I’ve been doing a lot of on-site work at a client’s office this year. I’ve been holed-up in a kind of satellite office, which has a small, one-person bathroom.
This organization is pretty progressive, so the bathroom has automated lighting that comes on when the motion sensor detects I’ve entered. They’ve also got the two-button toilets and fancy hand dryers. It’s all very green.
Too green, actually. Because if you remain still–as you might while, you know, using the bathroom–for more than a minute or so, the motion sensor thinks you’ve left, and plunges the tiny room into darkness. And–insert jokes about male aim here–one really needs to see at that particular moment.
So, I’ve taken to kind of waving one hand lazily over my head, like I’m in a rodeo, riding a bull. I’m also reminded of “Mr. Tambourine Man”, which includes the line “to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free”.
Have you ever been plagued by motion sensors?
DarrenBarefoot.com 
I have experienced this exactly as described, but felt more like I was waving flies away.
There are always those toilet flush detectors that decide you’re done long before you are — sometimes multiple times.
I hate those wacky motion-sensing toilets!
oh yes. Back in the good old dot com days. Posh restrooms, solid oak cubicle doors. Motion sensors above the hand basins.
So go in to cubicle to read the paper etc … a few seconds later … total and complete darkness.
Pray someone else comes in so you can see to finish the crossword and exit …
“Being and Nothingness: My Encounters with an Automatic Flush Toilet”:
http://www.hopstudios.com/nep/unvarnished/item/automaticflushtoilet.html/
This happened in my office when they first installed the motion sensing lights. I had to roll my chair back a couple of feet and a bit to the right, then wave my hands a few times, to make the lights turn back on every few minutes. So stupid.