Co-worker before a meeting with a "bladder buster."

[DoctorDoctor 1,075]

I was waiting outside a conference room with a female co-worker for the previous meeting to end and before the next meeting started.  It was a fairly high level meeting.  We were making small talk when I noticed her giant, clear refillable water bottle that held 2 liters (according to the markings on the side).  I also noticed that the bottle was already half empty.

I made a comment that the next meeting was scheduled for 2 hours and she was bringing in quite the "bladder buster."  She thought it was a funny comment and said "I know, right?  I'll probably need a pitstop".  We both had a good laugh.

During the meeting, which only lasted 1.5 hours, I noticed she didn't sip the water once.

[gldenwetgoose 20,287]

I'm going to rekindle this post if I may as a generic workplace and co-worker sighting thread, rather than create a new post...

This one started a few weeks ago.   Background is that I work (in the normal day job) for an industrial company on a large site, office based.   The project I work on is an international collaboration, and my immediate colleagues are all Italian, who spend three year secondments with us all working together.  Many are young professionals, and they seem to magnetise towards the few young ladies working in this male dominated engineering environment.

So, with all that in mind, a few weeks ago I was sat in the works canteen a few weeks ago with five or six of the Italians and two local British girls for lunch.  One of the girls was an apprentice from our office and the other seemed to be someone she knew, but none of us had met before. Various conversations going on and I was hearing snippets of phrases as you do.   One sentence cut straight through, when the new girl commented "I know, when I'm concentrating on something like studying, I like lose track of everything, then suddenly realise I'm like about to wet myself.....'   I was a couple of seats away so it would have been a bit odd to suddenly join their conversation at that moment.

That was a few weeks ago, and the following week it became apparent that she's the new apprentice, with the other girl moving on to her next placement.   So the new girl is the target of the Italian's interest now.   For me, she's very young.  Skinny, with frizzy hair and quite a skittish attitude - very much like a rabbit in headlights.  I guess maybe moving into a new office is quite daunting.

Over the couple of weeks since she's been settling in, quite often lunching with the other guys.   Yesterday I was talking to two of them by my desk which is at the end of the row closest to the exit.  Like a whirlwind she almost ran past, making the tiniest of eye contact with them and gasping "Can't talk, really need a wee...." before she was gone, rushing through the door in the direction of the toilets.

The two guys looked at her and then looked at each other totally bewildered, then at me.  "What just happened" one of them asked, and the other "What did she just say?  She talks so fast it is difficult for me to understand."

For a brief moment all sorts of thoughts flashed through my head - foremost was imagining the ladies toilet door being flung open and a whirlwind clattering into the nearest cubicle. Skinny jeans being ripped down, maybe a wild gush of pee splattering off the seat or maybe a few seconds and then a faint tinkle increasing in intensity.  The other thoughts being how far to go in my explanation.

As it was I kept it fairly safe - "She said 'she needs a wee'.  She needs to, erm, use the toilet very urgently".   I did see her walking back through the office later, looking much more relaxed.

[Rosita 612]

4 hours ago, gldenwetgoose said:

Skinny jeans being ripped down, maybe a wild gush of pee splattering off the seat or maybe a few seconds and then a faint tinkle increasing in intensity.

Speaking from experience that is exactly how it goes 😂

[HitEmAll 971]

I had one remarkable situation a couple of years ago that still somewhat puzzles me. I had just joined a medium-sized software company that develops some highly specialized software used in engineering. The company at the time had around 150 software engineers / developers and about the same number of engineers / consultants to support clients that use their software. My impression from the start was that they were really well organized. Their main product was a very high tech software that was (and I guess still is) absolutely superior compared to competitor products, and this software is really important for specific companies.

For newly hired developers, they organized every few months several "onboarding training" events, to bring newly hired people up to speed. One of these events was about the software platform, and it was 1.5 days of very technical presentations to introduce the developers to technical details of all aspects of their software (their software was the biggest software project that I ever worked on, the company existed for over 20 years and their codebase was massive but pretty well organized).

For me this event was about 1.5 months or so after I had started there. Fun fact, at the point of going to the event I had basically already left the company, because I had a better job offer from a different company. We were I think 5 new people, one of them was an attractive woman, a young mathematician who had just graduated from a prestigious university (I had talked to her before a few times). If I remember correctly the training was split into 2 hour sessions, with breaks in between (maybe it was even 2.5 hour sessions). When I arrived at the first training, I was already a bit intrigued when that girl brought a full 1.5 liter bottle of sparkling water. As the (interactive) presentation started, she was continuously drinking, basically every two minutes she took a large gulp from her bottle. I was really shocked when after 30 minutes she had emptied that bottle.

I quickly did the math in my head and came to the conclusion that after and additional 1.5 hours this must result in a really full bladder (yes, 200iq conclusion, I know..😅). Indeed, towards the end of the session my impression was that she was a bit tense. When the session was over, she quickly left the room.

For the other sessions it was basically the same, I think during each session she downed a 1.5 liter bottle (although in the other ones not so fast if I remember correctly), and during the breaks she drank coffee. Also, after each session she immediately left the room and I guess went to the bathroom.

I never got to ask her about her "drinking habits". I have no idea what was the reason for her large liquid intake during these sessions, I wonder if she maybe had some medical condition? Anyway, I'm sure that she must have released seriously large amounts of pee when relieving herself after these sessions.

[Alfresco 11,013]

I had an interesting one the other day.  One of the suppliers to my project is a largish hardware/software integrator company and I deal on a regular basis with a project manager who is a nice lady, who I'll call Sandra here.  Although most of our meetings are by telephone, I have met her in face to face meetings about 5 times over the last year, when we meet with a group of suppliers and customer representatives; about 10 people in total.  She is quite down to earth and practical, about 5'9" tall, blond hair, thin build, in her 40's.  At the face to face meetings she is always well presented, usually wearing a straight business skirt and a blouse with jacket and high heels.   The skirt shows off her shapely legs.  She has never been shy about saying that she is going to use the ladies after meetings, usually we come out of the meeting and before walking to the car park she just says something like "I'm just popping to the ladies before we hit the road".   On more than one occasion she has arrived at site, gone through the rigmarole of getting signed in at security, then driven to the car park, then walked to the building and on seeing me outside the meeting room, waiting for the meeting, she excuses herself and rushes straight past me to the toilets.   Afterwards, she has said things like "That's better, I never learn not to drink coffee on a long drive".

So, I talk to Sandra probably four times a week or more.  Mostly on combined meetings with other people, but on  a Wednesday I have a call just between her and me to update plans and discuss progress.   This meeting usually takes an hour.  It was one such meeting last Wednesday at 10:30am that is the subject of this post.

The call started as normal.  We went through various things.  Nothing was particularly apparently unusual, but then at 11:15, she said "It's no good - I'm going to have to go to the loo.  Sorry, I thought I could wait for the end of the meeting, but I'm absolutely bursting!"   I told her it wasn't an issue and let her go.   I secretly hoped that she'd take her headset with her and forget to mute it, but no such luck.  I didn't hear anything.   Three minutes later she was back on the line and said "Blimey, I'm sorry to do that, but I haven't been since when I first got up, morning coffee and breakfast, getting kids sorted, taking them to school, rushing back, then straight onto back to back meetings, I just haven't had a chance and it didn't help that Roger brought me a coffee into the office."  She was babbling on about it as casual conversation and seemed to feel quite guilty about having to go during the meeting.

I continued the conversation a bit by saying that it wasn't a problem and that we always have too many meetings to find time to pee.  I admitted that I'd been to the toilet during meetings at times (although I didn't say that sometimes I peed at my desk - maybe save that revelation for another day).  She agreed and we both laughed about it a bit.   I said that she didn't need to worry if she needed to go during my calls in future if that gave her the chance that she wouldn't otherwise get.   I really wanted to say that I'd also be honoured if she would take me with her, but I didn't think that was very professional.

Anyway, still nice to chat about it and nice that she was open enough to admit her need and say what she was doing.