Recently I was at one of my favorite restaurants on Irving Place, enjoying a nice chat with friends and waiting for my meal to arrive. While we were waiting, I went to the restroom, which in this place is just a tiny, single toilet for each gender. I locked the door and went about my business. A minute or less later, someone tried to open the door, realized it was locked and waited. After MAYBE another minute and a half, another person showed up outside the door. They proceeded to chat.

New arrival: “Have you been waiting a while?”
Impatient twat: “Yeah… a WHILE”. Seriously, she emphasized that.
New arrival: “Are you sure someone’s in there?”

At this point, I yelled, “Yes, someone’s in here!” but apparently they didn’t hear me.

Impatient twat: “Oh yeah, I tried the door a while ago.” Mind you, it’s been maybe two and a half minutes total since I’ve been in there. And she got there a “while” after I’d entered.

I finish up and start to wash my hands when I hear this outside the door:

Impatient twat: “Well, I’m not upset about the wait, I’m just worried about the smell.”
New arrival: “Yeah, I hope it doesn’t smell!”

I came out of the restroom, looked at both of them and said, “I could hear what you were saying, and that’s really rude!” Impatient Twat shrugged it off while New Arrival looked embarrassed.

Now, I suppose I had been in the restroom a minute or two longer than average, but this is a ladies’ room. The only one in the restaurant. And sometimes, say, once a month or so, ladies take a little longer in the restroom. And really? Don’t discuss how afraid you are that it’s going to SMELL when the lady inside comes out. Especially not when she can hear you.

The lining-up for the single bathroom thing is something that’s common in NYC - space is at a premium, and many restaurants don’t have room to have a multi-stall setup. I also know that people have to have everything nowNowNOW, particularly in this city, but you just have to suck it up and deal with waiting for the damn bathroom without being a rude assface about it.

image courtesy treehugger.com