I disagree. In that context, its not the bus driverâs job at all.
I understand your disagreement, and that is indeed where we differ. 
Granted that he genuinely did believe that someone was getting on the wrong bus (never mind why he reached that idea) the options open to him were:
- Pull his head in, say nothing, perform his duty subserviently even though he really thought it would be causing a problem, then shrug and claim it was above his pay-grade and someone elseâs responsibility when it blows up.
- Try to be helpful and prevent someone later embarrassment, by speaking up and interacting with his passenger as an egalitarian human being trying to avoid an unfortunate mistake.
I prefer B, but thatâs a personality/cultural difference Iâve encountered before. Some people do just find option A better.
Or possibly:
- Re-examine his life and cultural backgrounds to consider why he had come to the split-second conclusion that one woman getting on a bus loaded only with men was exceptional or doubtful in some way, and whether he had deep-rooted prejudices hitherto unchallenged that were only now being seen for what they were. Possibly he could have a minor epiphany and suddenly realise that the world now surrounding him was operating on slightly different rules than the ones that had been handed to him by his fathers generation.
Or at least come up with a much more graceful and diplomatic way of approaching this unexpected individual, and, without going so far as to openly challenge her for identification, find a way to phrase his doubt that she was in the right place and query her destination or role.
Option C may be ideal, but, you are probably right there, that would have been more than he was being paid for.
Yeah, exactly - every woman deemed âinsufficiently feminineâ gets caught up in this, everyone who doesnât fit the view of what ânormalâ gender identities consist of belonging to every single conservative person in or near a restroom. Which statistically means itâs mostly going to be cis women rather than trans women just because of the relative numbers. Thereâs the video going around right now of a (cis) woman being forcibly ejected from a womenâs restroom by the police because she refused to show them her ID on demand, someone having also decided she was âtoo masculine.â
Yeah, and itâs not like would-be molesters are going to dress up in drag and pretend to be trans to hang out in bathrooms and select their victims - the last thing they want to do is draw attention to themselves if theyâre about to commit a crime. But the thing is, the law isnât about that. Itâs really just about punishing âickyâ gender non-conformists, whoever they are. âThink of the childrenâ becomes an unconvincing excuse because âI donât want people who donât fit into my narrow gender roles to existâ doesnât cut it as a justification anymore.
Indeed. Apparently some have never seen them.
Thereâs a pub/nightclub in Brunswick, Melbourne, that has a unisex toilet, with like 6 or 8 stalls. On the occasions Iâve used it and walked in to a mixed crowd, it felt like I was living in some enlightened future, where people donât insult each other so much with stupid unfounded concerns.
It was kind of like when an annoying noise has been going on so long youâve forgotten itâs happening, until it stops, and you feel unexpected relief.
I went to a work function down the road at the Carlton football club. The toilet off the room we used only had urinals, which is a statement in the opposite direction I suppose.
Ha! Iâve used that! (and nobody came in).
Also, that place is awesome. A pink restaurant with swing dancing some nights, and plenty of themed rooms. My wife and I stayed in a wilderness themed room with a shower made out of rather large rocks.
In the nightclubs I used to frequent, everyone used the Menâs to pee, because the stalls in the Womenâs were permanently packed with mixed-gender groups of people taking drugs.
Yep, could be badâŚ
did anyone else notice his man boobs?
Iâm a SAHD, so I read some momâs blogs; I have read a few hand-wringing posts from moms who agonise over the right time to let their sons join the predators in the male bathroom.
Something Iâve noticed and wondered about when I have visited US public bathrooms (womenâs ones) is that there is always a really big gap under the door and often about an inch of space on either side of the door. Why is it like that? In New Zealand the gap at the bottom is much smaller and usually there is no gap on either side of the door at all. Does anyone know why?? Is it just a cultural thing??
Maybe itâs an artefact of a culture of fear⌠so many folks are busy making each other anxious for a living, maybe itâs just become accepted; background.
You wonât be missed, shitstain!
Um, way to occupy the moral high groundâŚ
I was going to go with âare you ⌠disappointed with Boingboing?â
Edit: by âyouâ I mean @d8sconz
As a well-travelled bar workerâŚ
The main practical reason for significant floor-gaps is for cleaning. Every corner is another place for grot to gather.
American janitors (in previous decades at least, Dunno about this century) preferred the dreddlock-style string mops, While in NZ and AU, the sponge-style has often been the tradition. Iâve had discussions on this with cleaners who prefer either style, and both sides are convinced their choice is more sanitary.
However, maneuvering a broad-head string mop around behind a toilet bowl in a minimum-width cubicle isnât easy to do well - but leaving a gap for mop clearance below stall walls works a lot better.
This problem is less pronounced if you are using a sponge-head mop, and building cubicle walls flush to the floor is fine there (though Iâd still recommend less edges if the choice were up to me)
That said, most builders donât think it through like that, and just do whatever seems ânormalâ depending on what they know.
The scale of things is also a factor - American conveniences youâd encounter as a traveller are more likely to have developed more efficient economies of scale in both buildings and maintenance, with chain stores and hotels fine-tuning built-for-purpose architecture to work for quick cleaning. While Kiwi bars and restaurants are more often converted buildings and their cleaning processes have scaled up from smaller ones.
Cleaning just is more efficient when there is good clearance under the stall walls.
Re doors - Dunno why it is, but man, bar doors just get DAMAGED when they meet the floor. Maybe lots of folk just kick them a lot when closed.
Iâve known places that replaced full-length toilet doors twice before the third ones had a gap underneath - and no more problems. Just anecdata there.
Reminded me of when my company held a conference for chief R&D engineers. Secondary activities were laid on for wives. The chief engineer at Peugeot phoned up and asked if her husband could come. (He wasnât an engineer)
He went on the wivesâ trips as the only man and apparently enjoyed himself enormously. His wife would certainly have given the Texan gentleman asshole pause for thought - one of her outfits was basically a matador suit.
