I once went into a bathroom at church where I discovered two children having the time of their life with a game that annoys most adults. In this game one child would sit on the toilet and just when they were getting comfortable the other child would flush the toilet causing the sitting child to let out a little cry, leap up, and join the other child in hysterical laughter. At the time I just thought this irreverent and wondered where the children’s parents were but now that we live in a day of automatic toilets/water/paper towel etc… I realize that I too have experienced the phenomenon of sitting on the toilet while it flushes. I don’t let out a cry or join anyone in laughter but I do think at various circumstances where I have asked myself these questions.
Why does the toilet in the airport flush 4 times while you are still sitting on it but then doesn’t flush when you get up to leave?
How long are you supposed to wave your hand in front of the little sensor before pushing the button to make it flush?
Have you ever just walked out praying that it would flush before the next person walked in?
Do you find yourself opening the door with extra force in hopes that it would catch the little magic eye that triggered the switch?
Do you find yourself lingering outside of the stall waiting for the flush to happen?
Do you wonder what people are thinking you are doing lingering in the doorway of the stall?
And the automatic water…I sometimes feel like I am an inexperienced magician waving my hands randomly under the spout hoping that the water will soon appear, not only revealing my gifts but finally allowing me to wash my hands.
And what is up with the paper towel dispenser? Am I the only one who needs more that the four inch strip that comes out with the first series of abracadabra waves?
9 comments:
Yes. The first paper towel is never enough. But then you can use your Jedi mind trick twice...I like to waive my hand in front of the paper towel machine and say, "These are not the droids you are looking for!"
Once I sat on an toilet and it flushed before I was finished and I said "Did I do that" (But the other person in the other stal beside me pushed a button that led to mine.) (Rebecca)
I was trying to potty train a child (I think Krisstopher) and we had to use a rest stop bathroom on a trip. It didn't just scare him because it happened autimaticlly without his warning, while he was on it but it sounded like the whole room was going to be washed down the hole. (Or maybe it just happen to be at the same time as a minor earthquake) Anyway, my kids our terrified of public restrooms without actual handle flushers. (Mary)
Well you could always just not bother to wash your hands. That would put you in the same company with about one third of men and 12 percent of women who also don't wash their hands after using the bathroom.
That is just yuckey! The sad thing is that at work I walk all the way out of the store, though the horrible crowds of loitering people just to use the bathroom with the manual flush toilets. A fifteen minuet break doesn't last very long.
The automatic water dispenser things at the Walmart store here only work if you have one of your wrists directly in front of and almost touching the sensor. This makes it very difficult to wash both hands at the same time.
This is only tangentially related, but I'd just like to say that one of most ghetto things I ever saw in a public bathroom (outside of a school, of course, since public schools invented ghetto bathrooms) was in the Kansas City airport. They hadn't bothered to refill the soap dispensers. Instead, they just stuck a big bottle of soap down in the sink, on top of the middle drain. It seemed like a strange way of doing things to me.
Laura, I just saw your comment on our blog. Email me!
Laura, I just saw your comment on our blog. Email me!
I really think this blog post should have been titled "Regarding Automatic Toilets" to avoid any potential scatological humor and references that may arise from talking about being "ON Automatic Toilets". :)
Well, you can't deny that it is impart what it was about.
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