Cleanliness is close to...frustrating

Here is my issue: why has our society decided it will no longer be easy to wash your hands in public?


Remember the old days when you would walk into a restroom, finish your "business" and then confidently stride over to the sink. There you would find a faucet, some soap and some towels to dry your hands. We all had these elements at home and they made sense...lather, rinse and dry. A perfect formula for cleanliness, but something went wrong along the way. Personally, I think we should have seen it coming when the faucet was replaced with a single "push" faucet that produced a 6 second stream of anything from frigid artic water to a stream of not quite warm water. From there it was all downhill....

Fast forward to today and now the restrooms of the world are littered with the so called "motion sensor" devices. The faucet, the soap dispenser and the paper towel dispenser. I don't know what makes these things work, but I often find myself doing a very interpretive hand dance just to get a 3 second stream of water onto my hands. Next, I battle to soap dispenser, almost pleading with it to "dispense" its foamy goodness. On the outside chance, I actually get some soap, it is back to the hand dance to try to rinse off. It is at this point that I believe the soap has some sort of sensor repellent that makes the faucet not respond. So, I shuffle my feet down to the next sink...no luck. Then, I see some one two more sinks down having some luck getting the water out. Maybe, they found the one that will work. I stand at my sink, waiting, lathering some more (to look busy), ready to bound to the sink when the guy moves away. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see some one step up to my original sink and it works fine. Is it me? Do the sensors work on body temp? Am I still alive? What is going on?

Finally, the guy steps away and I pounce onto his faucet. If nothing else, maybe I can get 2 seconds of his "residual" water flow. Luckily, this faucet responds to me and I get my hands rinsed. Now, I have to dry.

Fortunately, the faucet dance was a good warm-up to the paper towel sensor. I feel like Napolean Dynamite auditioning for Happy Hands. I flail, I flutter, I wave and I twinkle my fingers. At last, the machine spits out its bounty, but alas it is not enough paper to dry my hands enough. I go back into audition mode and Happy Hands has an encore. The paper spits out again and I am finally ready to leave.

So this brings me to my question. Why is the automation industry so intent on making our world a dirtier place? Or maybe we should just thank "the management" who is so free to plaster their name in the restroom. I go through this everytime, but I know there are those that take shortcuts (and you know who you are). For all of you who stand with me, I encourage you to keep up the good fight. Evidently, cleanliness is a cause we have to fight to keep and as for me I will never give up the battle no matter what the management may throw at me.