NationStates Jolt Archive

i was just watching the nbc nightly news. they ran a bit of the taped police interview with senator craig over his "disorderly conduct" in an airport bathroom.

have you ever accidentally bumped the shoe of the person in the next stall in a public bathroom? if you did, wouldnt you feel horribly embarrassed and apologize or something?

i dont interact with the people in the next stall. the closest *I* have gotten is to pass some toilet paper under the divider when asked.

i was just watching the nbc nightly news. they ran a bit of the taped police interview with senator craig over his "disorderly conduct" in an airport bathroom.

have you ever accidentally bumped the shoe of the person in the next stall in a public bathroom? if you did, wouldnt you feel horribly embarrassed and apologize or something?

i dont interact with the people in the next stall. the closest *I* have gotten is to pass some toilet paper under the divider when asked.

Holy shit, you used proper grammer for one brief and shining moment.

To answer your question: no, I have never "bumped" someone's foot. This however, does not mean incidents like this are impossible.

I've had accidental foot bumps under the dinner/lunch table, but that's simply two people stretching out at the same time. As for the Draig incident, I'm convinced that the "foot bumps indicate a desire for sex" is 100% fabricated.

Holy shit, you used proper grammer for one brief and shining moment.

To answer your question: no, I have never "bumped" someone's foot. This however, does not mean incidents like this are impossible.

i have this (probably erroneous) thought that straight men (especially) are rather repressed in the men's room. they dont peek at the next guy at the urinals, they dont interact with other men who are using the stalls. i think that they would avoid bumping shoes even if they had no idea that its some kind of sexual invitation and that if they did accidentally touch another man in the men's room that they would be mortified.

of course as a woman, ive never been in the men's room and i know little about the private life of men when no women are involved. so im asking.

i have this (probably erroneous) thought that straight men (especially) are rather repressed in the men's room. they dont peek at the next guy at the urinals, they dont interact with other men who are using the stalls. i think that they would avoid bumping shoes even if they had no idea that its some kind of sexual invitation and that if they did accidentally touch another man in the men's room that they would be mortified.

of course as a woman, ive never been in the men's room and i know little about the private life of men when no women are involved. so im asking.

Rule #1 about the men's restroom: don't talk unless spoken to, and even then, don't talk.

Maddox included Urinal etiquette in The Alphabet of Manliness. I suggest you read it as to get some insight on our secretive ways of doing things.

i have this (probably erroneous) thought that straight men (especially) are rather repressed in the men's room. they dont peek at the next guy at the urinals, they dont interact with other men who are using the stalls. i think that they would avoid bumping shoes even if they had no idea that its some kind of sexual invitation and that if they did accidentally touch another man in the men's room that they would be mortified.

Pretty much true for me.

One thing I hate is the whole lineup. Where you get guys waiting right behind you to use the urinal. No way I can pee with some dude standing behind me. Similarly if I have to wait I'm not going to do that to someone else. Really, if the bathroom has anyone else in it, chances are I'll just hold off or find a bush somewhere. Guys are creepy.

Pretty much true for me.

One thing I hate is the whole lineup. Where you get guys waiting right behind you to use the urinal. No way I can pee with some dude standing behind me. Similarly if I have to wait I'm not going to do that to someone else. Really, if the bathroom has anyone else in it, chances are I'll just hold off or find a bush somewhere. Guys are creepy.

I just use stalls.

I really hate being in such a vulnerable position with no field of view.

I'll have to be sure to keep my feet in the middle of the stall and watch out for phantom feet coming in from either side.

Pretty much true for me.

One thing I hate is the whole lineup. Where you get guys waiting right behind you to use the urinal. No way I can pee with some dude standing behind me. Similarly if I have to wait I'm not going to do that to someone else. Really, if the bathroom has anyone else in it, chances are I'll just hold off or find a bush somewhere. Guys are creepy.<Stands behind GT, tapping foot.>

I don't remember the last time I used a public restroom. I have an adverse fear.

One time I was playing Uno with my wife and two best friends and as we drank and laughed I kept rubbing my foot against what I thought was my wifes foot but then I noticed my friend looking under the table kinda worried and confused...

i was just watching the nbc nightly news. they ran a bit of the taped police interview with senator craig over his "disorderly conduct" in an airport bathroom.

have you ever accidentally bumped the shoe of the person in the next stall in a public bathroom? if you did, wouldnt you feel horribly embarrassed and apologize or something?

i dont interact with the people in the next stall. the closest *I* have gotten is to pass some toilet paper under the divider when asked.

I've talked to people in other stalls sometimes.

I've had accidental foot bumps under the dinner/lunch table, but that's simply two people stretching out at the same time. As for the Draig incident, I'm convinced that the "foot bumps indicate a desire for sex" is 100% fabricated.

slate says its true. if you cant trust slate who can you trust?


Is tapping your foot really code for public sex?

Yes. The signal has been around for decades in the United States and Europe. Generally, one person initiates contact by tapping his foot in a way that's visible beneath the stall divider. If the second person responds with a similar tap, the initiator moves his foot closer to the other person's stall. If the other person makes a similar move, the first will inch closer yet again. The pair usually goes through the whole process a few times, just to confirm that the signals aren't an accident.



http://www.slate.com/id/2173033/

it goes on to be kinda graphic so you might not want the kids to be reading over your shoulder.

I just use stalls.

I really hate being in such a vulnerable position with no field of view.
I'm worse, I have to have a stall. It doesn't matter if I've been driving all day and just finished a 2-litre Diet Coke, if there is even one other person in the "room" with me, I can't go. The woods being the only exception, something about trees makes things much easier.

I also hate it when there is someone in a neighboring stall, that's just gross. I'd never tap the foot of someone in a neighboring stall, in fact I'd probably stamp down hard on anything they tried to present under the divider.

Holy shit, you used proper grammer for one brief and shining moment.

To answer your question: no, I have never "bumped" someone's foot. This however, does not mean incidents like this are impossible.

You're really going to chastise someone while making such an obvious error? Try not to be so indignant.

It seems to me that tapping someone's foot with yours, while you are both in separate stalls, is rather unfeasible physically. All the stalls I have been in have a rather small clearance space between wall and floor, to actually get your foot to protrude enough to touch another person's foot would probably require a bit of your leg to get underneath it.

Anyway, I can't believe that people actually have some sort of signaling system with the feet in public restrooms. At least, it is the first I have heard of it.

So, no, I have never bumped someone's foot in a public restroom, and don't think it could be done accidentally, unless some really strange things are going on with your legs/feet.

I take a wide stance on the issue of foot-bumping. Some may accuse me of stalling, but I'm just waiting for the other shoe to tap.

Never bumped anyone's foot in a bathroom...

I did, however, bump my friends' feet repeatedly in our 8th grade science class. We didn't have desks but tables, and the tables were narrow and of course people's feet got bumped (and, if our chairs were pushed in far enough, knees). My friends and I laughed about it through the whole year... :D

You're really going to chastise someone while making such an obvious error? Try not to be so indignant.

damn it, beat me to it. I forgive:cool:

I listened to the recording of the police interview with Senator Larry "Wide Stance" Craig at least four times tonight. I had to because I kept missing parts due to my uproarious laughter. After hearing all that malarkey about tapping and bumping, and hands and feet, and how he goes through all these maneuvers to keep his pants from sliding around, and he's picking up toilet paper off the floor (eww-ick!), all I can wonder is:

What is this old perv getting up to in there? I mean, why can't he just go in, do his business, and leave? What's with all the gymnastics? I mean, give me a break already. And after all that hasserei in the bathroom, then listening to him complain to the cop about how he didn't want to miss his flight -- well it wouldn't have been an issue, if he hadn't wasted so much time in the toilet. Was he doing yoga in there?

In reference to the OP, no, I have never bumped anyone else's foot in a public bathroom, neither in the common area, nor from one stall to another, neither by accident, nor on purpose. Women, I guess, are less inhibited than men about talking to each other while peeing, so I have chatted with women in other stalls, and I have partcipated in toilet paper exchanges. Amazingly, such behavior is never even vaguely sexual, but then I've never been in the Minneapolis airport.

I am familiar with the standard layout of men's restrooms in the US, because sometimes, in some places, the women's room is worse. The stalls are exactly the same, and I really don't see how anyone could accidentally bump someone's foot across a stall partition, no matter how wide their stance is. And I don't see how one could "not recall" doing it, as Mr. Craig claimed, unless one was extremely drunk. In my experience, men are careful about that kind of thing. I've even been caught using a stall in a men's room, when a man came in to use the urinal. You know what? We managed not to see or do anything untoward with each other, and I believe we both remembered it.

I take a wide stance on the issue of foot-bumping. Some may accuse me of stalling, but I'm just waiting for the other shoe to tap.

That is just so wrong.:p

God no. Thats something you have to try to do.

Eyes forward, arms and legs inside, focus on the task at hand and get the fuck out. Don't linger, don't converse, don't explore. Get in, get it done, and get out.

You learn this early early in life.

Where's the "no, it's no big deal" option?

how the fuck can you "accidentally" bump feet? I mean, come on...even in the smallest of stalls (I'm thinking college dorm), there is atleast a 2-foot stall...I don't know how you all sit on the john, but I don't exactly go spread eagle...not to mention the divider.
Really, the only way that you can bump feet is to try pretty damn hard...the only way I could think of an accident is if one guy had his foot close to the divider, and you had a severe muscle spasm.

well im glad to see that im not way off on my understanding of how men behave in public restrooms.

its a shame that mr. craig has to be run out of office for this sort of thing. i certainly dont care if any of my congressmen are pervs (as long as its all consentual). but since mr craig is receiving the treatment that he would give to another congressman caught the same way, im OK with it.

I don't use public bathrooms for a number two less I have to.

[QUOTE=New Stalinberg;13012469]Holy shit, you used proper grammer for one brief and shining moment.

What a perfect, or even "shining", example of the Queen's English that was.

Incidentally, one can "bump into someone", "accidentally touch another's foot with one's own" or, more usually, "tread on someone's toes" or "step on their feet". "Bumping feet" sounds like a disease.

i dont interact with the people in the next stall. the closest *I* have gotten is to pass some toilet paper under the divider when asked.

You could spare a square?

One bump probably could mean an accidental bump.

Repeated, alternating bumping is probably signaling. Read the book, "Tearoom Trade".

Rule #1 about the men's restroom: don't talk unless spoken to, and even then, don't talk.

Maddox included Urinal etiquette in The Alphabet of Manliness. I suggest you read it as to get some insight on our secretive ways of doing things.

It all depends on how much alchol has been consumed, never though I and mean never ask 'Hey, how's it hanging'

From the Washington Post:
"If you are in the stall, you tap your foot, and if the person next to you taps a foot, you keep going back and forth until one person makes a move," he says. "Someone will then stick their hand underneath. Or they will pass a note on paper. Or, what I've heard is, when they think it's safe," they will move on to sexual contact in the space beneath the partition."

Looks like Larry Craig knew what to do.

He first tried to make prolonged eye contact through the crack of the door. Then he got in the stall and did some back and forth foot tapping with the officer (initiated by Larry Craig, so it's not entrapment). Then he put his hand underneath the edge of the stall.

At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly.

From the Washington Post:


Looks like Larry Craig knew what to do.

He first tried to make prolonged eye contact through the crack of the door. Then he got in the stall and did some back and forth foot tapping with the officer (initiated by Larry Craig, so it's not entrapment). Then he put his hand underneath the edge of the stall.

Hey, don't hijack the thread! We are having a serious discussion of a very serious question, not one example of "bumping". Sounds funnier like "bum ping" anyway ...

My opinion: Not really, no. I can only imagine it happening by accident while going in or out of the stall, since one has to step to the side to get through the door. Every public convenience I've used has the doors hung scrupulously the same way 'round. So, my answer is "no."

It seems very unlikely to me that something like this could happen by accident. Even in extremely narrow stalls, I suspect that I have rarely if ever allowed one of my feet to pass under the divider separating me from the next stall.

I adamantly refuse to use a Public toilet where I have to sit down...it's gross...so, no...

I adamantly refuse to use a Public toilet where I have to sit down...it's gross...so, no...

You could put both feet up on the seat, and drop a "long bomb" ...

You could put both feet up on the seat, and drop a "long bomb" ...
That's what a lot of the locals and Mainlanders do here.

I go to the public toilets in the IFC shopping mall. They have two toilet attendants who go in and check/clean the toilet immediately after you leave.
It also has automatic flushing and paper toilet seat covers (which flush away after use).
Also automatic soap dispensers and taps.
Better than going at home.

I'm surprised Craig didn't claim that he had restless leg syndrome.

I rarely used Public restroom (95% of the one I've been in are just disgusting) and usually when I use one, I just go in, do my business, and get out.

<Bumps the foot of the next person who posts.>

<Bumps the foot of the next person who posts.>

Ha ha! ME! :p

Ha ha! ME! :p<Makes eye contact and waves fingers.>

<Makes eye contact and waves fingers.>

I'm almost under the divider... give me a minute more... damn beer gut!

I'm almost under the divider... give me a minute more... damn beer gut!Lol. If you came in feet first, that's good enough. ;)

Lol. If you came in feet first, that's good enough. ;)

Almost there... I'm under!

*Stands up in stall and establishes eye contact*

Um, who's doing what to who?

Me. I'm the guy in the cubicle the other side of Jello.

I'm putting you both on Youtube. That limbo thing is a hit, better than the dancing baby!

Me. I'm the guy in the cubicle the other side of Jello.

I'm putting you both on Youtube. That limbo thing is a hit, better than the dancing baby!

If you quit filming now, you'll miss the best stuff. :D

If you quit filming now, you'll miss the best stuff. :D

But that's pron, and I can't put it on Youtube (not the public part of Youtube, anyway.) This is going to be "epileptic guy in toilet stall." It's medical advice, or something.