Kyle Saunders

• According to Em Griffin- A set of systematic, informed

hunches about the way things work.

• Theories function to explain and predict unusual events,

and they are applied constantly in our day to day life.

• Men’s public restroom urination predictability theory

• When using a public restroom, men are often presented

with many options in terms of which urinal they will use.

Despite the abundance of options, men tend to pick

specific urinals for every state of occupancy the restroom

is experiencing.

The second most popular urinal was urinal # 1

However this is not the case! Urinal # 5 was by far the most popular,

Using the restroom is a private matter and it can be said that men

generally like their privacy respected, especially in the restroom.

That said, upon entering an empty restroom, men significantly tend to use

the urinal farthest from the door. I term this the door rule.

This is likely due to the wall protecting a man’s privacy from the right side,

while at the same time maintaining as much distance from the door as

possible.

0 Occupants

Well, upon entering a public restroom with 1

other person present, the situation completely

changes. The door rule no longer applies,

instead, men place as many possible stalls

between himself and the other male. This I term

the male space rule.

1 Occupant

When a man enters a public restroom and there are 2 other occupants

already present, the man generally uses urinal #3. This is again an application

of the male space rule maximizing privacy by keeping a 1 urinal buffer between

himself and the other men.

2 Occupants

When a man enters a public restroom with 3 other occupants

present, the 1 urinal buffer option is no longer available. He thus

falls back onto the door rule, in which he selects urinal # 4,

optimizing all potential privacy.

3 Occupants

This theory all began at Arizona Stadium during a Wildcats

football game. I went to use the restroom and was

surprised to see they had installed automatic sensors to

flush the urinals, and even better, each urinal was equipped

with a flush counter, giving a readout of the number of

times it had been flushed.

Interested, I checked out all the counters on the urinals and

was surprised at how much they varied.

The urinal counters displayed

the following numbers:

15,729 10,212 12,647 10,372 19,354

From here I began thinking of my own preferences,

noting which urinals I used and considering why I

made the decision. After much contemplation and

field studies in public restrooms across the county, I

finalized the theory.

So I had an unusual event that needed explaining.

Why did urinal #5 flush nearly twice as much as

urinals #2 and #4? All the urinals were completely

equal in quality so what led to the differences?

The theory revolves around the idea that men’s restrooms are private

areas, and that men using these facilities try to maximize the privacy

they have.

With that in mind, the theory unfolds, door rule taking form. I recall

numerous occasions in badly designed bar restrooms in which I,

forced to take the urinal closest to the door, had to make awkward

eye contact with everyone in the bar every time the door swung

open.From experiences such as these, I think men tend to shy away from

urinal # 1 and instead when presented with an empty bathroom,

head for the far urinal.

Maximizing

Privacy

Door Rule

Male

Space Rule

The next step was figuring out what most men do when

there is another man present.

For this step I just put myself in the restroom patrons

shoes. You couldn’t just go take the stall right next to

the other male. It would be an unnecessary breech of

privacy. Instead, I make claim that most men would

pick the urinal farthest from the current patron.

The idea of a personal bubble is

common in our society.

Men’s public restroom urination predictability theory is a

product of data. The theory was born from the flush

counters on automatic urinals.

The unusual event was the amount of variance in flushes

between the different toilettes.

The theory looks to explain how those numbers came to

be.

15,729 10,212 12,647 10,372 19,354

Men’s public restroom urination predictability theory

predicts future behavior very accurately. Since it is a data

based theory, it can be applied to predict future events.

The flush counters provide the number of times each urinal

has been flushed in the past and that data can be used to

gleam insight into future usage. The theory allows one to

know with good certainty which urinal someone is going to

use, thus predicting that event.

Men’s public restroom urination predictability theory is fairly

simple. It consists of 2 rules which men tend to follow in

their selection of urinals, with the male space rule being

dominant of the two.

• Male Space Rule

• Door Rule

• Men’s public restroom urination predictability theory can

be easily tested. Urinal’s with flush counters at different

stadiums and public restrooms could be compared to the

Arizona Stadium counters to see if Arizona Stadium is

representative of the entire Country.

• The theory is also falsifiable. A number of variables could

be at work not consistent with actual use. Possibly the

stalls with low flushes got clogged and spent a few days

non-operational, etc.

• The theory can be applied to every occasion one finds

themselves at a public restroom. In looking to abide by

the social normal you would apply the men’s public

restroom urination predictability theory. A lot of men do

this naturally, subconsciously, but for those that don’t,

application of the theory would help avoid awkward social

moments.

• With practical utility in mind, I have 3 real life examples of

when this theory could be applied.

Kyle Saunders works at a local restaurant which

performs regular maintenance checks on all bathroom

utilities. However, the men’s urinal farthest away from

the door is constantly broken. If Kyle Saunders applied

the men’s public restroom urination predictability theory

at his restaurant, he would recommend to management

that they perform the maintenance checks more

frequently on those urinals which are used more.

These preventative measures save companies a lot of

money, and on a large scale, can really impact a

companies bottom line.

• Although there are only 4 urinals in the restaurant Kyle

works, the theory still applies. The rules are not

dependent on the number of urinals. The men’s public

restroom urination predictability theory would say that the

farthest urinal from the door should receive the most

regular maintenance checks, followed by the 1st urinal.

This theory could help Kyle predict culpability. In the case of water leaking all

over the restroom floor, which urinal would most likely be the culprit.

Increased usage results in increased wear and tear, and applying the men’s

public restroom urination predictability theory could save valuable time in

repair jobs where the leak source is unidentified.

Frank Quill is a family acquaintance who suffers from

Asperger's syndrome. This syndrome effects social

behavior and Frank has trouble staying within the social

norms. This theory could be applied to his life as a logical

rule set which would help him avoid many awkward

situations.

The Men’s public restroom urination predictability theory

serves all men who currently find their urinal selection out

of the norm, and by applying it to his life, Frank would be

able to enjoy maximum privacy in public restrooms.

• Frank’s odd social behavior could get him into trouble in

the real world. Particular to this would be the male space

rule.

• If Frank entered the restroom to find one other male at

the farthest urinal, using the urinal directly adjacent to the

other male could give the wrong intentions, as well as

being dangerous. Men react differently when their

personal space is violated, and it can be assumed that

some react violently.

The final real life example is taken from a field study at the Leucadian, a local

bar.

Kyle Saunders found himself heading to the restroom and was presented

with an empty bathroom yet was preoccupied and chose out of the social

norm. Kyle chose the urinal closest to the door. What consequences would

this have?Due to poor bathroom

design, whoever uses

the closest urinal to

the door is left

standing behind a

waist high barrier

looking at the entire

bar every time the

door swings open. A

side note would be the

inclination humans

have at glancing up

every time a door

opens. Getting eye

contact from 40

strangers as you

urinate is very

unsettling.

• Learning from the process of developing my theory, I

realized that the rules in my theory; door rule and male

space rule, can be applied to many different facets of

human communication. Whether your deciding where to

sit in a bar, or picking a seat at the movie theater, a spot

to set up a romantic picnic, or where you lay your towel

down at the beach. The fundamentals don’t really

change. When presented with options, people tend to

pick those that offer the most privacy.

• Through the developing of my theory I also realized how

theories can spread to bigger ideas. I found my theory

constantly evolving and being tweaked until it fit the

unusual event perfectly. As well, through the process of

developing my theory I gained insight into completely

different theories.

• For instance, in the development process, stemming off

from my theory, I theorized that all decisions, even those

as generally subconscious such as urinal selection, have

motive behind them. There is a reason one makes

decisions, even if not thought through. And that led my to

the idea that the human brain rationalizes every decision

we make.

It was interesting moving from the beginning of the project

to the end. I spent a lot of time initially trying to think of a

theory and found myself having a lot of trouble with it.

After the project, I have theories spilling out of my ears.

Just in going through the process of development, I found

myself branching out and seeing potential theories

everywhere.

Griffin, E. (2008). A first look at communication theory.

McGraw-Hill HumanitiesSocial SciencesLanguages