Bad Engineering Award
Some time ago our office building came through and made changes in the bathrooms. The three big changes were the installation of auto sensors on the sink faucets, the soap dispensers, and the paper towel dispensers.
I'm down with the soap dispensers. People would pump the manual bottles 6, 7, 8 times or more. If one used toilet paper I'm not seeing the need for that much soap. Very, very wasteful.
And that was the point of all the changes. To reduce waste. The auto sensors on the sink faucets also look to be effective. People would turn the water on and let it run forever. I saw people turn on the water before heading to the urinal or the stall. The one down fall is that there is no temperature control. Brushing your teeth after lunch with hot water is an odd sensation.
The ultimate failure is the paper towel dispenser. It's built into a unit above a trash can for the paper towels. Wave your hand under it and about 8 inches of paper towel flows out. Throw away the used towel... and about 8 inches of paper towel flows out. Walk by the hanging towel quickly and cause it to shake and about 8 inches of paper towel flows out. Open the door and a breeze moves the hanging towel and about 8 inches of paper towel flows out.
I thought about putting up a picture of this wonder of engineering but I thought getting caught taking a picture in the bathroom could lead to nothing but bad outcomes.
I'm down with the soap dispensers. People would pump the manual bottles 6, 7, 8 times or more. If one used toilet paper I'm not seeing the need for that much soap. Very, very wasteful.
And that was the point of all the changes. To reduce waste. The auto sensors on the sink faucets also look to be effective. People would turn the water on and let it run forever. I saw people turn on the water before heading to the urinal or the stall. The one down fall is that there is no temperature control. Brushing your teeth after lunch with hot water is an odd sensation.
The ultimate failure is the paper towel dispenser. It's built into a unit above a trash can for the paper towels. Wave your hand under it and about 8 inches of paper towel flows out. Throw away the used towel... and about 8 inches of paper towel flows out. Walk by the hanging towel quickly and cause it to shake and about 8 inches of paper towel flows out. Open the door and a breeze moves the hanging towel and about 8 inches of paper towel flows out.
I thought about putting up a picture of this wonder of engineering but I thought getting caught taking a picture in the bathroom could lead to nothing but bad outcomes.
Labels: Weirdness
posted by Eric at
11:49 AM
4 Comments:
Good call on not taking a picture in the bathroom. *grin*
And um, would it help to move the trash can?? :) Or is it one of those immovable ones?
The trash can is built into the wall. It wouldn't be that hard to just cap it and have people use the large bin next to the door.
Well, there ya' go! :)
you have a differnt kind a problem :P
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