Interpreting A Sign

I think I have mentioned in my Outsourcing My Body blog entries that I am drinking about a gallon of water per day.  While this has some good, healthy side effects it also causes me to visit the men’s room at work more frequently than in the past.  These visits are becoming habitual and I have developed several techniques to get in and out as quick as possible.  For example, there are 2 towel dispensers that are activated by waving your hand in front of them.  These hands free devices go well with the time saving, hands free / self flushing urinals.  Anyway, I wave my hands in front of both towel dispensers before I begin washing my hands so that the towels are already there for me when I need them.  This saves all of 2 seconds I am sure.  But my bathroom time saving techniques are not why I am writing this blog.

As I entered the men’s room one of my many, many trips there today, there was a guy I know stepping away from the urinals just as I was entering.  He was walking toward the sink area and then gave me a double thumbs up sign.  I nodded at him and then made my way toward the area he just left.

I had some free time for the next few moments and my mind began to ponder what just happened.  What could this person (who was actually my manager for a short period of time a few years back) have meant with the thumbs up sign?  Was that some sort of rating for what had occurred just before I entered the room?  Perhaps he was having difficulties in this area of his bodily health and he felt the need to tell me that everything was working fine.  Maybe he had heard a rumor that I was having difficulty in this are of my life and he was offering some pre-encouragement to urge me on as I stepped up to the area that he just vacated.  Or, maybe he assumed I saw which urinal he just vacated (there are 3) and he was giving that urinal a thumbs up rating for whatever criteria should be used in measuring such things.  The fourth and most likely scenario is that he was just giving me a greeting and waving seemed out of place (as if thumbs up is any less awkward).  No matter the reason, it struck me as quite odd.  I might need to switch the bathroom that I visit to avoid future signs.

Jon