The Pin Drop Effect



I know it's gross but I'm sure every one of you out there has had this happen; you're shopping or you're out on your daily walk or you're at work and your stomach starts to cramp up. You need to use the bathroom and you know that it's going to get ugly in there but you have no choice - you must go. Things would be so much better if you were in the privacy of your own bathroom at home. But you aren't and you have no choice but to use the facilities that are nearest to you.

I myself don't want to "corrupt the environment" when others are present if you get my drift. Herein lies the problem. If you're in a restroom with multiple stalls, you know that unfortunately someone is going to hear you.

I usually wait a while, hoping that the other people in the restroom leave so I can avoid embarrassment but what happens when there are more than one of you in there with the same dilemma? Each person is trying to wait out the other and more often than not, it's so dang quiet you can hear a pin drop. This makes things even worse.

You're sitting there, trying to be quiet and you're trying to hold in any noises that might naturally occur. The other person apparently isn't leaving any time soon and your stomach is continually building up pressure because you're not taking care of business. Sometimes, you get a save. What's a save you ask? It's when more people enter the restroom who are talking and making noise and you have the chance to quickly release what's ailing you without knocking out the other person who is also  struggling to wait.

Of course, there's always the tried and true "courtesy flush" but it isn't very subtle. It's obvious that you can't wait and you finally had to just give in and let go. And what if the flushing sound stops before you're through making noises? That's embarrassing! Especially if you're dealing with this problem in a place where you know the people going in and out of the bathroom. I work in an office building with about 1500 people which means that each restroom is pretty busy. I'm going to see someone I know in there. The only consolation is that if they're having the pin drop standoff with me, they're in the same boat. They don't want me to know that it was them causing the rafters to shake. It doesn't make it any easier, but they get it.

I'd love to have a solution to this problem but for now I don't. I guess I'll have to just wait it out and be quiet so if a straight pin does fall, it'll be the only thing that's audible.