Is It Acceptable To Talk On The Phone When You're In The Bathroom

What has happened to simple social etiquette and common decency in this country? Are we so jaded and so ‘connected’ that we can’t even go to the bathroom without our phones anymore?

OK, let’s start from the beginning. I work in a multi-story building with lots of people in it and everyone uses the public restrooms. No problem there. But earlier today I needed to visit the rest room and while I was there the person in the stall next to me was talking to someone on the phone.

While he was in the bathroom.

Taking care of his business.

I wasn’t eavesdropping but it was obvious that he wasn’t making his way through a phone tree hoping to get to the department he wanted. No, he was answering questions. And it wasn’t anything urgent. It was the kind of thing that could have easily been put off for a few minutes.

What has happened to us that we can’t even go to the bathroom in peace? I don’t even take my phone with me. Privacy issues aside (phones have cameras you know), it just seems wrong to me to carry on a conversation with someone while you’re in the bathroom. Especially a public bathroom.

It’s one thing to pop in, wash your hands from what you were doing earlier, and pop out again. It’s another thing altogether to finish – or BEGIN – a conversation in the poopatorium. If it’s an incoming call your phone will take messages. Heck, if it was an incoming call it was probably just someone trying to sell you an extended warranty for your car anyway. If it was an outgoing call you need to take a serious look at your life.

Come on, people. Is your time so tight that you have to conduct business on the ‘go’?

So, I ask you. Is it acceptable public behavior to carry on a conversation from the porcelain throne just like you would if you were sitting in your favorite living room chair?

I think not.

If there was a way to turn up the volume on the flushing noise I would.

Henryk Sadura / ThinkStock

Rant over.

At least he was using his phone as a phone. There’s that.

Continue on with your day.

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