Faucets, taps, and sinks…and puddles
Post 4 — June 5, 2014
Over the past two weeks, I have done quite a bit of travelling and have visited a number of public bathrooms. As you can likely predict from the title of this week’s rant, it’s about faucets, taps, and sinks. But first, a prelude.
Unfortunately, I can only comment on men’s washrooms. However, I am quite certain that I can extrapolate my findings to expect women’s washrooms to be very similar. Perhaps female readers can comment on the accuracy of this post.
Regardless when or where, there always seems to be puddles on the floor of the washroom. Why must there always be puddles on the floor? Where are these puddles coming from? I find it difficult to believe that people can miss that badly. Finally, why are the puddles always where I need to stand?
Okay. Now on to the actual rant.
I see myself as a relatively traveled person. And as such, I have used many public washrooms around the world. The toilets and urinals are often quite standard, but the variety in the design of the faucet and sink can be striking. Normally, in today’s modern world, most washrooms have converted to the automatic, hands-free faucets as pictured above. The new electronic faucets showcase the technology and culture of our time.
However, I am always dumbfounded when I find one of these marvels of engineering:
Although I do understand the concept of conserving water, this particular model is beyond ridiculous. The “Push-Button Faucet” was designed to save water by requiring the user to push on the spring mechanism to release water. Depending on the model, one push should give up to six seconds of continuous water flow.
Six seconds? I should be so lucky. I barely got two seconds. I stood there pushing the button over and over like a chump, getting little spurts of water each time. Finally, after about 25 pumps, my hands were as clean as the knob was.
Who designed this horrible device? Well, it turns out a man named George R. Long from New Haven, Connecticut did in 1920. Screw you George R. Long.
Feeling frustrated and quite grossed out by both the puddles on the floor and repeatedly touching the faucet 25 times, I left to go about my day without giving the sink any more thought. That is until I needed to use the washroom again.
Email me when Alex Dong publishes or recommends stories