Ally McBeal Bathrooms

THAT'S WHAT I have at work.

When Ally McBeal hit Fox in the mid 90s, most of the talk centered around two things: Calista Flockhart's hemline (see photo), and the comfort/discomfort that was aroused by the concept of coed bathrooms. Well at my work (alas, in many locations here in France) the bathrooms are indeed coed. Yes, coed. What makes this bearable at my particular place of employment is the fact that the 'stalls' are made of brick and go from ceiling to floor. In addition to making the stalls mostly soundproof, this set-up also erases the possibility of any Larry Craig-like confusion, something I didn't think about much until recently. But it still takes some getting used to; it just doesn't seem right to walk right into a restroom where women are at the sinks washing their hands. Early on I had to do double-takes on occasion -- making desperate glaces toward the door looking for the familiar 'male' or 'female' sign only to remember that, at least during this portion of my day, I'm on the set of Ally McBeal.