laugh tracks, please). When there is no line, which is rare, I tend to go into the stall that is wheelchair-accessible. Simply because it is big! There is room to turn around and pull things down and up and around.

I am a big girl, tall that is. And when I was a tall and very wide girl, those tiny stalls just weren’t working for me. I could barely turn around to shut the door, let alone pull things down and up. This kind of strategic maneuvering just isn’t working for me, especially not in the toilet. I don’t go to the toilet to practice strategic maneuvers.

I do understand that there are lots of women, and the need for many stalls in the ladies room is great. But we are ladies, not girls. I remember being at a conference given in a high school. Well, going to the “girls’ room” did take me back, but the stalls were for girls, of which I totally outgrew.

Also, being tall, I like high toilets, and the toilets in the wheelchair stalls are higher. I am a squatter, have been all my life. This is how my mother taught me. Never sit, she would scream. So, I squat. I need to squat high as I am not a low squatter. And although my kidney is pea-sized, the lake that is extracted can amount to a good minute and a half of squatting time. Low squatting for more than thirty seconds can wear on the legs. Those bars on the sides of the stall also helps with the squatting action. Yes, there is a method to my bathroom madness!

When I had the cane (for chronic sciatic pain), waiting for the wheelchair stall was more acceptable. Now, my only excuse is size; and I don’t give a crap who sees. Why aren’t there stalls for big and tall girls? Men only have to aim and shoot. We women have to maneuver! I mean, can I add “personal hygienic strategic maneuvering” to my resume?

I’ve got a meeting in the ladies room…
I’ll be back real soon…
After I have done my personal hygienic strategic maneuvers!

Check out the Bathroom Blogfest and visit my fellow bathroom maneuverettes!

Kate Rutter—Adaptive Path
Laurence Helene Borel—Blog Till You Drop
Iris Shreve Garrott—checking out and checking in
Susan Abbott—Customer Experience Crossroads
Maria Palma—Customers Are Always
Becky Carroll—Customers Rock!
Toby Bloomberg—Diva Marketing
Stephanie Weaver—Experienceology
Linda Tischler—Fast Company Now
C.B. Whittemore—Flooring the Consumer
Ed Pell—K+B DeltaVee
Helene Blowers—Library Bytes
Claudia Schiepers—Life and its little pleasures
Katie Clark—Practical Katie
Sandra Renshaw—Purple Wren
Reshma Anand—Qualitative Research
Marianna Hayes—Results Revolution
Sara Cantor—The Curious Shopper
Anna Farmery—The Engaging Brand
Dee McCrorey—The Ultimate Corporate Entrepreneur
Katia S. Adams—Transcultural
Katie Konrath—Get Fresh Minds
Jennifer Brite—Kitchen and Bath Business

Squat high, live passionately!
Coach Carolyn

Meeting in the Ladies Room - Part Deux

Living in New York City, I and many others have the challenge of finding decent public restrooms. When I say decent, of course I mean clean and not foul-smelling – don’t want to have to decide whether to sit or stand, if you know what I mean! Anyway, because we here have the problem of homelessness, clean public restrooms are a real challenge. And in the wake of 9/11, the challenge has become even greater. It was easy to duck into a hotel lobby restroom; but since 9/11, the concierge started asking to see your room key.

Still, there are several public restrooms for us out and about-ers. Any Barnes and Noble book store can accommodate your urgent needs. After you go, grab a book, purchase a latte and sit and rest. Although B&N has restrooms, there isn’t much resting going on in them; unless you rest while waiting on the line for the stall. I must say that Borders Booksellers have fabulous restrooms – clean, spacious and with foamy soap. Like B&N, you can rest with a good book once you are done.

I have become addicted to Starbucks’ Vanilla Lattes. And guess what? Yes, you guessed it – there is a public restroom. After a Grande Vanilla Latte, there had better be a restroom; though some of the smaller Starbucks don’t have public facilities. Take your own paper goods because there is rarely any toilet tissue or paper towels. But there is a toilet. So far, so good. I have noticed that not many street people use the facilities at Starbucks. They are probably put off by the price of a cup of coffee. Dunkin Donuts and McDonald’s is more their style – fast, cheap and yes, a toilet.

Now, except for the bookstores, ladies don’t look for a mirror. And no resting or socializing. Starbucks is a one-person-at-a-time facility; so no groups. But when you gotta go fast, it’s convenient. And when you really gotta go, you lose the whole socializing thing anyway. As for hotels, if there are restaurants, shops, and a bank of public phones (remember those?), then there are public restrooms. These are my personal favorites. Hotels restrooms are real meeting rooms. Women can sit, rest, socialize, and have decent conversations. The restrooms in the hotels have a sitting area, the stalls, and an area to spruce up. It’s like a condo! And everything works; there are enough paper goods to last through a flood. Hot water is hot and not lukewarm. And the paper towels are the quality kind, you know, lint-free. Good for dusting and cleaning. Okay, so I take a few. What, do they want them back? But I digress….

When I counsel clients in grief, especially women, I always tell them to honor their feelings and when you need to have a meltdown, duck into a ladies room. It is socially accepted, no one is going to stop you from needing to go to the loo, and it is full of tissues (at least we pray that it is) and, there is a mirror; except Starbucks. Wonder what’s up with that? With the prices they charge they should be able to afford bathroom mirrors, don’t you think? I mean, what's a restroom without a mirror? Just a loo!

"...I'll be back real soon..."

Coach Carolyn

Meeting in the Ladies Room - Prelude

Welcome to the annual Bathroom Blogfest, which runs from October 29 to November 2, during National Kitchen and Bath Month. Bloggers from around the globe write about the importance of bathrooms in the customer experience with photographs of great and terrible bathrooms. Their posts come from a wide range of perspectives that include sociology, marketing, research, psychology, environmental, customer experience, and user-experience design.

To meet all the bloggers and read their posts, visit the official Bathroom Blogfest Blog. Also check out the hilarious bathroom videos. I want to thank the instigators and animators of this fest: Stephanie Weaver, Susan Abbott, and C.B. Whittemore.

C.B. asked me if I would participate this year. And just having come from France and visiting so many WC's, I said of course. So here is my kickoff. Enjoy!

In honor of the 2007 Bathroom Blogfest, I thought I would focus on the ladies room as the meeting room. Back in the day, 1986, Klymaxx, an all-female band came out with a song called, “Meeting in the Ladies Room.” The chorus went:

“I got a meeting in the ladies room,
I’ll be back real soon…”

Unofficially, women have made the ladies restrooms a gathering place not only for rest, but relaxation, refreshment and conversation. Women of all ages gathered and took their place in front of the huge mirror. And by the way, because of the lighting in most restrooms, did you notice that every flaw is magnified? What’s up with that? But I digress…

I have always been intrigued with this notion of meeting in the ladies room. Why is it that women go to the ladies room in pairs or groups? Because it is a meeting room! Yes, there is the urgent business to take care of, but then there is the real business – socializing. And you socialize while you “fix your face.” Never understood that one, but I go with the flow. When you situate yourself next to another woman in the ladies room, find one with a “normal-size” handbag. She’s got everything you need in that bag! She may even have a spare roll of tissues. She has the sprays, the fix-its, the gels, and the Krazy Glue. I cannot understand the women who carry these teeny-weeny little handbags. All you can fit in one is a lipstick and a mobile phone…. As if! But again, I digress.

I am one of these women with a kidney the size of, well, a kidney bean. So I need to visit the ladies room quite often. What do I look for in a ladies room? Once upon a time, I wanted comfort and a clean smell. Today, just give me a toilet! I can manage the rest. No tissues? No worries, I travel with my own. No soap? No worries, I travel with my own. What, no water? No worries, that’s what hand sanitizers are for. Yes, I have been in many a ladies rooms, so I know lack.

My tip for the day: Always travel with a pack of tissues, a pack of soap leaves and/or a small bottle of hand sanitizer. If the ladies room has a toilet with a door, you are ahead of the game.

Uh-oh!
I got a meeting in the ladies room…
But I’ll be back real soon…

My Fellow Rockin' Bathroom Bloggers:

Kate Rutter—Adaptive Path
Laurence Helene Borel—Blog Till You Drop
Iris Shreve Garrott—checking out and checking in
Susan Abbott—Customer Experience Crossroads
Maria Palma—Customers Are Always
Becky Carroll—Customers Rock!
Toby Bloomberg—Diva Marketing
Stephanie Weaver—Experienceology
Linda Tischler—Fast Company Now
C.B. Whittemore—Flooring the Consumer
Ed Pell—K+B DeltaVee
Helene Blowers—Library Bytes
Claudia Schiepers—Life and its little pleasures
Katie Clark—Practical Katie
Sandra Renshaw—Purple Wren
Reshma Anand—Qualitative Research
Marianna Hayes—Results Revolution
Sara Cantor—The Curious Shopper
Anna Farmery—The Engaging Brand
Dee McCrorey—The Ultimate Corporate Entrepreneur
Katia S. Adams—Transcultural

Again, the round-up is at the Bathroom Blogfest Blog.

See you in the ladies room,
Coach Carolyn