The Germans have the strangest habit that drives me absolutely nuts. They close the bathroom door. Yeah, okay, we all close the bathroom door. Hopefully. But the Germans close it when they’re not even in there. The biggest drawback to this is not knowing if the room is occupied. You either have to walk through the house and do a head count, or knock on the door. This also increases the odds of someone knocking on the door when you’re in there, an experience that nobody enjoys.

My in-laws have an interesting solution this predicament. Their bathroom door is made entirely of glass. Thankfully the glass is frosted, but since the bathroom is between the living room and kitchen, this means you constantly see ghostly figures lurking beyond the door as you are trying to get business done. Even better, there’s a huge window next to the toilet which overlooks the backyard and main entrance to the house. My in-laws have generously provided a wispy curtain the size of a Kleenex for privacy. Whenever I’m there, I always sneak to the upstairs bathroom with the nice solid door… that usually gets knocked on because no is sure if I’m there or not.