Friday, July 28, 2006

David Jones Drug Den

While using the parents' room at David Jones today, skribe and I observed a young woman enter one of the nursing cubicles.

Nothing odd about that, except she didn't have a baby. Twenty minutes later, she emerged somewhat woozily, washed her hands very thoroughly, then wandered off into the crowds.

Now, I don't like those nursing cubicles anyway: they're tiny, unventilated, and stink of many many used nappies. However, I appreciate that some mothers prefer a little privacy when they nurse.

The realisation that these cubicles are therefore being used for other, dubious, purposes is somewhat unsettling.

Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions. She could have been diabetic. She might have been upset. She could have been power napping. After all, the average nursing booth is a lot more comfortable than the average toilet cubicle. And without the ultra-violent ultra-violet lighting.

The fumes from all those used nappies would have explained her wooziness, but I very much doubt it.

The big department stores like David Jones and Myers provide really decent facilities for parents and families entirely free of charge. I would hate for a selfish minority to abuse these services and ruin them for those of us who actually need to use them.

Oh my gods. I've just turned into Helen Lovejoy: Think Of The Children!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How can you be sure the young woman you observed wasn't suffering some kind of medical problem? Perhaps 'wooziness' wasn't caused by taking any kind of recreational drug - Many health problems can cause severe nausea, dizziness, fainting - any of which can escalate rapidly to become life-threatening.

Consider: if she didn't come out of the room after 20 minutes, perhaps didn't come out of there alive, do you think it would have made the papers - the evening news? I was surprised to learn how many people die because they "don't want to cause a fuss" or "didn't realise how serious it was - thought they could handle it"

I want to believe Perth is still small and friendly enough that someone might say, "Hey, are you OK?"

Then again, some people know who and what they are seeing, from experience or otherwise

skribe said...

Because if she was feeling woozy there are LOTs of more pleasant places to sit than the dinky little holes that DJ calls change rooms. That and I saw her waiting by the door for us to leave for 10 minutes before the risk of being caught was outweighed by her need to have her hit. Nope, she was definitely a junkie.