Thursday, February 10, 2005

My Urinal Dilemma

Men's restrooms at places of business generally have two urinals. One is at a normal adult height; the other is lower and is accessible to shorter or younger people. My workplace is no exception.

I resist heavily using the lower urinal. When it's open and the other one is in use, I'm faced with the awkward decision to check out the vacancy of the stalls or wait for the higher one to become available. Using the lower one just doesn't feel right.

One time I entered the bathroom to find the adult urinal being used and both stalls in use as well. I would've left the room immediately to use a bathroom on another floor, but I had a bunch of water and had been sitting in an hour long meeting so I didn't have much time to play with. I buried my quirky preference and began using the lower urinal and just as I started my business, the adult urinal became available. Then another gentleman came into the bathroom to find me using the lower urinal without the benefit of knowing that I didn't really have a choice in using it. I'm standing there thinking that somehow he'll think I prefer this urinal.

What kills me about this is that I rarely care what people think of me. I have an independent streak in me that normally overrides conforming to what people expect of me. Yet I find myself going through this self-inspection of how I'm being perceived while urinating. I have no idea why.

Beyond this problem I've found that the lower urinal where I work now is ridiculously close to the floor. The urinal is about 4 inches off of the floor. It feels like I'm about to pee on my shoes. I shouldn't feel guilty for not wanting to use it, but somehow I do. If this continues, I'll probably just start using an old water bottle at my desk.

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