I just wanted to convey this bit of advice to you, dear reader, for one day soon, whether you expect it or not, you may find yourself unprepared for the same unenvyable position in which I have found myself on more than one occasion.
Set the wayback machine for 1993 and my illustrious carrer as a plebian pizza maker at Little Caesar’s. (Please keep the inevitable “Pizza! Pizza!” comments to a minimum - Thank you.) I was going about my day in the usual fashion - rolling out dough and feeding it through the press to make it flat enough for the pans, spreading sauce and cheese on each, and carting them to the cooler. I remember this day clearly, for it was on this day that the event happened.
I had an urge. After several hours of work (pizza making begins at 7-8 AM, depending on how much dough you need to make for the day) I had consumed enough beverage, and I needed to take a break. I proceeded to the employees-only restroom in the back of the store, a single-person unisex unit. I began my business there, when I was greeted by an unexpected visitor.
Yes, one of my coworkers, one of the many “Jen"s I knew at the time, had decided that this would be her break time too, and entered the bathroom without knocking or otherwise alerting its occupants of her impending invasion. She was appalled, and I was not amused. Our relationship ever since that point had suffered for it.
This incident was only second to the subsequent event during which we both were at the pizza cutting and boxing station and I asked innocently, “Is that baby powder I smell?” After I presented the question she ran away sobbing, not to be seen until the next day. Later during trash clean-up, a coworker managed to piece together the mystery, when she found a box of discarded scented feminine products among the day’s collected garbage. After this we didn’t do the “getting along” so well. But I digress.
I’ve also been on the giving end of this “Oh, hi there!” restroom catastrophe. I walked in on my boss on one occasion, which was an odd experience. He had left the door to the restroom cracked open several inches while doing his business, which indicated to me that the room was unoccupied. As I rounded the corner, it became clear that we had both made a gross error. Fortunately, his back was turned to me, and I was able to back out of the room quietly, sparing him (but not me) the indignity of the situation.
Let this be a lesson to you. Save yourself the mental trauma of the situation, and be sure to lock your restroom door at work when it’s possible, nay, neccessary to do so.
