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ladyofastolatOn the basis that one of the main purposes of LJ is to rant about rather trivial things, I would like to offer up a rant about handwashing facilities in public toilets.
A few weeks ago, I visited some public toilets in a beauty spot. The tap was the sort of tap that requires you to press down hard to get any water. So stiff was it that I ended up using both hands to do the pressing. Water duly gushed out... only to cut off the very instant I removed the pressure from the top of the tap. What sort of idiot can design a tap that only produces water when your hands are nowhere near the place the water appears? I did manage to get water out with the pressure of only one hand, but even so, water that vanishes the instant you try to put two hands beneath it is very silly...
Or is it? Is it an exercise in community bonding and team work, since the only way to wash your hands properly is to work together with an ally? Is it an attempt to encourage the development of good strong muscles and a supple body, since the only way you can get water when alone is to contort yourself and use your foot? Or is it all some hideous practical joke, and the videos are even now being posted on Youtube?
Then, today, I visited some public toilets in a town. They'd done away with sinks completely, and installed two of those holes in the wall that dispense soap, water and air at prearranged intervals. These two holes in the wall served eight cubicles, so there was of course a queue for using them, far more so than when the washing and drying is separated.
When my turn finally came, I put my hands into the hole. Nothing happened. I waved my hands around. Nothing happened. I put them in deeper and waved them around... and suddenly a ridiculous amount of soap squirted out and landed on my wrists. Then came far more water than anyone could ever need to wash normal sized hands, as opposed to a giant's paw, followed by a blast of air. Mine went on for ages, and I always get bored drying my hands, so I wandered off with them wet, leaving the person behind me unable to start washing their hands until the machine decided to stop blowing air around. The person next to me must have annoyed their machine, since they got a tiny blast of air that lasted about two seconds. They weren't happy with this, so stayed there for another cycle, watching soap and water fall on stony ground, before attempting to dry their hands again. Meanwhile, the queue was getting bigger and bigger...
A few weeks ago, I visited some public toilets in a beauty spot. The tap was the sort of tap that requires you to press down hard to get any water. So stiff was it that I ended up using both hands to do the pressing. Water duly gushed out... only to cut off the very instant I removed the pressure from the top of the tap. What sort of idiot can design a tap that only produces water when your hands are nowhere near the place the water appears? I did manage to get water out with the pressure of only one hand, but even so, water that vanishes the instant you try to put two hands beneath it is very silly...
Or is it? Is it an exercise in community bonding and team work, since the only way to wash your hands properly is to work together with an ally? Is it an attempt to encourage the development of good strong muscles and a supple body, since the only way you can get water when alone is to contort yourself and use your foot? Or is it all some hideous practical joke, and the videos are even now being posted on Youtube?
Then, today, I visited some public toilets in a town. They'd done away with sinks completely, and installed two of those holes in the wall that dispense soap, water and air at prearranged intervals. These two holes in the wall served eight cubicles, so there was of course a queue for using them, far more so than when the washing and drying is separated.
When my turn finally came, I put my hands into the hole. Nothing happened. I waved my hands around. Nothing happened. I put them in deeper and waved them around... and suddenly a ridiculous amount of soap squirted out and landed on my wrists. Then came far more water than anyone could ever need to wash normal sized hands, as opposed to a giant's paw, followed by a blast of air. Mine went on for ages, and I always get bored drying my hands, so I wandered off with them wet, leaving the person behind me unable to start washing their hands until the machine decided to stop blowing air around. The person next to me must have annoyed their machine, since they got a tiny blast of air that lasted about two seconds. They weren't happy with this, so stayed there for another cycle, watching soap and water fall on stony ground, before attempting to dry their hands again. Meanwhile, the queue was getting bigger and bigger...
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 07:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-17 07:30 am (UTC)I also hate taps with sensors because invariably you end up waving your hands around and, like your push button tap from hell, it only works when your hands aren't in the correct position for water.
Of course, toilets with sensor flushes are also a minefield - get a sensitive one and suddenly your toilet is a bidet...