The Dumbest Thing I've Ever Seen

[skypilot]

There is an old apartment buiding in my neighborhood that has been recently renovated and converted into condos. A few nights ago I'm walking by the building and decide to peek into one of the windows. All of the windows have curtains in them at the moment even though no one seems to be living in the units. I could see into the unit a bit on each side of the curtain. I see what looks like bathroom tiles on one wall--small, square, green. My eyes travel down and I can see what is clearly a bathtub. I look through the space on the other side of the curtain and see a sink and towel rack.

THE BATHROOM IS ON THE GROUND FLOOR FACING A WELL TRAFFICKED RESIDENTIAL STREET!!! The windows aren't opaque or anything. Just imagine that your bathroom window was where your livingroom window is. Or that your bathroom was where your livingroom is.

I walked by a couple nights ago and someone had put a trash can and a wooden barricade in front of the window. Someone must realize that this was a bad idea.

[waiting for hope]

1. My husband has been in

construction for years - says that half the architects don't have any practical logic....my apologies to any architects here at DU..:hi:

[Fierce]

5. You are RIGHT about that.

And no apologies here. :)

[never cry wolf]

13. I wouldn't say half but maybe a quarter

And I am an architect.

[Fierce]

2. Eh, on those old buildings, sometimes you don't have a choice.

I lived in an old building and the bathroom was 5 feet away from an interstate entrance ramp. Hello, commuters! Nice to see me!

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

3. Home Depot

.. sells those plastic-opaque sticky sheets to put over windows. Guess each contract should have a 10% off coupon for them. Seems like poor planning is running rampant in America these days.

[Warpy]

4. There are only so many places to put bathrooms

in apartments that face the street, and this newly converted condo building is one.

Plus, it doesn't get any better on the other floors, as apartments across the street have a great view, should you decide to give them one.

Most folks solve the problem with blinds. If they're going to be using the facilities, they close the blinds. If they're just going to was their hands or brush their teeth, the blinds can stay open.

It's a ventilation thing. Either there has to be a window of so many square inches, or there has to be a fan. Full sized windows are pre existing.

[skypilot]

8. The thing is...

...that I remember the window that USED to be on that part of the building. I never had any idea that it was the window to a bathroom because it was a smaller window and it was higher up on the building. Not anymore.

[woodsprite]

9. In my old office building at a University, the glass habitrail

connecting the two buildings was only 2 feet from the bathroom window. They did finally put up venetian blinds, but you could count on that bathroom always being empty. Nobody ever wanted to use it, and could you blame them? The decision to put the bathroom there was a new decision with the remodel of the building and the addition of the habitrail, so it wasn't like it HAD to go there. Previously it had been an office, but faculty didn't want their offices being looked on by people walking thru the habitrail.

[Warpy]

12. I had a studio in the basement of a deconsecrated church

The man who had the man part of the church was a sculptor. The only working bathroom in the place was a toilet in a prominent part of his studio, enclosed by a tube of clear plexiglas.

And yes, I did get desperate enough.

[displacedtexan]

6. Most recent renovations I've seen are horrendous!

Entire Victorian houses with Home Depot Terrazzo tile floors,
Bathroom doors that, when open, don't leave enough room for a
supermodel to get in the bathroom, and refrigerator doors crammed
up so closely against walls so that you can't remove the trays for
cleaning.

[Swamp Rat]

7. Many years ago, a former teacher of mine was living in a basement

apartment. His toilet was in front of a window that stretched from the ground almost to the low ceiling. He woke up one night, sometime after midnight, to do #2. Just as soon as he finished wiping his butt, he heard a loud applause outside the window. Apparently, the window faced the neighbor's backyard, who happened to be having a BBQ that evening. :D

[skypilot]

10. My worst nightmare!!!

:scared:

[babylonsister]

11. How embarrassingly funny!

:spray:

[Swamp Rat]

14. He has a good sense of humour so he laughed about it.

I did not like to use his bathroom. :yoiks:

[GeorgeGist]

15. Hyperbole...

makes you look pointless.

[skypilot]

16. Are you having a bad day or something?

Bad manners don't make you look much better.