Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas party mishap

The month of Dec is the time for parties. If you're lucky, you'll get invitations to several. If you're even luckier, they'll have terrific food and booze!

This reminded me of a tender Christmas story I want to share with you readers. Let me set the stage.

It was Dec 1993 and I had just come out 5 months earlier, met the man of my dreams (or so I'd thought), and was really looking forward to our 1st Christmas together. My man (we'll call him Bob) had introduced me to a some of his friends over that summer and now we were going to a Christmas party at Gerry & Mike's house.

Bob, Gerry & Mike were all several years older than me, had solid educations and established careers, and made lots more money than me. They were always gracious so I had no real reason to feel nervous or intimidated around them, but I did. Still I wanted to go with Bob to Gerry & Mike's party so we did.

They had a large, lovely, ornament-laden tree in the living room that would put most department stores to shame. The food was catered by Dean & DeLuca's, a fancy and expensive DC gourmet food store, and there was a full bar with a bartender. Yes, a bartender. In 1993. Now, I know its been all the rage in recent years to have a hired bartender at Christmas parties hosted by gay couples, but this was 1993! I felt intimidated already.

So everything is going nicely, Bob & I are chatting with people we've met before, etc when I realize that I need to use the bathroom. Unfortunately it wasn't just #1. I try to avoid going #2 at other people's houses, especially people's houses who intimidate me, but this just wasn't to be ignored, so I excused myself under the guise of getting another drink and found my way to the bathroom.

Once inside I lowered my pants and underwear, sat, and began doing my business. I noticed that these fancy men even had small, tasteful Christmas decorations in their bathroom! Next thing I knew, I felt something warm and wet against my ankle. I looked down and saw that the back of my khaki pants was all wet, and the wetness from the fabric had spread over to my ankle. WTF??? Is the toilet leaking?

No, unfortunately, the toilet was not leaking. That explanation would have been preferable to the truth, which I had to tell Bob in order to gain his assistance when I finally returned to the party.

No, the truth was far more humiliating. As I was relieving myself my penis was not pointing down into the toilet far enough, so my pee was coming out in that space under the toilet seat but above the toilet rim. It had run down the base of the toilet and soaked into the back of my khaki pants, turning them about 14 shades darker.

Oh. My. God. I was mortified! What the hell am I gonna do? I'm here in these fancy people's bathroom, peeing all over my pants.

After the realization of what had actually happened came the truly horrifying questions. How long can I stay in here before someone knocks? How am I going to be able to leave this bathroom? How can I return to the party with the back of my pants all wet? What will all these fancy people think of me? Will this be the thing that finally reveals to Bob, once and for all, that I am not in the same league?

After several minutes of concentrated thought I cleaned myself, the base of the toilet, and then patted my wet pants with tissue to absorb as much moisture as possible. Understanding I couldn't leave the bathroom without wearing my pants, I pulled them up and fastened my belt. Then I looked into the mirror and tried to make an honest assessment of the damage.

"Hmmm... from the front there's no indication of anything unusual" I thought to myself. Then I turned around and looked over my shoulder into the mirror at the back of my pants. Not so lucky there. My mind continued racing as I considered my options, of which there was really only one. Eventually I had to walk out of that bathroom.

I turned back around to face the mirror and repeated my 1st assessment: "From the front there's no indication of anything unusual." That was the answer! Only let people see me from the front!

To bolster my confidence I began justifying my decision. "These khakis are 100% cotton. They'll dry in no time. And until they do, I'll just stand against the wall." Really, it was the only thing I could come up with.

You might be thinking 'Why didn't he pull out his cell phone, call Bob, and tell him to grab both their coats and meet him at the car?' Yeah, I'd have probably thought of that too, only it was 1993 and no one had a portable cell phone back then. The closest thing was a 'car phone' that had to be plugged into a cigarette lighter of a car with its engine running in order to work.

I took a deep breath, walked out of the bathroom, and smiled politely at the person standing in the hallway waiting to use the bathroom. I returned to the party, found Bob, and quickly motioned him to 'come over here' as I stood against the wall and tried to look 'casual'. When he came over I quickly explained what had happened and Bob tried to stifle his laughter. I gave him a look that told him it wasn't even close to being funny so shut the f*ck up.

Then he 'wanted to see'. I figured he might be more willing to help me conceal my horrible mishap if I let him see, so I stepped away from the wall slightly and did a quarter turn so my back was toward him for a second, then returned to having my back against the wall.

Needless to say, this incident did not help me feel less nervous or intimidated by our hosts. But my khakis did dry eventually and I was able to move about the party rather than try to look 'casual' by standing against the wall.

To this day, if I ever have to sit down in someone else's bathroom, you can be sure I always check to be sure I'm pointing south, if you know what I mean.

Crush du Jour: Paul Adelstein

17 comments:

Bob said...

I hate to say it, but, um, been there!

Though not at a party!

BlogMarkBlog said...

That was a great story. We've all had drip problems I'm sure (haven't we?), but your experience seemed to be quite extreme. I will now make sure I'm well tucked on the toidy.

Anonymous said...

That would be awful!! I've had a few close calls but nothing like that! Good advice to remember.

Mutty said...

LOL Good story. And yes I've done it too. :-)

behrmark said...

Far be it from me to laugh at a friend's misadventure but - ROFLMFAO! I don't know of many people who haven't had a bathroom mishap. Thanks for sharing, for the laughs, and just for being you. Behr Hugs!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, unless we're hung like horses I think the majority of us have had that problem at least a time or two during life.

Men were not meant to urinate while in a sitting position. It just isn't right.

Anonymous said...

Next time, and I hope their isn't, do what I did. Like you, I can be very shy at parties and hate drawing attention to myself but this one time I used my Irish heritage.

I took a deep breath and in a too loud and a very pissed off voice I re-entered the room proclaiming, "I can't believe that jerk spilled his drink all over my new pants! At least he had the good sense to be drinking vodka!" It's all about the art of distraction!

BTW: when going#2 always flush 2-3 times so it never clogs cause you know if it does clog, there won't be a plunger!

Joy said...

Oh my goodness! I'm so glad you were able to conceal your accident. I've never thought about this happening to men. Now I will.

Joy said...

I have noticed that drip spot on the front that happens sometimes.

anne marie in philly said...

I want today's crush RIGHT NOW!

wcs said...

A cute story! As I was getting to the end, I kept thinking that when he moves away from the wall, there will be a big wet spot on it. Thankfully, you obviously didn't touch the wall!

Happy holidays to you and Spouse!

tornwordo said...

I feel like I've read that story before from you. Maybe it was a comment. I have so totally been there. It only happens once I tell ya. Have a great holiday Mark.

RAD said...

MERRY CHRISTMAS MARK! Just wanted to pop in and send some holiday wishes you way to you boys!! XXOO

Victor said...

Well, you've obviously survived that disaster.

We all have our moments and if I was as brave as you I would post about my latest experience (from just a month ago) on my blog but I'm not game enough at present.

Larry Ohio said...

Oh I hate it when my penis doesn't point the way I want!

Mark I L-O-V-E this. Stories like this one are precisely why I love reading blogs so much. This is a true gem.

Merry Christmas my friend.

Kyle Leach said...

Mark, that is just awful. The wet spot was bad enough, but the humiliation factor must have been excruciating. I'm glad you survived and can not laugh about it.

Christopher said...

I am LOL'g my arse off!! and I laugh, only because I've been there myself...and yes, it's a mistake you only make once!