The Automatic Public Bathroom

Technology has helped the process of going to the bathroom come along way. Remember Laura Ingalls running out of the house on the show Little House on the Prairie? Well, she was going to the bathroom. Most of us have experienced something similar if we've ever gone camping. I was going to describe how horrible places like those are, but I'll just leave it to UUUGGGHHH . .  .YUCK!

Now to get on with the rest of my post about bathrooms and technology. Have you recently been in a modern-day bathroom. No, not one of those gas station bathrooms. Those are as bad as the outhouses. I'm talking about the nicer ones such as those in bigger airports.

Have you noticed that everything is automatic? Those people that came up with the idea of a toilet that automatically flushes must have lost one too many shoes in the toilet. When you leave the bathroom stall you simply walk to the sink and with the wave of your hand, you are magically able to turn the water on. Soap will fall ever so gently in the palm of your hand as you put it under the hand dispenser. The paper towel dispenser will roll out a few paper towels and the hand dryers will dry your hands to just the right consistency.

I've even experienced a bathroom light that was automatically turned on by the wave of your hands. That's right folks, the lights would go off after 20 seconds. Pitch black. I quickly learned to frantically wave my hands around so the lights would come back on so I wouldn't be left in the dark. Oh and I can't forget the automatic seat cover. It moved around the toilet between usages and I believed or at least hoped that it was going through some sanitation process near the back of the toilet seat. 

Today I experienced a new automatic feature of the public restroom-the automatic toilet roll. As with the aforementioned, you simply wave your hand (kind of like Miss America) and just the right amount of toilet paper is dispensed. (To my friend's Ex, sorry, it was more than two squares, but I'm sure that you could program it to your liking.) 

Of course as great as those automatic things are, there are times that they simply don't work. Like a toilet flushing before you get the stall door closed and then not flushing when you really really really need it too. And then it got me thinking . . .what if they decide to make the door automatic. No, not the door that gets you out of the bathroom and back into the public where both genders are free to go. That would be a great idea. I mean the stall door automatically opening up. And what if it opens up automatically too early . . .? THAT would not be good.