A room for rest!

Conference season is before us, and you are either presenting or going to listen to a presenter at an event in 2024. You can bet on a few things. One, the line to the women’s restroom will be long and the line to the men’s restroom will be short. Why? Because women make going to the restroom an event in itself. Going to the toilette with gal friends is part of the adventure of getting out. Men do not stand up at the dinner table and say, “does anyone want to come to the rest room with me?” Women do. Women also chatter a lot in the restroom, “why are there no towels? Why does the hand blower not work? Where is the fold down diaper changer?” Men are quiet in the restroom, they do not look at each other, they just finish their business and get the hell out. How do I know? Because I have asked a few men over the years.

Recently I went to a conference where there were rows upon rows of portable outhouses lined up, off to the side was one long trailer. This big-rig trailer was all white, with no markings on the outside. Resting up against the exterior wall of the trailer, were two staircases leading inside. The thing that tipped me off that this was a giant portable bathroom were all the women lined up. Not one woman was in line to use the portable outhouse. But the men sure were, they had no problem using the portable outhouses. It could have been because the ladies felt more civilized using the giant portable trailer restroom with luxury toilette stalls, or it might have been because it had a small lobby to sit and talk. I am sure there were some lifelong friendships formed from that portable restroom lobby that day. The chatter from the women was so loud that You could hear it streaming out every time someone opened one of the exterior doors.

Aside from the safety reasons women will travel in packs to the bathroom, thereby making the line longer. Women will follow each other into the bathroom to finish a conversation that began at the table. It is estimated that women will use about 20,000 words a day while men are estimated to use a mere 7,000 words per day.

Come to think of it, I have only heard pleasantries come from women in the restrooms. Doors being held for each other, helping little ones find their mommies, getting someone more paper towels.

From the book of Ephesians, “let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

Perhaps the reason the restroom is an event at an event is because it is truly a room where you can rest from the chaos of the conference.