Open Letter to “Modern” Public Restrooms
To the Owners of Circle K and Public Establishments Everywhere,
Two weekends ago, I was on my routine run down through the streets of Youngstown, training for the marathon I am running in September. As I trekked my way down the city streets, I felt myself getting bogged down by the inevitable anchor to runners; a bathroom break was necessary. Stranded in the middle of no-mans land, I had no choice but to stop at the fine public establishment of Circle K.
This Circle K, while somewhat old and outdated, was more than adequate for me to conduct my important work and wash my hands, as every moderately esteemed man who cares about the well being of others should do. Then, “bang!” I was suddenly hit by this realization that this bathroom did not have any paper towel dispenser in it.
Instead, it was replaced with this small, inadequate hand dryer that was only good to move the water from one side of my hand to the other. In order to get back out on my run, I had to wipe my drenched hands onto my sweaty shirt and shorts.
I do not specifically mean to single you out, Circle K. I love your Polar Pops by the way. It is just that you are the latest example of the madness and it has got to end. Public establishments everywhere over the past several years have been transitioning to a more economical approach towards bathroom maintenance, by thinning the plies of toilet paper we are equipped and cutting out the use of paper towels.
I get your reasoning behind it. It may be more “modern” and “eco-friendly” to reduce the amount of paper products in the bathrooms, especially since more and more companies are doing it. However, pushing a button to make a loud and obnoxious noise does not get our hands dried. Instead, these glorified fans leave us with two options: we either have to wait for all eternity for our hands to dry or result to wiping our hands on our pants, as I had to do last weekend along with my ancestors from the 1600s.
While it may be easy to hop on the bandwagon with the rest of Corporate America, it is never to late to show that you still care about your consumers that come in and use your establishments. Put up a paper towel dispenser to show that you still care.
Thank you,
Matt P.