Trust. You’ve gotta have it.

A striking (and amusing) example cropped up at a very elegant affair hosted at a winery north of Los Angeles. Adjacent to the dining area were two bathrooms, both clearly marked for men and women. Both door locks were of the type you might have at home, with a button inset in the door handle. When the button is depressed, the door is locked from the outside. When you turn the handle from the inside, the lock pops open. There was no indication on the outside of the door as to whether the door was locked or not.

This provided a great exercise in trust:

The person outside the bathroom had no way of knowing whether the bathroom was vacant or occupied (to use the airline terminology), other than by trying the door to see if it opened. He needed to trust that the occupant had locked the door successfully, and also to trust that the lock was reliable.

The person inside the bathroom had to have absolute faith in the feedback of the handle’s button (that a depressed button would always mean that the door was successfully locked), and in the reliability of the lock to keep out the visitor who would inevitably try the door at the worst possible moment.

Co-ed facilities helped add spice to the game (and helped ensure that no-one spent a moment more time than was necessary in there).