One of the "April Fool's Day" pics that I posted that people seemed to really like...

[MiddleFingerMom]

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... was the taping of a "skirt" onto the black male silhouette on a restroom door to
turn a "Men's Room" into a "Ladies' Room".
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I was a young, inexperienced naive shy Midwestern smalltown boy who had JUST
turned 18 and was freshly-stationed in Germany. I went to a club/disco in town
(not my cup of tea, but I was curious). Drinking, having a pretty good time when
I had to use the restroom. Upstairs... no lines... GREAT. I found the Men's Room
and went inside and sat in a stall. It dawned on me pretty quickly that if I had
WANTED to stand up, there had been no place for me to do so.
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About the instant of that epiphany, women started coming in and filling the place
up. I was MORTIFIED -- and hoped no one would look under the door and see
my combat boots (civilian clothes but, you know... shoes take away from your
beer budget).
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I was stuck there for a good 20-30 minutes, certain that I was going to get
busted (and not in a GOOD way, neither).
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Finally, it cleared out and I was able to make a dash out without being noticed.
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Sure enough -- some joker had switched the signs. The regulars all knew where
to go -- but not this disco virgin.
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No matter what, now I STILL always look for urinals in an unfamiliar public loo.
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[siligut]

1. I guess it wasn't until the 80s when cocaine was so popular, that it didn't matter

In any club bathroom back then, here in the US, one could find mixed genders snorting a line.

One time in France, in a restaurant, I went to use the facilities, I waited and a man came out. I must've looked startled, as he then indicated to me kindly that the restroom was unisex.

[Tobin S.]

2. I've accidentally walked into a women's restroom before when the sign was correct

I walked right in and there were two women at the sinks touching up their make-up. One looked startled and the other smiled at me, probably noticing the shocked look on my face. I said, "Sorry," and quickly exited. Maybe there was some subconscious thing going on there. Freud would probably have some fun with that.

Another time, when I was about 19, a friend and I went to a local theater that showed the Rocky Horror Picture Show nightly on the weekends. We'd never been to a show, but we heard that it was a lot of fun. We went to the men's room and as we were washing our hands someone came in to use one of the urinals. We saw her reflection from the back in the mirror. She had on a black mini skirt with dark hose, a dark blouse, beautiful long black hair- slight build, nice shapely legs. She hiked up her skirt and began using the urinal.

My friend and I just looked at each other with our eyes popping out of our heads and our mouths hanging open. Then she finished up, turned around and said, "Hi guys," and smiled at us. She had a big, bushy beard.

[OriginalGeek]

3. Yep - that's Rocky Horror all right

Still one of my favorite movies and soundtracks and i wish they would revive the midnight shows around here more often...






it's just a jump to the left....

[MiddleFingerMom]

4. I've NEVER understood the success of RHPS or Fantasia on DVD.

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Those two films BEG for a big-screen BOOMING theater speaker communal experience.
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RHPS is one of the inspirations for what I do here.
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Antici...
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[trof]

7. In Japan the mama-sans will be cleaning the men's room while you're taking a whiz.

It's no big deal there.
You get used to it.

[trof]

5. In Paris our local watering hole had ONE growler.

And it was just that.
A hole in the floor of a closet.
With brass footprints on either side.
And a brass grab bar for squatting.
That was especially daunting.


AND it was down a steep set of circular stairs (one-way only).
VERY tricky if you'd had several Stellas.
We managed.

[MiddleFingerMom]

6. My favorite bar in the world was in rural Southeastern Pennsylvania.

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It had a huge rectangular bar and still had, from the old days (probably 1930's, when women could
go in the dining room but not the bar), although it was no longer functional, a wide brass "gutter"
(like a rain gutter) running full-length around the bar. It used to have running water coursing through
it (the bar was next to a tributary of the Brandywine River) and was used as a self-cleaning spittoon.
Rumor had it that you could drink all the beer you wanted and avail yourself of the gutter for
NON-tobacco purposes, also.
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Now, THAT was a MANCAVE!!!!!
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[trof]

8. Trough urinals.

Some of the older bars on the gulf coast have trough urinals.
The 'uppah clahss' ones have crushed ice in them.
You can write your name or initials while whizzing, depending on your age and ability.

[MiddleFingerMom]

9. My favorite dive music bar had a HUGE trough urinal where you could stand 4 (tee-hee) abreast.

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It was still in use and yes... they tried to keep it well-supplied with crushed ice.
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This bar had been a HOT music scene in the area since the 1930's. The owner
gave my then fledgling band a shot -- and we KNEW we had something when,
at the end of the night... he asked us to return.
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Closest place to needing chicken wire (a la Blues Brothers) across the front of
the stage that we ever played at... but we were ECSTATIC and it was probably
our favorite place to play.
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The "house band" did a tour of Russia in the late 80's and it was one HORRIBLE
experience for all sorts of reasons. Their first night back, their lead singer opened
the first set with, "I didn't think I'd ever say this, but it's good to be back in this
fucking shithole."
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The crowd went crazy.
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I was in AWE!!!
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[trof]

11. Just watched 'The Blues Brothers' again this afternoon.

One of the movie channels.
Elwood and Joliet Jake.
Love it.

[many a good man]

13. Trough urinal in church?

I went to my first Browns game at old Muni Stadium when I was about 7, where the Men's room was lined with trough urinals. The next Sunday we went to the new Catholic church in town, one of those modern monstrosities that were built in the 70s. I went to the bathroom and was surprised to find this real fancy looking circular trough urinal. I was shocked when a man came out from behind a wall and starting washing his hands in the same place I was using to relieve myself. I became very embarrassed realizing the actual urinals were around the corner hanging on the walls!

[trof]

16. I remember those circular sinks.

I think you stepped on a foot bar to turn the water on.

[Major Nikon]

14. Reminds me of my wife's first trip to a public toilet in Paris

It was her first trip to Europe. I had been there a few times. I took her to a cafe in Montmartre where we ate snails. She decided she had to go to the bathroom, so I went with her, knowing it was going to be funny. The bathroom in the cafe had a common area with a sink and two privies, one for men, one for women. Inside the common area was a urinal. A guy was taking a leak right next to my wife, and it took her a minute to realize what was happening. That was her first shock. The next one came when she went into the privy and found out it was a squat hole.

[Major Nikon]

10. I have lots of great European shitter stories

Some military buddies and I went to a dept store in Germany. I hadn't been in Germany very long. In the common area there was an attendant that cleaned the restrooms. She worked for tips and she had a large plate where people would throw down a coin after they were finished. Her plate was full of coins. I looked at the restrooms and one had a H on the door and the other had a D. I had no idea if I was an H or a D. She didn't speak much English, and I didn't speak much German. So I pointed to myself and pointed to the D. She shook her head and pointed to the H. Once inside, I realized I had no Deutchmark coins. I didn't really want to stiff this woman who had saved me from a potentially very embarrassing situation and I reasoned tips were possibly her only income or at least a big part of it. So I decided to throw down a quarter (which was about the same size as a DM coin) counting on the fact that she wouldn't notice because there were so many coins on the plate. Well, right as I was walking out, she emptied the plate into her purse. Fortunately one of my buddies was going back to the shitters and I bummed a DM.

[trof]

12. Ah yes...Herren and Damen.

Mr. and Mrs? Miss? Ms?
Whatever.
Yeah, I remember that.

[Angleae]

15. The Bob Rivers show made a song just about this exact thing.