12 July 2007

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

It struck me as funny, at any rate, and I was reminded of it again this afternoon. During a break in Zach's freshman orientation, we went to use the restroom, and naturally there was no line for the men's room. Meanwhile, in the brief time it took for us to be in and out, a line of at least two dozen women formed leading up to their restroom door.

Well, I do sympathize with the ladies, but I also had to chuckle as I recalled the designations I observed on the restroom doors of the restaurant where we had lunch yesterday. The one door read "Ladies," nothing unusual about that, but the other door read "Gentleman" (in the singular). I don't know if the difference was intentional, but it was a case of truth in advertising.

I once heard a stand-up comic describe a group of men and women out for an evening meal together. One of the ladies got up to "powder her nose," and of course all the other women followed her. Men will usually avoid going to the restroom at the same time. Maybe that's related to the fact that males of the animal kingdom stake out their turf by, well, you know. Women, on the other hand, appear to make group excursions out of going potty. (Sorry, but my wife and I have been diaper changing and potty training for the past thirteen years straight, so there's not a lot of delicacy in my language for such things.) Anyway, when the ladies finally returned to the table, one of the men observed that they had been gone a rather long time. His date retorted that, yes, because there was a line! Uhhh, yeah. You took it with you!

1 comment:

Karin said...

Aha! So as you strategize navigating rest stops with your family you take most of them in with you? That avoids the herds in the women's bathrooms and as my dh would say 'gets us back on the road sooner'. It makes rest stops a literal pit stop with Nascar flair. With all those sons I am glad your dear wife can depend on you! ;o)