If ever a television show focused on bathroom behavior in the workplace, it was the finally-on-DVD Ally McBeal whose unisex bathroom served as both a pivotal plot device and symbol for the sexually charged nature of the law firm's work environment.

In the early days of the show, the unisex bathroom received a great deal of analysis. Pity that blogging was not active in those days because we would have a treasure trove of commentary on the significance, reality, and the improbability of a unisex bathroom being installed in an office near you.

Even without having to deal with the unisex version, the office bathroom is one place many women try to avoid. Some at all costs. According to the Social Anxiety To Social Confidence Blog shy bladder syndrome afflicts as many men as women. It's just that more men tend to seek out help to resolve the issue.

While that may be true, at least from outward appearances, more men in the workplace have fewer bathroom issues then women. As I wrote for a piece in my newspaper column and then on my blog in 2004,

Nowhere are the differences between men and women more evident in the workplace than in their attitudes toward taking a "bio- break." A male worker will fold a newspaper under his armpit, announce to anyone within earshot that he's going down the hall, and then strut down the walkway like a matador going into the ring to conquer the bull. Twenty minutes later, he will re-emerge, victorious.

You'll never see a woman with a folded newspaper under her arm. In fact, as far as most women are concerned, they'd just as soon you think that they never need to take a bio-break - of any kind.

Women, and I'm deliberately stereotyping here, are not that comfortable sharing the noises and smells of bodily functions with co-workers, peers, direct reports, clients and senior managers. Most of us grew up with the concept that going to the bathroom is a private affair, that's why you close the door.

Our conflict with using the bathroom facilities at work go behind our need for privacy. It has a lot to do with image control. When someone has a fear of public speaking, they are often advised to imagine people in the audience naked. There are few more naked moments in a person's life than when your body is eliminating wastes. It's noisy. It can be smelly, and that smell can make everyone in the room gag. Knowing your boss/co-worker/peer has shared your bodily smells is an image makeover many women prefer to avoid.

Early in my career as a manager I made a huge bathroom faux pas with a direct report that bothers me to this day. I followed her into the bathroom to continue a conversation. I don't know what we were talking about but I was just returning to the office from the bathroom myself when I saw Judy heading my way. We started talking and I assumed that she was just going to the bathroom to pee so I said, "I'll come with you."

I noticed her hesitation but I was too eager to continue the conversation to consider what the hesitation might be. We had both been in the bathroom at the same time previously and my guess is we had had conversations while we had a peeing duet. It never occurred to me that Judy might need to use the office bathroom for anything other than peeing.

Judy didn't need to just pee. She had diarrhea and she needed her privacy. She just didn't know how to tell me to stay out of the bathroom. Thirty some years later I can think of lots of things she should have said like, "my stomach is upset and I need to poop in private."

So there we were, she in the stall with the sounds and smells of explosive diarrhea, and me standing by the mirror thinking how in the world am I going to make this up to her?

It was an absurd situation. Neither of us knew how to extricate ourselves. Instead of apologizing for invading her privacy, I just acted as if nothing odd was going on and I continued the conversation.

When she came out to wash her hands, neither of us acknowledged that it was weird having a business conversation while she was dealing with diarrhea. While I was embarrassed for putting her in that situation, I would have been mortified if I were the person with explosive diarrhea and she, the boss/client/co-worker/direct report.

Recently, CNN and Careerbuilders.com ran a piece on the topic of office bathroom etiquette from both a woman's and man's point of view. My behavior would be ruled, verboten.

He says: Bathroom chitchat should be kept to a minimum, and I don't think much more than a "Hey" should be exchanged in most situations. A true party foul, however, occurs when you try to network, make a business transaction or introduce yourself in the restroom. The last thing I want to do near the sinks is take your business card or shake your hand.

She says: This must be a guy thing, because I have yet to hear about a business opportunity other than happy hour mentioned in the bathroom. But, I second the motion to save your "Nice to meet you's" for after you exit the bathroom door.

In her post, "The Princess and The Pee," Holly Burns offers up her own list of office bathroom etiquette dos and don'ts. Bathroom conversations makes her top don't list as well.

4. On Hanging Out In The Bathroom With Your Pals, Just Sitting On The Counter And Shooting The Breeze

Really? This is the best place you could find to have that important tete a tete? Was it the atmospheric glow of the light on the hand dryer that sold you, or the dulcet tones of other people peeing awkwardly over your chatter? Honestly, there's not even free wifi in here!

Experts say that people who have "issues" with using the bathroom facilities at work suffer from a condition called "paruresis" aka shy bladder syndrome. The first study on the problem was conducted in 1954 with a group of college students. The results of that study indicated that 14.4% of the population said that had experienced shy bladder at some point in their lives.

In a piece called, "You go, Girl," LFar blogs how being pee shy affects her at work.

So here is what I hate: when I go to the bathroom at work and somebody is l fixing their makeup or adjusting their hair in front of the mirror. So we exchange pleasantries for a second and then I enter a stall. Silence (make up checking is a low-noise activity). So then I sit there for like 3 minutes both willing my bladder to release or for the other person to quick slacking and return to the earning their salary. It's so awkward. Because then I start imaging what they must be thinking. "Why is she just sitting on the can without peeing?". WHY, INDEED.

In talking about this condition with other women, they shared some of their bathroom strategies. These have included: making sure there is an empty stall between themselves and other bathroom users, choosing a bathroom on a different office floor where they are "unknowns," and limiting the amount of fluids they have during the day so they can avoid the bathroom altogether.

Another strategy is to check out the shoes of people already in a stall to make sure their boss or direct reports are not in the bathroom.

The shoe technique was an actual conversation I had with a bladder shy executive.

"What do you do if you're already in the stall, and you see a pair of shoes that you recognize?"

"I stop what I'm doing and wait for them to leave,"explained Kathy.

I didn't have the heart to tell Kathy that after she has kids, the ability to stop the action in midstream will be a bit more challenging.

Then there is the passive-aggressive co-worker who uses someone's bladder shyness against them. As this one executive told me,

"When I see the shoes of someone I don't like, and they become very quiet when I walk in the bathroom, I deliberately take my time. I comb my hair, put on make-up - anything to make them suffer."

Somehow I think this shoe strategy is a female-centric behavior. Just as I think spending significant time in the bathroom at work is a male-centric behavior. According to my friend John, men don't see the bathroom as a place to go in and out of quickly because it's the one place where they can have some alone-time.

As he told me, "When I am in the bathroom at work no one is going to remind me that I have a budget due or a deadline pending. It's my time to be alone."

Good thing John doesn't work at an office like Ally McBeal's with its unisex bathroom. The bathroom was the one place you could be sure you'd never be alone. From the Ally McBeal DVD, the unisex bathroom.

Elana blogs about business culture at FunnyBusiness