Chapter 9 Summary

Howie opens wondering whether lunch hour is properly said to begin when one enters the men's room or leaves it. Perhaps it is work, but perhaps not. He is allotted six bathroom breaks a day in this "decompression" chamber. Howie then marvels at the level of technical skill exhibited in the bathroom—the entire process is full of deeply internalized but complex habits, such as clearing one's throat, adjusting his tie, and so on. Further, many machines are at work there as well.

The room may be more complex than rooms with major machines in them, Howie observes, next illustrating his point. He also prefers the "mazelet" that one must walk through to the bathroom to the double-door system. He notices that corporate bathrooms exhibit various differences from home bathrooms, and suspects there are reasons behind the differences. He notes toilet paper...