Men's Restroom

I wrote a bit ago about being yourself and not trying to impress people. Actually I wrote that to a large extent you have to try to impress people because that is the way the world works. I believe that we have to act in a manner that will 'impress' others at times, but I think that most of the time we should be ourselves in as much as it won't leave a bad impression on others. Then again, if our 'true self' will make a bad impression, maybe it would be prudent to change our 'true self'.

Here's where I'm going... Straight to the bathroom. I just used the restroom and when I am finished I wash my hands. I know that the study has been done and we know that people are more likely to wash their hands when there are others in the bathroom at the same time. This was a little different.

First off I want to be clear that I think that you should wash your hands after you use the bathroom. In public places I will almost always wash afterwards (unless the quality of the facility makes me fear the sink more than urine that might have splashed). It's a good practice, but I don't think it's the end of the world if you don't (Don't tell my professors in public health that I said that).

So anyway, I was washing my hands in the bathroom and the other guy washed his as well. He turned off the water and went for the paper towels, until he noticed that I was going to use soap. Instantly he turned back to the sink and got some soap and turned the water back on so he could finish. I'm glad that he washed his hands, but is he that interested in complying with a complete stranger? If he didn't use soap would I have chastised him (No, but I sometimes think of chastising the guy who uses 14 paper towels to dry his hands). So why the soap? I really think it was because I used soap and that is the wrong reason.

My next career will be in sociology. I will conduct all of my research within a public men's restroom. I think there is a world of information to be discovered in there.