Workplace Kindness

Since my blog is supposed to be about random kindness....and to date I haven't really posted a single thing that has had to do with that...so, I thought I should :)
Today, on my way into work I was carrying my purse (aka prada suitcase), my lunch bag, my phone/ipod and my coffee mug. I could kind of sense that there was someone behind me and even though I had my music on I could tell that as we approached the side entrance he was trying to say something to me. So I turned around and popped an ear bud out and asked him to "say again?" He replied, "Allow me to get the door." To which I responded "Why thank you." He waved his pass, which had been hanging from a lanyard around his neck, and as I waited for the familiar beep, the gentleman opened the first door into our building.
I smiled at him and entered, he quipped, "looks like you had your hands full", to which I countered "No more than any other day...let me hold this one." (as there are two sets of entry doors.) He passed through and I followed behind, feeling like it was going to be a great day! How nice, a man who holds doors...under the age of 65!

As I watched him walk away ahead of me I began to envy him...he waltzed into the building with nothing more than his lanyard around his neck and some levi's on his legs...oh, and a shirt...belt, shoes...but you get the picture. While I on the other hand had not one but two bags, plus my coffee cup....why is it that some people, men, in particular, can just meander around town with hardly any gear?
I had loads of stuff shoved into my two bags...a catastrophic environmental event could occur and I could be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours with the amount of items and food in my bags! So, it begs the question...how do men do it? Not carry so much stuff? Where do they keep their lunches? Wallets? Phones? Keys? Emergency almonds? Spare flip flops...etc. If it's possible to make it through a day with so little stuff...why do I need so much??

Toilettiquette

Ok. So, this may be a touchy subject for some..but it's something that has been on my mind for a few weeks now.Toilettiquette. 

I don't know if this word actually exists..if it doesn't...it should!

It combines Toilet and Ettiquette--thus Toilettiquette. Bathroom Beahaviour has been an awkward yet popular topic of conversation as of late. Recently, I've observed there to be a lack of what I describe as Toilettiquette.With boys telling tales of conversation no-no's or ill-spaced urinals, and girls sharing stories of feminine hygeine product mishaps and requests from under the divider to "spare a square". 

I was at work this week and I walked into our ladies' washroom--which has about 6 stalls, three sinks, a counter with a large mirror (for make-up touch-ups!) I was suprised when I heard a woman having a one-sided conversation...I was even more suprised when after the flush, a lady came out of the stall pants undone and a cell phone precariously placed between her ear and shoulder. Surpised that she had obviously taken her cell phone into the washroom stall...I kind of shot her a little "look", that said...ew...you are on the phone in the bathroom. Thinking this look would be enough to get her to finish her call, I proceeded to a stall. I waited to hear the tell-tale signs of a dwindling conversation...:talk to you soon" or "I better get going"...As I stood there contemplating sitting on the throne...but those phrases were never uttered. 

Now, I'm of the opinion that it is rude and disgusting to carry on a phone conversation while in a lavatory...but I could see if this lady needed to take this call, and there was no one else in the washroom...why she may have been tempted to continue the conversation....but then....

She continued talking while I was "tinkling", as I could no longer hold it, and I could tell she wasn't going to be ending her call anytime soon! And after the crazy auto-flush toilets we have at my work did it's thing...I walked towards the sink to wash my hands. The lady is still on the phone! So, just as I reach for the paper towel, she hangs up her cell...and then turns to me...I, at this point am fully expecting an aplogy with a very detailed explanation of the importance of the offending phone conversation. But no..........she proceeds to check her reflection in the mirror and tell me about the great deal she got on her blouse?! 

Dumbfounded, I congratulated her on her shopping saavy, although I thought in the back of mind..good thing she got a deal...that shirt is frightful! 

This is an interesting connundrum I have found myself in lately..I tend to "run into" people that I know in the washroom...mostly co-workers...and I am "confuzzled" about the length of conversations that people are willing to have while "taking care of business." But am I the only one?? If you begin a conversation with someone in the "foyer" or sink area of a public washroom...is it appropriate to allow it to continue once on the other side of the stall door?? Or is it considered poor form to carry discussions over "the other side"?? Is taking the phone with you to the loo the thing to do?

Comments? Questions?