ME AND THE WAITRESS IN THE BOY’S ROOM
I was at a restaurant recently and headed to the restroom. It was hard to miss. Giant “M” on the door. I marched into it, speedily, mere steps ahead of the beer I had consumed. The door swung wide…
And there she was.
A waitress was standing at the sink. I immediately did two things: Looked back at the frosted glass door behind me. Yep, still an “M”. Then I checked and confirmed that the room did have urinals. No doubt I was in the right place. Turned out, she was just taking advantage of the empty men’s room to tidy up the place. If the next dude after me found it less than spotless because the waitress beat a hasty retreat, well, sorry anonymous dude.
We’ve all had that inadvertent brush with the opposite gender. Whether it’s walking into the wrong restroom, walking in on your sister’s friend while she’s changing, or stripping down and streaking through League of Women’s Voters meetings while singing the “Flintstones” theme.
That last one might just be me.
Confusion, embarrassment and, occasionally, restraining orders are to be expected in these unplanned situations. It’s always been that way. The genders don’t just mingle like that. It’s…weird.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world moved on.
Some twenty-odd years ago when I started college (*sigh*), there was some minor controversy with the dorm I lived in because it was the first year it went coed – alternating floors of men and women – after generations of being women-only. Now some floors have men and women’s rooms on the same floor. Unisex bathrooms are not that unusual. Some colleges have coed showers.
Theatre people are constantly doing quick costume changes off stage, between scenes. Even in small town community theatre, which I have some experience with, there’s a tad more underwear in the room than the average, ordinary person would want.
I don’t really have a point with all this, just something I’ve been thinking about. It’s your random thong, er-thought, for the day.