Next to me, there is a woman talking on her phone. I can hear all about her day and her personal issues. Now many of you may wonder, why this is worthy of a column topic?
She was talking, in the bathroom.
Everyone has their cell phones with them at every minute of every day, but talking in the bathroom? Is that really completely necessary?
The last thing you want to hear is the person in the next stall talking on the phone to her friend about whether or not she and her boyfriend are a good fit.
I have seen people do many things while talking on the cell phones. They shop, drive, and apparently now visit the restroom too!
Last week there was a gal in the restroom in Mendocino Hall pacing back and forth in front of the sinks because she was on the phone and talking with a friend. Their conversation didn’t seem to be worthy of being taken into the bathroom, at least to a bystander. But apparently it was only the sink worthy type of conversation as opposed the actually go in and use the bathroom worthy.
The interesting thing about this, is that it is not just young college age twenty-something’s doing this either. Awhile back I was in a department store and went to use the rest room and low and behold this woman walks in and she is talking. This is something that it not uncommon, since women generally visit the bathroom in pairs.
I realized she was on the phone when no one replied back after she paused. If that wasn’t enough she went into the stall, did what she had to do, flushed the toilet, and came back out, all while carrying on a conversation with her friend, about when they want to plan for dinner and when everyone should come over to her house…
A conversation about food. In a bathroom. On a cell phone?
This really takes going to the bathroom in pairs to a new level.
According to the US Census 2004-2005 Statistical Abstract of the United States, cell phone use is up over 300 percent and in 2003 159 million people had cell phones. By now we are probably up to somewhere around 255 million, maybe more.
That is a lot of cell phones out there to be used at various times. People literally are on their cell phones every minute of the day. I brought this up to my boyfriend, because I was so shocked when this first occurred. I wasn’t sure whether I should laugh, or feel just a little bit violated. I had to know. Do men do this too?
The look he gave me said it all, but he followed it up with an emphatic, “No!” So now, I am curious. Is this more of a woman’s thing because we have an obsession with multi-tasking? Do we feel that by talking on the phone and using the restroom we are saving time somehow?
Hopefully the multi-tasking takes itself a step further and the women all wash their hands!
First, who is Meg? Does she have a last name, or is she as nameless as the woman talking in the next stall in the rest room?
ReplyDeleteAs to the column, the topic is good, though posing a question "Now many of you may wonder, why this is worthy of a column topic?" is unnecessary. Obviously, the writer thinks its worth a column, or it wouldn't be posted.
That said, the columnist added some research, put in some good detail and delivered a nice punchline at the end.
And obviously the writer has some strong feelings about the topic.
With some tightening up, the column would draw even more readers.