Small Steps to Save Small Moments

Written by Russ on December 27, 2007 – 10:45 pm

Alternately titled: Holiday Potty

For those of you who don’t read Boxes and Arrows, I am an editor there, and the staff submitted some of our experiences for intended and unintended uses. This is mine, for intended uses, and it should be published for the new year. Enjoy!

As a Chicago Suburbanite, it is inevitable that my family will visit the German Christmas Market at Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago. There’s also a pretty good chance that I’ll be walking around that little village-like setting drinking from a mini-boot mug of hot spiced wine or Dinkle’s hot chocolate, momentarily transported to that tiny village.

As the father of a four year old, it is also inevitable that my daughter will find the least opportune moment to have to go to the restroom. Since my wife is 30-some-odd weeks pregnant, that generally means that there isn’t even a chance to roshambo to see who the fortunate one is that gets to accompany the mostly-adorable child to the facilities to take care of this business.

Don’t get me wrong–I can handle Daddy-duty just fine and can deftly change a diaper or wipe a nose with my sleeve on a moment’s notice, but sometimes it can be fun make a sport out of it.

After perusing the various overseas goodies from a variety of the shops, getting our pictures taken with the giant tree and with Mr. Claus, my daughter determined that it was time. THE time.

I felt a brief moment of pure, unadulterated terror as I was considering my options, until I felt a tug on my gloved hand and heard, “Daddy, I’ve really got to goooooo!”. My focus wasted no time returning and we headed out in the direction of the restrooms that people within earshot were kind enough to point to as they showed knowing smiles.

The dread set in as I realized that the “restroom” at Daley Plaza was nothing more than a plastic teal Port-A-Potty. The last I had checked, Port-A-Potties aren’t exactly made for more than one person, yet alone 1.5 people in full-on winter garb. The terror was returning as visions of shuffling around clothing while trying to get my daughter into position.

We rounded the corner and were met with the surprisingly pleasant view of a couple of tents, each surrounding its own Port-A-Potties on one side and a table on the other. There was a sturdy glass door right in the middle that resembled the type of door you would expect to see if you were looking at the entrance of any retail store from the street. We quickly entered the tent, placed the coats, etc. on the table and the rest is pretty uninteresting, and I am sure you’re thankful for that.

However, somewhere out there in a planning committee is a person who, when placing squares on a layout plan for Daley Plaza, considered that the freezing cold was not the ideal place to use a Port-A-Potty. That UX genius on a committee somewhere may a small–but very significant–change that kept our pre-holiday festivies…

Festive!

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