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I never expected my coworker to see *that*...
OK, help settle a ridiculously overanalyzed debate at work.
Assume you wish to enter a restroom you know to be a single-person restroom not restricted to any particular gender. The door is closed and you can't easily ascertain whether the light's on, and therefore whether someone's in it, or whether the door was just accidentally closed. Assuming the following additional information, do do you test the handle to see if it's locked (and open the door if it's not), or do you knock first (and then test the handle if you don't hear an answer)?
[Poll #1511654]
Assume you wish to enter a restroom you know to be a single-person restroom not restricted to any particular gender. The door is closed and you can't easily ascertain whether the light's on, and therefore whether someone's in it, or whether the door was just accidentally closed. Assuming the following additional information, do do you test the handle to see if it's locked (and open the door if it's not), or do you knock first (and then test the handle if you don't hear an answer)?
[Poll #1511654]
no subject
I don't think I've ever seen a concert venue, etc. with single user bathrooms. In my head I just assumed restaurants, which are very public but often have single user bathrooms.
It didn't occur to me until reading other people's responses, but I do, in fact, hate having to respond to a knock while on the toilet. I often don't respond to knocking, if I know the door is locked, assuming the knocker will figure it out when they try the knob.
That being said, I don't fail to knock in public places because I'm polite; just 'cause I'm impatient and I assume people use locks. I'm also female, which means the toilet is blocking most of what I don't want seen, anyway.
no subject
Just to add some more TMI to this discussion. We have single gender bathrooms with two stalls in them, and a door for the overall room, which you have to close. When I go in, I usually keep the overall door ajar (because, wtf, I'm already in a stall, do I really need that much more privacy?) so people feel more comfortable using the other stall. I sometimes wonder if this is actually making people uncomfortable because OMG you may be able to see the stall door!
That said, if the overall door is closed or the light is on and the door is open I usually will avoid the bathroom and come back later because I don't know what the person in there thinks about all these doors. But then I run into the problem of sometimes needing to make two or three trips to check out the bathroom availability and look like a crazy person in the process.
Ok, end random story.