The most I will accept is the general greeting with Person A saying the greeting and Person B accepting the greeting...there is to be no response from Person A once Person B has given their acceptance...no response is necessary.
Now the most common situation is Person A walks into the bathroom as Person B is leaving and there's the awkward side-step to get past each other and perhaps a laugh...and the greetings would then take place...these kind of situations are easier to manage as usually one person is leaving and the other entering or staying...so there's no room for conversation...as long as the person leaving continues on their journey...they should not...I repeat should not stay on and continue as if this was some kind of water cooler environment where you can chat and shoot the breeze. It's in and out...it's not in and outish and stay a bitish and then definitely outish...otherwise it would be called that...but it's not...so don't!!
Another situation of awkwardness can happen and only just recently took place in my workplace bathroom...I entered as a 'colleague' was washing his hands or cleaning a stain on his shirt and headed for the urinal...now this is how it should have gone down:
James enters and sees Tim washing or cleaning the lower part of his shirt...
James: (sarcastically whilst still moving and heading for his urinal destination) Looks like fun!
(They share a laugh)
Tim: I wish!
(They share one more laugh as James arrives at his destination)
AND that's it. No more. Pleasant. In fact if you were being merciless it could be reduced to this:
James enters and sees Tim washing or cleaning the lower part of his shirt...
James: (whilst still moving and heading for his urinal destination, shakes his head knowingly and faux disapprovingly and clicks his tongue) Tsk, tsk.
(They share a laugh)
AND that's it. Here's the way it went down for me:
James enters and sees Tim washing or cleaning the lower part of his shirt...
James: (whilst moving and heading for his urinal destination) Flicked a little too hard?
(They share a laugh)
Tim: No, I think it's breakfast.
(They don't quite share a laugh but a polite chuckle of acknowledgment as James arrives at his destination)
This should be where it ends...Tim finishes his business and leaves as James begins his business...but NO...
Tim: How was your weekend?
My weekend?? What the hell? That's an opener for a conversation...what is going on? I'm...you know...at the urinal...this isn't the time or the place for this kind of shenanigan...
James: Yeah, good. Brief, not committed to this conversation, but also felt obliged to chuck in...How was yours? Hoping he'd take my lead and keep it short and leave...
Tim: Yeah, pretty busy, my family came down for the weekend and we went and saw Priscilla (the Musical)...and he continues to relay his weekend to me...what is going on!?
Luckily, I had had a couple of bottles of water so was able to sustain my business and luckily he finished talking so there was no continued conversation at the sink...but even so...I'm not being some social leper or something...I'd freely have this conversation in the kitchen or at his workstation...but the toilet?? It would make sense if we were friends or buddies...but we're not...
It's almost as bad as if there are two urinals...one is occupied...someone enters and sees that someone is using one and instead of using the cubicles on offer...stands next to you and uses the other damn urinal...there are codes and rules in place...they're not written down or set in stone...but there's a level of intimacy that is to be avoided when using restrooms...don't stand next to someone in a urinal if there are other viable alternatives...and don't indulge in conversation...ever.
This world would be a better place if people abided by these rules and didn't think they were somehow 'above the law'.
You can bet Steven Seagal wouldn't piss on your shoes either.
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