Saturday, October 03, 2009
To Pee or Not to Pee, That Is The Question*
For you Sex and The City fans, you are right.. I am indeed borrowing one of Carrie Bradshaw’s column titles. This is from the episode where she dated that weird politician who freakishly got satisfaction by peeing on his partner after sex. Totally weird.
Don’t worry, this post is not all about peeing—it has to do with it, but not all about it, I just borrowed the title because I liked it. It’s one of those sentences that just got stuck in your head (Oh God, now I sound like such a weird person for having a sentence about peeing stuck in my head). This post is just about little things about toilets that I find interesting (Great, now I sound even weirder for thinking that toilets are interesting).
The Most Sophisticated Toilet
I think the most sophisticated, high-tech toilets I have encountered so far are in Japan. They even have their own entry in Wikipedia , so that must mean I’m not the only one who thinks that way, right? Why is it the most advanced, you ask? First of all, they’ve got all these control buttons for everything you need in a toilet, and more: flush, wash, heat (for when cold weather strikes). So all you need to do is press a button, and voila.. everything’s done for you. That’s not all, some of them also have features like automatic lid closing, soft close feature (so the doesn’t slam onto the seat), etc. But the one feature that attracted me the most was The Sound Princess . It’s a feature that creates a sound of constant flushing, so the one inside the cubicle won’t have to feel so conscious about others hearing what they’re doing. I think this is a useful feature. Just the other day when I was doing a number one at the office, the cubicle next to me was having diarrhea and I can just hear her long farts. Not a pleasant sound, I tell you. And I bet she’s embarrassed too! If we had The Sound Princess installed in the restroom, that wouldn’t be a problem now would it?
The Ballad of Public Toilets aka Balada WC Umum
Sadly, in this country, there are still lots of public places that do not care about the well being of their restrooms, or the well being of their consumers/visitors. Starting from cleanliness, functionality, and the last problem I just encountered today, availability. Case in point, D’Best Fatmawati. Can you believe that in the entire building, they only have 1 restroom for visitors and it’s located in the 4th Floor aka TOP FLOOR? And to think their traffic comes from D’Best supermarket located in the GROUND FLOOR. And after you walk all the way to the 4th Floor, when you get there they still charge you to use the toilet. The only public toilet worth paying that I’ve ever gone to is the premium toilet in KLCC, Kuala Lumpur. It’s very nice, totally clean, no queuing necessary, and they play nice music to relax you. Very important if you suddenly have the urgent need to do a number two in a crowded shopping mall.
And don’t even get me started on queuing at public toilets. I hate it when people just stand in front of the cubicle doors. You’re supposed to form ONE LINE and then you go inside whichever cubicle is empty first, ONE AT A TIME. I despise it when I’ve queued in that method, and then I’m left as the only person, and somebody came and just went queuing in front of the doors, and think they can just go inside any open door. Every time that happens, I will make sure that they understand the queuing rule previously implemented before they go inside the restroom. Oh yes, I can be very, very scary when somebody cuts in a queue line.
Weird Behaviors in Public Toilets
About two years back, I was involved in a project that required me to travel to a few secondary cities in Indonesia. And there is one thing in common about their behavior in the restrooms. They share cubicles. So a lot of them go inside the cubicle two by two. I’m talking all ages here; I see this practice not only with teenagers, but also the grown-ups. At first I thought they were just changing clothes or something, but after a few times, I’m pretty sure they are doing their business inside the cubicle together. Why they do it is beyond my logic. I mean, can’t they just wait until the other person is finished? Is it imperative for you to witness your friend answering nature’s call as a proof of your friendship? I mean, don’t get me wrong –it’s fine for me to change clothes in the same room with my girlfriends, or even take showers together (OK maybe it’s best that we don’t go to that area any further), but I don’t think we’d be sharing public toilets anytime soon, or ever! I’m the normal one here, right guys?
And what’s even weirder is that this behavior is somewhat encouraged, at least by some people. I came across this conversation during one of my restroom trips
Ibu A & Ibu B queuing in front of the same cubicle (it looks like they know each other but I don’t know if they came together). The door opened and it’s time for Ibu A to do her business
Ibu A : Ayo Ibu B, bareng aja
Ibu B : Ah nggak usah
Ibu A : Ayoo.. ngga apa apa atuh (location : somewhere in West Java), ayo bareng aja sama saya daripada kelamaan nunggu (I’m like : Apa bedanya yah Bu, nunggu di dalem sama nunggu di luar??? mendingan di luar kaliii!)
Ibu B: Ngga Bu, ngga apa apa kok (starting to look awkward)
Ibu A: Bener ngga mau?
Ibu B : Iya silahkan Ibu A duluan aja
Ibu A: Ya sudah kalau begitu, saya duluan ya..(me: daritadi kenapa, jadi bikin tambah lama nih ngantrinya!)
Seriously, that is by far the weirdest conversation I’ve ever witnessed in a restroom. Why did Ibu A had to insist so much on entering the cubicle anyway? Did she think it's going to be more fun if she peed while chit chatting with Ibu B? I just don't get it ^^;;
Toilet Wisdom
Believe it or not, there is actually one good lesson we can take out from doing Number 1s and Number 2s. One of my teachers in elementary school once said that if we want to learn what the meaning of “Ikhlas” is, the perfect example is when you’re doing your business in the loo, because that’s the time when we “give away” something, without hoping for anything in return, yet it feels so damn good. Maybe not the most hygienic analogy, but I get the point ^-^
So, To Pee or Not To Pee?
That depends on the situation. But should you decide to pee, perhaps, only maybe, let's just do it alone - especially at public restrooms. (DES)
*title courtesy of Sex and The City writers
Labels: ikhlas, japan, public toilets, toilets, weird
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