Friday, February 03, 2006

Working in the Bathroom

Today's Wall Street Journal contains an article about the trend toward technology in bathrooms. Evidently, the Electronically-Connected do a good deal of work in there.

All I could say upon reading this was, "WHY?"

I don't get it. All this wireless communication technology has made it possible for people to work 24/7--and for their bosses or clients to expect them to work 24/7! Now you can even conduct business while shaving or in the shower.

I'm a mom, so technically I do work 24/7, and I'd venture to say that many moms would share my opinion that Bathroom Time is Officially Mom's Time Off. Even if it's only for 45 seconds, it's still Time Off. Besides the fact that I won't even use the bathroom while I'm on the phone, for fear that the person on the other end will (rightly, in my opinion) find it rude that I'm multitasking like this, there's a big reason why I'd like my bathroom to stay free of communications technology: that's the only room in the house where I can reasonably demand any privacy or solitude. I don't let my kids follow me in there, and unless someone is bleeding to death or something equally catastrophic, I won't carry on conversations either. (I am given to shouting, "I'm IN THE POTTY!" repeatedly during my time in there to make this point, but I am going to make this point!) The bathroom is the only place in the house where my "work" can't follow me--except that I'm the one who keeps it clean.

However, I will take the technology, mentioned in the article, that warms up towel bars, floors and toilet seats. I'm all about heated seats.

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