"The unexamined life is not worth living" Socrates

- - scatterings of ideas sent to my younger self, a sensitive girl who was fooled into believing she was a boy because of anatomy - -

Saturday 12 December 2015

Where Shall I Go?

SCARLETT: Rhett.. if you go where shall I go... what shall I do?

What a terribly serious world it is right now and what a mess we seem to be in.  How about some bathroom humour to lighten things up

Earlier this week Alice and I met up for some lunch and a visit together for the first time in a few weeks. I do look forward to relaxing with her; some girl-time with a good friend. There was another reason for meeting where we did, at a home improvement store. Mrs Halle and I are doing some renovations around the house, and it was time to pick up lots of materials we had agreed on for the project. 
The appropriate dress for a home improvement store visit is jeans and so I wore jeans and jean jacket over a turtle-neck sweater, all from the gals' side of the clothing store, but very androgynous. Fortunately it was quite warm for this time of year; last year at this time we had lots of snow already. This year, some gloves with the jacket were enough to be comfortable walking outside. I figured at my destination there would be time to fix my hair, put on some concealer, do my eyebrows and put a little mascara on the top lashes. 

In spite of all efforts to make my lengthening locks look nice it just went everywhere it wanted to. I gave up, texted Alice that I had arrived but was having a bad hair day and seeing her drive in, forgot about the makeup, grabbed my shoulder bag  and walked across the parking lot to meet her in guy mode. Or so I thought.

After a long drive one of the first orders of business is a visit to the little girls' room, or in my case the men's since I was in male mode... right?

As I walked toward a stall, a guy came out of the other one and looked at me kinda funny. I gave it no thought; did my business, washed up and was about to leave when the door opened and a second guy walked in and did a double take as he saw me coming toward him. I just went around him and out the door, quite oblivious to what had happened. But as I stood waiting for Alice to finish in the 'loo, it dawned on me: they both thought I was in the wrong washroom! 

What a good chuckle Alice had when I told her. Here I was thinking my hair fail and no makeup had caused me to look like a guy. OOPS ~ Wrong! 

It has only occurred to me since that for many in other places that sort of mistake can be deadly. I am lucky to be living here in a place where all that happens is a couple of shoppers give a puzzled look and my friend and I get a chuckle. 

It does leave me with a bit of a quandary for future excursions; which washroom to use? Where shall I go? 

RHETT: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn

6 comments:

  1. I lived decades in that mode! I have to be honest and say that there are a lot of really butch girls using the other facilities so getting a transfer is not that hard so long as you stroll in with confidence.

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    1. Funny you should mention the butch girls. Alice and I noticed several examples of that when we together at the end of October. We were the ones doing the 'double take' when they came into the ladies'!
      As you suggest, wherever you 'go', go with confidence, because that is where you belong.

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  2. I still use the Ladies loo, and confuse women all the time, but truthfully I don't quite pass well enough to use the mens, sadly.

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    1. Joey, it seems there could be confused looks no matter which we choose for a while. As Coline suggests, going into one where you don't believe you will be accepted could be a problem.

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  3. Aside from the whole going out for the first time, this was my biggest fear. Thankfully the friend that I was out with when I needed it for the first time just told me to chill and use the ladies. He has been ultra supportive since I first told him - and his presence (in the bar, not in the loo :p) definitely helped.

    Aside from that I have never understood peoples fascination with it (especially in the UK and USA - it is something that you don't hear too much about here). You go into a cubicle, shut the door, do what you need, come out and wash your hands. Where is the issue?

    In my office it was never a problem - the main bathroom is Ally McBeal style - shared sinks and cubicles. (Not that there is an issue with me using any of the other ladies in the building - but that one is closest to my desk...)

    Stace

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    1. Doesn't that puzzle all of us! What do people think we are going to do in the cubicle that is so strange and dangerous?
      Merry Christmas Stace!

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