A Whole New Meaning to Doing Business

I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but considering the conversation was happening in the stall next to me, it was impossible to tune it out.

“I’m having a hard time with my father’s passing,” says the stranger, choking up on her words. “I mean, luckily I got to his house hours before he died, but I just wasn’t ready to say goodbye.”

She pauses to take a breath and hold back a sob, just as a chorus of toilets flushing shatters the moment. No one responds and she keeps talking.

The lull in conversation struck me as odd but was quickly answered when I saw the woman emerge from her bathroom stall, with pants still unbuttoned and a cell phone wedged rather uncomfortably between her ear and shoulder. All I could do was drop my jaw in disbelief. Why would you have a deeply emotional conversation about the passing of your father in a bathroom at the airport on a cell phone? And the kicker - doing this without a headset? Gross!

This morning I was at Oakland Airport when I heard a power meeting occurring a few stalls away from me. Once again, no headset, and an echo chamber of flushing and tooting. Do the folks on the other end not notice the sound? I mean, how can they not?

My esthetician tells me a great story about a client who gets bikini waxes while actively participating on conference calls. I'm not sure how you can conduct business in pain like that, but this woman does it fairly frequently. (Ouch!)

I’m baffled by this phenomenon of women doing their business and conducting business all at the same time. I know we live in a fast-paced world, but honestly ladies, the bathroom? Is there a topic ever so important it can’t wait a few minutes? My career puts me on the road quite frequently, and multi-tasking is a function of survival. Still, there is no topic matter, no work emergency, no problem so critical that it has to be conducted in a latrine.