"This might be annoying..."

You are standing in front of the door to the men's bathroom, confused. The building handyman looks at you and shrugs as he finishes wiping down the new sign and puts the cloth down on the cart he uses to move his tools and supplies around.

The men's room sign had been removed and replaced with a sign that had both the men's and women's symbols on it with a plain "Restroom" beneath it. You glance at the women's restroom next door and its sign has not been changed but you doubt it'll be a problem. The men's room has two stalls and two urinals, and since there are rarely more than 3 dudes on the entire floor at a time it seems logical that they make it unisex since the one women's restroom has 4 stalls for over 40 women in the office.

If a woman wants to use one of the empty stalls in what was once the men's while you piss you don't care. In university one of the big washrooms was unisex and after a day you stopped noticing, after all you aren't standing 5 feet from the urinal when you piss and no one is going to be that interested. Well, maybe some women wouldn’t want to potentially walk past a guy standing at a urinal but they can just continue to use the women’s. Besides, at the end of the day everyone, as the book said, poops.

But as you tell yourself that it's not a big deal you notice the other new thing on the door - a lock.

"Uh, what the hell?" you ask the maintenance worker, pointing at the lock.

With an apologetic look he tells you, "They wanted to make the guys shitter unisex, but they were worried the women wouldn't use it if the door didn't lock to make sure a guy didn’t walk in while they were dropping a deuce. So it has a deadbolt inside now."

"Wait, so now if someone goes to the bathroom and wants privacy they can lock the door? Even though 3 other people could use it at the same time? How does that make sense?"

With another even less interested shrug the man says, "Yeah it wasn't my idea. If it's a problem, there is another men's room on the 5th floor, but like half the time the hallway is locked so you need a swipe card to the 5th to get in. Sometimes the door is propped open though," he adds helpfully.

Frowning slightly you pass by and do your business in the bathroom. As you're washing your hands the door opens and you hear one of the nurses saying, "Well it's better than waiting and-oh!" she stops talking to her friend behind her as they see you standing at the sink.

Both women awkwardly look at you, just standing there as you get some paper towels to dry your hands and quickly leave. You hear the loud click of the deadbolt a second after the door closes. This might be more annoying than you thought.

"I did hear it mentioned as an idea at a management meeting last month, but I didn't know they were doing it this soon," Jayne tells you as you walk back down Bathurst Street from the Starbucks on Bloor.

"Well it kind of sucks, I don't care about women using the washroom too but the lock is a bad idea!" you say. You had been interested in whatever budget cut nonsense Jayne might have heard of but your more immediate concern with the bathroom situation is more pressing.

Jayne nods, "Yeah no one said anything about a lock. That doesn't make a ton of sense, why turn a bathroom with 4 stalls into a single-occupancy one?"

You give an exaggerated sigh and say, "Well I guess we'll find out. Maybe it won't be a big deal."

Snickering, Jayne replies, "I bet it will be. You go to the bathroom more than any dude I've ever seen, don't forget you walk past my door every time you go. What are you at, 4 potty breaks a day?"

You give her your best smirk and say, "Nice to know you notice every single time I walk by Hallsy."

You both reach the small parking lot behind the BHC and Jayne looks around, seemingly nonplussed and at a rare loss for words. You have to admit, it's fun to make the confidant and outgoing woman flustered. You like Jayne, and if things were... different you might want to explore that. You know she's single, you know she's into guys and you think she might fancy you a bit. But it's not to be, for a few reasons.

Rather than let your gloomy thoughts and regrets overwhelm you again, you laugh and let her off the hook, "Relax, just kidding. But I do suffer from TTBS and it's quite serious so I have to ask you to respect my condition."

You swipe the back door open and pull it, holding it for your friend who is staring at you, clearly unsure what you mean. You seem serious, but she knows you well enough to narrow her eyes suspiciously and say, "Uh-huh. TTBS?"

"Teeny-Tiny Bladder Syndrome. It's a very real disease and I'll thank you to keep it to yourself."

With a groan, Jayne waves a dismissive hand at you and walks past.

"What? Are you mocking my TTBS now? Christ Hallsy, I really don't want to have to get HR involved in this but I feel like I may not have a choice."

Giving a sarcastic chuckle, Jayne starts up the steps alongside you. “I don’t know what’s worse, joking about your tiny bladder or the fact you are actually attempting to make ‘Hallsy’ work. It’s not, it’s lame.”

“I don’t know,” you reply as you both round the landing to the second floor, “it’s kind of growing on me. It is a total hockey nickname, but that just adds to the appeal. Run it by your parents and see.”

“Yeah no. If I told my Mom you gave me a nickname I’d never hear the end of it.”

You chuckle as you both round the 2nd-floor landing - where all the Health Records offices are, everyone knows the 2nd floor is not nearly as cool as the 3rd floor - and you have a moment to wonder. Does that mean Jayne has talked about you to her Mom before?

Back in your office, you check your email and, finding nothing you need to do just now, hit up Reddit for a while. Once you’re bored of dumb memes and have exhausted all the hockey news (the Leafs got swept in the first round and it’s been a long offseason already) you decide to clean out a little garbage.