what would emily post say?

A question of etiquette.

Today I went to Second Cup/Great Canadian Bagel to have a bagel and a coffee-beverage for lunch and to read my book. When I was ready to leave I decided to use the ladies room before my 25minute walk home.

The ladies room is two stalls and two sinks (pretty standard) and right as I went in, another lady followed behind me. While we were in there her cell phone rang. She answered it and began taking what seemed to be a buisness call.

Which was fine - however - I was at a loss of what to do with regards to flushing the toilet. A flushing toilet is a pretty distinctive (and not a quiet) sound which the lady on the phone probably wouldn't appreciate.

However - under no circumstances should one leave a public toilet unflushed... and I waited like 20seconds to see if she was going to ask to call the person back - but that was not the case. And I didn't really want to wait akwardly in the stall for however long the conversation took.

So I did the only thing I could - I flushed the toilet. As I was washing my hands I heard her akwardly laugh and tell the person she was on the phone with that she was in large public washroom. And though I felt a little bad for her brief moment of akwardness and potential embarassment - if you are going to take a phone call in a public washroom when you know someone else is there - what do you expect?

In conclusion - I feel confindent that under the circumstances my actions were not rude.

I also have some concerns about the pervasivness of technology in our everyday lives and its invasion into previously personal time and space... but that is the subject for another day.