update: someone is taking phone calls while using the toilet in our shared bathroom

by Alison Green on December 2, 2019

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.

Remember the letter about the person who kept talking on the phone while using the toilet in the shared office bathroom? Here’s the update.

I took one part of your advice, and then added my own (admittedly passive aggressive) part as well.

After my letter was published, I realized how awful and pointed an anonymous note would seem. I consulted with other colleagues and with someone who works in a different office on the same floor. I was definitely not alone in this observation. We didn’t wind up with a shared resolution, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. A day or two later, I found myself in there again with Toilet Talker on the phone, and I got really embarrassingly passive-aggressive and started flushing the toilet over and over, and she literally laughed and said “haha, I’m in the bathroom” and I loudly yelled “no fucking talking on the phone in the bathroom.” Not my finest hour. She was there for at least another minute as I got out of the stall, washed my hands, etc. — she was still on the phone.

But I’ve only run into the issue again once. It was literally last week — and our VIP fancy gazillion dollar company RAN OUT TOILET PAPER IN OUR BUILDING. I thought it was just my stall, but then I heard Toilet Talker, on the phone — talking to a client about how she was in the bathroom (while she was using the toilet) and the whole building was out of toilet paper, then she flushed the toilet, opened the stall, and walked right out of the bathroom without washing her hands. TODAY, I saw that her office has been cleared out and the word is that she’s joining a different suite of this same company. So … Toilet Talker Turmoil: Terminated. :)

You may also like:
{ 181 comments }

{ 181 comments… read them below }

    1. Don*

      A bunch of coworkers probably got fired for excessive absences caused by e coli sickness, opening up some opportunities

    3. Leela*

      It’s really unfortunate but some people who are problems but not *just* enough of a problem that the company will let you fire them get passed around or even promoted because people just want them off of their team so badly. It’s a terrible practice but I’ve found it to be somewhat widespread.

      1. CommanderBanana*

        The Peter Principle, as it’s known – or the lovely military colloquialism that shit flows upwards. If the only way to get someone out of your command was to promote them away from being your problem, promotion recommendation it is!

        1. Leela*

          It’s a real shame but very common when companies hamstring managers out of being able to properly manage problem employees, or won’t deal with leads/heads that probably shouldn’t be there.

    1. Mama Bear*

      Agreed. I’d leave a can of Lysol on her old desk because the next person is going to need it.

    3. Curmudgeon in California*

      Seriously. Ewwww.

      I ended up with pneumonia at one place, in part due to open office crowding, in part due to people coming in sick, and in part due to people not washing their hands after using the bathroom.

      1. Coldbrewinacup*

        I got the flu more than once due to a couple of nasty coworkers who NEVER washed their hands, ever. So glad I am about to leave this place!

      2. Windchime*

        I have a coworker who not only doesn’t wash her hands, but also doesn’t flush. She comes in and sits down, pees, and then opens the stall door and leaves. I think I know who it is but I’m not sure.

  3. Rainy*

    Jesus christ, I seriously thought it was personal calls, which is like, annoying but if you want to talk on the phone to your mum while you poop, who am I to judge, I guess.

    BUT CLIENTS?!?!

    Wut.

    1. Antilles*

      Right?
      Call me judgmental if you wish, but I would absolutely think less of a business contact who said “haha, I’m in the bathroom” while we were discussing TPS reports. Especially when I heard her flush, but didn’t hear a sound of a sink running shortly afterwards.

        1. designbot*

          unfortunately, what it might say to my clients is “we’re working so hard on your project we don’t even have time to poop!”

          1. Just J.*

            To which I would say, “that is gross, and we don’t want you working for us anymore.”

            Gross. Gross. Gross.

      2. Yvette*

        But what if they were discussing TP reports? Would it be appropriate then? ;) Of course one should still wash hands.

        1. Gatomon*

          Same. I had a client urinate on the phone with me and I feel like I barely survived. If I could’ve poured straight bleach into my ear, I would’ve. But defecation? NO, my ears can’t handle that assault.

          1. Anne Elliot*

            My sister’s master bath has a separate toilet closet and she used to take me into the Fortress of Solitude with her and just keep chatting. I think it took me hanging up on her three times before she got that I was not okay with that. I cannot IMAGINE having a client peeing while I was on the phone; I think I would do the same thing — hang up!

      5. Lx in Canada*

        Maybe that’s why she got terminated from that department? The client could’ve called her managers to complain.

      6. Ermintrude*

        Maybe if they’re discussing Toilet Paper Sales reports?
        (I had spent ages until mid-year wondering what esoteric corporate information TPS Reports were btw)

    2. Doug Judy*

      Not only talking to clients but actually telling said clients she was in the bathroom!!! Yuck!

      1. Working Mom*

        This part (besides not washing hands) is so incredibly disgusting and bizarre. I work from home… have a wireless headset that I can mute… and I *still* don’t use the bathroom while on calls. Even though I can, and I’d be on mute, and no one would know, it still seems weird to me and would not do it. And then to TELL the client “Yeah I’m on the crapper” what?!?!

        1. SomebodyElse*

          Not to mention… the mute button lies! Always at the wrong time.

          I sometimes work from home and am paranoid that others can hear the toilet flush when my husband uses it. (The bathroom is next to my home office, and I share a wall with the toilet). I can’t imagine using it myself.

          1. Shhhh*

            Yeah, I felt super bad last week for flushing the toilet while my sister was on a conference call. We were both working from home at our parents’ house and I didn’t realize she was on a call in the next room until after :(. She never said anything about it so it must have been okay since she definitely would have said something if it caused an issue, but I still feel bad.

        2. Emily*

          I also work from home and feel the same – even when I’m in a huge conference call where I’m not even expected to talk, I’d be way too paranoid that I didn’t really mute despite thinking I was muted, or that mute would somehow fail me. There’s no taking back an audible tinkle!!

    3. Retro*

      From a purely practical point of view, the reverb in a typical bathroom can make it hard for a client to hear you on the phone. That is reason enough to not talk on the phone while in bathroom. Add on the flushing noises and people coming in and out, there is NO REASON to be talking to clients on the phone in the bathroom.

      1. sacados*

        Yeah I think this is definitely one of those times where Alison advises to just sit back and watch the insanity unfold. ;-p

      2. Where’s the Orchestra?*

        I have to say that’s where I am too . . . I can either laugh or cry, laughing better than crying. . .

  5. pope suburban*

    I just…I… *ENDLESS SCREAMING*

    But I’m glad she’s not going to be making it weird and profoundly unsanitary for you anymore, OP. I suppose that’s all one can really control and appreciate about the outcome.

  6. Lucky*

    And to think how many people she shakes hands with and surfaces she contaminates on a daily basis!

    3. The Man, Becky Lynch*

      Casual reminder to remember to wash your hands after meetings and using shared spaces [or to avoid shared spaces even!]

      This woman is walking norovirus right here.

        1. grandzor*

          MRSA not so much an enteric pathogen, it *can* infect your GI tract but more likely you’d get contamination from skin or nose-picking (staph is a common skin and especially nasal commensal). Common on surfaces eg at sweaty gyms though. You would be thinking more bacteria like Enterococci, Salmonella, E.coli…

          1. Quill*

            Yup! Staph Aureus lives on your skin and your upper respiratory, and it’s supposed to be there… just not the multi drug resistant kind.

            Not everything thrives on the fecal oral route.

          2. Lucky*

            If she doesn’t wash her hands, who knows what type of typhoid Mary she is. I recently read that MSRA can live on surfaces for up to 6 months.

            1. Anonapots*

              Yes, but it wouldn’t necessarily make it through the acids of your stomach is what they’re saying so it’s unlikely to be the kind of thing that would be passed on by a non-hand washer.

                1. grandzor*

                  Exactly – main modes of transmission are through skin and via nasal carriage which permits later entry via cuts etc. Most people have staph at some point (est 30% nasally colonised at a given time) and some people even carry MRSA nasally with no incident. Just increases your *risk* of bacteraemia. Although it can enter your GI tract eg staph aureus food poisoning, it’s uncommon – not really something you would pick up from toilet waste/a bathroom as much as other enteric microbes such as those listed above.

                  If she’s a nose picker, maybe that would relate more.

      2. DataGirl*

        Also C. Diff, which is highly contagious, affects the colon/intestines, and can cause death. Hand sanitizer ALL THE TIME.

        1. Kate*

          C. Diff is much more common in a hospital setting and in people with weakened immune systems. While community acquired (i.e., people not in hospitals) are rising, they’re still a minority (and often are around farms). Plenty of others things to worry about long before C. Diff :)

          1. DataGirl*

            As someone who has had c. diff twice, I’m going to continue to worry about it.

            From the CDC:
            Clostridioides difficile [klos–TRID–e–OY-dees dif–uh–SEEL] (C. diff ) is a germ (bacteria) that causes life-threatening diarrhea. It is usually a side-effect of taking antibiotics.

            C. diff is a major health threat. In 2017, there were an estimated 223,900 cases in hospitalized patients and 12,800 deaths in the United States [Source: 2019 AR Threats Report].
            https://www.cdc.gov/hai/organisms/cdiff/cdiff_infect.html

            1. grandzor*

              That link says pretty much what the commenter above said – community-acquired C.diff is rare, it’s more of a nosocomial/ABX associated thing. No need to scaremonger about picking it up from bathrooms unless you are immunocompromised. Also supposedly treatable last-line these days w/ faecal transplants.

      3. Mockingjay*

        And this is why I ALWAYS wipe the conference room table and chairs after I host a meeting. Takes less than 3 minutes and leaves the room tidy and sanitary for the next group.

        1. Seeking Second Childhood*

          This is one reason why I love shirts & sweaters with sleeves so long I have to push them up : when leaving a bathroom I can pull the sleeves down to open the door. (One reason *I* prefer paper towels to wall-mounted wind tunnels electric hand driers.)

    4. Brownie*

      And that’s why every time I head to the bathroom in my current building I take a clorox wipe and get all the door handles between me and the stall on the way there and back again, as well as try to wipe down the main door handles at least once a week. I figure I’m not just protecting myself with the wipes, but helping protect some of my immune-compromised coworkers as well from the disgustoids around us. Now if I can just figure out a polite workplace acceptable way of not shaking hands with the coworkers who I know don’t wash their hands after the bathroom…

      1. Magc17*

        Decades ago, my husband went to a job interview and arrived early enough that he had time to visit the rest room beforehand. Another man left from a stall, didn’t wash his hands, and ended up being one of the interviewers. My husband had to shake his hand, of course, and spent the rest of the interview trying to remember not to touch anywhere on his face… O_o

  8. The Original K.*

    She was talking on the phone with clients while she was on the toilet and telling them that?!

    1. Hills to Die on*

      I’m going to go out on a limb and say that there were other issues with her judgment and/or professional performance.

      2. MissDisplaced*

        I mean, you would THINK that, but it depends on whether or not she delivered and made her numbers doesn’t it? Companies overlook a lot of weird/gross/rude behaviors if the person is a rainmaker.

        She sounds awful though.

    2. I Wrote This in the Bathroom*

      I started reading the original letter (which I’d somehow missed when it came out) and my brain damn near exploded!

      I work in a very upscale building in a large city, where we have high-end, VIP, A-list celebrity clients on our floor at least several times a week. Followed by two of our clients have mentioned something to us about being weirded out while trying to do their personal bodily business, during a time that this (outside of my company) employee does hers.

      Like… who… uh… how… who does this (sputters)

      1. Jojo*

        Maybe THAT is what people should tell her? I mean, “Meryl Streep freaked out that you were talking on the phone while in the bathroom” or “Oprah mentioned she was mortified by your bathroom etiquette” might embarrass her. Maybe.

        1. Seeking Second Childhood*

          OP If you ever get a talk show host visiting, set up a sting and send her in when ToiletTalker is doing her thing. You get a chance at a muted TT, and she gets a segment. Heck, even if TT stays in another building you could still give her the story. And set her up with AskAManager and AskACleanPerson as the start of a whole stinking* episode.
          *totally intentional

  9. Going Anon Here*

    I work at a conference centre that regularly nearly runs out of toilet paper. We’ve run out of soap, dishwasher detergent, and more. A cleaner submits the form to management to order the stuff. Anything that comes from the cleaner isn’t a priority until a disaster like no toilet paper happens right before a weekend with a 500 person conference. I’m guessing that’s what happened here.

    1. Seeking Second Childhood*

      When our state university went on a hiring freeze a few years ago, that meant no office supply orders. Someone in facilities decided to exclude rest room supplies as well. Employees were stockpiling rolls in locked department cabinets, so the shortage became critical quickly.
      It may be apocryphal, but I was told that the issue was addressed shortly before the campus newspaper could run its story.

  11. Veryanon*

    I think I posted this in the original thread, but it’s worth repeating here. There is a lady in my office who takes her conference calls in the bathroom. She even wears her wireless headset in there and I can hear her talking away while she’s doing her business. This just squicks me out to no end.

  12. Jamie*

    Am I the only one who would, upon knowing the person to whom I was speaking was going to the bathroom, cut the call short and let them know they needed to call me back when they were in a more appropriate setting.

    I know sanitation isn’t an issue over the phone but just social mores…I wouldn’t be able to let this pass. So to speak.

    2. The Man, Becky Lynch*

      I would cut it short and depending on who the vendor was, I’d bark up a few trees to get a new rep tbh.

      And I’m not grossed out by it, I just find it disrespectful AF.

      1. Working Mom*

        Exactly! “why did you take my call?!” Or worse, “why did you choose NOW to call me?!” I mean really.

    5. ragazza*

      And I wonder if this could be harassment. If it were a guy doing that to me (a woman), I would be more than just disgusted–I would be freaked out.

      1. The Man, Becky Lynch*

        It doesn’t have to be opposite gender to be harassment!

        But I’m not sure this would stick has harassment, unless they’re making inappropriate comments or sounds. But simply “I’m on the phone while on the toilet” is disrespectful and gross but not harassment from my limited understanding of the legal definition.

        1. Jamie*

          I agree it’s probably not…but in a roundabout way she is telling clients she is speaking to them without her pants on and that’s not un-creepy.

    6. Goldfinch*

      I don’t understand how people don’t realize it, even before LW lost the plot and went full-on flush feral. The echo of a voice in the bathroom is unmistakable. Husband and I can tell instantly when one of us answers in the bathroom (don’t judge, we each spend a lot of time in the soaking tub, and only answer each other’s calls in there).

    7. Dot Warner*

      Nope, not the only one! I’d say something like, “I am very uncomfortable talking to you while you are on the toilet. Please call me back after you’re finished. Goodbye.”

    1. Sharrbe*

      I’ve never understood it. I also don’t get how one simultaneously holds a phone and pulls down their drawers at the same time. I mean you have to pretty flexible to do that.

      1. Tin Cormorant*

        Wireless headset? Or wedging the phone between their ear and shoulder. I never tried either, don’t take many phone calls.

      2. Mockingjay*

        Put it on speaker and stuff it in your bra.

        (No, I do not do this. Jerks from ExToxic Job did.)

    1. CM*

      I have an even better passive-aggressive solution — get one of those apps that makes fart noises, and play those very loudly and repeatedly in the next stall. You can’t be accused of doing something inappropriate because maybe it was you doing normal bathroom things.

      1. The Man, Becky Lynch*

        No app needed. Just start grunting and groaning. “MY GOD WILL IT EVER STOP?! AAAAAAAAAAAH DAMN YOU PAPA JOHNS!!!!!!!!!!”

          1. Where’s the Orchestra?*

            For me it’s Dominos……

            (In fairness my hubby’s homemade pizza has ruined fast food pizza for me.)

      2. Leela*

        In my fantasies that I would definitely never act out, I’d love to get a team of us, one at each stall, and flush one after the other over and over every time this happened. It would be a really dumb way to undermine yourself at a company and you’d need that good will spent on other things most likely but good lord would it be satisfying!

      4. Shoes On My Cat*

        Come to my horse barn. Turn on record and walk around. Some of our horses literally take minutes to pee and it sounds like someone left a firehose on-& they tend to groan at the end. Then there are the farts, they are AMAZING. Then just edit the quiet moments out and hit ‘Play’

    2. Elan Morin Tedronai*

      “I’m always glad when other people take the high road… That way I have more space when I take the low.”

      – Friend.

    1. corporate engineering layoff woo*

      Dangerous; you still want to get a 911 out if at all possible. And remember that jammers are illegal anywhere in the US.

      1. Pebbles*

        I agree about the ability to call 911, but theoretically a manual switch could be installed if necessary. Also, Faraday cages are not the same as jammers. Jammers are illegal, but are Faraday cages?

        1. Brownie*

          From what I remember Faraday cages are legal because they’re not active interference, unlike jammers, as well as the fact that they can be created unintentionally using normal building materials. If someone is in an older building with plaster & lathe walls or in a stuccoed building it’s likely they’re in a fairly functional Faraday cage already. Gotta love how various wire meshes used in in all kinds of building and home construction interact perfectly and unintentionally with all kinds of different EM frequencies. I’m maybe 30 feet from a window in a 1950’s building right now and I have no cell signal because of the building’s materials despite being line of sight at the window to one of my carrier’s towers.

          1. Elitist Semicolon*

            I love that you opened this with “from what I remember,” suggesting that you have had reason to investigate the legality of Faraday cages in the workplace before.

            1. Brownie*

              More of I love to research and so I get asked all kinds of interesting questions on the basis of “If Brownie doesn’t know she can find out!” So yeah, Faraday cages as it pertains to the historical plaster and lathe homes and office buildings of San Francisco (and the calculations for putting wifi and cell repeaters in same) was actually a thing I’ve gotten to research for a friend who asked the innocuous question of “Why doesn’t my cell phone work in my new apartment but it works outside the front door?”

          2. JustaTech*

            There are also lots of things that are naturally Faraday cages. The walk-in refrigerator at the food bank where I volunteer is a Faraday cage – we know this because if whoever is streaming music on their phone walks into the fridge (or freezer), the music cuts out.

  16. Mannheim Steamroller*

    Next time you’re in the bathroom with the “poopetrator” while she’s on the phone with a client, yell out (so the client can hear) “Could you please wash your hands THIS time?”

  17. Jedi Squirrel*

    Why can’t she just take her laptop in there and send people emails like a normal person would?

      1. Curmudgeon in California*

        Seriously. I’ll text from the toilet, but not business phone calls while I’m doing my business. (My mother, OTOH, almost always calls when I’m on the john at home.)

  19. Jennifer*

    Ew! She went #2, didn’t use toilet paper, and just walked out without washing her hands. I’m not eating the rest of the day.

    1. WellRed*

      Well to be fair, if there was no TP she didn’t get her hands near The Area. No hand washing needed. /s

    2. Lost academic*

      I mean to be fair, many women have purses or similar in the stall at times and I’ve always got a pack of tissues in mine, or napkins. It’s more a matter of “what do I have that I can use” rather than ” guess I’m not doing anything!” Which I really hope is Not A Thing.

        1. Quill*

          Not to be TMI but if it’s just pee and you, say, already have something absorbent in your underwear for other biological reasons…

          but yeah, at the FIRST opportunity get that clean after!

      2. Jennifer*

        If this chick isn’t washing her hands, I doubt she walks around with tissues. She walked around with dirty hands and butt.

      3. WellRed*

        I don’t bring my purse to the bathroom at work. I’d be SOL if I didn’t notice the lack of paper till after I’d started.

  21. Ms.Vader*

    Personally I don’t even like it when people spend a while doing hair or brushing their teeth in communal bathrooms. I’ve got some digestive issues and really like the illusion of privacy.

  22. MicroManagered*

    I love updates where people do the exact opposite of the advice they got. LOL

    AAM says:

    “This is awkward to ask, but could I ask you not to take calls in the stall? We’ve had some clients say they don’t feel comfortable using the toilet while someone is on the phone right next to them.”

    OP does:

    flushing the toilet over and over … and I loudly yelled “no fucking talking on the phone in the bathroom.”

    How is this taking part of AAM’s advice?! Doesn’t matter. Still a hilarious updated.

    3. Jennifer*

      This made me laugh so hard. This is what happens when you keep letting stuff go over and over again. The resentment just builds up.

  23. Dragon_Dreamer*

    I actually got a security guard in trouble for talking on the phone in the bathroom last week. She tried to yell at me (a student) for daring to flush the toilet while she was on the phone. This despite the fact that I could hear her TELL the other person what she was doing in the bathroom, in graphic terms. Granted, this wasn’t apparently a business call, just personal. Still can’t figure out why she thought it was worth yelling at someone daring to use one of the other 7 stalls in that particular bathroom. :P

    1. AIM*

      Both because of the lack of discipline for the Bathroom Talker AND for the OP’s response, honestly. Bathroom Talker’s behavior was inappropriate (not to mention gross!) for sure, but not “scream and swear at a coworker while repeatedly angrily flushing a toilet”-level. Bathroom Talker is gross, but OP’s response would be like, scary to witness in person, I think.

  25. Radio Girl*

    I once shared a suite with an HR person I suspected had some real issues. ( talking sociopathic behavior here.) Our departments also shared a restroom. One Friday, HR person fired an employee, who immediately was escorted from the building. Several hours later, I went to use the ladies’ room and found it completely smeared. Everywhere. Both stalls.

    I was pretty sure there was a connection. Another department reported what was described as an unsavory person in the hallway near the loo. Fired employee had some pretty dodgy friends.

    While the mess was being cleaned up, I used a restroom in another part of the building. But I felt unsanitary all day.

    I left the company a year later. Nothing was ever mentioned about the incident.

    1. Do I need a hard hat for this?*

      I once went into a convenience store to wash my hands after filling up my gas tank. I walked past the cashier’s counter where the two associates, who looked to be in their teens, were giggling uncontrollably. I opened the bathroom door and there were giant brown smears on the toilet, sink, and walls. I immediately turned around and walked back out, then dug around in my car until I found a package of wet wipes (!!!). I figured if the teenagers were giggly like that that it was actually chocolate or something they planted as a joke…but it still grossed me out.

      Your company’s situation was MUCH worse!

  26. Arya Snark*

    I have this incredibly long Monday morning meeting. I drink a lot of coffee early and I drink a lot of water so there is no way I can make it 2+ hours without peeing most weeks, even when I try to limit the water.
    I work from home and the measures I go through so no one knows I’m peeing are probably ridiculous – extra paper, muscle control, no flushing and hand sanitizer. I can’t imagine purposefully taking a call in a public restroom with a client

  27. Chronic Overthinker*

    Don’t conduct business while DOING your business. OP, I’m glad you no longer have to deal with that.

  28. Gonna write this one anonymously*

    I recently heard about an intern at another company who was terminated after taking her laptop into the bathroom with her during a video conference call.

    1. SomebodyElse*

      bwhaha… Now that’s a way to be remembered. Did she take it into the stall with her or just set it up on the sink pointed at the stall door?

      1. Gonna write this one anonymously*

        I believe she was at home, and she brought it into the bathroom with her and adjusted the angle of the camera before pulling down her pants…

        Apparently it added quite an audio component to the presentation!

        1. SomebodyElse*

          lol… I’m now picturing the intern as Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own… but in a conference call.

          Thank you for this, I needed a laugh today.

  29. SophieJ*

    My mind boggles.

    I do have one friend with whom I’ll speak on the phone in the bathroom – if we’re already talking, and if it’s only #1 (and he with me.) We have known each other a dozen + years, he is one of my closest friends, and we have been roommates at various points for half those years. If we needed to do other business, we’d crassly tell the other they’re gonna get a call back.

    How this woman thought this was anything approaching okay is just amazing. Even IF there was a cultural element to consider – did it never occur to this woman that in all the time she’d been there that she’d never once seen anyone else do the same? That maybe in this particular environment, this was… not done?

    I’ve had my share of workplace bathroom wth moments (from the rest room with two toilets and no stalls – I guess if I needed a buddy?) as well as my own shit-talker (as in, loudly on the phone while proceeding to have explosive diarrhea) but even that woman was at least on a break and talking to a family member. NOT CUSTOMERS!

  30. Quake Johnson*

    I wouldn’t call this passive aggressive, it was just straight up aggressive. I can’t really blame Op though, considering.

  31. cheeky*

    So nothing was resolved. The toilet talker has no shame, doesn’t wash her hands, and apparently did not get terminated (you don’t get terminated into another group in the same company).

  32. Seeking Second Childhood*

    One hopes she was just using the private stall to sit in to have a private call WITHOUT “doing private business”.

  33. Sweet Witch*

    Ech! My mother and sister did this daily (personal calls at home), usually with the bathroom door open (even with company there) and it always grossed the hell out of me. They also refused to flush in the middle of the night, claiming it would wake everyone up. Funny how no one commented when I flushed while they were sleeping! Just absolutely gross and something that should never be done.

  34. Mm84737*

    I worked at a place where there was absolutely no privacy to make or take a personal call during break or at lunch without having someone hear the conversation. The only places to take a personal call privately were outside far away from the building, in your car, or in one of the building’s restrooms. One day it was snowing and very cold outside. I went into an empty stall in the building’s restroom on another floor to place a call to my doctor regarding an urgent appointment after work and details about a medical issue. No one was in the restroom. I went into a stall and placed my call quickly and kept my voice down in case someone came in. I did not use the toilet or touch anything while on the phone and washed my hands afterward. No one came in. Sometimes people have no choice to use the restroom for a personal call due to privacy needs. It should be only if necessary for a personal call and if no other option is available—and done quickly, discreetly, and adhering to sanitary guidelines like washing your hands and NOT using the toilet while on the phone.

  35. Cartographical*

    Wherever she is, I hope she has her own bathroom — with one of those obnoxious fans with a loose bearing that runs whenever the light is on and a terrible echo that sounds like she’s shouting down an air duct.

    Honestly, I’d have flushed every open toilet in the place repeatedly any time she was on the phone in there, as well as yelling “housekeeping, anyone in here?” every chance I got. Or I’d have brought in a fart gun to fire off. Because that’s a world of no.

  36. lilsheba*

    Those who insist on talking on the phone while in the bathroom are unbelievably gross and disgusting and immature. Seriously, just stop. No normal adult acts like that.

    1. MCMonkeyBean*

      I mean what she’s doing it weird, and doing it with clients is extra weird and clearly lacks some common professional boundaries, but this reaction seems like a swing too far in the opposite direction to me.

  37. AnotherKate*

    Ugh, I hate when people do this. Because hi, hello, I actually never gave my consent for your mom/friend/client/whoever to hear ME using this bathroom.

Comments are closed.