Friday, October 22, 2010

Why I love working with foreigners

In the world of science, I am an anomaly. Okay maybe that is not entirely true. I am Asian so physically I blend in really well. But here is how I manage to stick out: I was born in the United States, educated in the United States, and got my Ph.D. in the United States. Oh and English is my first and only language, a rarity in my workplace.

Subjects Americans find taboo are not in other countries, and they are horrified what we manage to say. Sometimes you get fascinating things told to you like today.

Indian Postdoc: So now that if they let the gay people in the military, will they have to create 4 separate bathrooms?

Evil Twin #1: What?

IP: Don't you have separate bathrooms in this country because of sexual modesty?

ET#1: Ummm no. I think it is because men are gross.

IP: Men are gross? no no no no no no. My wife tells me she cannot even go to the bathroom on this floor because it is sooo disgusting. And it is all women, right?

ET#1: Oh she is right, this bathroom is disgusting. But if men were allowed in it would be even worse.

IP: What do you mean? All my friends who are men have very clean bathrooms. Come to my house and you will see how clean our bathroom is. Men's public bathrooms are dirty because men urinate standing. But at home we sit down.

ET#1: huh? What? Most men I know urinate standing up. I know my dad does.

IP: Why would you do that? At home the seat is clean, and you do not have to touch your penis unnecessarily. When you stand up it is so unsanitary. Urine can splash everywhere. When we have male friends spending time at our house, I explain the sitting down, and everyone does it.

The conversation continued for a little bit, but I was blown away at the astute logic. Now I just wonder how many men would follow it....

4 comments:

isabelle said...

When i was an exchange student in Germany, there was a sign in the bathroom at home reminding men to sit down. Maybe TMI, but Allan sits down as well.
thanks for the bday card!

Sparks said...

A few thoughts on this excellent post:

1. My first job was as a lifeguard at a big public pool. One of the shifts that newbies got stuck with was cleaning bathrooms. I've cleaned enough bathrooms of both sexes to tell you without hesitation that the ladies' room is always MUCH MUCH worse than the mens. A stray pee shot is no match for what women come up with.

2. Sitting down is fine if you are tired, but standing is definitely the normal way to go.

3. I don't think standing is any more or less messy than sitting. I haven't spent much time studying the bathrooms in other countries; are we unique in having the extra flip-up seat? I suppose it could make a difference if there weren't one.

4. I don't know of any man who is looking for ways to reduce the frequency with which he handles his junk. That's just crazy talk.

evil said...

I take dumps standing up

evil said...

ok, get this... I KID YOU NOT... i was just at penn station earlier today and i needed to take a piss. so i went into one of the public bathrooms. there were five urinals and 4 of them were being occupied. then there was this one dude who was waiting on line. i was like, jeez, why isnt' this dude using the unused urinal. "well if he isnt going to use it, then i'm gonna."

so i step up to the urinal... instant horror!!! someone took a HUGE F'ING DUMP in the urinal. WHAT AN ANIMAL. there was splattering all over the porcelain too. OMG. what a horrific sight.