Friday, October 11, 2013

The ladies bathroom

The ladies bathroom at work, and no doubt the men’s room also, but so far I have not visited that and currently have no desire to, anyway, as I was saying it is always interesting to see what is malfunctioning each day.

There are 4 cubicles and we have one toilet that will unexpectedly flush continuously and won’t cease until a plumber is called to stop it.

Some time ago we had motion sensor operated soap dispensers installed and, at the same time, motion operated paper towel dispensers.  For a while these worked quite well, but after about a year they started to get temperamental.  One soap dispenser stopped working altogether despite the fact that it had a full container of soap.   One gives the correct squirt at the correct time, then, when you have just finished washing your hands it gives you another large squirt without any prompting whatsoever, and if you are unlucky, that will probably land on your sleeve.  Another dispenses a varying number of squirts, rarely the same number. 

The way they are supposed work is that you put your open hand under the dispenser and the sensor gives you a squirt of foamy soap, which is normally sufficient for a generous hand washing.  Our rogue dispenser will continue to cough up a random number, sometimes two, mostly three, and more recently it has become extremely generous – or perhaps obsessively hygienic – and is now dispensing four squirts in quick succession.

The paper towel however, has become very miserly and not only does it no longer replace the sheet that is hanging waiting for the next customer once the existing paper is torn, it will only squeeze out a Kleenex sized piece of paper if you wave frantically at it. 

So having used the toilet, to the sound of continuous flushing washed your hands with a large handful of foamy lather from the germ-a-phobic soap dispenser, and with hands dripping water all over the floor, you wave frantically at the paper towel dispenser to acquire a piece of paper not really large enough to wipe your nose, then wave again to get another piece the same size by which time all the waving has dried your hands. Perhaps that is the whole point? Save the trees!  Now let's work on saving the water.


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