There are loads of shopping malls over here in Dubai. Huge Ones, Medium Ones, Small Ones and with them come hordes of humans from all walks of life.

We went shopping for a no-frills plain white shirt for my daughter, which is required for a school programme (last week it was a red one, for flag day, I wonder what it will be next week) and mid-way trawling the shops she needed to use the ladies.

We duly went to the ladies and I felt it was also better to do a little tinkle just in case, luckily like every standard up-to-date mall, rest-room convenience is easily accessible and over here, they do a very good job at keeping it spick and span.

As usual, the ladies-room is filled with women; young and old, re-doing their scarves, patting and brushing their hair, dusting their noses, powdering their faces, pouting their lips and squinting their eyes as they apply the required make-up mask. It is really a bee-hive of femaleness.

My daughter came out and I observed that her skirt was somewhat askew, so I had tried to adjust it a bit and that required a little lifting to straighten the lining.

From the corner of my eye, the not so young lady stood in front of the mirror directly in front of our view (we were caught in her reflection) after all her primping, she started pouting her lips in all manners of contortions and NO! you don’t say, went clicking happily on her phone, taking pictures in the TOILET.

I counted to 10, telling myself to just go, but the little imp in me refused to let go of the bone.

I told her “my dear lady, I don’t think that taking photo shots in the restroom where other ladies are milling around is a proper thing to do!”

She stared at me in disdain. I don’t know if she understood English or not.

I proceeded to explain better in sign language gesticulating all over the place, asking her to check if her pictures had caught people in the rest-room and to delete it.

She simply went into a tirade of Arabic and left in a huff.

I also went into a tirade of Igbo (my native language) and left in her wake in a huff.

These selfie absorbed moments can get ridiculous at times.

How smart is a human who takes pictures in a public rest-room where you have so many other users? Why not wait until you get to your private bathroom and then you can say all the cheese and contort all the pouts required?

I don’t get it! I think rest-rooms should come with big signs of ”No Photography Allowed.”

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha