Guys, and maybe gals, do you ever have a hard time peeing in a public restroom with an audience?
I call it stage fright and I've heard others call it a "shy" bladder when you have a harder time peeing in a public restroom with others around you than when you pee at home in privacy.
Owing to my enlarged prostate that caused me to push and push until I lost the elasticity in my bladder, it's harder for me to pee in general. I have learned by experience that when other guys are in the restroom, I sort of get stage fright with an audience and I just can't pee.
So, I have developed workarounds.
When I worked in a large corporation on a campus with several thousand workers and at least two restrooms per floor, I used to search for a vacant restroom. Most often I would enter a restroom to find a guy finishing up at a urinal. To pass the time until he left, I thoroughly washed my hands and extended my hand-drying time until he left. Then I would quickly get to a urinal to pee. If a guy walked in before I started my stream, I was hosed. I knew I couldn't get started. So, I would quickly act as though I had just finished peeing and I'd flush the urinal. I'd put the equipment away, zip up my pants, wash my hands, and exit the restroom as if I had been successful in emptying my bladder. And then I would walk to the other end of the building to try my luck at that restroom. If the restroom had patrons, I went down or up a floor to try again. It never took more than three restrooms to find success.
In a crowded place, like at the airport or a sporting event at a stadium, usually there is enough noise and often a loud overhead fan. In these places, I go into a stall, the farthest one from the crowd, and usually the noise and the general chaos takes the attention off of my performance and so psychologically, I get over most of the stage fright so I can relax enough to pee in a public restroom. Sometimes I add a little extra noise by flushing the toilet.
When my wife (JillyBot on Zity) and I travel long distances in the car and we pull in at rest stop, usually there is a men's restroom, a women's restroom, and a "family" restroom which has a lock on the door so a one or more people can have their privacy. Well, that's where I go while my wife goes to the women's restroom because her bladder doesn't have any problems performing with an audience in the restroom. So, I use the family restroom. I am a family of one, although I can pass for a family of at least three or four: I am a grandfather, a father, a husband, and a son, all wrapped into one. I don't feel guilty in there because I'm done in 60 seconds and I have never exited to find a family waiting impatiently or otherwise for their chance to use the family restroom. And if I am ever confronted by a waiting family with full bladder, I will simply explain, "I'm sorry, but I have a shy bladder. You see, I get stage fright with an audience and I just can't pee. Now, I can pee in the presence of my wife, but otherwise, not so much. I did have an enlarged prostate which made it hard to pee even when I was alone, but then I had a TURP surgery to reduce the size of the enlarged prostate so it would be easier to pee. But all those years of pushing through the enlarged prostate took all the elasticity out of my bladder so it's still hard to pee. And when there are guys around, I just get more self-conscious and I sort of freeze up. So that's why I use the family restroom with its lock on the door for privacy. Thank you for being understanding. Oh, and I didn't pee on the seat. And I washed my hands. Oh, and when I worked at a large company, I had to go floor to floor and sometimes to other buildings just searching for an unoccupied restroom. Or if there was only one guy and he was just leaving, I would wash my hands until . . . . Oh, I'm sorry I should stop talking because you have bladders ready to burst. Do you want me to wait here until your done so I can finish the rest of my story? Or, if you don't have shy bladders, I could just come in with you now and tell you while you are taking turns on the toilet."
I am always amazed and impressed when a man can just waltz into a restroom and go straight to the urinal with a man on each side of him, and he can just start peeing. How would it be?
From my observations in public restrooms seeing men doing what I do with the handwashing and drying, I estimate that one third of men have a shy bladder.
So, does anyone else out there get stage fright when trying to pee in a public restroom?