Work bathroom etiquetteFollow

I think we discussed this briefly before, probably years ago, however I saw something today that made me want to share.

We have a guy who comes in late everyday on a "flex" schedule. He's an older fella, probably late 40's. He's also an avid biker (pedal bike, not vroom vroom) and typically bikes about 15 miles in every day, even in the winter. Dudes in good shape, and rocks a **** stache that would make Ron Jeremy jealous.

That said, he has an annoying routine. Every day he comes in he goes into the mens room, strips down to his spandex shorts and gives himself some sort of sponge bath. He uses a bunch of paper towels, and wipes his sweat off, then changes into his work clothes. All pretty much right in the middle of everything. I should point out there's a flipping shower in the room, with it's own changing area with a curtain for privacy.

That is weird enough, but today topped it. I go in to get rid of some morning coffee, and the crapper door is shut. No big deal, people gotta crap. However when I finish up and turn to go to the sink to wash my hands, out comes biker boy stark nekkid.

Now what you do at home is your own business. But come on man, have some fUcking common courtesy.

I love it. It's like he had some common decency when no one was there, but as soon as someone comes in he's got to be an exhibitionist.

If it really irritates you (and it should), you should say something to a supervisor. If there is literally a curtain changing area and a shower, it wouldn't be out of line to request him to use it.

He probably has a man-crush on you and was advertising his wares.

If there weren't changing facilities in the area, I'd kinda feel for the guy, but this routine is ridiculous. If he is walking around naked, you should definitely go see HR.

If there isn't really any facilities to shower and change and stuff, sure. A quick bird bath to clean off the stink of the day is better than nothing. Of course, I somehow doubt he's involved in any kind of work that would justify that, and I'd probably bring it up to the human resources person.

Yup. It would still be weird without the shower area, but you could accept it as something of a necessity for him.

WITH the shower area? Ha, no. That's just weird.

Next time he's naked, sigh deeply and say "Fine" then start getting undressed as well.

Gossip about how little he is, or how one side hangs lower than the other. Start the rumor mill going.

I don't know but he said exactly what I was thinking. When I was a supervisor it annoyed the crap out of me when people came to me with stuff like this. It normally went something like
"Bob is doing this thing that I think is inappropriate."
"Did you talk to Bob?"
"No, he'll listen to you."
"How old are you?"


EDIT:

He is certainly out of line for any sort of office environment, he's not at the gym.

Edited, Feb 23rd 2012 6:16pm by SillyXSara

What?! No dude, you're gay. You're supposed to be staring at him. Check any of Alma's posts for veracity on that statement.

I disagree. Someone's borrowing your stapler too much, or without asking? You talk to them. Someone's playing their music too loud? You talk to them. Popping their gum, whistling, microwaving food that makes the whole eating area smell?

Yeah, HR doesn't need to be involved with that. It's unimportant stuff. And no one should feel uncomfortable asking someone else to stop. If the other person blows you off, and your complaint is legitimate, then yeah--go to HR.

This is a very, very different issue, imo. Plenty of people would be really uncomfortable having that conversation. And even assuming the guy stops afterwards, you are always going to be the guy that told him to stop walking around naked.

This strikes me as the kind of situation where anonymity is a legitimate request. The guy needs to stop doing it (and most of the office probably agrees). No need for the OP to take the brunt of that. That's why HR exists.

Yeah, call me immature if ya want, but that's not a conversation I'd be comfortable having. At least not with this dude, he's a bit off anyway. If it were a buddy of mine, or even just someone I was on good working terms with, I wouldn't have a problem saying something. But there's something wrong with this guy.

I do believe he's a bit of an exhibitionist. He was talked to before, as when he got to work he used to do this stretching routine right outside the door in full view of the manufacturing floor, again wearing nothing but his spandex. The ladies on the floor complained, he was talked to, and he just moved over a bit to where it wasn't quite so obvious. Another time there were complaints as he would do his sponge bath routine too close to the door. When other guys would walk in, anyone in the hall could see him, and a few did.

Also, HR doesn't exist anymore. At least not locally. They were laid off, and supposedly we have a contact in Georgia or some damn thing. That contact has proven to be as useful as tits on a boar.

I'll manage. Usually I avoid the bathroom at the time he comes in just for this reason. I just had to have something to gripe about yesterday, and this happened to be it. It also struck me as particularly weird since he was obviously ******** while naked. I've got no problem if you do that in your home, but doing it in public is just wrong.