I’m not aware of any female protocol other than it’s rude to ignore a request for toilet paper from the next stall. I can understand the male need for distance, after all, you are doing a private thing relatively publicly.

Haha!
Mo, subsection 27b of the urinal code stipulates that if all others are taken, you may proceed to the empty one in your emergency situation.

Everyone please note also that there is NO TALKING in the mens’ room. There could a fire combined with an earthquake and tornado combination and perhaps you just won the lottery also, and there will still be NO. TALKING.
Eric´s last blog ..The Stars At Night (Stelle Della Notte)

Someone should do an ethnography…..

Do you think it’s proximity? What if building codes were changed to require a certain amount of distance – would this phenomenon disappear?

I am filled with dread wondering what you mean in the last two sentences. Some horrible disaster?
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You must have been desperate! I’m so thankful that us women don’t have to squat next to each other with no walls to separate us I get uptight enough when people get too close to me in grocery store lines!
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If we waited in the U.S. for there to be a urinnal between every user, we’d spend our lives waiting in lines.

However, I agree with the above comment – NO TALKING in the men’s room. I suppose that’s to accommodate those who are desperately attempting to hear 12 people peeing at one time.
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The old Mile High Stadium didn’t have individual urinals, it had these huge long troughs. Distance between men was kept at a distinct arms width.
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Who knew men were so complicated?
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Heh.

There’s only one rule I can think of for the women’s restroom and that’s: Don’t tell men what really goes on in there.
Alyson´s last blog ..A moment like this

And NEVER look down…
The Urban Cowboy´s last blog ..Going Scuba Diving

I hate to even bring this up, but here in the US, specifically, Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, they have what resembles a trough along the wall in the men’s room. (At least they did the time I snuck in there to pee because I was a little drunk and had to go REALLY bad and the line for the ladies’ was far too long, but that’s not my point.) My point, if I had one at all, was that there were a bunch of drunken men standing shoulder to shoulder peeing in a trough. I was scarred for life.
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I had no idea there was urinal etiquette – but then again, you Brits seem to have etiquette for everything.

I’m trying to figure out – did you fall down or did your team lose?
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This may teach me more about gentlemen and their toilet habits than I ever thought was possible. But then, I rarely go into them, except by special request.
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Public pisseries are not for the faint-hearted.

I should mention that the porcelain gods also dictate that if there is even one person behind you, you will not be able to complete your mission, even with proper spacing. With eyes piercing the back of your neck. no amount of humming, whistling and being nonchalant will work. The pressure is on and it ain’t going to happen dude.

Nothing equals stepping up to the urinal and sliding about. More pressure, since everyone in the place will see you do it. It is even worse at the beach…no shoes and all.

Having never read the manual, I wasn’t aware of the left-right-beside rule. This explains many things that have happened in my public pissery escapades. Thanks for the tip.

As long as you keep your eyes straight forward and your elbows in, you usually escape unscathed I find.

I don’t know the rules for men’s bathrooms, thankfully. Women value privacy in the bathroom and so this sort of thing isn’t an issue.
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Mo, you did violate the rules, as layed out in the video in this blog post:

http://scope-tech.blogspot.com/2009/01/male-restroom-etiquette.html
Scope´s last blog ..It’s An Illusion

I’m surprised at the prudery. After all, don’t men engage in pissing contests?
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I hate it when there are many open stalls and someone decides to use the stall right next to me. I know it’s not the same as men using urinals next to each other, but still annoys me.

Back in college, I remember the floormates talking about wearing their roommates slippers/shoes when going to the restroom to disguise who was taking a dump in the stalls.
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there has got to be a way for me to use this info to my benefit.
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This blog is just a mine of information ;0))
Eternally Distracted´s last blog ..Russian singing and irrespectable men

its nice to know that you even follow the urinal rule across the pond.
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I’d use the old adage, “He who hesitates wets himself.”

Did you just write about jumping a man for a tight spot in the men’s room?
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LOL!

A friend’s fiance when stood at a urinal one remarked “Love your piece”. The burly bloke looked at him like he might kill him ,so realising what he’d actually said my friend’s fiance said “Your tatt! I meant your tattoo! Great tattoo, man”. I don’t think he’s ever spoken to anyone in a urinal since!
Nikki-ann´s last blog ..This week I’m reading…

No talking and keep your eyes on the wall.
Captain Dumbass´s last blog ..I’m Not Dead, It’s Just How I Look

[...] Room Etiquette…As I See It Last night, I read a post by one of my favorite bloggers Mo “Mad Dog” Stoneskin, about certain unspoken rules that men are supposed to abide by when [...]

–>Is that like when men go to the movies they leave an empty seat between them?
WebSavvyMom´s last blog ..The little known other stage of grieving: Distraction

Is it really “queue-jumping” when everyone else is hesitant?

“To boldly go where no man has gone before” started echoing through my mind at the end of the post. I can’t help but wonder what’s next.
Harmony´s last blog ..Cause and Effect?

I definitely try not to get too close to people in a men’s room! LOL
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Firstly, and most importantly … WOOHOOHOOOOO! GO ON THE SPURS!!

Well, actually, that’s all I wanted to say … Oh, and that it’s about time you boys got given your own little cubicles, just like us girlies, and put a stop to all this manly nonsense! Honestly!

but I had queue-jumped to boot.

That is living dangerously. While you are standing there holding your Johnson three or four of the kindly drunk men might decide to educate you.
Jack´s last blog ..They Have What I Want

Oh, the other part of this conundrum is what happens when you actually reach the porcelin god. As the cue grew behind me, me trying furiously to go, I looked over my shoulder and announced, “Sorry guys, old man.” The young man next to me chimed in, “Sorry guys, stage fright.”
Mr. Charleston´s last blog ..The Adventures of Rick O’Shea

When you gotta go, you gotta go.
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Living in Florida, just about everyone wears flip flops most of the time. You NEVER want to squeeze in when wearing flip flops if you know what I mean. You’d be surprised at how much splatter there is. Good stuff Mo.
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So yeah, this is leaps and bounds over protocol line at the urinal but I once threw up in one in the airport in Barbados. My defense? Drank my body weight 2 times in alcohol, went skinny dipping with an english field hockey team, and the worst cab ride ever.

But it’s nice to know I have officially violated urinal protocol. Without this post I woudlnt’ have known. Thanks Mo! And I’ve missed reading you. I hate being absent from the blogosphere.

I had no idea there existed such etiquette. I also notice that when men go to the movies together, they leave a seat between each other.
blueviolet´s last blog ..Ma Petite Artiste – W/W

Protocol bypassing seemed completely appropriate. The gods were a bit rough on you, but it might have been the beer and the rush to get back that made you miss the step.
Pseudo´s last blog ..Spin Cycle: A Car Story

This is hilarious! It reminds me of a night in London, when I (very ignorant of the high alcohol content of your beer) had to pee desperately and there was ONE toilet in the entire pub. In the basement, with a chain that you had to pull to flush it.

It was ugly. Not as ugly as that scene in Trainspotting, but ugly, just the same.
TheKitchenWitch´s last blog ..Veg-Head Monday: Zucchini Stuffed Tomatoes

Restroom etiquette is something that cannot be ignored. I see why/how you needed to flaunt the rules, however, now you’re going to have to move and/or never return to that restroom.

I don’t make the rules.

This is why I NEVER use public restrooms. I believe in quality time to myself!
Michel´s last blog ..I’ve Been Busy!!!

Hanging hose in close proximity to another ‘hose’ dregs up all kinds of issues for you boys, eh? Fascinating.

But the splatter issue someone mentioned above? Ewww!!!
lola sharp´s last blog ..Rules, Style, Abuse, Oh My!

The entire urinal thing just makes no sense to me…you men are so complicated.
The Stiletto Mom´s last blog ..First Communion With The Cullen Family

rules be damned! there was a game! oh… and instant karma’s gonna get ya! always a price is paid.

The gods are stern but fair.
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So you didn’t mind the gap, eh? Take a spill, did you? Have to get a shot (not the alcoholic kind) afterwards to ward off the sepsis?

My husband was good enough to inform me of this rule a few years ago. (He grew up in New York City so it seems that the phenomenon, at least in his circles, has crossed the Atlantic.) He’s also told me of guidelines that involve never speaking or making any eye contact whatsoever while using a urinal. Luckily, I don’t think I’ll have much cause to put these rules into practice.
Kristen @ Motherese´s last blog ..Come On Baby, Light My Fire