Every Public Bathroom Should Have An Occupancy-Indicator Lock
Let me tell you two stories about public, single-occupancy bathrooms.
In the first, I am at my favorite yoga studio, and I need to pee before class starts. The door to the bathroom is closed, and I don't know whether there's anyone inside. I knock lightly — to knock loudly would feel aggressive, given the chill vibes this yoga place is cultivating — and hear no response. But then I second-guess myself: Did I knock loudly enough to be heard? What are the acoustics like inside the bathroom? I decide to try to open the door, but the door is heavy and doesn't open easily, and for a moment I wonder whether the door is locked after all. Then the door finally slides open, and there's no one inside. I breathe a sigh of relief. The perhaps 20-second process of figuring out whether I can enter the bathroom has sent my heart rate and cortisol levels spiking.
In the second story, I'm at a restaurant with friends. I excuse myself from the table to go to the bathroom, and when I find it I discover it has an occupancy indicator lock that clearly indicates that the deadbolt is locked with a small red card, displayed on the outside of the door, that says "Occupied." I kill time on my phone until the indicator turns to "Vacant" and the bathroom's occupant exits, then I go in to take care of my business. My stress levels remain low throughout.
The occupancy indicator lock, as demonstrated in the examples above, has the potential to transform the public-bathroom-going experience from tense to peaceful. And yet most single-occupancy public bathrooms still don't have occupancy indicator locks. This absence of occupancy indicator locks dooms us to nerve-wracking, doubt-ridden attempts to verify whether bathrooms are occupied or not every time we have to go. Americans deserve better. It's past time to put an occupancy indicator lock on the door of every public bathroom in the country.
The potential for misunderstandings when it comes to public bathrooms without occupancy indicator locks is practically infinite. We've all probably had the mildly nightmarish experience of gently trying a bathroom door, concluding that the door is locked, and waiting… waiting… waiting until we finally realize that the bathroom is actually vacant, it's just that the door is sticky, and the people who have joined the line behind us think we're complete and utter idiots. Then there's the discomfort of being on the inside: sitting on the toilet or standing at the urinal, hearing someone knock, and offering a friendly-sounding "Just a minute" — only for the knocker, not having heard us, to proceed to try to open the door, forcing us to repeat "JUST A MINUTE" in a more frantic tone than we'd ever like to use with strangers.
Or what about the strange, culpable feeling you get when you're sitting in a coffee shop and see someone go into the bathroom and lock the door, and then a minute later someone else approaches the door. Do you tell this second person that there's already someone in there, or do you let them discover that fact for themselves? Choose the former, and you risk seeming prurient. Choose the latter, and it's like you let them walk into a trap. Either way, you'll feel like you made the wrong call.
Occupancy-indicator locks prevent every single one of these uncomfortable scenarios — and pretty much every other public bathroom miscommunication known to man. No more knocking, no more waiting uncertainly, no more turning knobs without knowing whether they're latched. Just a clear, unmistakable visual message: This bathroom is currently occupied. Please wait your turn.
It's insane that this simple, low-tech solution to bathroom confusion has not yet been universally adopted by the people who maintain public bathrooms in America's restaurants, cafés, shops, offices, gyms and public spaces. If port-a-potties and airplane bathrooms, two of the worst places to relieve yourself, are already on board with this common-sense communication device, what's everyone else's excuse? Privacy indicator locks aren't particularly expensive. Indicatorlock.com — a real website that I just found out about five minutes ago — sells privacy indicator locks starting at $65, and some models are available for $38 elsewhere online. Forty bucks seems like a small price to pay considering the psychic benefits that indicator locks confer on everyone who encounters them.
So if you're reading this, and you happen to run a business or other establishment with single-occupancy bathrooms, or know someone who does, take it as a sign — a "Vacant" indicator, if you will. Life is already full of anxiety, confusion and misery beyond the bathroom walls. Restrooms ought to be one of the few places we can tend to our needs without interpersonal turmoil. If you want your establishment to serve as a respite from the hellscape that is life in modern America, install a dang indicator lock. The fabric of society needs all the support it can get.
