The Bathroom Wars

There's a bathroom war going on at my job. It's not an all-out declaration of war, but many of us are in on a subversive movement. It involves the ladies room and the cleaning schedule.

Now, don't get me wrong - I'm thrilled to work for a company that actually has full-time janitorial staff that clean things during the day. My problem however, is the times they decide to clean. There are two bathrooms on the first floor - one on the training side of the building - one on the other, and it requires the use of a security badge to cross from one side of the building to the other side.

Not only do we train at client's sites, but we do a lot of training at our facility. We have three training rooms and a good-sized auditorium for these events. Class schedules are the same for every trainer, no matter what software you're teaching. Class starts at 9:00, ends at 4:00. Morning break is 10:15-10:30, afternoon break is 2:15-2:30, lunch is 11:45-1:00. We may be a little off (a bit before of after), but for the most part, everyone sticks to the schedule.

And that's where the bathroom war comes in. Inevitably, at around 10:14, 2:14 and 12:50, the janitorial lady will block the bathroom door with her plastic "do not enter" sign so that she can clean the bathroom. So we're either on all of a 15 minute break or rushing in from lunch and she thinks we all need to cross the building to pee. Not only that, but apparently our clients are supposed to cross the building to pee also. Which is an interesting thought, since one, they don't even know where the bathroom is across the building and two, remember the security badge statement from above - they can't even get over there to look.

Which begs the question - is it intentional?

One would not like to think so, but c'mon, training revenue and staff are a huge part of the company's budget - hasn't someone else noticed this problem besides me? Not only that, can anyone tell me why the entire bathroom should be closed for her to restock toilet paper or swish a toilet? She can't do them all at one time so what's the big deal?

So the subversive part of the war is that all the employees started ignoring the sign. Yes, that's right, we push right past the plastic "do not enter," some of us even letting the door slam shut on it (perhaps in the hopes of permanently destroying it?). The cleaning lady always looks peaved, but I'm beyond caring. After all, she's not required to "go" on a schedule and even if she was, she spends enough time in the restroom to get away with a few extra trips.

ADDITIONAL INFO: I forgot until I arrived at work this morning - she also leaves the toilet seats up after cleaning???????

Next up may be a covert mission to clean out the refrigerator. Stay tuned.