Men's things XXIX: The Cubicle Next Door

An Uncomfortable Observation

Yesterday afternoon, I went to the Gents, where we have cubicles and no urinals. Next to mine, someone had entered, taking the standing stance. To my hearing, the stream continued for a considerable length of time, with different rates of flow.

This might have been an opportunity to talk to a stranger about "men's things". It may not be anything serious, but every indication suggested it should be checked out. When he emerged from the cubicle as I was leaving, it was a middle-aged white man.

Again, I felt no particular urgency comes with screening white men for prostate gland issues. When anything is caught, if it is cancer-related, it is often at a late stage. As an Englishman, I am wont to mind my own business, but is that a good enough excuse when you suspect there might be an issue with a stranger's urinary habits that might portend cancer?

Taking Quiet Action

Having had prostate cancer and knowing how issues with an enlarged prostate can be easily dismissed as signs of ageing or nothing of significant concern, I understand the need to educate people about prostate health. Knowing the symptoms to watch out for is important.

I have just gone down to our reception to suggest that some posters be put in the men's toilets informing them of prostate health issues. I have also received a response that the posters will be printed and put in the toilets tomorrow.

I hope that in doing this, men would become more aware of prostate health and go for check-ups if they are exhibiting any of the symptoms.

References

Blog - Men's things XXVIII: Shame, no national prostate cancer screening

Blog - Photons on the Prostate - A year from starting radiotherapy

Blog - A prostate cancer diagnosis, one year on

Blog - Men's things - Prostate Cancer blogs

Poster from Prostate Cancer UK - 1-in-8 [PDF]

A Google NotebookLM AI Podcast on this blog

Hanging on to nothing

Hanging onto nothing

Subconsciously, one visits the gents at work and makes to put ones jacket up and the coat hook is not there. It was there last week.

Maybe the other toilet and the coat hook there is gone too – somebody tell me why anyone would remove coat hooks from toilets.

Now, I rarely walk around the office without my jacket on, in fact, it is almost always on, I wear suits with material that keeps its durable look without getting unnecessarily crumpled.

This development was certainly very uncomfortable for me I had to lodge a report with our support office presaging my complaint with the statement that it was a bizarre question but one that needed to be asked.

A valet I require

I have no respect for a restaurant that does not have the means for keeping my overcoat, hat and cane in good order.

Sometimes, I have to keep my hat on walking through buildings or shops until I have to converse with ladies or strangers just because the hat stand that used to be at the entrance of public places some 60 years ago has given place to sloppy and indecent modernity and unwholesome fashion.

I was almost apoplectic with rage when a concierge in a supposedly 5* hotel where I was attending a conference stuffed my hat down my coat sleeve. I could not believe my effects could be so damaged by an uncouth hireling, that hotel lost a good 4 stars in my estimation, I have not returned there since.

Why? O, Why?

You just cannot be in nature’s succumbed stance in your jacket; it makes you wonder about the office apparatchik who thought up the idea of ridding the toilets of the coat hook.

It would hardly save the planet or pull down the walls of safety in that private place; for that little but quite significant inconvenience, I had to empty my coat pockets and place my coat on back of my seat to visit the gents.

A simple act of vandalism

I would hope when they do realise that that act of vandalism has been noticed, somebody would make amends or going to the gents would not be as subconsciously routine as it once was.

Given that there are very few of us who wear suits to work, it does not mean we do not need coat racks, hat stands and brolly holders – a sudden discomfort close to proctalgia strikes one as it is possible they would be making off with the doors next.

Save us from rotten facilities management, please!

Skirting the issue

Ladies and Gents

I once was in an office block where the gents and ladies alternated on each floor just in case one column of drainage went out of order, however, there was once a time when some playing a prank switched the signs between the ladies and the gents.

Being one to check the signs even though subconsciously one knows which is which, I ended up in the ladies that was the gents and wondered what that extra bin was about - it took a call to facilities management to sort it all out.

So imagine when the big sign outside shows gents and you find that there are no urinals and all the cubicles have those extra bins apart from the fact that each door to the cubical has the internationally known sign for the lady and definitely, it looks like one is really skirting the issue of gender representation.

Expect Windows Scenic

That is not all, we have Windows everywhere but looking out still, not one is keen on the vista at least not till it gets quite scenic and that would not be for a while. Every time a speaker asks if there are Windows Vista installations out there, nary a hand goes up.

Well. Everyone is wary of that thing, in fact, much as the trumpeting of the features and qualities are almost too deafening to hear anything else, I learnt at the beginning of my IT career that I do not want to belong to the group of those they call "Fools Rush In". Basically, when it comes to operating systems, the smart money is not to boldly go where no one has gone before, but to see from afar the ones that have fallen and then chart your course round their mistakes and experiences.

Let someone else find out if the world is flat before you get on your boat and fall off the edge, I would be rolling out Windows Scenic when it arrives as an update to Windows Vista - meanwhile, I would toy and play with it.

Tradeoffs with the Taliban

The day was quite eventful and I attended 4 sessions, I failed to get into a hands-on lab for a product I believe solves a lot of my problems but there are other things I want done that it does not cover. It is strange to witness the fanfare accompanying one product and then hear questions that make the product look almost half-baked, that is life.

In lieu of the hands-on lab I happened upon a security treats and trade-offs seminar and boy, that was engaging, entertaining and enlightening - who would have thought with the Security Taliban I grapple with at work, security could be so refreshing.

This morning, I am numero uno for the hands-on lab. Off I go.