Poll: use of cell phones in restrooms
Two months after 11 of you told me that you are absolutely in favor of having polling around here, I get around to posting another one. Apologies for the delay.
I am on the road and have spent some time in airport restrooms over the past few days. On occasion, you hear someone talking on a cell phone. (Fine, it’s an assumption I’m making since I can’t actually see them, but I am fairly confident I am assessing the situation correctly.)
So I thought I would do a poll on this. How do you feel about people using their cell phones in the stalls of public bathrooms? Just to clarify: the question is not about using the cell phone in the sink area, but when they are in a stall.
What do you think? Cast your vote today.
Disclaimer: significantly less time went into the construction of this survey item than the amount of time and effort I spend on my professional work so you should not assume anything about my academic survey work based on this entry.:)
March 23rd, 2007 at 12:49 pm
If we went academic on this survey, I’d want to split the data among people who use men’s restrooms and people who use women’s, and ask about urinals too. Because it can be considerably weirder to see the person next to me talking on the phone than hear it from another stall. 😛
March 23rd, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Oh yes, thank you for that point. Originally, I had meant to make an explicit comment about how my experiences are based on women’s restrooms and how all this might differ in a men’s restroom. People are welcomed to share any intriguing anecdotes.
March 23rd, 2007 at 2:55 pm
I’m not a cell phone hata, nor am I a fussy restroom patron, but I say definitely no cell phone use in the stall. I’d never do it. At the urinal with a headset? Still weird, but at not quite as disgusting.
March 23rd, 2007 at 2:59 pm
That’s an interesting point about the headset. Are you thinking bluetooth so it’s free-standing? I have yet to get used to those anyway. The idea of someone going about their business while talking away in view of others is pretty amusing.
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I’m always amazed when people take their cell phone conversations into the restroom here at the “office”. Even some of our board members do it.
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Ooh, intriguing.. we probably shouldn’t get into any more specifics though.:-)
March 24th, 2007 at 12:56 am
I don’t mind that much if I hear someone talking on their phone in a stall, probably because I can talk myself into believing that is all they’re doing in there, that they retreated there for some privacy (?) if you know what I mean. However, it’s a different story when I’m watching a guy at a urinal manipulating his device with one hand and with the other . . . handling his phone!
Also, from the perspective of the person on the other end of the phone call, it’s rather gross when you’ve been chatting away to someone for a while and then you hear the flush.
March 24th, 2007 at 10:51 am
Plus there’s the danger of electronics and water! I once lost a cell phone to an airplane toilet. I wasn’t on the phone nor using the toilet at the time, just the sink – but still. It wasn’t pretty, and it definitely could have been worse. I say keep your phone off in the restroom.
March 24th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
Well, as another occupant of the bathroom, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. But as the person on the other end of the cellphone (or any phone) conversation, I do object! I don’t need any supplementary, shall we say, “utterances” added to the dialogue.