You know how it is in high school. You have to rush to the bathroom before class starts. Now, if only it were that easy to walk in, do your business and walk out. The vast majority of high school girls do not make it that easy for normal people. They see the bathroom as a place to talk, do hair and makeup, cry, and charge cell phones and ipods.
Talking is the worst thing, and the most common. Oftentimes, they are talking about their flaws as they look at themselves in the mirror. I actually have heard this conversation in my junior year:
Girl 1: God, I'm so ugly. I don't like my face. It's too fat.
Girl 2: It's okay, I never like myself.
Girl 1: Really?
And with that, they left the bathroom. Do they really feel the need to insult themselves, just to get reassurance from their friends? I mean, most girls are insecure about the way they look, but... I don't know.
I have even had people who I don't know try to make conversation with me, twice my senior year. I appreciate that they might be trying to be nice, but... I just want to pee and get out of there. I was washing paint off of my hands and a girl started talking to me.
Stranger: Wow... looks like you have paint on your hands.
Me: Well, yeah. I was in art class.
Stranger: (fixing her hair in the mirror) I'm just going to pretend that these mirrors are never flattering.
Me: Heh. Yeah, I guess that works.
I felt awkward. I mean, she looked fine, she was quite pretty. And maybe I should have told her that. But I always feel just as awkward being told I'm pretty by a stranger, and what if it creeped her out?
The other awkward conversation, one that I often rant about because I am angry about this girl's assumption of my age. I was washing my hands when she started to talk to me. Mind you, this was lunch time, and there were plenty of people she could have talked to.
Random person: Hi.
Me: Hi?
RP: What's your name?
Me: Sammi...
RP: I'm ******. Are you a 9th grader?
Me. No, I'm a 12th grader.
RP: Oh, sorry... my bad.
Me: That's alright.
Maybe she was talking to me because she thought I was a freshman and she was worried I didn't have friends... I have no idea what it was, and she was perfectly nice and friendly. I've kinda gotten over the fact that she thought I was a 9th grader. I was more weirded out at the fact that we were in a bathroom. I had never seen her before. There were other people there. So... why?
The makeup application is another bathroom clogger. I once got to school a few minutes late sophomore year, and an aquaintance who had the same class as me was getting there at the same time, so we got our passes and she asked me to stop in the bathroom with her. I thought it would be alright, but she proceeded to spend 10 minutes putting on her makeup. She had to apply all of it. Foundation, lip gloss, eyeliner, eyeshadow, blush... I was a little irritated, but I had told her I would stop in with her, so I waited. I guess it was a good thing most of the teachers don't check the time written on the passes. I've also seen girls bring curling irons and straighteners to school to do their hair. If it's really necessary, can't they wake up earlier and do it at home? I mean, some of your friends may have seen that your hair is actually curly/straight while you were on the way to the bathroom.
As for girls crying in the bathroom, even I've been guilty of that one. There isn't really anywhere private in the school, and sometimes that's the best place, if you don't want to be overdramatic and make a scene in the middle of the hallway. I always want to ask girls if they're alright, but when people ask me that, I usually get irritated and just say yes or nod my head. I don't think many people want to vent about all their problems to someone they've never met, so I usually just let them be.
The last note: I actually have seen girls hanging out in the bathroom with a friend waiting for their phone or ipod to finish charging. Neither of those things is necessary at school, and though a few select teachers allow ipods, there isn't a single teacher at my former high school (at least not any I met) that was okay with in-class cell phone use.
So maybe somebody reading this will get angry, and I'm sorry. I'm not trying to piss anyone off, and I'm also not trying to make a generalization. I have just seen a LOT of high school girls doing non-bathroom things in bathrooms, and it takes up space and makes it harder on everyone else. I just want to know how many other people have noticed this and are irritated with it, or if I'm the only one? I know I will probably still see a little of that in college, too. I just don't understand why the school bathroom is the best place to have a conversation or charge one's electronics. That's the part I don't really understand. I guess I get that if someone is short on time, the only place to do makeup or hair is the bathroom, but I think if a girl's running late, she'll survive for a day without it.
Anyways, so sorry again if I angered anyone. I've just been complaining about this for years and I wanted to get it all out in a final rant. This was the result of that.
