I only use the 'Do not disturb' Sign when having Sex - and you?

We have reached Amritsar well with the overnight train even though it was very delayed – we arrived here in the evening. One of our friends picked us up and we went straight to the hotel. Here, Ramona and I remembered something we had fun with already at the hotel in Gurgaon: what are those ‘Privacy’ or ‘Do not disturb’ signs really for?

There are two systems: one, the most common one, is a sign that you hang outside on the handle of the door that says ‘Do not disturb’. In some modern hotels, you can now press a button that says ‘Privacy’ and there will be a corresponding light saying ‘Privacy’ outside your door when you press it.

You probably wonder how I can ask such a question – of course the sign is there so that, when it is hanging outside the door, the hotel staff knows that you don't want to be disturbed. But Ramona had a few deeper thoughts to this!

‘Why would you actually ever want to hang out this sign?’, she asked. ‘The staff anyway never comes to your room – they don’t disturb you! The only effect would be that everybody who walks by would think you are having sex at that moment inside the room!’

Although I really wouldn't mind having people think that I am having sex with my wife – what would be wrong with that? – I said this was not the only possibility. The other day in Gurgaon, when we were bathing and getting dressed, the housekeeping staff rang twice because they wanted to clean! We had to shout out of the bathroom that we didn't need that now… and, just so you know, we had not pressed the privacy button – because we were not having sex! Otherwise we might have… 🙂

So maybe you can help us with this: are you only supposed to hang out the sign whenever you have sex? Or also when you shower or go to toilet and thus are ‘not decent’? Should there be specific signs for each activity so that nobody falsely thinks you are just having sex inside your hotel room?

Or is my wife the only one who worries that a sign saying ‘Privacy’ makes the hotel staff walk by your door with a smile, wondering how often you have sex in a day?

The big questions of life! 😉

P.S.: Those who don’t find this kind of humour funny, please don’t bother and ignore this post I am in a light mood and don’t feel more philosophical than this today!