I went to MacDonalds for lunch today and went into the wrong bathroom. I looked at the icon for the men's bathroom and it was wedge shaped like a dress so I stupidly went into the woman's without looking. After finding no spots for standing up, I double checked and discovered my error. The woman's bathroom icon had two straight little legs poking out from what was clearly a dress. If you look at both it is obvious which is which. The men's icon is two legs in a "jumping jack" stance, like half way down for the splits. I've always seen men's room icons with straight legs, hence my confusion. I was embarrassed.

After ordering a number 3 I gave the girl $20.00 for a $4.43 tab. She rang in $5.00 instead of $20.00 so the machine showed $0.57 change due instead of $15.57. The girl stood there for a few minutes before deciding to call a manager over to help her make change. The manager must have been a Harvard grad because she said "It is $15.57 dear". I don't know if the girl was embarrassed.

Questions:

Who should be more embarrassed me or the girl?

Is it really that hard to put the word MEN or WOMAN on a door in addition to the icon? I understand that the icons do not depend on language and that only having words on the door might be confusing to illegals or foreign guests so we clearly need the icons, but couldn't we have both?

In our multi-lingual society the words MEN and WOMEN would probably not do-- so we depend on graphics as you described. But as you stated there is no standard.

However in this case no one should feel the rush of embarrassement.

As to #2. In the heat of the lunch rush and the fact that the usual tender for a $4.43 tab would be a $5 bill the young lady need not feel shame. Nor should you. Human nature and a simple mistake that was made right. Both you and the young lady should "Have a nice day" and leave it at that.

BM

maybe they could use sex symbols? I'd figure that's a universal sign, isn't it? Oh, well, maybe people get those mixed up all the time... Couldn't color the door, cause some people are color blind. I suppose they could give the woman on the womens sign boobs.... Wouldn't that work?

As for the lady, maybe she was on her first day. But yeah, people mess up things every once in a while. Personally, I think you should be more embarrassed. But hey, you aren't alone on that one... Frankly, I've seen like five girls accidentally walk into the mens room... Understandable at my last high school though. The school was a mirror image on either side, but the men/women b-room swapped for some stupid reason... You had to double check you were going through the right door! Or was that left door? Correct door?

Oh, wait, I got it. Keep the icons, and write the Spanish word for it underneath.

That sounds about right, no?

Originally Posted by spencer6891

Oh, wait, I got it. Keep the icons, and write the Spanish word for it underneath.

That sounds about right, no?

ROFLMAO, amen bother....

Just got back from Hawaii. There they have icons (usually), Hawaiian, English, Japanese (I think) and another language. The announcements in the airport are in English and then Japanese (I think, not speaking the language). The McDonalds has garbage cans marked "MAHALO" rather than "Thank You". Not a sign of Spanish anywhere. I suppose nobody's filed a class action suit yet.

Originally Posted by spencer6891

Oh, wait, I got it. Keep the icons, and write the Spanish word for it underneath.

That sounds about right, no?

Just got back from a trip to California.

You would think that Spanish was the official language
of that "country".

Maybe they should put symbols up.

For men a "non gender" individual standing up to pee.

For women a "non gender" individual sitting down.


Oh and lakedude. No "viewing" no offence in my opinion.

Originally Posted by The Other Dave

Oh and lakedude. No "viewing" no offence in my opinion.

Yeah, I didn't "peep" on anyone. Glad no one came in while I was in there.

Originally Posted by The Other Dave

Just got back from a trip to California.

You would think that Spanish was the official language
of that "country".

Maybe they should put symbols up.

For men a "non gender" individual standing up to pee.

For women a "non gender" individual sitting down.


Oh and lakedude. No "viewing" no offence in my opinion.

Perhaps if the Federal Governemnt had ever adequately addressed illegal immagrition rather than waiting for half of central and south America to already be here, and for the economies of all the Western states to cultivate a dependance on immigrant labor, it wouldn't be a problem.

OTOH, California was settled and populated by the Spanish for a couple hundred years before the Mexican/American war and the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Not a big surprise that there are as many names of places in Spanish here as there are names of places in various Indian languages, French, German, Dutch, and whatever else in the Eastern U.S.. Colorado had it lucky. Everyone that went there was just passing through until the time it became a full fledged territory. Most of it's places were named by miners or rich Eastern industrialists and railroad barons.

I did the same thing at the clinic, they had changed it from one bathroom to two, and the one bathroom became the women's. What was interesting is after being there for a while had to go again, and this time went to the men's, what a mess, think I will use the women's from now on.


Oh yes, the Mexican American war. Land grab, Manifest Destiny, started by Texans, I could say something here . . .

I'll refrain.

Originally Posted by lakedude

I went to MacDonalds for lunch today and went into the wrong bathroom. I looked at the icon for the men's bathroom and it was wedge shaped like a dress so I stupidly went into the woman's without looking. After finding no spots for standing up, I double checked and discovered my error. The woman's bathroom icon had two straight little legs poking out from what was clearly a dress. If you look at both it is obvious which is which. The men's icon is two legs in a "jumping jack" stance, like half way down for the splits. I've always seen men's room icons with straight legs, hence my confusion. I was embarrassed.

After ordering a number 3 I gave the girl $20.00 for a $4.43 tab. She rang in $5.00 instead of $20.00 so the machine showed $0.57 change due instead of $15.57. The girl stood there for a few minutes before deciding to call a manager over to help her make change. The manager must have been a Harvard grad because she said "It is $15.57 dear". I don't know if the girl was embarrassed.

Questions:

Who should be more embarrassed me or the girl?

Is it really that hard to put the word MEN or WOMAN on a door in addition to the icon? I understand that the icons do not depend on language and that only having words on the door might be confusing to illegals or foreign guests so we clearly need the icons, but couldn't we have both?

She SHOULD be more embarassed...but if she can't make change from a $20...she probably won't be smart enough to ever get embarassed...

You, on the other hand, by asking the question, have shown that you know you made a mistake.

You're on the road to self actualisation...just don't forget the self love bit

And if that fails, just think....you'll probably never see these people again, so no need to cut yourself up over it.

Rich

Reminds me of the time I spent driving around a German town.

Now even I know that 'Strasse' is a street, so I asked my speaks-german-like-a-native why there were so many streets called 'Eingangstrasse'..

Funny I agree with both BillM and Large One, depending on my mood. Bill is of course correct in taking the moral high ground and I wish I was more like that more of the time. However most of the time I'm thinking the same as Large One, that the girl was not smart enough to be embarassed.

Originally Posted by vintage1

Reminds me of the time I spent driving around a German town.

Now even I know that 'Strasse' is a street, so I asked my speaks-german-like-a-native why there were so many streets called 'Eingangstrasse'..

That's similar to the fuss that I made on boarding a non-stop flight from Frankfurt to CApe Town and sitting down to find the destination Kapstadt displayed on the AV screens at the front of the cabin

Heck, you should be here in So. Ca! Go to Laguna Beach sometime, men are women and women are men! It's a Mad, Mad, World out there, folks!