Do you ever stop to think about how many things are done for us these days? Last night I was out for dinner with some wonderful people (yay!) and ducked to the restroom at one point. Without even thinking about it, I found myself standing in front of the sink, holding my hands out and waiting for the water to start. The faucet had a handle. I blame the restrooms at work - everything is automated there. The automatic toilet flushing is so sensitive you barely have time to stand up. Let me tell you, automatic flushing freaks me out. I had a roommate in college whose mother worked in germ research (bacteria or some such - I'm not a biologist), and she gave me the germ fact that has stuck in my head ever since, and probably will stick in my head until the proverbial end of (my) days. The toilet has a 6 foot germ spray radius. At least. We've all encountered the super flusher that sprays water (as well as germs) all over the place. As a result, I developed the "flush and run" technique in public restrooms, and a severe "lid down" rule in my house. These automatic flushers wreak havoc with my germ-phobia. I've started putting a square of toilet paper over the sensor so I could stand and re-dress in peace, and when ready to duck out I whip the tp off the sensor as I'm opening the door to the stall. Let's just call it a quirk and move on.
The point is, I stand and wait for the water to come on, I wave my hands in front of towel dispensers without looking for the lever, and once - just once - I walked into a glass door that I assumed had a sensor for automatic opening. I don't know if these automatic happenings are really making our lives easier or not (I guess not if we develop OCD behaviors to outsmart them) but I do know that the transition while some things are automatic and some aren't is kind of a pain.
As an aside, I find it funny that this toilet germ phobia is so strong. Yes, it's gross to think about, but in general I believe in exposure to germs - go with the 5 second rule, let your kids eat off the ground, and don't over-do the anti-bacterial soaps, we need exposure to germs to keep our immune systems going strong. I don't get flu shots because I'm neither super young or super old, and I've got faith in my body's ability to to develop its own antibodies. But bathroom germs? Heebie-geebies. And the MythBusters episode on bathroom germs? It didn't help me to know my actions were pointless.
2 comments:
I still remember you telling me about the 6 foot radius in college, and think about it often as I'm tempted to leave the toilet seat up when I flush (in my wife-free AZ bathroom).
Also, there's one urinal at UMD which will routinely flush three(!) times while I'm using it: once when I walk up, twice while I'm going, then NOT when I walk away!
Where was this level of attention and concern when I used to ask you to clean your room?
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