When You Gotta Go, You Gotta Go

If you want to see what’s wrong with the world of online journalism these days, simply read a few of the recent articles describing how Gerard Depardieu urinated on an CityJet flight to Dublin.

Of course, most articles depict Depardieu getting up and purposefully pissing in the aisle of the plane, forcing it to go back to the gate. Passengers, especially men who urinate multiple times per day, were obviously traumatized having to watch such an event.

If you read between all the fluff, it sounds all that happened is a 62 year old guy simply couldn’t hold it any more. Guess what? I’ve been that guy before too. Sometimes you just gotta go and you can’t hold it any more. I’ve been in cars where someone has had to pull over on the highway and take a piss, and about half the people I know can’t make it through a movie in the theatre without having to go.

Depardieu apparently asked to go to the bathroom, but was told to wait 15 minutes. 15 minutes later he told the flight attendant that he had to go immediately, and they told him he couldn’t. So, left with the option of pissing his pants and all over his seat, he did probably the only logical thing he could think of – try and urinate in a bottle. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work, and the media has gone to town with it.

Back in elementary school, the same thing happened to a girl I knew. She asked repeatedly to go to the bathroom, and the teacher wouldn’t let her. A few minutes later the teacher noticed the girl sobbing, and a puddle or urine spreading from out under her desk. That girl was traumatized by the experience, and people continued to make fun of her years later, even in high school.

At the end of the day, people need to use a little common sense. It sounds like Depardieu will have a similar experience as that girl in high school I knew, all because a flight attendant wouldn’t let a desperate 62 year old guy use the bathroom when he needed to.