International Bathroom Story # 72

So, when I was in Thailand last fall I was visiting my friend in her office. (She works with the urban poor in Bangkok) It was evening and all the lights were out in the building except for her 2nd floor office that she rents. I had to use the restroom badly (not sure why i wait until the last minute but i did) and found my way down the dark stairs in search of the ladies restroom which i was told was downstairs. I went around the corner and instead I found the mens restroom and next to that was a closet and a hallway. For some reason I decided that since i had to really, really pee i would not try and find the ladies restroom but rather just use the mens. I mean, come on, it's dark...no one else was in the building, it's a quick pee and I really couldn't find the women's restroom.


So, i turned on the lights of this small mens room with 2 stalls. I went into one of the stalls with a sit down toilet that was surprisingly clean and began to... Well, then 2 things happened. First of all, just as i was making myself comfortable in the men's room, someone... a man... happened to be leaving his downstairs office thought he left the light on and slipped his hand in and turned the light off. I of course did what any normal american woman peeing in a mens bathroom in bangkok, thailand would do... i screamed! This of course led to the next embarrassing moment of having to explain that i was sorry and i couldn't find the women's bathroom (which was about 1.5 feet to my left)...


The only redeemable thing about that incident was noticing this sign posted above the toilet paper roll in the stall...





...it gave me my second laugh of the evening. Any thoughts on what got lost in translation? :)