Da Men is for women, Herren is for men

Da Men is for women, Herren is for men

By Kumar Anshuman

I went to a restaurant last night to have food. After some time I decided to go to the rest room. There are two doors. The writing on the both is in German. On one door it is written- DaMen, on the other- Herren. As I don't know German, so I try to depend on my English skills. Common sense would say that DaMen is for men. In fact yesterday one of my friends told me that De Maan in German means husband. So I thought this restroom should be for men. Also another one was Herren, in English we use Her for women. So with full confidence I entered the DaMen restroom. Used the toilet and came out. When I was at the washbasin, a woman came from another toilet and gave a smile to me. I was freezed. Sorry-I am really sorry. I came by mistake-were the obvious words which I uttered within a fraction of second. She understood my situation and told me to relax. When I came outside, one or two people looked at me and gave a naughty smile. I was followed by the lady and she was also smiling. I was really embarrassed. What do I do? I just left the place in hurry to save myself from further trauma. Had it been in India, I was screwed. In the morning, I was at the hotel reception checking for a WiFi connection and again asked for the restroom. The lady at the reception guided me to a large restroom. When I went inside, there was a lady at the washbasin. This time I just came out without saying anything. I went straight to the lady at reception. “It’s a common toilet,” she said. After little bit of research I came to know that it’s a common practice here in Germany that if the male toilet is occupied you can go and use the female toilet. Of course there are different toilets inside with doors and you only encounter a woman on the wash basin. But somehow this is something I am still not able to digest or rather accept.