Tell me.Is it ever acceptable to be seen walking in or out of work bathrooms with reading material? Don't give me your knee jerk answer either, stop and give it some thought. You will see that technically it is possible to stay relatively germ free, if you put your mind to it.
Is it such a crime to want to multi-task?
By the way, I am of course asking this question on behalf of a friend.
12 comments:
Read away, guilt free brethra. read away.
I knew I could count on you. I'll tell my friend.
Hypothetically, yes. For instance, your friend comes back from lunch with a newspaper under his or her arm and goes to the toilets before his or her desk (because the loos are closer and they Really Need To Go!).
People may outwardly judge you, but secretly they're wishing they had the courage to do it. Trust me. Or tell your friend to trust me...
I have never seen that happen at my work (a government department...). But there are only three ladies' toilets on the whole floor for a very female-dominated work area. And these toilets are also used by clients (parents and small children) waiting in the waiting area. So there probably wouldn't be enough time to read anything in there before somebody else turns up wanting to go...
I never read in the toilet at home either, for the record. The germ thing on books does worry me...
Just saying.
Karen — it's a boy thing. They spend far longer in there than I ever do, I can never figure out why. It is such an uncomfortable place to sit!
Your friend could always read the paper or reply to that email on his mobile phone?! Is that in the same questionable-hygiene bucket?
I missed the "work" part first and was thinking, "well, I guess what you want to do at home is probably okay" ... which I think is answer in and of itself!
But since you asked not for a knee-jerk ... my caveat is that, for example, my bag always has a book in it and I almost always take my entire bag with me to the bathroom. It would naturally be silly to remove the book simply to avoid taking it, so I don't see a problem with that ... but um, the way you mean it ... well ...
Laetitia- Ok. But you're missing the point.
Belle- Thanks, just the validation my friend was looking for
Karen- not even at home? Oh, the wasted hours..
Wendy- Maybe it is a boy thing. I'll tell you what a girl thing is though? Knocking on the door after I've JUST gotten comfortable and saying 'are you going to be much longer'?
Yes. I've only just started the chapter.
Matt- I'd put them all in the same bucket.Though I have heard the arguement that smartphones are okay because you can use them one-handed. I guess this is a similar logic to why Indian people only eat with their right hands..
Kim- I envy girls having handbags. Gosh, all the good stuff I could smuggle in if I had one of those badboys. Novels, crosswords, comics. Popcorn.
I was discussing this last night with my husband, a health professional in the public health system (as some light relief from the current political dramas).
He once saw a male colleague emerge from the staff toilets with a medical chart/file under his arm. Apparently even he thought that was a bit much since he remembers talking about the inappropriateness of this with other workmates afterwards... But he thought other reading might be okay.
Ben - I think you misunderstood me. One comes back from lunch with a newspaper - it's one's own reading material; not something for use by other staff members - and goes to the toilet with said newspaper before returning to one's desk (so no raised eyebrows about why they're taking a newspaper to the toilet).
But I'm left querying why people want to read in the toilets in the first place - surely there are more comfortable places.
And if one does it at work then one runs the risk of being seen as a slacker / time thief by taking so much work time in the loo because one actually wants to get in some light reading - something that one wouldn't get away with if sitting at one's desk.
It's kinda weird when you see a work colleague walk in the direction of the loo, carrying reading material.
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