By Mary Ekene

They smell, they are dirty and they are not comfortable. What is it you may think I am referring to ? I am referring to a porta potty.

At my job we have several and it is rare to find a clean one. But something struck me the other day at my job that I was very upset about.

Now at the chemical plant I work at, they have pink ones for the women, the brown ones for the men and the gray for neutral since they passed the law about transgender in the work place.

Now with that being said, as I am doing my job, I see a man walk into a pink porta potty. I am standing there in awe because there was a perfectly available brown one for him to use. Oh, I was so livid.

Now, because there are more men that work in chemical plants than women of course there are more men porta potty than women. But what makes it so unbelievable to me, is that instead of this man to use the one that was already available to him, he just decided to use the one for a woman.

So, I stood by the porta potty until this young man left the area. As soon as I saw him walk out, I approached him.

“Excuse me, there was a brown porta potty available to you, why would you go into the women porta potty?, not cool.”

He replied with, “I’m sorry, it is just the women porta potty are cleaner and I was just using my phone.”

I told him for future references that he should just use the men porta potty because another woman would not be so understanding.

Look, you all are probably saying, ‘Is it really a big issue?”, and my response would be “YES”.

People should just respect people’s wishes and just be respectful. I strongly feel, if porta potty are color –coded respect it and respect the policy that is enforced.   I just really wanted to express my opinion about this.

Thank you and remember, life is short LIVE, EAT, AND BE FREE in everything you do!

 

Mary Ekene/ The Institution of Performing Arts in Orange, TX