Bathroom breaks

It's probably not something you think about. But give it some thought, can you just sit there for a couple of hours pounding down coffee and water without taking a bathroom break? Of course not. How about sitting there for an hour doing the same thing? Of course not.

Timing that bathroom break while you are on the air can be problematic. Especially if you are a solo anchor. Of course I don't normally give this a lot of thought, except I did this week. I am sitting on the set and I shout out at our intrepid floor director Vera Elliott. "How long is this commercial break." Vera: "I don't know I'll check." Vera is the greatest, except when she says she'll check. Time is of the essence in a situation like this. She isn't nearly as concerned about this as I am.

So what happens, Vera waits for what seems like 30 seconds to ask the director. Now you need to know if the commercial break is 2 minutes, 30 seconds is vital. I also know that the director is now fumbling around looking for the rundown. It will probably take him 20 seconds to find out that it's a two minute break.

You spend a little time doing the math computations. Can I make it to the bathroom, take care of business and get back to the set on time? The answer of course is no. It's takes me about 10 seconds to get to the bathroom. I still have to factor in the time to wash my hands before I head back. So now I know I have to make it through another segment.

There is tension in my voice now. "Vera please, tell me how long the next commercial break is!" She tells me, "I don't know how long it is!" Me: "Please, please find out." Now I am doing that familiar squirm where you cross your legs in a vice grip I will do the interview, but my mind will be elsewhere. You can guess where and why.

As the break is coming to a close, Vera lets me know that I'll have 2:20 seconds after we get to the next break so I can go to you know where. Meantime now the peanut gallery is chiming in. Co-worker Danielle who goes by the specific title of diva shouts out, "Mike you have a pea sized bladder!" Not true, I shrug it off.

Fortunately the 2:20 second break comes and I'm off. Gone in a flash, and back in time for the next segment. The viewers will never know what happened, only you the blogging public will know.