Private Soap

So I was at the Moscow Regional Archive today, plodding along through the enormous finding aids for the Moscow Soviet (I know this means nothing to most of you people, that's fine, its just detail!), when got up to go to the bathroom.

The women's restroom there is in pretty good condition, but you have to supply your own TP. That's really not a surprise for this part of the world. Well, when I went to wash my hands, there was also a woman there doing the same. I saw that there was a bar of soap in the tray. "Whoo hoo! Soap!" Good day. So I use some. This action resulted in the following exchange:

Woman: "You need to ask for permission."
Me: "For what?"
(I also need to apply for formal permission to plug in my stupid laptop to their stupid electricity, so I was confused for a minute)
Me: "For the soap?"
Woman: "Yes"
Me: "I'm sorry, I thought it was communal soap, I didn't know"
Woman: "No its not. You need to ask permission. Don't apologize, just ask permission"

Duly noted