Office Shower Politics
They are installing showers in my office building. As the one that bikes to work, everyone is eager to know my thoughts. “Are you excited?”, “Will you use them?”, “Aren’t you glad they’re accommodating you?”
Meh… I don’t care about the showers.
It’s only 4.1 miles to work and I can’t go terribly fast due to traffic, potholes, stop lights, and avoiding devil buses. I don’t really sweat (except for August or “wet-wipe-season.”) Turning it into a true shower-requiring-workout would be extra nonsense. I imagine a personal trainer hovering over my shoulder:
Plus, moving my shower routine to the other end of my commute would be… uncomfortable.
Yeah, no thanks. I’ll just get dressed at home.
But if they want to give me a closet to hang up my “emergency clothes” (ready in case of downpour or mud) I will take that. That and better coffee. Otherwise I’m all set.
It was bad enough to have to shower in high school. Bike storage, changing room, and lockers for a change of clothes would be much more beneficial and cost effective. I’d rather shower in the privacy of my own home.
I don’t bike to work as it’s 50 miles or so away, but I narrowly avoided having to use the office shower when the power came back on the night before, allowing me to shower at home.
The comments above perfectly state my feelings: Too much blurring of the line between work and home, and “I don’t even like going to the bathroom at work!”
i’ll take having a room just for changing clothes. it’s difficult hanging everything on those bathroom stall hooks. i wouldn’t put my bag on the floor (shudder). it sounds pretty awesome for summer bike commutes.
There’s another reason to avoid the showers at work, but it may be specific only to places as big as my office – or just my office.
Thousands of people work in my building. There are showers dotted around it, usually adjoining the loos. The best ones – the ones with the working hairdryers (in case of downpours) and space enough that your clothes don’t get spattered while you’re showering – are all on basement level. But they have The Singer. You’ll be relaxing as much as you can in a work-based changing facility, when from nowhere will come a male voice warbling away. My hope is that, as the facilities need cleaning, the owner of the voice is probably only warning us of his presence – but couldn’t Facilities stretch to a female cleaner for the women’s showers? They manage it elsewhere in the building where there are just toilets. But the Singer also sings in the men’s showers and is apparently just as alarming to them, possibly because he only Sings when there are one or two of you in the shower room.
I’d rather take it easy, and baby wipe in the loos if I get a bit whiffy.
Many of the above comments sound to me like the excuses people use to avoid commuting by bike in the first place. Really — it’s inconvenient to find a way to hang up your clothing? You don’t like the voice of someone singing? Someone sitting on the throne while you’re showering? I deal with all of these issues and more without a problem. These are minor.
My commute is sixteen miles each way, in an area where the temperature ranges between minus 12F and +104F, although not that extreme every year. Hot showers at work are appreciated by me and others I work with.
-Ed in NH
I can’t speak for the other commenters, but mine was a reason I wouldn’t utilize the work shower. I do commute by bike and drape my clothes on over the stall door. I would utilize and appreciate a locker room. It’s just hard to be excited about things other people think you would want, but don’t actually need. For example, my job is in the process of putting in more outdoor bike racks. Well great, but what would be really useful is if they would let people bring in their bikes. But I am glad there are more, because obviously it’s needed in some corners of the building even if it’s not near my corner.
@ridonrides
I don’t know your gender, but us guys *generally* tolerate inconvenience more than women. I do exactly what you do — hang the gym bag on the hook and drape my bicycling clothes over the stall door as I shower. Locker rooms would be great, but quality ones are expensive to build and keep clean, and I would be loathe to walk barefoot in any locker room, anywhere.
Small improvements, like extra modern bicycle racks, are all we can expect in typical America. Maybe if the bicycle commuters in your organization got together and showed management good reasons for allowing bicycles inside, you would get results. Only organized political pressure, it seems to me, can lead to the real infrastructure improvements we all want (and need.)