Is it too much to ask to just have paper towels? In the last few years, I’ve seen more crazy gizmos to dispense drying materials than I thought possible. Here’s the latest atrocity I have to deal with:
It’s motion sensitive see. So you have to wave your hand a couple times until it sees you, and spits out a carefully measured piece of paper. Carefully measured to not be enough, so you have to repeat.
Then there’s the kind that you have to grip with both hands on each side, but not too hard and pull but not too hard and not too soft. Or the kind you push a lever to get the carefully measured not enough towel. Or the one with the navigation wheel of death control on the side in case the main control isn’t working, which as of this writing, it never has.
The odd thing is that I don’t anyone who likes these. Everyone would rather just have some paper towels. And yet these pop up all over the place. So who makes the decision? What person sits back and thinks, “I hate these. My friends hate these. My coworkers hate these. You know what, I’m going for it. Let’s put them in!”
Who likes these?
Agreed on the ‘bathroom attendant’ – how creepy is that.
Here’s an even weirder one I see in higher end restaurants from time to time – the urinal filled with ice.
What possible reason could justify filling the urinal with ice cubes? Does chilled piss smell less bad than warm? Or do they just have extra ice that needs to get melted and a cheap (almost free) source of body heat to do the job?
My kids like these things. The process of washing hands, waving a few times to get this thing to register and roll down a little paper, wadding it up and shooting a basket into the trash can is endless fun that could be repeated umpteen times if not for an impatient dad who just wants to get back to dinner. I, however, agree with Muttrox.
How about the bathrooms at high-end establishments where someone stands there and hands you a towel or paper towel? Pretty rare for me to find this, given the places we usually eat, but occasionally I’ll go somewhere where this is the case. This sucks even more — do I have to tip this guy? Do I walk out like a cheapskate? Just gimme a damn paper towel!!