A ladies’ restroom is not just any ordinary room. It’s where you can become privy to all sorts of things — whether you like it or not.

The other day, I was inside a stall minding my own business when a woman started yelling at someone outside my door. When I didn’t hear a reply, I realized the woman was using a cellphone. “Nasa bahay ka pa? Anong oras ka pa makakapunta dito? Ang bobo-bobo mo talaga! Wala kang konsiderasyon! Pumunta ka na ngayon dito; kailangan ko pa pumuntang bangko. (You’re still at home? So what time are you going to get here? You’re such an idiot! You have no consideration for others! Get yourself here now; I still need to go to the bank.)”

She said goodbye, so I thought that would be the end of it. Ten seconds later, she was on the phone again with the same person; believe it or not, that conversation I overheard was repeated along the same lines three times!

I exited my stall, shot a quick glance at the woman (who was fuming mad and fiddling with her phone), and hurried away. I shouldn’t even have been listening, but all I could think about was, “What a nag!”

To my shame, what I regretted most at that moment was not having my sister to snicker with at the woman’s scandalous behavior. After all, it was a ladies’ room. Yes, the cliche is true: women go to the restroom en masse not only to freshen up, but also to exchange gossip.

A few years ago, I was at a birthday party at Chili’s Greenhills. The birthday boy had invited many female friends from an all-girls exclusive high school, but they were nowhere in sight for most of the evening.

I soon discovered where those girls had been holed up when I excused myself (due to too much Diet Coke — oops, too much information). The girls were sitting on the counter or preening in front of the mirror, gabbing the night away with nary a thought for the real party outside the restroom.

It’s not every day you get to listen in on a lovers’ quarrel or catch up on the lives of strangers, but inside the ladies’ room, you just can’t help overhearing people talk.

Tags: Observations, Women, Behavior