Urinal Ethics

I saw online a story for a hands free urinal and figured that I would get back to the basic premise of this blog,  Ethics at the Men's Room urinal.

So here are some of the rules, in no particular order.

Rule #1:  Where to go

First, always look for urinals with dividers, that at least gives you a little privacy, yet if you are faced with a wall full of urinals, with no dividers, then where do you go first.  Well first, if no one else is there, you go to any unoccupied urinal in a corner.  Why you ask?  Well the wall next to you gives you a little bit of privacy, and sets the pace for all others who may come to the urinal while you are still there.  If the corners are already occupied, then you go to the odd urinal, always leaving one empty urinal between you and another patron.  If you skip two urinals, then you are just taking one urinal out of play.  For example, if a wall has 5 urinals, and 1 and 5 are occupied, you naturally go to spot number 3.  If here are 7 urinals and 1 and 7 are occupied, you go to either 3 or 5.  2, 4, and 6 are simply not acceptable, unless there is no other choice.

In fact, I will go so far as to state, that if the only open urinal is next to another patron, then the proper step is to use one of the stalls.

Rule #2  Conversation

The basic premise is that there is no conversation at a Urinal.  Its not a place to conduct business, keep up on your social media.  It is a place to conduct a bodily function, end of discussion.  The goal being to get in and out as fast as possible, remember a urinal is designed for speed.

That being said, there are always exceptions.  Quick bits about sports, are generally acceptable.

But how well do you need to know someone before you have any conversation at the Urinal.  What are the rules of etiquette?  You need to know someone well to have any discussion at the urinal.  Remember you are at your most vulnerable, you are exposed, so the relationship has to be particularly strong to have any conversation, and not get your ass kicked.

The exception to this rule is 2 drunk guys.  2 guys who are seriously inebriated can talk at the urinal, no explanation needed.

Upcoming rules:

Hand placement
Troughs
Posted ads
Drinks & food

Oh and as for the hands free urinal....here's a picture, that mechanical hand just scares me!

Extremists

My rant today is about extremists.  Earlier I learned that our Ambassador to Libya had been murdered, and our embassy in Cairo attacked.  This stems from an alleged video that was shown n Youtube that allegedly denigrated Mohammed.  I say allegedly because first, I did not see the video so I can't comment on its content, and two I am not a Muslim, so I cannot fairly say what I would find to be offensive.

But I can verily state that extremists are the root cause of all of these problems.

Whether you are a right wing nut job, a Tea Party wing nut, bleeding heart liberal, Westboro Baptist "Church" sicko, commie pinko, Haredi, Evangelist, or Jihadist, your are the problem not the solution.

The extremist sees no room for any differing view, and sees no room for compromise.  the extremist believes in intolerance, and preaches the same.  They may claim that they preach love, but in essence they preach hate.

Now I am not so naive to think that my minor rant will change anything, or anyone's beliefs, but as a member of the MAJORITY of non-extremist people, I feel that no one is listening to us.

Tolerance is the key.

I respect everyone's beliefs.  Whose to say that your hokey religion is any better than my hokey beliefs. Until one of these deities appears before me and proves that they have the true path, I reserve all rights to cast doubt to any and all.  Same with political views.  If you somehow have the power to view into the future and tell me for certain that one policy is better than the other, I am still going to vote for what i think is the best.

So rules that I think the people of the world should live by:

1.  Keep you religious beliefs to yourself
2.  Respect another's right to believe in what they want to believe in.
3.  Keep your government out of my bedroom
4.  Don't impose your religious beliefs on me
5.  Respect the right to disagree.

Tipping

I am just so fed up with tipping!

I know it is not a city in China, and I understand that TIPS stands for "To Insure Proper Service".  But why must everyone have his or her hand out, and why do more and more professions believe that they are entitled to a gratuity?

Yes the restaurant industry depends upon the generosity of its patrons, but realistically why do tips exist.  The restaurant owners save on the salaries they pay their employees, and pass that cost on to the consumer, the quid pro quo I guess is that it lowers the actual food costs.  So I accept that a waiter getting paid $2.50 an hour needs my gratuity to survive, and I have no problem with that.

What I have a problem with is every other service industry employee thinks that they are entitled to a tip.

The other night I went to one of those self-serve yogurt places that are popping up like a plague all over the place.  You walk in, you pick up an empty cup off of a stack, and then serve yourself your yogurt, as much or as little as you want.  Then you go over t their toppings bar, and place your own toppings on your yogurt.

You bring your cup to the register, YOU place it on the scale, then an employee tells you how much it costs and you pay them.  To my shock and surprise, there was a tip jar at the register.

Why is a tip suggested or even expected?

I served myself, they did nothing but take my money!  Now I wouldn't have a beef if they were making below minimum wage, like a waiter, but they are not, they believe that because they are in a food industry, a tip is warranted.  What's next, do I have to tip the toll collector for taking my money before I cross the bridge?

Has the culture of tipping gone to far?  I believe it has.

Aim of the Blog

If you are going to be offended by the title of this blog, then please leave now.  The purpose of this is not to offend anyone, but to use as my own personal "bully pulpit" to air my views, opinions and grievances.  Hopefully if you made it past the first sentence you will be sometimes amused, sometimes enraged, and sometimes engaged.

First, let me tell you how the name of this blog came to be.  I was doing what I normally do on summer weekends, sitting on the beach, under my umbrella, drinking a few cold ones or other adult style beverages and just bullshitting with my friends.  I am 48.  One friend I know since I am 11, the other I know since I am 16, simply put, we have been together for a lot of years.  We are all married, and amazingly the wives get along.  We have kids and they too get along for the most part, in total there are 4 girls ranging from14 to 19, and one boy he's 15.

I don't have a son, so I occasionally like talking with my buddy's son.

One day he showed me this iPod game called urinal test.  It was pretty stupid, it showed you a wall of urinals with either a few men standing there or none, and you had to guess which empty urinal was the proper choice.  Seems innocent enough but that got me Thinking.  There are no set rules for urinals, or men's rooms for that matter, so why couldn't I post my thoughts about the subject.

Thus an idea was born.

But shortly after that, my buddy's son left on a 6 week cross country tour.  So I was left to think about this on my own.

In that time, I thought it would be silly to focus on just ethics surrounding the use of a urinal, I should use this as my soap box to air my thoughts and opinions.   So the blog was born.

Now I don't in any way believe that I will be answering age old questions, or solving the world's problems, I simply will just state my point, why I believe in that issue or idea and move on.  If someone agrees great, if you disagree, well I respectfully recognize your right to believe in what you want to believe in, just as long as you recognize my right to not hear you or agree with you.

Also I do not pretend that I am a frustrated author, waiting for a break.  You make your own breaks in this world.  Very little is given freely.

So if you read this, great.  If not, so be it.