Comfort room culture

Not that I did a formal survey or anything but I estimate that a female goes to the comfort room (CR for brevity) at least once during the course of every outing. It's a place of retreat, comfort, retouch and even girl talk. It's a known fact that girls usually go to the CR in groups because of the activities above and because for biological reasons (don't worry, I'll spare you the details), the call of nature comes more often for females than it does for males. Thus, it's also a known fact that at any given point in time, the female CR is always more crowded than the male CR. Hmm, come to think of it, the female CRs of public places are just always crowded. Period. (By the way, I'm going to talk about exclusively of female comfort rooms, since I'm not in the habit of going to the ones for males).

Which brings me to the main point of comfort room culture. There's one thing I've noticed for the longest time about female CRs. Surely, you've also noticed it, girl. I've waited years for the practice to change, but oddly enough, it never did: It's the way we females line up to use the toilet stall. In CRs at the malls, fastfood chains or at schools, where there is more than one stall, there is always a single line for each and every stall. When one frantically zooms into the bathroom, threatening to explode at any second, she has yet to choose which line to which stall she'll go to. This is a crucial choice for the impatient, hurrying ones. Should she choose to wait with the lady with two children? How about the line with more ladies but no children in tow? One ends up estimating, targeting, maneuvering and waiting at the line of choice. And often, it's quite frustrating to see the one who just breezed the into the CR and go into a stall before you, even if you were waiting for some time already.

Okay, girls, my point of this rant? This comfort room practice of a single line at each stall has got to stop. Could we please overhaul this system already? In the States and even in Manila, the practice in female CRs with more than one stall is that there is a single line formed at the entrance of the CR and that line connects to all the stalls. Newcomers take the end of the line, of course. Whoever is at the end of the start of the line takes whichever stall is next vacated and the single line goes on as each stall - whichever stall along the line of stalls - becomes available. I noticed that this is a fairer and more efficient way for toilet-users to line up. It even makes things simpler, faster and more convenient. Hopefully we can adapt this system soon in our Cebu City female CRs. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

And another thing. Come on, girls, could we please not squat on the toilet seat? It is very unhygienic and frankly, unless one plans to wipe the toilet seat afterwards (but that's hardly the case), it is ill-mannered in respect to the next user. Our toilets here are made for sitting, not squatting. Yes, it's understandable why you have serious reservations about plopping down, but you have the options of bringing tissue or baby wipes with you to clean the seat or if you must squat, use the tissue or baby wipes to clean the toilet seat for the next user. Many CRs provide tissue in the stall and for those that don't provide, you should bring your own for sanitary purposes.

Lastly, don't forget to wash your hands after every CR use. It's a hygiene practice often overlooked and underestimated. Many times women walk out of a crowded public CR without washing their hands and needless to say, they end up carrying a lot of bacteria that they literally pick up from all over the CR. There are always sinks and soap around to use. I once read a sign that washing one's hands is the easiest way to prevent the spread of germs and diseases. Well, that's food for thought.

Alright, ladies, before this starts sounding too motherly, I'll halt it at here. In a nutshell, comfort rooms are made for comfort so let's help them live up to their name.

Enjoy the Sinulog weekend!

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