The Men's Room

First of all, allow me to apologize for having all these posts about work. My focus on work is stronger than usual because of all the stuff going on and all the time I'm spending there. Also, I'm not spending much money or doing anything interesting at home, so work is all that's left.

Now, some observations about changes at Chrysler over the last 9 months.

Let's start out with the Urinal Rules, which are not specific to Chrysler, but are unsaid and fully observed by all men. There are 3 main rules.


1. If at all possible, leave an empty urinal between you and the next guy. That's why they can put urinals so close together. As a general rule, we go every other urinal anyway.


2. Look straight ahead and no talking. Your there to do your business and get out. No conversation required.


3. Take a wide stance. No matter what happens, a little bit of pee makes it to the floor in front of the urinal. You wouldn't want to be standing in somebody else's pee, would you?


At Chrysler Tech Center, in some of the busier bathrooms, they have installed "waterfree" urinals. The idea is that the smell comes from the urine being exposed to air where the bacteria in the urine combines with the oxygen in the air to grow and make bad smells. The idea for the waterfree urinal is that, if you limit the contact with the air and there is enough fresh pee going in, then you don't need to flush it down. At Chelsea, we have the usual flush type urinals.

Over the last 9 months, we have had a lot fewer people around the facilities. And I, the keen scientific observer that I am, have noticed a couple of things. With fewer people, the "waterfree" urinals have more time to ripen and there are definitely bathrooms there that make you want to hold your nose.

As for Chelsea, when we had lots of people, I always made it a point to choose the least frequently used urinal with the smallest wet spot on the floor in front of it. Now that we are fewer people, the floor is dry and its hard to tell which urinal to choose.

Wishing you equally enlightening scientific observations.