The other day I was at our local library and went to wash my hands in the restroom. No water came out of the faucet no matter how I tried to move my hands in front of what I thought was the sensor. (Even this ability was fairly new to me. My granddaughter has had to teach me how to make various fixtures in restrooms operate.) When I still failed to get any water I went to tell the librarian. She calmly replied, “Oh yes. It needs a new battery.”
I stopped to wonder what persuasive sales people had taken over the fairly standard fixtures in public restrooms. Clearly different pitches appealed to different buyers, so there is no standard. Some faucets go on as soon as something is set on the rim of the sink. I learned this when I rested my purse there! Others need one to wave one’s hands in some sort of pattern. When the water comes out, there is no way to change its temperature or the length of time it flows. Somewhere somebody has made those decisions for the fixture, ignoring the various demands of users.
The biggest con has been the substitution of high speed air machines for paper towels. Knowing that users don’t like them, there are frequently signs touting their “environmental advantages.” They leave off the fact that they distribute germs from the room onto your hands as they circulate the air. And they are useless for washing off a toddler’s face or dabbing a new stain on clothing.
What towel machines still exist seem to have fallen victim to the “automatic” versions. They each have an idiosyncratic way of operating from waving to holding to staring dumbfoundedly until a grandchild takes over. Fortunately they also sport signs saying “if no towel comes out, roll the gear on the side.” I guess even their inventors don’t trust the reliability of the technology.
I never thought I would wax nostalgic for the faucets and towel dispensers of my youth. But it appears that I am.
Saved By Words 
The modern world, eh?
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I have been baffled more than once in public bathrooms. Obviously, my grandsons are no help there. The last time it happened, another customer took pity on me and showed me how to get the faucet to work.
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Isn’t it crazy!
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You aren’t alone [in waxing nostalgic….]! And your point about air dryers being useless after washing off the face of a toddler (or yourself!) or dabbing or diluting a fresh stain on clothing is too true. It makes me sigh.
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As I mentioned to another reader, the big department stores had attendants in the bathrooms. They might have been able to advocate for paper.
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I’m glad that I’m not the only one who needs help navigating his way around a public restroom. 😎
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Maybe we should return to the days of bathroom attendants which they had in stores when I was a teenager.
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I hear you on this one! There’s a different little trick to each restroom appliance. No two are the same.
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Can you imagine who sits around inventing these things and then promoting them?
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I tried to wipe the smile off my face but couldn’t get the dispenser to work!
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Perfect retort.
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I wonder if the gear on the side ever has germs on it.
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Great one!
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I agree. They now believe the old continuous cloth towel dispenser of our youth was/is the most hygenic. Go figure.
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Remember though when it was at its end and had not yet been changed how appalling the last patch was?
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Yes, that is true, so it would need careful attendance. Now I cannot get that image out of my mind.
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Sad to say I can’t rid my mind of that image either.
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Haha, most of the faucets in public restrooms here are the sensor type, automatic shut off.
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But sometimes I wait for one to turn off and realize I have to turn it off myself.
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✌☺💓
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The blow dryers are annoying to use, and some are louder than a jet taking off!
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I wonder what the decimal level is. In our church they removed one from the restroom at the rear of the church because you could hear it roar during worship.
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O my! 😲
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You are not alone here to experience this. I believe there should be a board hanging with instructions…and most importantly with the solution if none of the instructions work.
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Instructions would certainly have helped me when I encountered the three in one water, soap and dryer.
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So funny and true. The latest is a sink with 3 fixtures, the left is soap, the middle is water and the right is a dryer. There have been so many newfangled ones that I stood in front of one recently for a while until I realized it was an old fashioned fixture. Just lift the handle. Duh!
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I have stood in front of toilets waiting for them to self flush and realizing it wasn’t going to happen. I encountered that three for one at the train station and was helpless before it.
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The bottom line is this, you just want to ‘go’, wash your hands and go! Why has that become a challenge?🤪
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Much of technology instead of simplifying life has complicated it no end.
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I’m glad that I’m not the only person who struggles to make the faucets and paper towel dispensers work. It’s nice to know that they use batteries. I now have an explanation (other than than I can’t figure out how to operate them) for when they don’t work.
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I love being able to blame the faucet instead of blaming myself.
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I gave up trying to work these things out when I still lived in London. In one restaurant, I complained about the confusing set up, and asked why they had changed from taps, soap dispensers, and paper towels. The owner said it was because ‘people left the taps running, and also threw paper towels down the toilet bowls, blocking them’. I could see his point.
Maybe we brought this ‘innovation’ on ourselves, because of thoughtless users?
Best wishes, Pete.
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I had never thought of that. Maybe he had a point.
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It is funny the things we miss most. I must say that I rarely dry my hands, I just shake them vigorously.
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Good substitute to getting all those germs from the hot air.
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I really hate those machines. I go right back into the bathroom stall and use the tissue paper to dry my hand when they don’t give us paper towels.
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At least you were able to get enough water from the faucets to get your hands wet!
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You bring up some good points about hand dryers spreading germs and not being any use at all for dabbing at stains. I think we should start a petition to bring back the paper towels everywhere!
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Good plan. At our church they just did that.
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I don’t know what to say… I work from home which is, thankfully, still old fashioned. But when, on occasions, I have to visit office, the faucets mystify me. I am not sure what hand gesture it needs to get it i take my own towel. The handdr
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Sorry, the comment got posted while i was still typing… See how technology defeats me on everyday basis…doesn’t even let me complain
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I was just saying, not sure what hand gesture the faucet needs to get the water running. The hand dryer sometimes decides that i have to touch its ass to run, that i decline to do at any cost. Hence i take my own towel.
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That is a great idea.
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My computer shut down mid responding.
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The scenario looks like the movie ‘I Robot’. The technology has become one mind and taking over our world as a dictator. It shuts down communication when we complain.
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And then governments around the world shut it down when they don’t like the information it shows.
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Hear, hear!
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