Go Before You Go

As a child, I resented the suggestion that I use the bathroom before leaving the house. After all, the only place without a facility would be the car. If the need arose, I could control it until a bathroom was available.

As a New Yorker, I religiously follow the childhood advice before leaving the apartment. There are very few public toilets in New York, and many of them are unpleasant.

Today I went to the Upper East Side to attend a dance class in Central Park. It takes about an hour to get there.

Although I had a "preemptive pee," I needed a bathroom by the time I approached Central Park.

In general, Starbucks are the most reliable public bathrooms in New York. I walked up Madison from 68 to 74 hoping to find a Starbucks. Instead I passed stores unlikely to share their facilities with me, such as Tom Ford, Ralph Lauren, Prada, Dior, and Dolche & Gabbana.

Finally, I noticed a Christian Science reading room. It seemed like a long shot, but it worked.

Once the emergency had passed and I was washing my hands, it amused me to note that there was no reading material in the bathroom of the Christian Science reading room.

They are missing an opportunity for an unusual marketing program.