The Executive Washroom There are certain criteria that must be met before a toilet facility graduates from the ranking of merely adequate to the much more appealing pleasant. This fact has become abundantly clear to me after some time in my present office environment. I suppose I have always been interested in toilet facilities (that is a statement that I never imagined myself writing), I think that one can use them as a gauge to the level of cleanliness of the users. I also saw a program on the History Channel last nite about bathrooms, so maybe that is also providing impetus for this post.

Anyway, prior to this foray into the corporate world I have been in chiefly academic settings (college, etc.) where the facilities were chiefly utilitarian. With the amount of traffic they receive on a daily basis, this makes nothing but sense. None of the jobs that I've had prior to this were corporate, so I guess my expectations for facilities at those places were somewhat low. When I began this gig I guess I expected something more. Sadly, my expectations have not been realized.

There are three bathrooms in our office: one in the rear and two towards the front. The rear is closest to my office, and to be fair, I can't really say anything bad about the facilities themselves. The toilet works and there is running water, so I guess the base necessities are there. Points are lost though since the room is poorly lit (which makes it hard to read in there), and a major failing grade is handed down due to the fact that because of the bathroom's location you will always hear the door handle being jiggled as people pass by to check occupancy. This drives me crazy. Any feeling of comfort or privacy is instantly shattered when this takes place.

The first bathroom towards the front is a little better. It is certainly better lit (points) and it has a urinal in it, which is a nifty little bit of gender specific bonus. The problem with this room is that it is located right off the main lobby, so there is still a lot of foot traffic. You can't really stash reading materials there because it looks bad (I guess) to clients should they have to use our facilities. So points for cleanliness and lighting, but the lighting is made moot by the fact that you can't have reading materials in there (unless you import them each time -- not cool), and novelty points for the urinal.

The final of our triumvirate of porcelain gods was late in availability. It is located off our conference room and as such was rarely used previously. Since we've revamped the conference room it actually sees daylight on occasion now and the bathroom is fully operational. Over the past few weeks this room has become my quiet little sanctuary. I just walk up there, check the conference room schedule (I can't imagine what a client would think if I walked out of the adjacent bathrrom while they were having a meeting in the conference room. Talk about an akward moment) and then step out for a moment. I've stashed some decent reading materials in there, and the lighting is good. I like to think of it as my own private Executive Washroom, which I think I am entitled to.
  ¶ 9:12 AM