Valentines day, of all days, really helps highlight the difference between guys and gals. As has been illustrated before on this blog (and in one of our personal favorite episodes of The Office) when it comes to bathrooms between the genders, there is no “separate but equal,” involved. Which is one of the reasons why wandering into a bathroom that belongs to the other sex can be such a jarring experience. That, combined with the fact that going into the wrong bathroom is such a social taboo in our society that if caught doing it, one be instantly turned into a pariah, makes close encounters with the wrong restroom a unique and almost life defining experience. These slip ups turn into those stories you tell over and over again and wonder how you ever missed the stick figure in the standard gender skirt or pair of pants.
As a BYU student, the most common place for these “bathroom blunders” has to be the bottom floor of the JFSB. The JFSB is definitely a rose among the thorns on our campus. When compared to the MARB or SWKT, the JFSB is a parthenon of wisdom and good architecture. Which may explain the choice to construct the building symmetrically – the left side an exact mirror of the right. Which is all fine and dandy – until you get to the bathrooms. In one corner, the men’s room is on the left (inside) and the ladies’ on the right (outside). On the other, the men’s is on the right (still inside) and the women’s on the left (outside). It’s small structural anomaly that no one would notice, that is until they were going to the bathroom in a corner in which they were not accustomed.
My freshman year, I would leave History 201 and take quick potty break by going into the bathroom on the right. MWF, for weeks, I’d repeat this response to the call of nature. Then one day, for some reason, I found myself at the other end of the hall. Without thinking, I went into the bathroom on the right, the one that should be marked “Men’s Room.” The pink walls were the first sign of something amiss. The next big sign was when I turned to look for urinals and couldn’t find any urinals. As I saw a girl emerging from one of the stalls I realized the gravity of my mistake. I yelled a quick excuse of some sort and started running. I didn’t stop till I reached the top of the stairs outside. I’ve never been back to the bathrooms in the JFSB since. Happy Valentines day, and watch your restroom signs.
-Thanks to Josh Doying for this BYU Bathroom story
As a BYU student, the most common place for these “bathroom blunders” has to be the bottom floor of the JFSB. The JFSB is definitely a rose among the thorns on our campus. When compared to the MARB or SWKT, the JFSB is a parthenon of wisdom and good architecture. Which may explain the choice to construct the building symmetrically – the left side an exact mirror of the right. Which is all fine and dandy – until you get to the bathrooms. In one corner, the men’s room is on the left (inside) and the ladies’ on the right (outside). On the other, the men’s is on the right (still inside) and the women’s on the left (outside). It’s small structural anomaly that no one would notice, that is until they were going to the bathroom in a corner in which they were not accustomed.
My freshman year, I would leave History 201 and take quick potty break by going into the bathroom on the right. MWF, for weeks, I’d repeat this response to the call of nature. Then one day, for some reason, I found myself at the other end of the hall. Without thinking, I went into the bathroom on the right, the one that should be marked “Men’s Room.” The pink walls were the first sign of something amiss. The next big sign was when I turned to look for urinals and couldn’t find any urinals. As I saw a girl emerging from one of the stalls I realized the gravity of my mistake. I yelled a quick excuse of some sort and started running. I didn’t stop till I reached the top of the stairs outside. I’ve never been back to the bathrooms in the JFSB since. Happy Valentines day, and watch your restroom signs.
-Thanks to Josh Doying for this BYU Bathroom story
Email jesse@byubathrooms.com to submit your awkward/funny/moving/appropriate bathroom story that happened here at BYU
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