Basic Trope: A character can't figure out which bathroom to use.
- Straight: Alice is having a Potty Emergency. She sees bathrooms, but can't tell which is the ladies' room or can't decide which bathroom to use.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice has no reason to have this trouble, but has it anyway.
- Alice can't tell the restrooms apart from unrelated rooms.
- Downplayed: Alice cannot tell which restroom to use, but figures it out quickly.
- Justified:
- Alice is a trans woman who still has a penis.
- Alice is non-binary.
- Alice can't speak the language the signs are written in.
- Alice is pulling a Sweet Polly Oliver.
- "Alice" is actually Bob Disguised in Drag.
- Alice is illiterate.
- The restrooms have idiosyncratic labels.
- Someone pulled the signs off the restroom doors.
- Inverted: Alice can't tell whether or not to use the bathroom in the first place.
- Subverted: Alice seems to be confused over which bathroom to use, but it turns out she was just looking at some art above the toilets.
- Double Subverted: She then has trouble deciding which locker room to use.
- Parodied:
- Alice is on a planet where both men and the women look the same, and so she can't tell the meaning of the stick figures on the bathroom doors.
- Alice lives in her own apartment and cannot tell whether her restroom is the ladies room or unisex.
- Zig Zagged: Alice can tell the restrooms apart just fine, but isn't sure whether everyone else can.
- Averted:
- Alice doesn't need the bathroom.
- Alice can tell which restroom to use.
- The restrooms are unisex.
- Enforced: Rule of Funny.
- Lampshaded: "Which bathroom do I use?"
- Invoked: The Prankster replaces the signs on the bathrooms with other, more cryptic, signs.
- Exploited: Someone observes the restroom entrances to guage who can read the signs.
- Defied:
- The bathrooms, or a specific set of them, are designated for any gender by whoever runs the establishment.
- The restrooms are labeled in several languages to avoid this.
- Alice would rather risk using the wrong restroom than have a Potty Failure out in public and just barges into the nearest open stall.
- Alice makes sure to take a dump/piss at home before leaving.
- Discussed:Bob: So you will have to pull a Sweet Polly Oliver for a while.
Alice: What if I need to go to the bathroom? Should I use the men's or the women's bathroom?
Bob: Well, here's hoping you won't need the bathroom. - Conversed: "If I was ever Disguised in Drag like on TV, which bathroom would I use?"
- Implied: Alice is seen looking at the bathroom doors in a confused way.
- Played for Laughs: Cringe Comedy.
- Played For Drama: Alice's hesitation while trying to decide causes her to have a Potty Failure. The fact there were witnesses around when it happened, only makes the experience all the more humiliating to her.
Back to "Which Restroom?" Dilemma.
