Thank you, Mr. Bathroom man
Let me start by painting a scenario for you.
In the restrooms where I work, you are presented with 2 options as far as stalls go. You have the handicapped stall (or whatever the PC term is), and the other stall. The other stall is your standard-sized bathroom stall, which is not a problem. The real problem lies in something I like to refer to as “gappage”. “Gappage” is the space between the actual door to the stall and the other part it is connected to. The other stall has huge, horrible gappage. The way it is set up, from sitting in that stall, you can clearly see through the gappage the reflection of whoever is washing their hands. And they can see you too. This really bothers me. Maybe it is a weird complex I have, I don’t know, but I really like my privacy while, you know, incommunicado. And every hand-washer looks.
So that leads me to the handicapped stall. Not only is is spacious, but you get a nice bar to grab onto if need be, and also the gappage, although equal to the other stall, is not a factor since it is out of eyesight from anyone else in the bathroom. I love that stall. If it is in use, I do not even consider the other stall. I will go to another floor if I have to.
The only problem with that stall is a small one, but still a problem. You have no way of knowing if it is in use without actually pulling on the door and seeing if it opens (it naturally rests closed). If you are the one in the stall, it is just weird if someone pulls on the door while you are occupying it. With me, whenever someone walks in the restroom, I give the good ol’ courtesy cough to make my presence known. But if you are on the other side of the situation where you are the one checking the door, you might be interrupting someone.
Well yesterday, I noticed that the last person to use the handicapped stall left the sliding part of the lock in the “locked” position, but did it with the door open. This made it so the door would not completely close until you slide it back, thus making it very easy to see that no one was in the stall. It was a stress-free trip to the bathroom.
Maybe I am making a bigger deal out of this than I need to be, but o well. Thank you, Mr. Bathroom man, for making my trip just a little more enjoyable.
The sliding lock thing:
Bad gappage:
