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abalashov 10 hours ago

I understand the overwhelming opposition to this, and I wouldn't do it myself. However, I lead a life of very few meetings (I'd actually appreciate more--this stance puts me in a very small company, to be sure), so it's easy for me to say that one should be more judicious with one's timing.

I can emphathise with someone stuck in meetings all day in a predominantly listening role, that they consider perfunctory or mostly pointless, or maybe in a very active role that has them stressfully bouncing from meeting to meeting.

I can easily envision how this would lead to a kind of nihilistic resignation and a determination to just do normal life stuff with a headset on one's head.

gouggoug 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There’s a difference between passively listening to a meeting and actively participating, while being in the bathroom.

I would never do either. But one is less weird than the other.

array_key_first 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

And if you're going to be playing audio in the bathroom, any audio, wear some god damn headphones. I don't want to listen to your standup or your tiktok.

rootusrootus 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Exactly. If you’re just listening on a headset and are muted, then it’s way less obnoxious.

matwood 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> However, I lead a life of very few meetings

An old business partner had meetings which felt like 24/7. He had zero issue taking a phone call in the bathroom. I doubt anyone on the other end ever knew.

Scoundreller 8 hours ago | parent [-]

But my 1 pair of Bluetooth headphones are dead and who could possibly sleep at night if their phone was 1mm thicker for a headphone jack???

krick 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

As a matter of fact, I do NOT understand the overwhelming opposition to this. What's your deal if a guy is good at multitasking and people on the other end of the wire don't mind it? It isn't like he is desecrating a temple, or intruding into your home and using your toilet, or jerking off in the public... Wait, actually I'd say even the latter shouldn't be your business, unless he stains something. Why cannot people mind their own business?

autoexec 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> It isn't like he is desecrating a temple, or intruding into your home and using your toilet, or jerking off in the public...

Just like jerking off, defecation should be done in private. Meetings are not private. Very few people want to see/hear/smell you do that and that includes over zoom or phone conference. Most people really do want to mind their own business, and that means having no part in you doing those very private things.

If someone is in a meeting on their phone while in a bathroom stall it's also very rude to everyone else in the bathroom trying to do their own business as privately as they possibly can under the circumstances.

kstrauser 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I do not wish to hear anyone else's bathroom noises. Yes, we all use the bathroom. No, I still don't want to hear anyone else doing it.

krick 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Even that I'd call somewhat petty, but it is more defensible if it's insulting to you when you hear toilet noises from your phone, and you are totally in your right to tell it straight to the person who is calling you, that it's hard to hear him behind all farts and flushes. That's ok. People here seem to be complaining that somebody else is talking to somebody else on a phone while being in the public (office) toilet. I mean, I kinda understand if it distracts them from their business due to some psychological difficulties they may have, but that's the public toilet design fault when you cannot feel isolated enough, not the guy's talking.

rootusrootus 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Me either, which is why I find it so satisfying to shake the stall with explosive bowel movements when necessary. I’m very private by nature so it makes me giddy to cut loose. Only when necessary of course.

ChipopLeMoral 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I take noise cancelling headphones to the bathroom at work, especially after lunch.

socalgal2 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Talk about a spoiled 1st world problem

kstrauser 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

What a weird take. If I'm also in the bathroom, I can tune out all the other noises around me because everyone's in there to do the same thing. If I were on the phone with someone, paying close attention to what they're saying, and then I'm treated to a thunderstorm of bowl challenges, I'm going to be annoyed.

Humans pee, fart, and burp. That's perfectly normal. And yet, it's considered basic politeness not to do those things in a freaking business meeting if you can help it.

array_key_first 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

At the end of the day it's very easy and free to not shit while on a conference call. I think 99% of people would prefer a shit-free conference call, so, maybe we're all spoiled.

Spooky23 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It’s either a weird power flex, or someone who lacks agency at the point that they let themselves be bullied and not taking a break to take a dump.

It’s the breaking of a norm that makes me be question your judgment, either way.

filoleg 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Is this a sarcastic take?

Asking because I was pretty much on-board with the comment and took it as being fully serious, up until the point of “jerking off in public shouldn’t be anybody else’s business, unless they stain something” being mentioned.

Now, I am not so sure. Either the entire comment was sarcastic or I am missing something major. But putting jerking off in public and talking on the phone in a public bathroom into the same bucket of activities (in terms of appropriateness) feels crazy to me.

krick 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

They are not in the same bucket, and I'm being intentionally provocative, if this confession makes things easier for you, but I really don't think you should mind that much if somebody is jerking off in public unless it harms you in some way (in broad sense, e.g. being intentionally annoying, loud and doing it right into your face). The point is that you should do whatever you want unless it harms others, and shouldn't mind other people doing whatever they want unless it actually harms you. I would say a guy watching tiktok without a headset right next to you in the airport harms you waaay more than a guy jerking off in the same airport standing 10 m away from you or anyone else. I mean, it's disconcerning, because you'd rightfully assume he must be crazy, but the activity itself really shouldn't bother you.

And surely anyone mentioned is a hundred times less harmful than a guy smoking on the street. That should be illegal. Yet people for some reason act as if it's ok, and it is broadly legal in most places (unlike jerking off in public).

freedomben 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Are you talking about jerking off in a stall, or on a park bench with your dick out? Or some third option in the middle somewhere?

7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]
[deleted]
lostlogin 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Not to mention, it’s a crime which may get you on a register. And I don’t have a problem with it being classified as a crime.

This is like some 4chan post.

rootusrootus 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I assumed they meant jerking off in a stall. Something I don’t want to know about but definitely happens.

anigbrowl 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I have no wish to listen to other people's bodily functions when I'm working, or conversely to listen to them working while I'm answering a call of nature. The correct response to these behavior is to either hang up on them or tell them to shut the fuck up, respectively. It's not OK to impose yourself on others like this.

dekhn 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Taking a meeting in the bathroom is desecrating the temple.

pc86 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Thank you for helping me clarify something. Your last example, jerking off in public, is not only a crime (as it should be) but is clearly antisocial behavior. That helped me realize that's what all the other shit is too, no pun intended. Using the restroom while you're talking to other people on the phone, or generally just doing anything that forces other people to listen to you use the restroom, is antisocial behavior and shouldn't be tolerated by anyone civilized.

"Minding your own business" when it comes to antisocial behavior is enabling when the correct response in shaming and ostracizing. It's not going to work with LBJ but it will probably work with Kevin from accounting.

lostlogin 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Was this supposed to be on an alt account?