Thursday, December 17, 2009

PING!

I hate it when bathrooms don't have paper towels! When bathrooms don't have paper towels to wipe your hands on after washing your hands, it usually means two things. 1) Some article of clothing is going to get wet. 2) You're going to have to touch the door handle to exit the bathroom. (This is especially disturbing seeing as the majority of guys that touch that door handle just got done handling their business with no hand washing in between)

So, the other day I used the bathroom before leaving the library at school when, after washing my hands, I realized that there were no paper towels. DANG IT! Now keep in mind this is one of those small bathrooms with a single stall, a urinal, and a sink, with the floor covered in small 2 in. x 2 in. tiles. I was alone, so I decided to "air-dry" my hands by jerking my arms violently about. After a couple of seconds of this I heard a sound that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I recognized the "PING!" sound as the sound of my wedding ring bouncing off of the tile floor. The few seconds that followed reminded me of those cartoons where someone shoots a gun and the bullet just ricochets off of everything in the room, completely defying the laws of physics. My ring was bouncing off the walls and floor, and I was terrified that it was going to land in the urinal or toilet. Luckily, after what seemed like an eternity, my ring finally came to a stop, and I left the bathroom completely disregarding the germ-coated door handle.









7 comments:

  1. ha ha ha ha that sucks man. I hate the door knob'handle thing. i think all bathroom doors should open outward with no latch just for that reason. So you can just push the door open without having to touch the penis germ infested door!

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  2. Ohhh Nathan!! I sure hope that ring got scrubbed when you got home. I had a mini heart attack reading this. I do the violent handshaking thing too...

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  3. lol.. funny! I agree with the guy up there. I have always thought every public bathroom should open with the latch on the outside of the bathroom so you can just push it open after washing your hands. Every public bathroom (in my opinion) should have the following:
    Automatic flush, automatic soap dispense, automatic water turn on, automatic paper towel dispenser, a full-length mirror (cause we need to see more than just our face), and a swing open door.

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  4. haha awsome! I completly saw all of this taking place in my head including the PING sound affects. The worst bathroom nastiness is a tie. 1) When you need to take care of business and not only is the seat covered in random drops of pee but there is a wet floor just in front of the toilet which does not allow you to be able to drop the pants. 2) If for some reason the bathroom is a 1 seater and the toilete has a seat cover that is down. When you go to raise it, you get a nice little wet substance on your hand. Nice!

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  5. HaHaHaHa!

    I can imagine your fear as your wedding ring was clanking off of everything in the bathroom.

    Immediately when you talk about having to touch the door on the way out, I was thinking the same thing Justin wrote. It would make things a lot better if you could just push your way out of the bathroom (with an elbow or forearm) rather than having to touch the handle. (Although I guess your hands would still be wet though...)

    Overall, I am glad you recovered your wedding ring and that you didn't have to fish it out of the toilet or drain!

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  6. This made me laugh out loud, which is a feat these days since I've convinced myself I have a cracked rib from the accident. Though, that may or may not actually be the case.
    Anyway, this makes me think of my husband--the biggest germaphobe I know--who always reaches for what he THINKS is the least used/touched part of a door to open it. For example, if the handle of a bathroom door looks particularly worn at the top, he will use his pinkie finger to open the door using the BOTTOM of the door handle. Or when entering a gas station, he will reach up and open or push the door at the top rather than use the handle at all. What this leads me to question, however, is 'just how many people do that same thing???' to which Gary replies "all the other people with clean hands." LOL

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  7. haha! These comments are great! I didn't know I had so many germophobe friends! And I agree, bathroom doors that open outward always make me happy. As far as the cleanliness of toilet seats when number 2 calls, the thought is enough to make me hurl. I always love the bathrooms with the toilet seat shaped tissue paper that you lay down on the toilet so that you don't have to touch it. Funny side note, the toilet seat covers in the pharmacy school in Oxford are made by a company called "Rest Assured" hahaha

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