We Trust the Person in Front

Stalls in public restrooms should be made in a way where they stay ajar or open when unoccupied.  Some restrooms are like this.  This allows everyone to quickly identify the stalls that are available for use.  Every once in awhile, you encounter a line of women at the restroom with many stall doors completely shut.  They’re shut because maybe someone is in there or maybe it’s the type of door where it stays shut regardless of its occupancy and the only way to tell if anyone is in there is to actually push the door open or to look under for feet.

This is where the problem occurs.  You are just a person in line.  You weren’t the first person to start a line.  Your hope is that the first person in line actually checked all the stalls to determine they were taken before waiting in line.  Sometimes, they just assumed they were all taken and thus the line for no reason!  But everyone else in line assumes and trusts that all the stalls are taken otherwise the first person surely wouldn’t have waited in the first place.  But perhaps they weren’t even the very first to start waiting, they were second or third or who knows, you just came in when they were in the front of the line.

For example, I went to a Padres vs. Dodgers game several weeks ago.  There are a TON of stalls in the restroom.  So many that there really shouldn’t even be a line unless maybe it is during the 7th inning stretch.  But all the doors are shut.  And thus the line forms and stays.  Until my friend and I, knowing better, told the line that there were a ton of open stalls, just go to the end or check under.  Hey, try pushing the door open!

What’s the point of this post?  Nothing really, just an observation from standing in line at the restroom at Macy’s earlier today.

Just something to think about next time you’re in line.  Do you actually trust the person in front or do you go and check the stalls?  🙂