During my first week of work at my current employer, it was a time of discovery and exploration. There were several times during those first few days that I would walk around the facility just to get a feel for where everything was. The facility was huge with three different break rooms and four sets of restrooms. I would walk from one department to another making mental notes of where everything was and familiarize myself with the processes and people in each department.
My office was going to be in the quality department, so I spent a lot of time in that area. The break room and restrooms near the employee entrance were the closest to the QA lab so I visited them the most that first week. But one day I had the need to visit the restroom when I was in another part of the building. When I walked into the restroom, I immediately saw a woman. She gave me a nasty look. I rushed out as quickly as possible, looking back at the wall where it was clearly marked as the women’s restroom. At this set of restrooms, the women’s room is to your left. At the restroom that I had been using most of the week, the men’s room was on the left. I had assumed that they would be oriented the same way every time, but that assumption was wrong.
Often when we have new employees in the building and I’m giving them advice about how to survive, I will tell them not to assume that the men’s room is always on the same side.
It’s also worth noting that during my 20+ years at this facility, the lady that I met in the women’s room to this day still gives me a dirty look when I see her.